 | Term | Definition |
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528 BC |
Siddharta Gautama (563-483 BC) was enlightened under the Bodhi Tree and became the Buddha “Awakened One.” He would spend the rest of his life teaching meditation & mindfulness as a way to enlightenment. |
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323 BC |
Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) built an empire from Greece to India before dying of natural causes at age 33. |
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221 BC |
Shih Huang Ti (259-210 BC), known as the “First Emperor” unified China for the first time. During his Chin Dynasty (221-210 BC), he initiated a centralized government, conducted a census and standardized the country's currency, written language, laws, and weights & measures. He also began constructing the Great Wall of China. |
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(March 15,) 44 BC |
Julius Caesar (102-44 BC) was assassinated by disgruntled colleagues after establishing the Roman Empire. |
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31 BC |
Octavian (63 BC-14 AD), Caesar's nephew, defeated Mark Antony (83-30 BC) & Queen Cleopatra (69-30 BC) at the Battle of Actium. Octavian declared himself Emperor Caesar Augustus in 30 BC, marking the birth of Imperial Rome. |
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(December 25,) 4 BC |
Jesus Christ (4 BC-29 AD) born in Bethelehem, Roman Palestine, and taught the importance of simplicity, tolerance, meekness, and peace. He was cruxified in 29 AD but rose from the dead three days later (Easter). |
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325 AD |
Emperor Constantine (280-337 AD) embraced Christianity and initiated the Council of Nicaea where the differences between Eastern & Western factions of the Christian Church were resolved. The Council drafted the Nicene Creed, the basic Christian beliefs that became the dominant religion in Europe. |
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476 AD |
Last Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustulus (?-476 AD) taken prisoner at Ravenna in 476 AD by German King Odovacar, ending 505 years of the Roman Empire. |
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(July 16,) 622 |
Mohammed (570-632) while meditating near Mecca in 610 AD, had visions from Allah to write the Koran. He escaped from his enemies in Mecca on July 16, 622 and went to Medina. Mohammed's journey (hejira) on this date would mark the birth of Islam. He raised an army while spreading his beliefs, and returned to conquer Mecca in 630 AD. |
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(December 25,) 800 |
Charlemagne (742-814) unified most of Europe under his rule. While attending Mass in Rome, he was unexpectedly crowned “Emperor of the Romans” by Pope Leo III. |
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(October 14,) 1066 |
William of Normandy (1027-1087) crossed the English Channel from France and defeated British King Harold II (1027-1066) at the Battle of Hastings. On Christmas Day, William was crowned King of England, and became known as William the Conqueror. |
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(June 15,) 1215 |
At Runnymede, King John of England (1167-1216) signed the Magna Carta, a 63-part document of human rights that became the foundation of the English legal system. |
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1295 |
Marco Polo (1254-1324) returns from China after a 20-year stay, seeing more of Asia than any other European of his day. His book The Travels of Marco Polo is one of the most influential travel book in history, inspiring others to find a shorter route to China. |
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1456 |
Johann Gutenberg (1400-1468) published the first mass-produced edition of the Bible in Mainz, Germany. |
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(October 12,) 1492 |
Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) set sail on September 6, 1492 from Castille, Spain with three ships— the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria. His expedition landed at San Salvador in the West Indies on October 12, 1492 as he discovers a “New World.” |
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(October 31,) 1517 |
Martin Luther (1483-1546) nailed to the door of Wittenberg Cathedral “95 Theses Against the Sale of Indulgences” detailing the abuses of the Roman Church. This act marked the beginning of the Protestant Reformation in Germany. |
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1687 |
Isaac Newton (1643-1727) published the Principia where he developed the three laws of motion, demonstrated the structure of the universe, the movement of the planets, and calculated the mass of the heavenly bodies. |
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(July 14,) 1789 |
The French middle class stormed the Bastille, capturing the royal fortress in Paris, and starting the French Revolution. |
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(May 18,) 1804 |
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) lifted the crown from the Pope's hands and crowned himself Emperor at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. He would defeat the Russian & Austrian armies at Austerlitz in December 1805, the Prussians at Jena in 1806, and the Austrians at Friedland in 1807. |
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(June 19,) 1815 |
Napoleon defeated at Waterloo by Duke Wellington and was exiled to St. Helena where he died on May 8, 1821. |
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(February 23,) 1848 |
