history

The Wright brothers conducted their first powered flight in a 12-second, 120-foot flight on December 17, 1903.

Mass production techniques pioneered by Henry Ford reduced the time required to assemble a Model T from over 12 hours to about 90 minutes.

The Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494 divided newly discovered lands outside Europe between Portugal and Spain.

Spitfires played a crucial role in the Battle of Britain in 1940 against the German Luftwaffe.

The Marshall Plan provided financial aid to 16 European countries to rebuild after World War II.

Sweden's neutrality during World War II allowed it to avoid direct involvement in the conflict.

The Library of Alexandria in ancient Egypt was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world before its decline.

The Code of Hammurabi, dating to about 1754 BCE, is one of the earliest preserved written legal codes.

The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 in Beijing ended in a violent military crackdown on June 4.

The Long March of 1934 to 1935 was a strategic retreat by the Communist Red Army across China that solidified Mao Zedong's leadership.

Watergate refers to the political scandal that led to U.S. President Richard Nixon's resignation in August 1974.

The Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815, marked the final defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte.

The American Revolutionary War lasted from 1775 to 1783, ending with the Treaty of Paris.

The Opium Wars between China and Britain in the 19th century resulted in unequal treaties favoring Britain.

Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812 ended in disaster with massive losses to his Grande Armee.

The Glorious Revolution of 1688 in England replaced King James II with William III and Mary II.

The Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE saw the Athenians defeat the Persians, an iconic event in Greek history.

The Spanish Armada was decisively defeated by the English in 1588.

The Battle of Hastings in 1066 saw William the Conqueror defeat King Harold II, beginning Norman rule of England.

The Hundred Years' War saw the rise of professional armies and the decline of feudal cavalry warfare in Europe.

Hannibal Barca famously crossed the Alps with elephants during the Second Punic War.

The Crimean War, fought from 1853 to 1856, pitted Russia against an alliance of France, Britain, the Ottoman Empire, and Sardinia.

The Manhattan Project, the U.S. effort to develop nuclear weapons during World War II, was led scientifically by J. Robert Oppenheimer.

The Holocaust resulted in the murder of approximately six million Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II.

Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japan on December 7, 1941, prompting the United States to enter World War II.

The Battle of the Somme during World War I lasted from July to November 1916 and resulted in over a million casualties.

World War I was triggered by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary on June 28, 1914.

The Republic of Turkey was proclaimed on October 29, 1923, with Mustafa Kemal Ataturk as its first president.

The Russian Empire ended in 1917 with the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II during the February Revolution.

The Cultural Revolution in China lasted from 1966 to 1976, leading to widespread upheaval and persecution.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 2, 1964.

The Boxer Rebellion of 1899 to 1901 was an anti-foreign uprising in China suppressed by an eight-nation alliance.

The Boston Tea Party occurred on December 16, 1773, as a protest against British taxation of tea.

The Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage spanned three conflicts from 264 to 146 BCE.

The Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BCE pitted a small Greek force against the Persian army of Xerxes.

The Spanish Inquisition was established in 1478 and was not formally abolished until 1834.

The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 to 1920 infected about a third of the world's population and killed an estimated 50 million people.

Mahatma Gandhi launched the Salt March on March 12, 1930, as a nonviolent protest against British salt laws.

The Yalta Conference of February 1945 brought together Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin to plan the postwar world.

D-Day, the Allied invasion of Normandy during World War II, took place on June 6, 1944.

The Ottoman Empire was officially dissolved on November 1, 1922, with the abolition of the sultanate.

World War II in Europe ended on May 8, 1945, known as Victory in Europe Day.

The U.S. Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.

The Apollo 11 mission landed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the Moon on July 20, 1969.

The Treaty of Versailles, formally ending World War I between Germany and the Allied Powers, was signed on June 28, 1919.

Sweden has not been at war since 1814, making it one of the longest periods of peace by any nation.

The Roman Republic was established traditionally in 509 BCE and lasted until the establishment of the Roman Empire under Augustus in 27 BCE.

The Hundred Years' War between England and France lasted from 1337 to 1453.

Captain James Cook conducted three voyages of Pacific exploration between 1768 and 1779.

