(There is confusion as to the defining of this period in history. The Modern Era is currently considered the period of the renaissance to present times, as the etymology of modern is defined as now. Era’s are usually noted as beginning at hallmark events, hence the discovery of the America’s fits into this scheme, Which leads to the Era of Colonialism . This probably best describes the era, since Decolonization  coincides largely with the end of WWII and the formation of the UN.)

            The age of Exploration

      A.D.

• 1493 Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor; initiates Tu felix Austria nube bringing Hapsburg rulership over Hungary and Bohemia
• 1498 Vasco da Gama sails round the Cape to India
• 1499 Switzerland becomes an independent republic
• 1500 Birth of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor  Calls Martin Luther to the council of diet in 1521
• 1509 Henry VIII becomes King of England (innitiates english reformation)
• 1512 Selim Sultan (to 1520) purchases title of Caliph, Battle of Ravenna (France defeates Holy league in Italy), Machiavelli born in Florence
• 1513 Leo X Pope (noted for failure to stop reformation)
• 1515 Francis I (the Father and restorer of letters) becomes King of France
• 1517 Selim annexed by England, Luther's 95 Theses posted on the door of Wittenberg
• 1519 Death of Leonardo da Vinci, Maggelian begins expedition around World, Cortez enters Mexico City
• 1520 Rise of Suleiman the Magnificent, (to 1566) sultan from Bagdad to Hungary

     Reformation

• 1521 Luther addresses Diet of Worms (In defense of 95 thesis, Pope Leo X asks that 41 of them be remitted) Cortez defeats Aztecs in Battle of Tenochtitlan
• 1525 Baber wins Battle of Panipat, captures Delhi, founds Mogul Empire
• 1527 German troops enter Italy under Constable of Bourbon, sack Rome
• 1528 Birth of Italian Renaissance painter Paul Veronese
• 1529 Suleiman besieges Vienna
• 1530 Pizarro invades Peru, Charles V crowned by Pope, Henry VIII begins quarrel with Papacy
• 1532 Anabaptists seize Munster
• 1535 Fall of Anabaptist rule in Munster
• 1540 The Society of Jesus founded

           Colonial Reform's Innitiated

• 1542 Leyes Nuevas enacted to prevent Spanish exploitation of indegenouse peoples
• 1545 The Council of Trent (to1563) assembled to answer challenges of protestant movement
• 1546 Death of Martin Luther
• 1547 Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) takes title of Tsar in Russia, death of Francis I of France
• 1549 First Jesuits arrive in South America
• 1552 Treaty of Passua promises religious freedom to protestants in holy roman empire
• 1556 Charles V abdicated (his son Phillip II given Spain, brother Ferdinand given Holy Roman Empire) Akbur Gret Mogul to 1605, Saint Ignatius of Loyola (founder of Jesuits) dies
• 1558 Dearth of Charles V
• 1561 Birth Francis Bacon
• 1563 Council of Trent ends and reform of Catholic church
• 1564 Shakespeare  Born
• 1566 Suleiman the Magnificent dies
• 1567 Revolt of the Netherlands
• 1568 Execution of Counts Egmont and Horn
• 1573 Siege of Alkmaar

European Colonies Established in America’s

• 1583 Sir Walter Raleigh makes expedition to Virginia
• 1603 James I of England and Scotland
• 1605 Jehanger Great Mogul
• 1606 Virginia Company founded
• 1609 Independent state of Holland
• 1618 Thirty Years War begins
• 1620 Mayflower expedition founded New Plymouth. First negro slaves land in Jamestown, VA
• 1625 Charles I of England
• 1628 Shah Jehan the Great Mogul, English petition of Right
• 1629 Charles I begins 11 year rule without parliament
• 1632 Leeuwenoek born, Gustavus Adolphus killed at the battle of Lutzen
• 1634 Wallenstein murdered
• 1638 Japan closed to Europeans

          English Political reformation

• 1640 Charles I of England summoned the Long Parliament
• 1641 Massacre of the English in Ireland
• 1643 Louis XIV begins 72 year reign
• 1644 Manchus ends Ming dynasty
• 1645 Swine pens pulled down in Leipzig

