England needed 430 years to turn by 1890 from an insignificant Kingdom located on the small island into the British Empire that ruled the waves and lands where the sun never set down. The following 130 years British Empire like Phenix rebirthed 4 times from ashes it generously shared: WWI, WWII, pop music, Covid. British Elite remembers the USA were its colonies only 250 years ago and hopes to reintegrate them back into British Empire. Long live the Queen!
World events from 1890 to 2020
Events relative to or in favor of the UK in bold
1890
1890 – A.T. Mahan publishes “The Influence of Sea Power on History, 1660-1783” arguing that Britain’s status rested on naval supremacy which controlled the Eurasian balance of power
1890 4 March – Caprivi becomes German Chancellor (till 28 October 1894)
1890 18 March – Dismissal/Resignation of Bismarck
1890 May – French unsuccessfully try to get Russians to join them in a military alliance against Germany
1890 18 June – Reinsurance Treaty lapses
1890 1 July – Heligoland Treaty; Germany gives up its claims to Zanzibar to Britain, in exchange for Heligoland
1890 October – Reichstag elections with S. P. D. holding 35 seats (out of 397)
1890 1 October – German anti-socialist laws not renewed
1891
1891 – Italian government agrees to a commercial treaty with Germany and Austria
1891 – Diplomatic relations with the United States broken off by Italy following a dispute over the murder of 11 Italians in New Orleans; indemnities paid the following year by the U.S. and relations resumed
1891 7 February – Schlieffen appointed Chief of German General Staff (till 1 January 1906)
1891 July – French naval squadron visits Russian port of Kronstadt; greeted with cheers by Russians
1891 27 August – Franco-Russian Entente
1892
1892 1 February – Germany signs commercial treaties with Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, and Austria-Hungary
1892 May – “Jackie” Fisher becomes Third Lord of the Admiralty for 5 and half years (ship design and construction)
1892 17 August – Franco-Russian Military Convention
1892 17 August – Schlieffen begins formulating the concept of a two-front war plan to counter the Franco-Russian alliance
1893
1893 17 January – Franco-Russian Alliance signed
1893 18 February – Founding of Agrarian League in Germany
1893 13 July – Germany Army bill accepted
1893 August – Clemenceau runs for re-election from the Var district, but loses and is out of political office for the first time in almost 20 years
1893 30 August – Report reaches London that French ordered British vessels out of Gulf of Siam; creates war scare
1893 October – Russian naval visit to the French port of Toulon
1893 19 October – General Bronsart v Schellendorf becomes German Minister of War (till 14 Aug 1896)
1893 December – Italian forces Mahdists under Ahmad wad-Ali at Agordat
1894
1894 10 February – Russo-German commercial treaty signed
1894 12 May – Anglo-Congolese (Free State) treaty signed with Britain hoping to bar French from the Nile Valley
1894 July – German General Staff develops a new strategic plan for a two-front war
1894 July – Italians capture Kassala
1894 September – Japan goes to war with China over Korea (First Korean War) with British attempts at intervention against Japan failing
1894 26 September – A French intelligence agent steals papers from the German Embassy in Paris that reveal a French officer is spying for the Germans, leading to the Dreyfus affair: repercussions throughout France’s army and government; Dreyfus accused, tried and convicted on flimsy (and fabricated) evidence, and then sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island
1894 26 October – Hohenlohe becomes German Chancellor (till Oct 1900)
1894 1 November – Tsar Alexander II dies and Nicolas II becomes Tsar
1895