The U.S. Louisiana Purchase of 1803 doubled the size of the United States by acquiring territory from France.

The California Gold Rush, beginning in 1848 at Sutter's Mill, drew hundreds of thousands of people to California.

The Vietnam War formally ended with the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975.

Winston Churchill served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War II from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955.

Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to four terms as U.S. President, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945.

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster occurred on March 11, 2011, after a tsunami struck the plant on Japan's Pacific coast.

Queen Elizabeth I ruled England from 1558 to 1603, presiding over a period known as the Elizabethan era.

Genghis Khan unified the Mongol tribes in 1206 and led conquests across much of Eurasia.

King Henry VIII reigned over England from 1509 to 1547 and is famous for his six marriages and the English Reformation.

Joan of Arc was canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church in 1920.

Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by Nathuram Godse on January 30, 1948.

The Byzantine Empire, the eastern continuation of the Roman Empire, fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 with the conquest of Constantinople.

The Mughal Empire ruled much of South Asia from 1526 until its decline beginning in the early 18th century.

The Black Death, a plague pandemic, killed an estimated 75 to 200 million people in Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353.

The French Revolution began in 1789 with the storming of the Bastille on July 14.

The American Civil War took place between 1861 and 1865.

Slavery was abolished in the United States by the Thirteenth Amendment, ratified December 6, 1865.

Women's suffrage in the United States was secured by the Nineteenth Amendment, ratified August 18, 1920.

World War II lasted from 1939 to 1945 and was the deadliest conflict in human history.

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki occurred on August 6 and August 9, 1945.

The Cold War, a geopolitical rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union, lasted from approximately 1947 to 1991.

The Cuban Missile Crisis brought the world close to nuclear war in October 1962.

Apartheid in South Africa officially ended in 1994 with the country's first multiracial general election.

India and Pakistan gained independence from British rule on August 15 and August 14, 1947, respectively, with Partition.

China became a People's Republic on October 1, 1949, under Mao Zedong's leadership.

Vikings, originating in Scandinavia, raided and traded across Europe from approximately the late 8th to the 11th century.

Ancient Egypt's pharaohs ruled for about 3,000 years, ending with the Roman conquest in 30 BCE.

The Great Wall of China was built over many centuries by successive dynasties to defend against incursions from the north.

The Statue of Liberty was a gift from France to the United States, dedicated on October 28, 1886.

Stonehenge in England was built in several stages from approximately 3000 to 1500 BCE.

The Great Pyramid of Giza was built as a tomb for the pharaoh Khufu around 2560 BCE.

The Rosetta Stone, discovered in 1799, was key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs.

The Renaissance was a period of cultural and intellectual rebirth in Europe spanning roughly the 14th through 17th centuries.

The Enlightenment was an intellectual and philosophical movement of the 17th and 18th centuries emphasizing reason and individualism.

Mahatma Gandhi led India's independence movement and developed satyagraha, a philosophy of nonviolent resistance.

Anne Frank's diary, written during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, was first published in 1947.

The Great Schism of 1054 formally split Christianity into the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.

The Maya civilization developed in Mesoamerica with notable advancements in writing, mathematics, and astronomy.

The Aztec Empire dominated central Mexico from the 14th century until its conquest by Spanish forces in 1521.

The Soviet Union officially dissolved on December 26, 1991.

The Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989.

The Magna Carta was sealed by King John of England in June 1215.

The first powered, controlled flight by the Wright brothers occurred on December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

Mount Vesuvius in Italy famously erupted in 79 CE, burying the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Cleopatra VII, the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, died in 30 BCE.

Julius Caesar was assassinated by Roman senators on the Ides of March, March 15, 44 BCE.

Marie Antoinette was queen of France from 1774 until 1792 and was executed by guillotine in 1793.

The Suez Crisis of 1956 was a diplomatic and military confrontation involving Egypt, Israel, the United Kingdom, and France.

Nelson Mandela served as the first democratically elected president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.

Margaret Thatcher served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990.

The Marshall Plan, formally the European Recovery Program, provided over 13 billion dollars in U.S. aid to rebuild Western Europe after World War II.