date list

1450 - Height of the Italian Renaissance and invention of the printing press

1517 - Martin Luther posts the 95 Theses on the door of the church in Wittenberg

1555 - Peace of Augsburg - Holy Roman Emperor Charles V allows princes in the German states to choose between Catholicism or Lutheranism. “Whose realm, His Religion”

1588 - Spanish Armada invasion - Phillip II of Spain sends his armada against Elizabeth I of England. English defeated the Spanish.

1603 - Death of Elizabeth I - Change from Tudor to Stuart Monarchy

1648 - Peace of Westphalia - Ends the Thirty Years War

1687 - Isaac Newton writes Principia Mathematica

1688 - Glorious Revolution - Bloodless transition of power from James II to his daughter Mary II and her husband William of Orange. Shows supremacy of Parliament

1715 - Death of Louis XIV (longest reigning monarch 72 years)

1759 - Voltaire writes Candide (Enlightenment is in 18th century)

1789 - Start of French Revolution

1815 - The Congress of Vienna

1848 Years of Revolutions/Karl Marx writes the Communist Manifesto

1870/1871 Italian/German Unification

1884-5 Berlin Conference

1914-1918 WWI