Important Historical Dates

108 flashcards by MentisLibrary

A chronological run through world history, from the pyramids to the euro: ancient empires, the medieval world, exploration and reformation, revolutions, the world wars, the Cold War and after, with the people and places behind each date.

When did the French Revolution begin?
On 14 July 1789, with the storming of the Bastille, six weeks after the Estates-General met for the first time since 1614.
When was the Battle of Waterloo?
On 18 June 1815, when British, Dutch and Prussian forces defeated Napoleon after his return from exile on Elba.
When was Abraham Lincoln assassinated?
He was shot on the evening of 14 April 1865 and died the next morning, five days after Lee's surrender.
When did World War I begin?
On 28 July 1914, when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia a month after Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo on 28 June.
When did World War I end?
With the armistice at 11 a.m. on 11 November 1918. The peace terms were settled the following year.
When did World War II begin?
On 1 September 1939, when Germany invaded Poland. Britain and France declared war two days later.
When did World War II end?
On 2 September 1945, when Japan signed the instrument of surrender aboard the USS Missouri. The war in Europe had ended on 8 May.
When was the United Nations founded?
Its Charter was signed on 26 June 1945 and came into force on 24 October 1945, with 51 founding members.
When did India gain independence?
On 15 August 1947, alongside the creation of Pakistan. Partition displaced an estimated 15 million people.
When was the Berlin Wall built?
Overnight on 13 August 1961, when East Germany sealed the border with barbed wire and then concrete.
When was the Cuban Missile Crisis?
In October 1962, over thirteen days after American reconnaissance found Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba.
When was John F. Kennedy assassinated?
On 22 November 1963, while riding in a motorcade. Lyndon Johnson was sworn in aboard the presidential aircraft the same day.
When did the Vietnam War end?
On 30 April 1975, when North Vietnamese forces took Saigon. American combat troops had left in 1973.
When did the Berlin Wall fall?
On the evening of 9 November 1989, after an East German official announced at a press conference that border crossings were open.
When did the Soviet Union dissolve?
On 26 December 1991, when the Supreme Soviet formally voted the union out of existence. Gorbachev had resigned the day before.
When was the Great Pyramid of Giza built?
Around 2560 BC, during Egypt's Fourth Dynasty, as a tomb for the pharaoh Khufu.
When was the Code of Hammurabi written?
Around 1754 BC, carved on a basalt pillar with about 282 laws.
When were the first recorded Olympic Games held?
In 776 BC, the date the Greeks themselves used as the start of their reckoning.
What is the traditional founding date of Rome?
753 BC, according to the legend of Romulus and Remus. Archaeology shows settlement on the site earlier than that.
When was the Roman Republic founded?
In 509 BC, when the last king, Tarquin the Proud, was expelled.
When was the Battle of Marathon?
In 490 BC, when an Athenian army defeated the first Persian invasion of Greece.
When were Thermopylae and Salamis fought?
Both in 480 BC. Leonidas held the pass at Thermopylae with a small force before being outflanked, and the Greek fleet then destroyed the Persian navy at Salamis.
When was Socrates put to death?
In 399 BC, after an Athenian jury convicted him of impiety and corrupting the young. He drank hemlock.
When did Alexander the Great die?
In 323 BC at Babylon, aged 32, having conquered from Greece to the Indus in about thirteen years.
When did Qin Shi Huang unify China?
In 221 BC, when the state of Qin defeated the last of the warring states.
When did Hannibal cross the Alps?
In 218 BC, at the start of the Second Punic War, bringing an army and war elephants into Italy from Spain.
When was Carthage destroyed?
In 146 BC, at the end of the Third Punic War, after a siege that ended with the city burned and its survivors enslaved.
When was Julius Caesar assassinated?
On 15 March 44 BC, the Ides of March, stabbed by a group of senators at a meeting of the Senate.
When did Augustus become Rome's first emperor?
In 27 BC, when the Senate granted Octavian the title Augustus and extraordinary powers after his victory at Actium in 31 BC.
When did Mount Vesuvius bury Pompeii?
In AD 79. The eruption buried Pompeii and Herculaneum under ash and volcanic mud.