Wars, politics & history: key events

Wars, treaties, revolutions, rulers and the political events that changed the course of history.

Chronyas lists 65,412 events in this topic. These are among the most notable, grouped by era.

Ancient civilizations

c. 3,101 BCENarmer unifies Egypt
from c. 1,258 BCE to 1,180 BCETrojan War
587 BCENebuchadnezzar destroys Jerusalem and the First Temple
c. 510 BCEThe Roman Republic is founded
c. 509 BCECleisthenes lays the foundations of Athenian democracy
from 499 BCE to 449 BCEGreco-Persian Wars
from 431 BCE to 404 BCEPeloponnesian War
335 BCEAlexander the Great crosses into Asia
from 264 BCE to 146 BCEPunic Wars
from 218 BCE to 201 BCESecond Punic War
217 BCEHannibal destroys the Roman army at Cannae
203 BCEScipio defeats Hannibal at Zama
147 BCERome destroys Carthage
from 59 BCE to 51 BCECaesar begins the conquest of Gaul
2 September 31 BCEOctavian defeats Antony and Cleopatra at Actium
43 CERome invades Britain
August 70 CEThe Romans destroy the Temple in Jerusalem
293 CEDiocletian establishes the Tetrarchy
17 January 395 CEThe Roman Empire is permanently divided
24 August 410 CEAlaric and the Visigoths sack Rome

Medieval world

5th centurySalic law
from 711 CE to 1492Al-Andalus
from 722 CE to 1492Reconquista
8 June 793 CEVikings raid Lindisfarne
August 843 CETreaty of Verdun
9th centuryHanbalism
from 28 September 1066 to 1 January 1075Norman conquest of England
from 1095 to 1291Crusades
27 November 1095Pope Urban II calls the First Crusade
from 1096 to 1099First Crusade
from 1147 to 1149Second Crusade
from 1189 to 1192Third Crusade
from 1202 to 1204Fourth Crusade
1206Temujin is proclaimed Genghis Khan
15 June 1215Magna Carta
1279Kublai Khan completes the conquest of China
from 24 May 1337 to 9 October 1453Hundred Years' War
from 6 April 1453 to 29 May 1453Fall of Constantinople
from 22 May 1455 to 16 June 1487Wars of the Roses
2 January 1492The fall of Granada ends Muslim rule in Spain
7 June 1494Treaty of Tordesillas

Early modern world

from 23 May 1568 to 30 January 1648Eighty Years' War
from 25 April 1588 to 1 August 1588Spanish Armada
13 April 1598Edict of Nantes
from 1618 to 1648Thirty Years' War
from 1642 to 1651English Civil War
24 October 1648Peace of Westphalia
from 22 February 1700 to 10 September 1721Great Northern War
from March 1701 to September 1714War of the Spanish Succession
from 16 December 1740 to 18 October 1748War of the Austrian Succession
from 17 May 1756 to 15 February 1763Seven Years' War

Industrial era

from 1765 to 1783American Revolution
16 December 1773Boston Tea Party
from 19 April 1775 to 3 September 1783American Revolutionary War
4 July 1776United States Declaration of Independence
17 September 1787United States Constitution
from 14 July 1789 to 9 November 1799French Revolution
1790Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
from 1803 to 1815Napoleonic Wars
1804Civil Code of the French
from 18 June 1812 to 18 February 1815War of 1812
from 24 June 1812 to 14 December 1812French invasion of Russia
1815Congress of Vienna
from 1821 to 1829Greek War of Independence
from 26 July 1830 to 29 July 1830July Revolution
from 18 March 1839 to 29 August 1842First Opium War
from 24 April 1846 to 2 February 1848Mexican-American War
from 12 January 1848 to 4 October 1849European Revolutions of 1848
from 11 January 1851 to 1 August 1864Taiping Rebellion
from October 1853 to February 1856Crimean War
from 1856 to 1860Second Opium War
from 10 May 1857 to 20 June 1858Indian Mutiny of 1857
from 12 April 1861 to 9 April 1865American Civil War
from 14 June 1866 to 26 July 1866Austro-Prussian War
from 18 August 1866 to 10 May 1871Unification of Germany
from 1868 to 1889Meiji Restoration
from 19 July 1870 to 28 January 1871Franco-Prussian War
from 18 March 1871 to 28 May 1871Paris Commune
from 24 April 1877 to 3 March 1878Tenth Russo-Turkish War
from 5 April 1879 to 4 April 1884War of the Pacific
from 15 November 1884 to 26 February 1885Berlin Conference
from 1885 to 1914Scramble for Africa
from 1 August 1894 to 17 April 1895First Sino-Japanese War
27 August 1896Anglo-Zanzibar War
from 25 April 1898 to 11 August 1898Spanish–American War
from August 1899 to September 1901Boxer Rebellion
from 11 October 1899 to 31 May 1902Second Boer War
from 8 February 1904 to 5 September 1905Russo-Japanese War
from 22 January 1905 to 16 June 1907Russian Revolution of 1905
from 10 October 1911 to 12 February 1912Xinhai Revolution
from 8 October 1912 to 18 July 1913Balkan Wars
from 8 October 1912 to 30 May 1913First Balkan War
from 29 June 1913 to 10 August 1913Second Balkan War