1895 April – Japanese and Chinese conclude Treaty of Shimonoseki among various European powers expressing self-interests and resulting in recognition of Korean independence and surrendering Port Arthur and Liaotung Peninsula to Japan; Russians upset over Japanese gains
1895 June – Opening of Kiel Canal in Germany
1895 21 June – Salisbury returns to power in Britain
1895 August – Kaiser Wilhelm visits England for Victoria’s Golden Jubilee celebrations
1895 December – Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Lenin) was arrested jailed in St Petersburg and exiled to Siberia for three years
1895 29 December – Jameson Raid into the Transvaal
1895 – Armenian massacres in Turkey, during the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid II
1896
1896 – Charles E. Callwell, British Army, publishes Small Wars – Their Principles and Practice as a practical treatise on guerrilla and ‘small wars’ conflict
1896 3 January – Wilhelm II sends a telegram to Kruger congratulating him on preserving the independence of Transvaal
1896 13 March – British Government decides to retake Khartoum and Sudan and funding voted (British decision to keep Egypt and not evacuate soon followed)
1896 14 August – Gossler becomes German Minister of War (till 15 Aug 1903)
1897
1897 22 January – Waldersee’s memorandum on coup d`etat for Wiliam II against the Reichstag
1897 January-February – Russian attempt to set up an anti-German coalition with British in the Far East and the attempt fails
1897 17 March – Russians formally demand lease of Port Arthur
1897 5 May – Austro-Russian “agreement” to maintain status-quo in Balkans for next ten years
1897 15 June – Tirpitz nominated State Secretary for the I.G. Navy
1897 20 October – Bülow nominated State Secretary in the German Foreign Office
1897 November – Germans occupy Chinese port of Kaio-Chow for coaling station following the murder of two German missionaries there
1897 December – Zwartberg Hottentots revolt against Germans and are suppressed
1898
1898 25 March – British demand China leases Wei-hai-wei for port facilities; beginning of Chinese partition. Increasing Russian concerns over Far East/China (and becomes a feature of each springtime over the next half-dozen years)
1898 26 March – Germany’s “Naval Bill” passes the Reichstag
1898 1 April – Chamberlain suggests an alliance with Germany
1898 10 April – Reichstag ratifies First Navy Law
1898 25 April – Spanish American War begins
1898 30 April – German Navy League Founded
1898 13 August – U.S. Army captures Manila
1898 30 August – Anglo-German agreement over Portuguese colonies
1898 4 September – Funeral of Gordon at Khartoum
1898 9 September – Kitchener starts for Fashoda
1898 24 September – Kitchener returns from Fashoda
1898 October – Wilhelm II pays second visit to Ottoman Empire and suggests building the Bagdad railway
1898 November – Spanish American War ends with Treaty of Paris; U.S. gains Philippines, the Sulus, and Guam in return for payment of $20 million to Spain; Cuban independence
1899
1899 4 February – Aguinaldo leads Philipine Insurrection against U.S. forces in Philipines
1899 16 February – French President Faure suffers a heart attack during a tryst with the wife of a French painter (Steinheil); his wife called – Faure dies later that evening
1899 April – Anglo-French agreement on Meditteranean spheres on influence
1899 May-July – First Hague Peace Conference
1899 Summer – Churchill runs for Parliament and loses
1899 September – Dreyfus pardoned after French Army yields to public pressure but repercussions continued with the public being suspicious of the army’s role in the matter
1899 November – The Hay ‘Open Door’ Note on China
1899 12 October – Boer War begins
1899 20-29 November – Wilhelm II visits England
1900
1900 January – ‘Bunderesrath’ Affair
1900 29 July – King Humbert of Italy assasinated by Bresci (Italian anarchist); Victor Emmanuel III becomes king
1900 February – Relief of Ladysmith
