100 PIVOTAL EVENTS OF WESTERN HISTORY

100 pivotal events of western history | biblical homeschooling at a little perspective

4004 BC

Creation of the world; Fall of Adam

2349 BC

Noah’s Flood

2242 BC

Tower of Babel dispersion, nations founded

1996 BC

Abram born in Ur of the Chaldaeans

1715 BC

Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dream and becomes the governor of Egypt at 30 years of age

1600 BC

Phoenician civilization established in Mediterranean

1491 BC

Exodus of Israel from Egypt; Ten Commandments given by God; Moses writes the Pentateuch

1184 BC

Trojan War between Myceneae and Troy; Fall of Troy

1048 BC

David begins reign in Jerusalem

1015 BC

Solomon builds Temple in Jerusalem

800 BC

Homer composes The Iliad and The Odyssey

753 BC

Romulus founds Rome on the Tiber River in Italy

586 BC

Nebuchadnezzar destroys the Temple and Jerusalem (Babylonian captivity dates from 606 BC with deportation of 10,000 Jews, including Daniel, to Babylon)

539 BC

Cyrus the Great issues decree to allow the Jews to return and rebuild the Temple and Jerusalem

509 BC

Rome becomes a Republic after the last of its kings is expelled

508 BC

Last Athenian tyrant overthrown; demokratia (rule by the people) begins in Athens

492-79 BC

The Greco-Persian War: Greece resists Persian conquest

330 BC

Alexander the Great conquers the Persian Empire

146 BC

Rome destroys Carthage, a Phoenician colony, ending Third Punic War

30 BC

Octavian (Caesar Augustus) defeats Mark Antony to become the first emperor of Rome

4-0 BC

Birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem of Judea

27-33 AD

Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ; outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Church

43 AD

Britain becomes a Roman province when Caractacus is defeated by Claudius

48 AD

Conversion of Saul; writes most of the New Testament epistles and establishes many churches

64 AD

Persecution of the Christians begins in the Roman Empire

70 AD

Jerusalem and the Temple destroyed following Jewish revolt; Jews scattered a second time

312-13

Emperor Constantine becomes a Christian; issues Edict of Milan to end Christian persecution

325

First Ecumenical Council adopts Nicene Creed defining orthodox Christian doctrine

330

Constantine founds Constantinople and moves the seat of the Roman Empire thither

426

Roman legions leave Britain to fight increasing barbarian invasions

432

Briton Patrick captured by Irish slavers; eventually evangelizes pagan Ireland

449

Briton chief Vortigern invites Anglo-Saxons to Britain to help fight the Picts

451

Attila the Hun defeated at the Battle of Chalôns in Gaul

476

Germans sack Rome and replace emperor with their king; Western Roman Empire ends

496

Clovis, king of the Franks in Gaul, converts to Christianity

622

Flight of the Prophet (Mohammed) from Mecca to Medina

711

Visigothic kingdom of Spain falls to the Mohammedans

732

Charles the Hammer defeats the Mohammedans at Tours / Poitiers in France

800

Charlemagne crowned in Rome on Christmas Day; Holy Roman Empire established

843

Treaty of Verdun divides Charlemagne’s Empire into Germany, Italy, and France

911

Charles the Simple gives Normandy to Rollo the Viking in exchange for peace

1066

Norman Duke William defeats Saxon Harold at Hastings; Norman rule of Saxon England begins

1077

Palestine falls to the Turks; persecution of Christian pilgrims sparks two centuries of Crusades

1166

Assize of Clarendon re-establishes trial by jury in England

1202

Fibonacci publishes Liber Abaci: popularizes Arabic numbers, concept of zero in Europe

1215

John Lackland signs the Magna Charta under duress at Runnymede

1241

Death of the Great Khan arrests Mongol invasion of Europe

1248

English scientist Roger Bacon publishes formula for gunpowder, invented by Chinese

1295

Marco Polo returns from China; introduces idea of paper, paper money, coal, post riders, wealth of the East