          Nationalist Movement Begins

• 1648 Treaty of Westphalia, War of the Fronde ends in complete for French crown
• 1649 Charles I executed
• 1658 Cromwell dies, Aurungzeb Great Mogul,
• 1660 Charles II King of England
• 1674 Niew Amsterdam becomes British by treaty, renamed New York
• 1683 Last Turkish attack on Vienna defeated by John III of Poland
• 1688 The British Revolution, Flight of James II, reign of William and Mary
• 1689 Peter the Great of Russia (to 1725)
• 1690 Battle of the Boyne in Ireland
• 1701 Frederick I first King of Prussia
• 1707 Death of Aurungzeb, the Empire of Great Mogul crumbles
• 1713 Frederick the Great of Prussia born
• 1733 Ogelthorpe founds Georgia
• 1736 Nadir Shah raids India, begins 20 years of raiding and disorder in India
• 1740 Accession of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, Reign of Maria-Theresa begins (was not allowed title of Empress, her husband Francis I was emperor until death in 1765, succeeded by Joseph II
• 1741 Empress Elizabeth of Russia begins reign

          Romantic Era

• 1749 Birth of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (author of Faust)
• 1755-63 Britian and France struggle for control of India and America, France allies with Austria and Russia against Prussia and Britian (1755-63) in the Seven Years War
• 1757 Battle of Plassey
• 1759 British capture Quebec under General Wolfe
• 1760 George III of Britian
• 1762 Death of Empress Elizabeth of Russia, Tsar Paul murdered, accession of Catherine the Great of Russia
• 1763 Peace of Paris, Canada ceded to Britian, British dominate India
• 1764 Battle of Buxar
• 1766 Birth of Malthus
• 1769 Birth of Napoleon Bonaparte
• 1774 Reign of Louis XVI,  Clive commits suicide, The drama of American revolution begins
• 1775 Battle of Lexington, Birth of J. M. W. [Joseph Mallord William] Turner
• 1776 The Declaration of Independence  signed in America
• 1780 End of reign of Maria-Theresa. Emperor Joseph (17665-90) succeeds her in hereditary Hapsburg dominion

          First Industrial Revolution Begins

• 1783 Treaty of Peace signed Britian and the U.S.A. Quaqo set free in Massachusetts
• 1789 French revolution begins with the storming of the Bastille
• 1792 the Napoleonic Wars begin
• 1793 Louis XVI beheaded,  Jean-Paul Marat martyred, the Reign of Terror
• 1794 Execution of Maximilien Robespierre ends Jacobin Club, rule of Convention

   The Napoleon Era

• 1795 The directory, Bonaparte suppresses revolt and goes to Italy ascommander-in-chief
• 1797 Bonaparte destroys Republic of Venice in the Peace of Campio
• 1798 Bonaparte in Egypt, Battle of the Nile
• 1799 Return of Bonaparte, becomes First Consul
• 1800 Napoleon’s campaign against Austria, Battles of Marengo and Hohenlinden
• 1801 Legislative union of Ireland and England enacted, preliminaries of peace between France, England and Austria
• 1803 Bonaparte occupied Switzerland and precipitates war
• 1804 Bonaparte Crowned Emperor
• 1805 Francis II takes title of Emperor of Austria, Battle of Ulm and Austerlitz
• 1806 Prussia overthrown at Jena, Francis II drops title of Holy Roman Emperor, ending Holy Roman Empire
• 1807 Battles of Eylau and Friedland, and Treaty of Tilsit
• 1808 Napoleon appoints brother, Joseph, King of Spain
• 1810 Spanish America becomes Republic
• 1811 Alexander withdraws from “Continental System”
• 1812 Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow
• 1814 Abdication of Napoleon, Lois XVIII
• 1815 The Waterloo Campaign, treaty of Vienna
• 1819 The first Factory Act passes through efforts of Robert Owen
• 1821 The Greek Revolt
• 1824 Charles X of France

    Rise of the Railroad

• 1825 Nicholas I of Russia, first Railway, Stockton to Darlington
• 1827 Battle of Navarino
• 1829 Greece Independence
• 1830 a year of turmoil, Louis Phillippe ousts Charles X, Belgium Breaks away from Holland, Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha becomes King of this new country, Belgium Russia, Poland revolt ineffectually
• 1832 The First Reform Bill in Britain restores democratic character of British Parliament
• 1835 The word “socialism” first used
• 1837 Queen Victoria
• 1840 Queen Victoria marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburb-Gotha
• 1848 More disturbances, Republics in France and Rome, the Pan-slavic Conference meets in Prague, Germany unity destroyed by Prussian King