1900 8 March – Landsdowne asks Germany to join Britain in imposing on France a localization of any Russo-Japanese War
1900 May – Relief of Mafeking
1900 Spring-Summer – Peasant uprisings in China leading to Boxer Rebellion
1900 14 June – Reichstag accepts Second Navy Law as proposed by Tirpitz (supplementals in 1906, 1908, and 1912)
1900 June-August – Boxer Rebellion spreads
1900 1 October – Churchill elected to Parliament by a margin of 22 votes during the “Khaki Election”
1900 16 October – Anglo-German agreement over China
1900 17 October – Bülow becomes Reich Chancellor (till 14 Jul 1909)
1900 December – Delcassé offers Italians pledge that that French would not encroach in Tripoli
1901
1901 – Germans develop plans for the submarine U-1
1901 20 January – Kaiser Wilhelm arrives in London to visit Queen Victoria as she was dying
1901 22 January – Death of Queen Victoria; Edward VII becomes King of Great Britain
1901 24 March – Japanese demand withdrawal of proposed agreement between Russia and China; Russians back off
1901 31 May – European troops begin landing in China to suppress the Boxers
1901 20 June – Siege of European legations by Boxers begins
1901 September – U.S. President McKinley shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz, while attending Pan-American Exposition and dies eight days later
1901 October-December – Collapse of Anglo-German alliance negotiations and also Russo-Japanese talks
1901 November – “British Foreign Policy;” article by “A.B.C.” published in The National Review
1901 December – Oberst Alfred Redl begins spying on his government for the Russians
1902
1902 30 January – Anglo-Japanese Alliance formed giving Japanese greater prestige in Far East
1902 20 March – Franco-Russian declaration on China (intentions of Franco-Russian protectorate)
1902 June – Fisher returns to the Admiralty as Second Sea Lord (staffing with officers and men)
1902 28 June – Triple Alliance renewed
1902 September – Turks allow Russians to send four torpedo-boats north through the Straits of Mamarra renewing the “straits Question” and creates an ending of the Mediterranean Entente
1902 November – Franco-Spanish plans to divide Morocco ruined by British meddling and exposure of treaty terms
1902 November – German discussions with Turks over Bagdad railway increase and military aid to Turkey begun
1902 22 November – Friedrich Krupp suicides amid charges of homosexuality; business goes to his daughter Bertha
1903
1903 April – Bezobrazov becomes Sec. of State in Russia and his hard-line policies make Far Eastern compromise impossible; Japanese begin to see talks with Russians as futile
1903 May – Edward VII visits Paris
1903 16 June – Reichstag elections with gains for S.P.D.
1903 July – Loubet of France visits London
1903 July until April 1904 Anglo-French talks settling territorial claims between the countries (Siam, Newfoundland, Egpyt, West Africa, Morrocco, etc) eventually leading to the British joining the Entente in April 1904
1903 15 August – Gen Karl v Einem becomes German Minister of War (till Aug. 1909)
1904
1904 Kaiser tells Leopold II of Belgium that a war between France and Germany would involve Belgium; during another visit in 1910, the Kaiser says otherwise
1904 4 February – Russo-Japanese War begins; Japanese attack Port Arthur
1904 31 March – Kaiser makes his Tangier’s speech and Morrocan problem
1904 8 April – Entente Cordiale between France and Britain (sponsored by Landsdowne, Foreign Secretary, 1900-1905)
1904 May – Fisher becomes First Sea Lord of the Admiralty till fall of 1906
1904 28 July – Russo-German commercial treaty signed
1904 3 October – French and Spanish agreement on Morocco and city of Fez
1904 3 October (till 1908) Herrero and Hottentot insurrection in German South-West Africa
1904 21 October – Dogger Bank Incident (Russian fleet fires on British fishing vessels). Russian Navy was not let to access the Suez Channel.
