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14th century |
- 1309-1377-The Papacy is at Avignon.
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- 1314-At the Battle of Bannockburn, Scotland regains independence
under Robert the Bruce.
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- 1325-The Renaissance begins in Italy.
- Muslim culture in Spain reaches its peak.
- The small cannon is in use.
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- 1331-Nicaea falls to the Ottomans.
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- 1337-1453-During the Hundred Years'
War, English and French kings fight for control of France.
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- 1340-Edward III, King of England assumes the French crown.
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- 1347-1351-At least 25 million people die in Europe's “Black
Death” (bubonic plague). The Plague reaches Genoa from Crimea.
- Calais is sieged and captured by Edward III.
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- 1353-Boccaccio’s Decameron is written.
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- 1354-Turks invade Gallipoli.
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- 1358-Peasants rise up in France.
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- 1360-Edward III renounces the French crown.
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- 1361-The second wave of the Plague.
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- c1370-1444-Life of Leonardo Bruni.
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- 1376-1382-John Wycliffe, pre-Reformation
religious reformer, and followers translate the Bible from Latin
into English.
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- 1377-1446-Life of Filippo Brunelleschi.
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- 1378-1455-Life of Lorenzo Ghiberti.
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- 1378-1417-The Great Schism has rival
popes in Rome and Avignon fighting for control of the Roman
Catholic Church. The papacy returns to Rome later that year
from Avignon.
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- 1386-1466-Life of Donatello.
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- c1387-Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
is written.
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- 1395-1441-Life of Jan van Eyck.
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- 1397-Norway, Denmark and Sweden are united by the Union of
Kalmar.
- Medici bank is founded.
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- 1397-1475-Life of Paolo Uccello.
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| 15th
century |
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- 1404-The University of Turin is founded.
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- 1406-Florence conquers Pisa.
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- 1407-Casa di San Giorgio, one of the
first public banks, is founded in Genoa.
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- 1409-The University of Leipzig is founded.
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- 1412-31-Life of Joan of Arc.
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- 1415-Henry V defeats the French at
the Battle of Agincourt. Jan Hus, Bohemian preacher and follower
of Wycliffe, is burned at the stake in Constance as a heretic.
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- 1418-1460-Portugal's Prince Henry
the Navigator sponsors exploration of Africa's coast.
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- 1420-Brunelleschi begins work on the
Duomo in Florence.
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- 1428-Joan of Arc leads the French
against the English, is captured by the Burgundians (1430)
and turned over to the English, and burned at the stake as a
witch after an ecclesiastical trial (1431).
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- 1434-Cosimo de Medici begins his 30-year domination of Florence.
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- 1435-1488-Life of Andrea del Verrocchio.
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- 1442-Naples and Sicily come under the rule of the Spanish
House of Aragon.
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- c1444-1510-Life of Sandro Botticelli.
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- 1444-1514-Life of Donato Bramante.
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- 1447-The Vatican Library is founded.
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- c1450-Gutenberg invents the moveable type printing press.
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- 1450-Florence becomes the center of
Renaissance arts and learning under the Medicis.
- Francesco Sforza conquers Milan.
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- 1452-1519-Life of Leonardo da Vinci.
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- 1453-Constantinople falls to the Turks, under Mehmed II, ending
the Byzantine Empire and beginning the Ottoman Empire.
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- 1455-The Wars of the Roses, civil
wars between rival noble factions, begin in England (to 1485).
- Johann Gutenberg completes first printed Bible.
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- 1456-Ottoman Turks capture Athens.
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- 1462-The Platonic Academy is founded. Ivan the Great rules
Russia until 1505 as the first czar
and ends payment of tribute to the Mongols.
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- 1463-Venice begins a 16-year war with the Turks.
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- 1469-1522-Life of Nicolo Machiavelli.
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- 1471-The University of Genoa is founded.
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- 1473-1543-Life of Nicolaus Copernicus.
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- 1475-1564-Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti.
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- 1478-Pope Sixtus IV authorizes the Spanish Inquisition.
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- 1479-Venice is defeated by the Turks.
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- 1483-1520-Life of Raphael.
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- c1488-1576-Life of Titian.
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- 1492-The troops of Ferdinand and Isabella
conquer the Moors in Spain.
- Columbus becomes the first European to encounter the Caribbean
islands, and returns to Spain (1493).
His second voyage is to Dominica, Jamaica, Puerto Rico (1493-1496).
