A Highly Abbreviated History of Europe:
1000 to 2000
- 1054 -- schism between Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox branches
of the church
- 1066 -- the battle of Hastings: William of Normandy conquers England
- 1085 -- the conquest of Toledo (El Cid)
- 1096-1099 -- the first Crusade
- 1130 -- Roger II of Sicily (a Norman) consolidates southern Italy
- 1147-1149 -- the second Crusade
- 1169 -- England invades Ireland
- 1189-1192 -- the third Crusade
- 1202-1204 -- the fourth Crusade; the Eastern Roman Empire collapses
- 1209-1229 -- Albigensian religious wars in southern France
- 1215 -- King John signs the Magna Carta
- 1228-1229 -- the fifth Crusade
- 1231 -- the Inquisition begins
- 1245 -- the Mongols dominate Russia (until 1480!)
- 1248-1254 -- the sixth Crusade
- 1270 -- the seventh Crusade
- 1290 -- the Jews expelled from England
- 1306 -- the Jews expelled from France
- 1327 -- the 100 Years War between England and France begins
- 1347-1354 -- the Black Death (1/4 to 1/3 of population dead in areas
affected)
- 1378-1417 -- the Great Schism: popes in Rome and Avignon
- 1389 -- the Battle of Kosovo: Serbs defeated by Turks
- 1419 -- Hussite religious uprisings in Bohemia presage the reformation
- 1429 -- the Siege of Orléans (led by Jeanne d’Arc) turns the
tide for France
- 1453 -- the 100 Years War ends; France becomes a nation at
last
- 1453 -- Constantinople falls to the Turks
- 1455-1485 -- the Wars of the Roses in England; Lancaster eventually
wins over York
- 1479 -- the union of Castile and Aragon (Ferdinand and Isabela)
- 1481 -- the renewal of the Inquisition in Spain (Torquemada)
- 1492 -- the conquest of Granada
- 1492 -- Columbus establishes first Spanish foothold in the Americas
- 1517 -- Luther posts his 95 Theses against the Church
- 1525 -- the Great Peasant War: first Protestant rebellion in
Germany
- 1533 -- Ivan the Terrible consolidates Russia
- 1534 -- establishment of Anglican Church (Henry VIII)
- 1562-1598 -- the Huguenot religious wars in France
- 1572 -- the Massacre of St. Bartholomew (20,000 Huguenots killed)
- 1568-1648 -- the Dutch War of Independence from Spain
- 1588 -- the destruction of Spain’s Great Armada
- 1598 -- the Edict of Nantes ends the Huguenot wars: tolerance in
France
- 1618-1648 -- the 30 Years War: Protestant and Catholic states vie
for control of Germany
- 1648 -- the Peace of the Hague ends Dutch War of Independence
- 1648 -- the Peace of Westphalia ends 30 Years War (1/3 of German
population dead)
- 1642-1648 -- the English Civil War
- 1649 -- English confiscation of all Irish landed property
- 1649-1660 -- the English Commonwealth
- 1683 -- the Siege of Vienna: beginning of the end of the Ottoman
threat to Europe
- 1685 -- the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes: 1/2 million Huguenots
flee France
- 1688 -- the bloodless "Glorious Revolution" in England establishes
a constitutional monarchy
- 1689 -- the Declaration of Rights
- 1701-1713 -- War of the Spanish Succession: France against all for
power over Spain (the first "world" war)
- 1707 -- the union of Scotland and England into the United Kingdom
- 1713 -- the Peace of Utrecht: "the Grand Alliance" picks apart
Spanish holdings in Europe
- 1756-1763 -- the Seven Years War: Great Britain and Prussia against
France, Austria, and Russia (includes the French and Indian War in North
America)
- 1763 -- the Peace of Hubertusburg: Prussia comes into its own
- 1772-1795 -- the partition of Poland (between Prussia, Russia, and
Austria)
- 1776 -- British colonials declare independence: the American
Revolution
- 1789-1792 -- the French Revolution
- 1793-1794 -- the Reign of Terror in France; the guillotine
gets heavy use
- 1799-1815 -- the Napoleonic Wars: France against all
- 1804 -- Napoleon crowns himself Emperor
- 1815 -- Napolean defeated at the Battle of Waterloo; the Peace of
Paris ends the Napoleonic Wars; the Congress of Vienna firms up the
European Monarchies
- 1834 -- the German Customs Union: major step to German unification
- 1861 -- Victor Emmanuel II becomes King of a united Italy
- 1861 -- the abolition of serfdom in Russia for 40 million serfs (compare:
4 million slaves emancipated in US during the American Civil War)
- 1870 -- the Dogma of Papal Infallibility announced
- 1870-1871 -- the Franco-Prussian War
- 1871 -- Foundation of the German Reich (with Prussia in the driver's
seat)
- 1914 -- World War I begins: Austria-Hungary declares war on
Serbia after the assasination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand in Sarajevo;
Russia backs Serbia; Germany honors alliance with Austria-Hungary
and declares war on France when it refuses neutrality and honors its
alliance with Russia; Germany invades Belgium and Great Britain
steps in
- 1917 -- the Russian Revolution
- 1917 -- the US enters the war
- 1918 -- Armistice is declared
- 1919 -- the Treaty of Versailles: breakup of Austrian-Hungarian Empire
and severe punishment of Germany
- 1922 -- fascist Mussolini granted unrestricted power in Italy
- 1922 -- Irish Free State established
- 1929 -- Stalin establishes totalitarian rule in Soviet Union
- 1929 -- collapse of the New York Stock Market -- depression follows
next year in Europe
- 1933 -- Hitler sworn in as Chancellor: basic civil rights suspended
"to protect the German people"
- 1936-1939 -- the Spanish Civil War: fascist Franco wins
- 1938 -- Austrians choose to become a part of Germany
- 1939 -- World War II begins: Germany takes over Czechoslovakia
and proceeds to invade Poland; Britain and France declare war on Germany;
Russia takes eastern Poland and invades Finland
- 1940 -- Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, and Belgium; by June, Paris
has fallen; Italy joins Germany
- 1941 -- Germany invades Russia without warning; Japan atacks
Pearl Harbor; US and Russia enter war against Germany, Italy, Japan,
and their allies
- 1942 -- systematic extermination of Jews and other "undesirables"
begins
- 1943 -- Italy falls to the allies
- 1944 -- Operation Overlord, the invasion at Normandy, begins
- 1945 -- Germany surrenders; Hitler commits suicide; US drops atomic
bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima; Japan surrenders; World War II
cost over 55 million lives
- 1945 -- the UN is established; the "Cold War" between the US and
its alllies and the USSR and its satellites, begins
- 1946 -- India becomes independent; French, British, and other empires
begin to disintegrate
- 1948 -- the state of Israel declared, despite strong Arab opposition
- 1956 -- the Hungarian revolution squashed by Russian troops
- 1957 -- the European Economic Union ("the Common Market") established
- 1961 -- the Berlin wall erected
- 1962 -- the Cuban missile crisis: we come very, very close
to World War III -- and a nuclear one at that!
- 1989 -- the Berlin wall comes down; Germany is reunited
- 1991 -- Mikhail Gorbachev order the dismantling of the Soviet Union;
the Cold War ends