          The Second Industrial Revolution

• 1851 The Great Exhibition of London
• 1852 Napoleon III Emperor of France
• 1854 Perry (second expedition) lands in Japan, Nicholas I occupies the Danubian provinces of Turkey
• 1854-56 Crimean War
• 1856 Alexander II of Russia
• 1857 The Indian Mutiny
• 1859 Franco-Austrian war, Battles of Magneta and Solferino

          The American Civil War

• 1861 Victor Emmanuel first king of Italy, Abraham Lincoln becomes President of the U.S.A.,
• 1863 British bomb Japanese town
• 1864 Maxmillian I becomes Emperor of Mexico
• 1865 Surrender of Appomattox Court House, Japan opened to world
• 1866 Prussia and Italy attack Austria (and south German states in alliance with her) Battle of Sadowa
• 1867 Emperor Maximilian shot
• 1870 Napoleon II declares war against Prussia

           the unification of the numerous states of Germany

• 1871 Paric surrenders, King of Prussia becomes William I, “the German Emperor” The peace of Frankfort
• 1875 The “Bulgarian Atrocities”
• 1877 Russo-Turkish War, TreaTY OF San Stefano, Queen Victoria becomes Empress of India
• 1878 The Treaty of Berlin, the Armed Peace of 36 years begins in Europe
• 1881 The battle of Mujuba Hill, The Transvaal Free
• 1882 Charles Darwin dies
• 1886 Gladstone’s first Irish Home Rule Bill
• 1888 Frederick III (March) and William II (June) German Emperors
• 1890 Otto von Bismarck  dismissed, Heligoland ceded to Germany by Lord Salisbury
• 1894-5 Japanese war with China
• 1895 Unionist (imperialist) government in Britian
• 1896 Battle of Adowa
• 1898 The Fashoda Quarrle between France and Britian, Germany acquires Kiau-Chau
• 1899 The war in South Africa begins (Boer War)
• 1900 The Boxer Rising in China, Siege of the Legations at Peking

          The Introduction of Flight  

• 1903 The Wright Brothers develop airplane
• 1904 British Invade Tibet
• 1904-5 Russo-Japanese War
• 1906 The Unionist party in Great Britian defeated by Liberal upon the question of Tariffs
• 1907 The confederation of South Africa established
• 1908 Austria annex Bosnia and Herzegovina
• 1909 M Bleriot flys plane from France to England
• 1911 Italy fights war with Turkey, sieze Tripoli
• 1912 China becomes Republic, The Balkan league declares war on Turkey
• 1913 Bloodshed at Londonberry in Ireland caused by “Unionist” gun-running

          The Era of World Conflict

• 1914 The Great War in Europe
• 1917 The two Russian Revolutions, establishment of the Bolshevik’s in Russia
• 1918 The Armistice
• 1919-20 The Peace of Versailles
• 1919 British withdraw from Archangel, Denikin defeated, Yudenitch nearly take Petersburg and collapse, German fleet comes out to surrender to British fleet, however sunk by its own Officers at Scapa Flow
• 1920 League of Nations convenes, Conference at Genoa, (Austria, Germany, Russia, Turkey excluded, the USA not represented.) Koltchack defeated by Bolsheviks and shot, Poland attacks Russia, wrangle invades Russia from the south, driven off, Riaz Pasha in Power in Persia
• 1921 Inter-allied control in Constantinople, a conference upon Naval disarmament in Washington under President Harding

          The Rise of Fascism

• 1922 Great Famine in Russia, The conference at Genoa with both Russia and Germany present. Increased disorder of German economy continues, linked to inability to pay war debt, Greek Military collapse in Asia Minor, separation of Southern Ireland from Great Britain. Benito Mussolini rises to power
• 1923 Occupation of Ruhr Valley by the France, economic collapse in Germany, The Rentenmark introduced, Great Britian restore pre-war gold standard as currency
• 1924 First Labor Movement in Britian, succeeded by conservative government in November after a general election, death of Lenin, murder of Matteotti, a liberal Italian writer, by fascist, Dawes plan for the reduction of German War debts
• 1925 French Attacked in Morocco by Abd-el-Krim and in Syria by Druses, The Reichmark in Germany, Locarno Pact, Depostion of the Shah of Persia by Ali Riza Khan, becomes Shah
• 1926 General Strike in Great britian arises out of coal lock-out, the French Franc declines in value below british penny, but its fall arrested, and restored to twopence by a coalition Government formed to face crisis, Collapse of Abd-el-Krim
• 1927 British government raids Russian business in London, break off diplomatic relations, failure of Disarmament Conference in Geneva
• 1928 Mr. Kellog, President Coolidge’s Secretary of State originates a system of Treaties by which all the great powers of State renounce war, Armament industry on the rise, mechanization, gas and bacterial warfare, the Five Year Plan in Russia