His third voyage is to Orinoco (1498).
His fourth voyage is to Honduras and Panama (1502-1504).
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- 1494-Charles VIII invades Italy; Medici is driven from Florence.
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- 1494-1534-Life of Corregio.
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- 1497-Vasco da Gama sails around Africa
and discovers a sea route to India (1498).
He establishes a Portuguese colony in India (1502).
John Cabot, employed by England, reaches and explores the Canadian
coast.
- Michelangelo sculpts the Bacchus.
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| 16th
century |
- 1503-1566-Life of Nostradamus.
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- c1503-Leonardo da Vinci paints the
Mona Lisa.
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- 1504-Spain conquers the Kingdom of Naples. Michelangelo sculpts
the David.
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- 1506-1626-St. Peter's Church in Rome
is constructed, designed and decorated by such artists and architects
as Bramante, Michelangelo, da Vinci, Raphael, and Bernini.
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- 1509-Michelangelo paints the ceiling
of the Sistine Chapel.
- Erasmus’ Praise of Folly is written.
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- 1512-Medici power is restored in Florence.
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- 1513-Balboa becomes the first European
to encounter the Pacific Ocean.
- Machiavelli writes The Prince.
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- 1515-Sir Thomas More writes Utopia.
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- 1517-Martin Luther posts his 95 theses
denouncing church abuses in Wittenberg, starting the Reformation
in Germany.
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- 1519-Ulrich Zwingli begins the Reformation
in Switzerland.
- Hernando Cortes conquers Mexico for Spain.
- Charles I of Spain is chosen as Holy Roman Emperor.
- Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sets out to circumnavigate
the globe.
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- 1520-Luther is excommunicated by Pope
Leo X. Suleiman I (“the Magnificent”) becomes Sultan of Turkey,
invades Hungary (1521), Rhodes (1522),
attacks Austria (1529), annexes Hungary
(1541), Tripoli (1551), makes peace
with Persia (1553), destroys Spanish
fleet (1560), dies (1566). Magellan reaches
the Pacific and is killed by Philippine natives (1521).
One of his ships under Juan Sebastián del Cano continues around
the world and reaches Spain (1522).
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- 1522-Magellan’s ship returns from circumnavigation of the
globe.
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- 1527-Troops of the Holy Roman Empire
attack Rome, imprison Pope Clement VII, ending the Italian Renaissance.
- Castiglione writes The Courtier.
- The Medici family is expelled from Florence.
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- 1532-Machiavelli's The Prince is published posthumously.
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- 1535-Reformation begins as Henry VIII
makes himself head of English Church after being excommunicated
by the pope. Sir Thomas More is executed as a traitor for his
refusal to acknowledge the king's religious authority.
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- 1536-Henry VIII executes his second
wife, Anne Boleyn.
- John Calvin establishes the Reformed and Presbyterian forms
of Protestantism in Switzerland and writes his Institutes
of the Christian Religion.
- Danish and Norwegian Reformations take place.
- Michelangelo completes his Last Judgment.
- -Guicciardini writes
The History of Italy.
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- 1541-John Knox leads the Reformation
in Scotland and establishes the Presbyterian church there (1560).
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- 1543- On the Revolution of Heavenly
Bodies by Polish scholar
Nicolaus Copernicus is published, giving his theory that the
earth revolves around the sun.
- Vesalius writes The Fabric of the Human Body.
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- 1545-The Council of Trent meets intermittently
until 1563 to define Catholic dogma
and doctrine and reiterate papal authority.
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- 1547-Ivan IV (“the Terrible”) is crowned
as czar of Russia, begins the conquest of Astrakhan and Kazan
(1552), battles nobles (boyars) for power (1564),
kills his son (1580), dies, and is succeeded
by his son, Fyodor I.
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- 1553-Roman Catholicism is restored
in England by Queen Mary I.
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- 1548-The University of Messina is founded.
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- 1556-Akbar the Great becomes Mogul
emperor of India, conquers Afghanistan (1581),
and continues wars of conquest (until 1605).
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- 1558-Queen Elizabeth I restores Protestantism
and establishes the state Church of England (Anglicanism).
- The Renaissance will reach its height in England—Shakespeare,
Marlowe, Spenser.