Modern era

from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918World War I
from 25 April 1915 to 9 January 1916Gallipoli Campaign
16 May 1916Sykes–Picot Agreement
1917Russian Revolution
from 8 March 1917 to 16 March 1917February Revolution
4 June 1917Pulitzer Prize
from 25 October 1917 to 26 October 1917October Revolution
from 7 November 1917 to 25 October 1922Russian Civil War
1919Paris Peace Conference
from February 1919 to March 1921Polish–Soviet War
from 19 May 1919 to 24 July 1923Turkish War of Independence
28 June 1919Treaty of Versailles
4 June 1920Treaty of Trianon
3 March 1923Time
24 July 1923Treaty of Lausanne
from 1 August 1927 to 1 May 1950Chinese Civil War
from 1933 to 1945The Holocaust
30 January 1933Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany
from 18 July 1936 to 1 April 1939Spanish Civil War
from 7 July 1937 to 9 September 1945Second Sino-Japanese War
30 September 1938Munich agreement
23 August 1939Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
from 1 September 1939 to 6 October 19391939 Invasion of Poland
from 1 September 1939 to 2 September 1945World War II
from 30 November 1939 to 13 March 1940Winter War
from 22 June 1941 to 7 May 1945Eastern Front
from 22 June 1941 to 5 December 1941Operation Barbarossa
from 7 December 1941 to 2 September 1945Pacific War
7 December 1941Attack on Pearl Harbor
1944Golden Globes
from 6 June 1944 to 29 August 1944Normandy landings

Contemporary world

from 4 February 1945 to 11 February 1945Yalta Conference
26 June 1945Charter of the United Nations
from 17 July 1945 to 2 August 1945Potsdam Conference
6 August 1945Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
from 20 November 1945 to 1 October 1946Nuremberg trials
from 12 March 1947 to 25 December 1991Cold War
15 August 1947Partition of India
15 August 1947India and Pakistan become independent
from 3 April 1948 to 1 December 1951Marshall Plan
10 December 1948Universal Declaration of Human Rights
from 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953Korean War
4 November 1950European Convention on Human Rights
26 July 1953Cuban Revolution
from 1 November 1954 to 9 September 1962Algerian War
from 1 November 1955 to 30 April 1975Vietnam War
from 23 October 1956 to 10 November 1956Hungarian Revolution of 1956
from 29 October 1956 to 7 November 1956Suez Crisis
6 March 1957Ghana becomes independent
25 March 1957Treaty of Rome
1 January 1959Castro's revolution takes power in Cuba
1 December 1959Antarctic Treaty System
from 14 October 1962 to 28 October 1962Cuban Missile Crisis
from 16 May 1966 to 6 October 1976Cultural Revolution
from 5 June 1967 to 10 June 1967Six-Day War
1968Prague Spring
1 July 1968Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
from 28 June 1969 to 3 July 1969Stonewall riots
2 February 1971Ramsar Convention
3 March 1973CITES
from 6 October 1973 to 26 October 1973Yom Kippur War
from January 1978 to February 1979Iranian Revolution
from 25 December 1979 to 15 February 1989Soviet-Afghan War
31 August 1980Solidarity is founded in Poland
from 22 September 1980 to 20 August 1988Iran–Iraq War
from 2 April 1982 to 14 June 1982Falklands War
14 June 1985Schengen Agreement
20 November 1989Convention on the Rights of the Child
11 February 1990Nelson Mandela is released from prison
from 2 August 1990 to 28 February 1991Gulf War
3 October 1990German reunification
26 December 1991Dissolution of the Soviet Union
7 February 1992Maastricht Treaty
5 November 1992European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
from 11 December 1994 to 31 August 1996First Chechen War
11 December 1997Kyoto Protocol
from 27 February 1998 to 11 June 1999Kosovo War
11 September 2001War on Terrorism
from 7 October 2001 to 30 August 2021War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
from 20 March 2003 to 15 December 2011Iraq War
from 12 July 2006 to 14 August 20062006 Lebanon War
20072007–2008 financial crisis
13 December 2007Treaty of Lisbon
from 7 August 2008 to 12 August 2008Russo-Georgian War
4 November 20082008 United States presidential election
from 18 December 2010 to 1 December 2012Arab Spring
from 15 February 2011 to 23 October 2011Libyan Civil War
from 15 March 2011 to 8 December 2024Syrian Civil War
from 21 November 2013 to 23 February 2014Euromaidan
20 February 2014Russo-Ukrainian war
18 September 20142014 Scottish independence referendum
12 December 2015Paris Agreement
23 June 20162016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum
15 July 20162016 Turkish coup d'état attempt
8 November 20162016 United States presidential election
31 January 2020Brexit
from 27 September 2020 to 10 November 2020Second Nagorno-Karabakh War
3 November 20202020 United States presidential election
6 January 2021January 6 United States Capitol attack
24 February 2022Full-scale Russo-Ukrainian war
15 April 2023Sudanese civil war
from 23 June 2023 to 24 June 2023Wagner Group rebellion
7 October 2023Gaza War
7 October 2023Gaza genocide
5 November 20242024 United States presidential election
from 13 June 2025 to 24 June 2025Twelve-Day War
28 February 20262026 Iran War

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