A revolution in Paris brought the expulsion of King Louis-Philippe and established a Second Republic in France under Louis Napoleon (1808-1873). In this year of revolutions, Prince Metternich fled Vienna to England. Pope Pius IX fled from Rome. |
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(July 8,) 1853 |
US Navy Commodore Matthew Perry (1794-1858) sailed into Edo Bay, and demanded Japan open its harbors to American trade. The Treaty of Kanagawa was signed on March 31, 1854 to bring Japan's closed feudal monarchy into the world community. |
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(November 24,) 1859 |
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) published The Origin of Species, stating that species evolved because nature selected those animals and plants best suited to specific environments. |
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(April 12,) 1861 |
The Confederacy attacked an US Army post at Fort Sumter, starting the American Civil War. The four-year war resulted in the death of 364,511 Union troops & 133,821 Confederates. |
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(April 15,) 1865 |
President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) assassinated at Ford's Theater, Washington DC, by John Wilkes Booth only six days after the end of the Civil War when General Lee surrendered to Grant at the Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia. |
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(January 18,) 1871 |
Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) became the Chancellor of the German Empire after defeating the French in the Franco-Prussian War. |
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(December 17,) 1903 |
Wilbur Wright (1867-1912) & Orville Wright (1871-1948) made the first heavier-than-air flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, as their biplane Wright Flyer remained in the air for 12 seconds covering 120 feet. |
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(June 23,) 1914 |
Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1863-1914) assassinated in Sarajevo by Bosnian Serbs initiating World War I. |
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(November 7,) 1917 |
Kerenky's Constitutional Democrats that was set up after the abdication of Czar Nicholas on March 2, 1917, was toppled in a bloody coup on November 7, 1917 by the Bolsheviks under Nikolai Lenin (1870-1924). On December 30, 1922, Lenin formed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, where his Communist Party ruled the country. |
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(October 29,) 1929 |
New York Stock Market crashed on Black Tuesday where stocks tumbled across the board. It was the most disastrous trading day in the stock market's history. Billions of dollars in open market values were wiped out. |
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(September 1,) 1939 |
Germany invaded Poland overrunning it in four weeks. Britain & France declared war on Germany two days later. |
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(December 7,) 1941 |
Japan attacks Pearl Harbor by surprise. United States enters World War II. |
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(June 6,) 1944 |
General Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969) led the Allied Invasion of Normandy on D-Day. 2.9 million Allied troops, 15,000 planes, and 5000 ships were mobilized in crossing the English Channel to land on the beaches of Normandy. Paris was liberated from German rule on August 25 and Brussels on September 2. |
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(September 3,) 1945 |
After the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima (August 6) and Nagasaki (August 9), Japan officially surrendered on August 15, and formally on September 3 when the signing took place aboard the U.S. battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. |
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(October 1,) 1949 |
Chinese Communist Chairman Mao Tse-Tung (1893-1976) declared his country the People's Republic of China after defeating Chiang Kai-Shek's Kuomingtang forces who fled to Taiwan. |
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(April 12,) 1961 |
Soviet Union's Yuri A. Gagarin (1934-1968) became the first man to complete an orbit of Earth. The first American to orbit the Earth was John Glenn on February 20, 1962. |
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(July 20,) 1969 |
Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the Moon. |
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11,000 BC |
Amerindians initially colonize the New World via the Bering Strait. |
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(October 10,) 732 |
The Battle of Tours / The Battle of Portiers / The Court of the Martyrs (Arabic). The battle pitted Frankish and Burgundian [7][8] forces under Austrasian Mayor of the Palace Charles Martel against an army of the Umayyad Caliphate led by ‘Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, Governor-general of al-Andalus. The Franks were victorious, ‘Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi was killed, and Martel subsequently extended his authority in the south. |
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22,000 BC |
Neanderthals disappear forever. |
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(September 11 and September 12,) 1683 |
The Battle of Vienna: The large-scale battle won by Polish-Austrian-German forces lead by King of Poland Jan III Sobieski against the Ottoman Empire army commanded by Grand Vizier Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha, which took place on September 12, 1683 after Vienna had been besieged by Turks for two months. The battle broke the advance of the Ottoman Empire into Europe, and marked the political hegemony of Habsburg dynasty. |