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- 1561-The Edict of Orleans attempts
to end persecution of the Huguenots in France. French religious
wars begin again with the massacre of Huguenots at Vassy. At
the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, thousands of Huguenots are
murdered (1572). Amnesty is granted
(1573). Persecution continues periodically
until the Edict of Nantes (1598) gives
Huguenots religious freedom (until 1685).
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- 1568-Protestant Netherlands revolts
against Catholic Spain; independence will be acknowledged by
Spain in 1648.
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- 1570-Queen Elizabeth I is excommunicated
by the pope.
- Turks attack Cyprus and war on Venice. The Turkish fleet is
defeated at the Battle of Lepanto by Spanish and Italian fleets
(1571). Peace of Constantinople (1572)
ends Turkish attacks on Europe.
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- 1580-Francis Drake returns to England
after circumnavigating the globe and is knighted by Queen Elizabeth
I (1581).
- Montaigne's Essays
are published.
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- 1582-Pope Gregory XIII implements
the Gregorian calendar.
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- 1583-William of Orange rules the Netherlands;
he is assassinated on orders of Philip II of Spain (1584).
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- 1587-Mary, Queen of Scots, is executed
for treason by order of Queen Elizabeth I.
- Monteverdi composes the First Book of Madrigals.
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- 1588-The Spanish Armada is defeated
by the English.
- Henry, King of Navarre and Protestant leader, is recognized
as Henry IV, first Bourbon king of France. He converts to Roman
Catholicism in 1593 in attempt to end
religious wars.
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- 1590-Henry IV enters Paris, wars on
Spain (1595), marries Marie de Medici
(1600), and is assassinated (1610).
- Spenser writes The Faerie Queen.
- El Greco paints St. Jerome.
- Galileo experiments with falling objects.
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- 1598-Boris Godunov becomes the Russian
czar.
- Tycho Brahe describes his astronomical experiments.
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| 17th
century |
- 1600-Giordano Bruno is burned as a
heretic.
- The English East India Company established.
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- 1603-Shakespeare writes Hamlet.
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- 1605-Cervantes writes Don Quixote
de la Mancha, the first
modern novel.
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- 1609-The Relation, the first newspaper, debuts in Germany.
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- 1610-Galileo sees the moons of Jupiter
through his telescope.
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- 1611-Gustavus Adolphus is elected
King of Sweden.
- The King James Version of the Bible published in England.
- Rubens paints his Descent from the Cross.
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- 1614-John Napier discovers logarithms.
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- 1618-The Thirty Years' War begins
as Protestants revolt against Catholic oppression; Denmark,
Sweden, and France will invade Germany in later phases of the
war.
- Kepler proposes the last of the three laws of planetary motion.
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- 1633-The inquisition forces Galileo
to recant his belief in Copernican theory.
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- 1642-The English Civil War begins,
pitting the Cavaliers, supporters of Charles I, against the
Roundheads, parliamentary forces. Oliver Cromwell defeats the
Royalists (1646). Parliament demands
reforms. Charles I offers concessions, is brought to trial (1648)
and beheaded (1649). Cromwell becomes
Lord Protector (1653).
- Rembrandt paints his Night Watch.
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- 1644-Descartes writes his Principles
of Philosophy.
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- 1648-The Thirty Years' War ends with
the German population about half of what it was in 1618
because of war and pestilence.
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- 1660-English Parliament calls for
the restoration of the monarchy and invites Charles II to return
from France.
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- 1661-Charles II is crowned King of
England. Louis XIV begins his personal rule as absolute monarch
and starts to build Versailles.
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- 1664-The English limit “Nonconformity”
with the reestablished Anglican Church.
- Isaac Newton experiments with gravity.
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- 1665-The Great Plague in London kills
75,000.
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- 1666-The Great Fire of London. Molière
writes Misanthrope.
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- 1667-Milton writes Paradise Lost,
widely considered the greatest epic poem in English.
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- 1683-The war of European powers against
the Turks (to 1699) begins. Vienna withstands
a three-month Turkish siege at the high point of Turkish advance
in Europe.
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- 1684-Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz's calculus
is published.
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- 1687-James II calls for freedom of
conscience. Protestants fear the restoration
of Catholicism and demand a “Glorious Revolution.” William of
Orange is invited to England and James II escapes to France
(1688). William III and his wife, Mary,
are crowned.
- In France, the Edict of Nantes of 1598,
granting freedom of worship to Huguenots, is revoked by Louis
XIV, forcing thousands of Protestants to flee.