1337-1453

Hundred Years’ War between England and France

1382

Wycliffe finishes his English translation of the Bible

1440-55

Johann Gutenberg invents and perfects printing press using moveable metal type

1453

Turks conquer Constantinople; end Roman Empire of the East; establish Ottoman Empire

1492

Ferdinand and Isabella drive the last Moors (Muslims) from Spain

1492

October 12: Columbus lands on American soil in the West Indies

1498

Vasco da Gama rounds Cape of Good Hope and reaches India by sea for Portugal

1517

October 31: Martin Luther posts 95 Theses on Wittenberg chapel door

1519-22

Ferdinand Magellan circumnavigates the globe

1534

Act of Supremacy recognizes king rather than pope as head of the church of England

1543

Copernicus publishes the heliocentric theory of the solar system

1555

Peace of Augsburg allows Lutherans to be recognized in the Holy Roman Empire

1568-1609

The Netherlands (Protestant) successfully revolt against Spanish (Catholic) rule

1588

English navy under Sir Francis Drake defeats the Spanish Armada

1598

Edict of Nantes grants Huguenots (French Protestants) religious toleration

1607

First permanent English settlement in the United States established at Jamestown, Virginia

1611

Publication of new English translation of the Bible: King James Version

1620

December 21: English Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock; sign Mayflower Compact

1648

Peace of Westphalia ends Thirty Years’ War, separates church from state in Germany, allows Protestant worship

1687

Isaac Newton publishes Principia Mathematica, which revolutionized physics, mathematics, and scientific investigation

1769

James Watt improves the steam engine so as to make its use practical

1776

July 4: The First Continental Congress signs the Declaration of Independence

1786

Thomas Jefferson writes Virginia Act For Establishing Religious Freedom, unique in history

1787, 1791

U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights ratified and adopted

1789

Fall of the Bastille in Paris heralds the beginning of the French Revolution, violent overthrow of medieval order in Europe

1804

Napoleon takes the Imperial crown from the pope and crowns himself at Notre Dame in Paris as a direct re-creation yet repudiation of the crowning of Charlemagne 1000 years earlier; Holy Roman Empire dissolved in 1806

1815

Napoleon defeated at the Battle of Waterloo; Napoleonic Empire ends

1848

Year of Revolutions in Europe; Communist Manifesto published by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

1859

Charles Darwin publishes On Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life

1865

May 25: First Memorial Day marks end of Civil War, Reconstruction legislation grants freedom, citizenship, equal protection and due process to former slaves

1870

Italian Unification: Kingdom of Italy annexes the Papal States and deprives the Pope of all temporal power; Rome becomes the capital of Italy

1876, 1878

Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison invent telephone and electric incandescent light bulb

1895-98

Conclusion of Spanish-American war establishes the United States as a world power

1902

Wright brothers make first successful airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

1914

June 28: Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo, sparking World War I

1915

Einstein publishes General Theory of Relativity

1917

Russian Revolution establishes first modern Communist state

1918

November 11: Armistice signed ending World War I, Ottoman Empire dissolved

1938

Otto Hahn first splits the atom, receives the Nobel prize

1939

September 1: Germany invades Poland, sparking World War II

1941

December 7: Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, draws U.S. into World War II

1945

May 8: VE Day – Germans surrender unconditionally to Allies

1945

August 6, 9: U.S. drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan

1945

August 15: VJ Day – Japanese surrender unconditionally to Allies

1945

October 24: United Nations established with 50 member nations

1947

ENIAC, first high speed electronic computer, put into operation by the U.S. Army

1948

Modern state of Israel is created to give Jews persecuted by the Holocaust a homeland

1969

First man, American Neil Armstrong, lands on the moon

1973

U.S. Defense Dept. initiates development of what becomes the Internet

1991

Disintegration of Soviet Union and end of Cold War

2001

September 11: Islamic fanatics attack New York, Washington DC; sparks War on Terrorism

2 thoughts on “100 PIVOTAL EVENTS OF WESTERN HISTORY

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