timelines

Industrial Revolution

A period beginning in the 1800s marked by a transition to new manufacturing processes in Britain.

New Imperialism

A phase of colonial expansion by European powers, particularly in Africa, during the late 19th century.

Sepoy Rebellion

A revolt in 1857 against British rule in India that lasted until 1947.

Opium Wars

Conflicts between Britain and China during the mid-19th century over trade imbalances and the opium trade.

Boxer Rebellion

An anti-foreigner uprising in China that occurred in 1899-1901.

Berlin Conference

A meeting in 1884 where European powers divided Africa among themselves without consideration for indigenous cultures.

World War I

A global war originating in Europe that lasted from 1914 to 1918.

Treaty of Versailles

The peace treaty that ended World War I in 1919.

Russian Revolution

A series of revolutions in 1917 leading to the rise of the Soviet Union.

Stalin's Rule

An era marked by Five-Year Plans, collectivization, and purges in the 1920s-1930s in the USSR.

Holodomor

A man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933.

Rise of Nazism

The emergence of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Germany during the 1930s.

Nuremberg Laws

Antisemitic laws implemented in 1935 that stripped Jews of civil rights.

Rape of Nanjing

A brutal conquest of Nanjing by Japanese forces during the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937.

Kristallnacht

A pogrom against Jews in Nazi Germany that occurred on November 9-10, 1938.

German Invasion of Poland

The military invasion by Germany on September 1, 1939, marking the start of World War II in Europe.

Wannsee Conference

A 1942 meeting of senior Nazi officials to plan the final solution for the Jewish question.

Battle of Stalingrad

A major turning point in World War II, fought between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

Decolonization

The process through which colonies gained independence from colonial powers, primarily after 1945.

UN Declaration of Human Rights

An international document adopted by the United Nations in 1948 outlining fundamental human rights.

Apartheid

A system of institutionalized racial segregation in South Africa established in 1948.

Chinese Communist Revolution

The revolution that resulted in the establishment of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949.

Cold War

A period of political tension and military rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union from 1945 to 1991.

Korean War

A conflict between North Korea and South Korea from 1950 to 1953.

Great Leap Forward

A social and economic campaign initiated by the Chinese Communist Party from 1958 to 1962 aimed at rapidly transforming China from an agrarian society to a socialist society.

Cultural Revolution

A sociopolitical movement in China from 1966 to 1976 initiated by Mao Zedong.

Six-Day War

A brief war fought between Israel and its neighboring states in June 1967.

Tiananmen Square protests

A series of student-led protests in Beijing in 1989 advocating for democracy and reform.

Berlin Wall falls

The event in November 1989 symbolizing the end of the Cold War and the division between East and West Germany.

Rwandan Genocide

The mass slaughter of the Tutsi minority by the Hutu majority in Rwanda in 1994.

Apartheid ends in South Africa

The official ending of the system of racial segregation in South Africa in 1994 with the election of Nelson Mandela.