4000 BC |
Creation of the world; Fall of Adam |
2350 BC |
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2250 BC |
Tower of Babel dispersion, nations founded |
2000 BC |
Abram born in Ur of the Chaldaeans |
1700 BC |
Hammurabi of Babylon writes law code |
1600 BC |
Phoenician civilization established in Mediterranean; invention of Phoenician alphabet |
1450 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 |
960 BC |
Solomon builds Temple in Jerusalem |
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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, ending Third Punic War |
30 BC |
Octavian (Caesar Augustus) defeats Mark Antony to become the first emperor of Rome |
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2 BC |
Birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem of Judea |
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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
U.S. Constitution ratified and adopted |
1791 |
Bill of Rights ratified and adopted, encoding 10 basic rights of free citizens |
1798 |
Eli Whitney establishes first profitable system of mass production |
1815 |
Napoleon defeated at the Battle of Waterloo; Napoleonic Empire and Holy Roman Empire ends |
1838 |
Samuel F. B. Morse invents Morse code for use with his improved single-wire telegraph |
1865 |
May 25: First Memorial Day marks end of Civil War, Reconstruction legislation grants freedom, citizenship, equal protection and due process to former slaves |
1867 |
German engineer Nikolaus August Otto develops the internal combustion engine |
1876 |
Alexander Graham Bell receives patent for telephone |
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1878 |
Thomas Edison invents first electric incandescent light bulb |
1895 |
Italian Guglielmo Marconi transmits first wireless audio signal; foundation for radio |
1902 |
Wright brothers make first successful airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina |
1917 |
Russian Revolution establishes first modern Communist state |
1914 |
June 28: Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo, sparking World War I |
1915 |
Einstein publishes General Theory of Relativity |
1918 |
November 11: Armistice signed ending World War I |
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 |
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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 |
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Classical Christian Education Support Loop: 100 Pivotal Events of Western History
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This page last revised January 2003
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