          The Great Depression

• 1929 James Ramsay McDonald elected prime minister of  Second Labor Government in Britian, Relations renew between England and Russia, Hoover President in U.S., prices fall, unemployment on the rise, Young Plan for the reduction of War debt in Germany
• 1930 Conference on Naval Disarmament in London, Hitler leads fascist party, foundation of the Bank of International Settelments
• 1931 Spain becomes a republic, President Hoover Proposes One year holiday fro payment of war debts, financial crisis in Britian, labour party establishes emergency government pledged to support gold standard, abandoned after 23 days
• 1932 Organization of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation in U.S. to loan money to banks, railroads and insurance companies, Roosevelt elected president of U.S. Hindenburg re-elected to president in Germany margin of 19 million votes, Hitler 13 million, communist 3 ¼ million Disarmament conference at Geneva, Germany quits conference
• 1933 The New Deal introduced, Hitler becomes Chancellor of the Riech and Germany becomes Nazi State, World Economic Conference in London proves futile, Russia starts new Five Year Plan, League of Nations condemns Japan for the invasion of Jehol, and create puppet state of Manchukuo
• 1934 The value of the dollar established at 59.06% of its original (1900) par value. Austria declares independence, Hitler purges state of enemies, President von Hidenburg Dies, Adolf Hitler leader and Chancellor, Balkan Entente concludes between Turkey, Greece, Rumania, and Yugoslavia to maintain status quo in Balkans
• 1935 the N.R.A. declared unconstitutional by U.S. supreme court, establishment for industrial organization (C.I.O.) Germany obtains the Saar region by plebescite, Abyssinia attacks, conquers Italy
• 1936 President Roosevelt re-elected, Popular Front elected in France; Leon Blum Premier, remilitarization of the Rhineland zone by Hitler, Revolt led by General Franco with the assistance of Germany
• 1937 President Roosevelt fails to reorganize Supreme Court, Undeclared war between Japan and China. Axis formed against communism (Anti-Comintern Pact) Generalissmo Franco’s army successful in northern Spain. Italian troops defeated at Guadalajara by loyalist troops. Coronation of King George VI of England, Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister
• 1938 Germany annexes Austria, Munich Conference (Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini) gives Germany part of Czecho-Slovakia’s territory and destroys her defenses

          World War II

• 1939 Germany annexes Czecho-Slovakia, Italy annexes Albania, Franco enters Madrid and Barcelona, Soviet signs pact with Nazis, Germans invade Poland, Britian and France declares war, Russia and Germany divide Poland, Russia absorbs Esthonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and invade Finland
• 1940 End of Finnish War, Germany Siezes Denmark and Norway, Chamberlain ousted, Winston Churchill heads new National government, Germans overrun Belgium, Holland, Dunkirk, and France. Italy declares war, Battle of Britian, Bombing of London, Italians routed in Cyrenaica, attack Greece, defeated.
• 1941 Air war in Britian, Germany conquers Yugoslavia and Greece, British  defeat axis in Iraq and Syria, Hitler invades Russia; heavy losses, Pearl Harbor
• 1942 Japan Conquers Phillipenes, Mayala, Singapore and Dutch and British East Indies, Air war in Germany, submarine warfare in Atlantic, Japan conquers Burma, Indian nationalists refuse Cripps offer to start civil disobedience, Germans fail to take Moscow or Stalingrad, Japan fails invasion of New Guinea, Battle of El Alamein. German decline in Lybia, allies land in North Africa
• 1943 Germans driven back in Russia, Allies conquer all of North Africa; invade Scicily, enter Italy, Fall of Mussolini, Heavy air war in Europe
• 1944 Allies capture Rome, Normandy Invasion, Germans expelled from Russia, Liberation of France, Belgium, Russians enter Rumania and Hungary
• 1945 Americans reconquer Phillipenes, British reconquer  Burma, Death of Hitler; Surrendur of Germany, Two Atomic Bombs dropped on Japan, surrender of Japan