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- 1689-Peter the Great becomes Czar
of Russia and attempts to westernize the nation and build Russia
as a military power. He defeats Charles XII of Sweden at Poltava
(1709).
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- 1690-William III of England defeats
the former king James II and Irish rebels at the Battle of the
Boyne in Ireland.
- John Locke writes Human Understanding.
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| 18th
century |
- 1701-The War of the Spanish Succession
begins, the last of Louis XIV's wars for domination of the continent.
The Peace of Utrecht (1714) will end
the conflict and mark the rise of the British Empire. Called
Queen Anne's War in the colonies, it ends with the British taking
New Foundland, Acadia, and the Hudson's Bay Territory from France,
and Gibraltar and Minorca from Spain.
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- 1704-Bach writes his first cantata.
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- 1707-The United Kingdom of Great Britain
is formed, as England, Wales, and Scotland are joined by the
parliamentary Act of Union.
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- 1729-Bach writes the St. Matthew
Passion.
- Isaac Newton's Principia is translated from Latin into English.
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- 1740-Captain Vitus Bering, a Dane
employed by Russia, discovers Alaska.
- Frederick II “the Great” is crowned king of Prussia.
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- 1746-The British defeat the Scots
under the Stuart Pretender, Prince Charles, at Culloden Moor,
the last battle fought on British soil.
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- 1751-Publication of the Encyclopédie, the “bible” of the Enlightenment, begins in France.
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- 1755-Samuel Johnson's Dictionary is first published.
- A great earthquake in Lisbon, Portugal kills over 60,000.
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- 1757-The British Empire in India begins,
as Robert Clive, British commander, defeats Nawab of Bengal
at Plassey.
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- 1759-Voltaire writes Candide.
- Haydn composes Symphony No. 1.
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- 1762-Catherine II (“the Great”) becomes
the czarina of Russia.
- Jean Jacques Rousseau writes his Social Contract.
- Mozart tours Europe as a six-year-old prodigy.
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- 1765-James Watt invents the steam
engine.
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- 1769-Sir William Arkwright patents
a spinning machine, an early step in the Industrial Revolution.
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- 1772-Joseph Priestley and Daniel Rutherford
independently discover nitrogen.
- The Austria, Prussia and Russia divide the land and people
of Poland in 1772, 1793, and 1795,
ending its independence.
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- 1775-Priestley discovers hydrochloric
and sulfuric acids.
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- 1776-Adam Smith writes Wealth of
Nations.
- Edward Gibbon writes The Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire.
- Fragonard paints Washerwoman.
- Mozart composes the Haffner Serenade.
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- 1778-Franz Mesmer uses hypnotism.
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- 1781-Immanuel Kant writes Critique
of Pure Reason. Herschel
discovers Uranus.
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- 1783-William Blake writes his poetry.
- Beethoven's works are first printed.
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- 1784-Crimea is annexed by Russia.
- John Wesley writes Deed of Declaration, the basic work of Methodism.
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- 1785-Russians settle the Aleutian
Islands.
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- 1787-Lavoisier completes his work
on chemical nomenclature.
- Mozart composes Don Giovanni.
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- 1788-The French Parlement presents grievances to Louis XVI, who agrees to the
convening of the Estates-General in 1789,
not called since 1613.
- Goethe writes Egmont.
- Laplace writes Laws of the Planetary System.
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- 1789-1799-The French Revolution begins
with the storming of the Bastille.
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- 1790-The H.M.S. Bounty mutineers settle on Pitcairn Island.
- Aloisio Galvani experiments on electrical stimulation of the
muscles.
- Lavoisier formulates Table of 31 chemical elements.
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- 1791-Boswell writes Life of Johnson.
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- 1792-Mary Wollstonecraft writes Vindication
of the Rights of Woman.
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- 1793-Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette
are executed. The Reign of Terror begins in France.
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- 1794-Kosciusko's uprising in Poland
is quelled by the Russians.
- The Reign of Terror ends with the execution of Robespierre.
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- 1796-Napoléon Bonaparte, a French
general, defeats the Austrians.
- Edward Jenner introduces the smallpox vaccination.
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- 1798- Napoléon extends French conquests
to Rome and Egypt.
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- 1799-The Rosetta Stone is discovered
in Egypt.
- Napoléon leads a coup that overthrows the Directory, establishes
the Consulate, and becomes the First Consul, one of three who
rule France together.
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