Some Significant Dates in Modern European History

1453 C.E.

Fall of Constantinople

1492

Christopher Columbus sails to the 'New World'; Jews expelled from Spain

1517

Reformation begins in Germany

1543

Nicolaus Copernicus writes his On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres

1555

Peace of Augsburg signed, which ended the Schmalkaldic Wars

1563

End of the RCC Council of Trent, which had begun in 1545

1588

The Spanish Armada

1598

Edict of Nantes issued

1603

End of the Tudor dynasty in England

1609

End of the Dutch Protestant Revolt in the Spanish Netherlands

1613

Start of Romanov dynasty in Russia

1618

Beginning of 30 Years' War

1642

Start of English Civil War

1643

Start of Louis XIV's 72-year reign

1648

Treaty of Westphalia; start of the Fronde in France

1685

Edict of Fontainebleau issued, revoking the Edict of Nantes

1687

Isaac Newton's Principia published

1688

Glorious Revolution in England

1713

Treaty of Utrecht signed, ending the War of the Spanish Succession

1714

Beginning of Hanover dynasty in England

1725

Death of the 'westernizer', Peter the Great

1740

Reign of Frederick the Great of Prussia begins [until 1786]

1751

Denis Diderot publishes the first volume of The Encyclopedia

1763

End of the Seven Years' War by the Treaty of Paris

1774

James Watts' steam engine

1776

Adam Smith publishes his The Wealth of Nations

1789

French Revolution

1791

Declaration of Pillnitz issued

1792

Mary Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of Woman

1792

France declared a republic by the National Convention [First of 5]

1796

Catherine the Great of Russia dies

1799

Napoleon as First Consul

1804

Emperor Napoleon I

1807

Slavery abolished in Great Britain

1814

Congress of Vienna meets and starts re-drawing a post-Napoleonic Europe

1815

Battle of Waterloo

1821

Greek revolt starts

1824

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony

1830

Revolutions sweep Europe...'when France sneezes...'

1840

Birth of the Impressionist Claude Monet

1846

Repeal of Corn Laws in England (tariffs on corn)

1848

Revolutions sweep Europe; Second Republic of France established

1848

Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto; Great Hunger begins in Ireland

1851

Great Exhibition in Britain at Crystal Palace

1856

End of Crimean War

1859

Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species

1861

Alexander II of Russia emancipated the serfs

1865

William Booth founds the Salvation Army

1867

Ausgleich issued, which created the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary

1870

Italian unification

1871

German unification; victory over France in the Franco-Prussian War

1875

Third Republic of France (after Paris Commune crushed)

1878

Development of the internal combustion engine

1878

Congress of Berlin

1882

Aletta Jacob establishes first birth control clinic in Amsterdam

1882

Triple Alliance formed

1888

George Eastman introduces first mass market camera

1890

Otto von Bismarck fired as Chancellor by Kaiser Wilhelm II

1895

Start of Dreyfus Affair

1896

Maria Montessori receives M.D. in Italy

1897

First Zionist Congress meets in Switzerland

1900

Sigmund Freud's Interpretation of Dreams

1901

Marconi sends first radio waves across Atlantic Ocean

1901

Death of English Queen Victoria

1904

Triple Entente formed

1905

Albert Einstein publishes his special theory of relativity

1905

Revolution of 1905 in Russia in wake of Russo-Japanese War

1914

Beginning of the Great War; ended with peace treaties signed in 1919

1917

Russian Revolution under Vladimir Lenin

1918

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ends Russian involvement in WWI

1919

Treaty of Versailles

1921

Republic of Ireland (26 southern counties) gains independence from the UK

1921

New Economic Policy Begins

1922

Mussolini made Prime Minister of Italy

1923

Beer Hall Putsch of Adolf Hitler a failure

1927

Werner Heisenberg's 'uncertainty principle'

1928

Kellogg-Briand Pact

1929

Crash of the American stock exchange

1929

Lateran Accords recognized the sovereign independence of Vatican City

1929

Stalinist Era begins

1931

Salvador Dali's The Persistence of Memory

1933

Hitler made chancellor of Germany

1935

Nuremberg Laws

1936

Beginning of Stalinist purges

1936

Start of Spanish Civil War

1938

Kristallnacht

1938

Munich Conference

1939

German-Soviet non-aggression pact

1939

Start of WWII...ends in 1945

1941

Bombing of Pearl Harbor

1942

Wannsee Conference...creation of the 'final solution'

1944

D-Day (June 6)

1945

Yalta and Potsdam conferences

1946

Winston Churchill calls Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe an 'Iron Curtain'

1946

Welfare state emerges in Great Britain

1947

Truman Doctrine enunciated

1947

Marshall Plan established

1947

Start of decolonization, especially in Africa and Asia

1948

Berlin airlift

1949

Formation of NATO