Studied by 23 people
1610
Assassination of Henry IV
1610
Galileo begins astronomical observations with his telescope
1613
Galileo publishes Letters on Sunspots
1616
William Harvey announces his discovery of the circulatory system
1618
Johannes Kepler reveals his third and final law of planetary motion
1618
Beginning of the Thirty Years’ War
1620
Battle of White Mountain
1620
Founding of Plymouth Colony
1620
Francis Bacon publishes Novum Organum
1624
Cardinal Richelieu becomes Louis XIII’s chief minister
1625
Charles I becomes king upon death of James I
1628
Petition of Right
1628
Murder of Duke of Buckingham
1629
Edict of Restitution
1629
Personal Rule of Charles I begins and lasts 11 years
1632
Gustavus Adolphus dies at the Battle of Lutzen
1632
Galileo’s Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of the World
1633
Trial of Galileo
1633
Murder of Albrecht von Wallenstein
1633
France enters the Thirty Years’ War
1637
Charles introduces the Book of Common Prayer into Scotland
1637
René Descartes publishes Discourse on Method
1640
Beginning of reign of Frederick William (Great Elector)
1640
Charles forced to summon Parliament to deal with Scottish revolt
1641
Rebellion in Ireland
1642
Execution of Archbishop Laud
1648
Peace of Westphalia
1649
Beginning of the Fronde
1649
Execution of Charles I and establishment of English republic
1653
Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector
1659
Death of Cromwell
1660
Restoration of Charles II
1660
Thomas Hobbes publishes Leviathan
1661
Death of Cardinal Mazarin; Louis XIV becomes his own chief minister
1662
Royal Society established by Charles II
1664
Chartering of the French East India Company
1669
Louis XIV begins construction of the Palace of Versailles
1669
Posthumous publication of Pascal’s Pensées
1682
Beginning of the reign of Peter the Great
1682
Rembrandt paints The Night Watch
1685
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes
1685
James II, a Catholic, becomes King of England
1687
Newton publishes his Principia
1688
John Locke’s Two Treatises on Government
1688
Glorious Revolution
1689
Act of Toleration
1690
John Locke’s Essay on Human Understanding
1701
Prussia becomes a kingdom
1701
Act of Settlement passed to bypass potential Catholic kings
1703
Cornerstone laid for the new city of St. Petersburg
1707
Act of Union brings about political unification of England and Scotland
1713
Treaty of Utrecht marks the end of the War of the Spanish Succession
1714
George I becomes first Hanoverian King of England
1721
End of the Great Northern War between Russia and Sweden
1721
Start of Robert Walpole’s tenure as prime minister
1739
Hume’s Inquiry into Human Nature
1740
Frederick the Great becomes King of Prussia
1740
Start of the War of the Austrian Succession
1746
Battle of Culloden
1748
Montesquieu’s Spirit of Laws
1748
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle marks end of War of the Austrian Succession
1751
The first volume of Diderot’s Encyclopédie appears
1755
Lisbon earthquake
1756
Maria Theresa carries out the “Diplomatic Revolution”
1756
Beginning of the Seven Years’ War
1759
Voltaire’s Candide
1762
Rousseau’s The Social Contract
1762
Rousseau’s Émile is published
1762
Start of the reign of Catherine the Great
1763
Voltaire pushes for reexamination in the trial of Jean Calas
1763
Peace of Paris marks end of Seven Years’ War
1764
Beccaria’s On Crime and Punishment
1765
Stamp Act
1770
Burke writes Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontent
1770
Marriage of the future Louis XVI to Marie Antoinette
1774
Louis XVI becomes King of France
1774
First Continental Congress
1775
Fighting begins between American colonists and British
1776
Jefferson writes the Declaration of Independence
1776
The first volume of Edward Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is published
1776
Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations
1778
France goes to war against Britain in support of the American colonies
1781
Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason
1781
Joseph II of Austria issues Edicts of Toleration
1786
Calonne, finance minister to Louis XVI, informs him that the crown is bankrupt
1787
Assembly of Notables meets
1788
Louis XVI decides to call the Estates General
1788
Abbé Siéyès writes What Is the Third Estate?
May 5, 1789
Estates General meets for the first time
June 17, 1789
Third Estate declares that it will meet only as a National Assembly
June 20, 1789
Tennis Court Oath
July 14, 1789
Storming of the Bastille
1789
Lafayette selected as commander of the National Guard
1789
Great Fear (July–August)
August 24, 1789
Renunciation of aristocratic privileges
August 26, 1789
Declaration of the Rights of Man is adopted by the Constituent Assembly (August 26)
October 5, 1789
Women’s march on Versailles
1789
Jeremy Bentham’s Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation
1790
Civil Constitution of the Clergy
1790
Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France
Note 
Flashcard (24)