1904 November – Theodore Roosevelt elected President of the United States
1904 23 November – Russo-German alliance negotiations following Dogger Bank incident break-down
1905
1905 22 January – Russian procession to Winter Palace (Bloody Sunday) attacked by troops
1905 1 February – German commercial treaties with Russia and Austria-Hungary ratified mid-February; Grand Duke Serge assassinated in Moscow
1905 31 March – Wilhelm II visits Tangiers (concurrent with this, the British General Staff was holding theoretical war games on maps — assuming the Germans might invade France through Belgium)
1905 William Haywood and others found the International Workers of the World (‘Wobblies’)
1905 30 April – Anglo-French military conversations begin
1905 27 May – Battle of Tsushima (Russian Navy routed)
1905 6 June – Declassé falls from power
1905 23 July – Treaty of Björkö
1905 28 September – Morocco Conference agreed
1905 5 October – H.M.S. Dreadnought keel laid down
1905 October – (middle) Russia affected by a general strike
1905 30 October – Tsar issues Imperial Manifesto creating a semi-constitutional monarchy
1905 1 November – Rasputin first meets the Romanov family
1905 December – Schlieffen plan developed
1905 December – Churchill becomes undersecretary in British Colonial Office
1905 5 December – Campbell-Bannerman forms Liberal ministry
1906
1906 1 January – Moltke succeeds Schlieffen as Chief of German General Staff (till 14/09/1914)
1906 12 January Landslide victory of Liberals in British elections
1906 16 January Algerciras Conference opens
1906 31 January Anglo-French military conversations authorized by Grey (who at this time thinks England has a moral obligation to France against Germany); Wilson sent to France; Cabinet not informed of these talks until 1911
1906 March – London Daily Mail begins serializing “The Invasion of 1910” by William Le Queux (plot: Germans invade England and win); the story is made into a play that ran for 18 months
1906 5 April – Bülow has a heart attack in Reichstag and is unable to work for several months
1906 8 April – Algecrias Act signed
1906 1 May beginning of Eulenberg scandal in Germany (Kaiser’s close friend accused of homosexuality); accusations by Hardin
1906 May – Tax reform passes Reichstag
1906 May – Russian Duma meets for the first time
1906 5 June – Third German Navy Law (Novelle 1906) ratified
1906 7 July – Tsar asks Stolypin to become Prime Minister and dissolves the Duma
1906 August – Bertha Krupp marries Gustav (Krupp) von Bohlen und Halbach, he taking part of her surname to maintain the firm’s continuity
1906 8 September – Churchill meets the Kaiser while undersecretary at Colonial Office, discussing German colonial affairs in southern Africa
1906 13 December – Bülow dissolves Reichstag
1907
1907 (Sinn Féin founded in Dublin)
1907 1 January Eyre Crowe’s (British Foreign Office) memorandum on English interest in preserving the balance of power and joining 2nd most powerful country in Europe (France); comments on German foreign policy and confrontation possible; 1907 10 February – Second Duma meets; dissolved three months later by the Tsar; 1907 25 January Reichstag elections;
1907 February – Bülow Bloc formed;
1907 April – Eulenberg scandal spreads, Hardin accuses three of the Kaiser’s aides-de-camp of homosexuality;
1907 15 June – Second Hague Peace Conference Opens;
1907 30 July – Russo-Japanese War ends; Russia begins focusing on Balkans instead of the Far East;
1907 31 August – Anglo-Russian Entente; agreement over Persia, Afghanistan, and Tibet;
1907 23 October – Trial of Hardin (Moltke-Hardin trial) for libel dropped; Kaiser upset by trial and implication;s
1907 11 November – Kaiser reluctantly visits England during Eulenberg scandal and is interviewed by Haldane of the Daily Telegraph
1908
1908 3 January Hardin’s second trial ends with a conviction for libel; ordered to prison but set free on bond
1908 16 February – Wilhelm II writes to Lord Tweedmouth
1908 8 April – Asquith becomes Prime Minister and shortly after Churchill is part of the Cabinet
1908 8 June – Eulenberg charged with perjury in Hardin case and arrested
1908 14 June – Fourth German Navy Law (Novelle 1908) ratified
1908 29 June – Harding’s second libel trial begins but is suspended in September, resumed the summer of 1909, and then postponed indefinitely due to Eulenberg being too ill to stand trial
1908 July – Young Turks come to power and offer to become allies with Britain but are rebuked by Churchill
1908 2 July – Izvolski of Russia offers to support Austria annexation of Bosnia and Hercegovina if Austria would support Russian intentions on the “Straits”
1908 12-13 August – Harding visits Wilhelm II at Kronberg
1908 19 August – Austrian Government decides to annex Bosnia and Hercegovina
1908 15 September – Meeting at Buchlau (Buchlov) between Izvolski and Aehrenthal (of Austria) to discuss Balkans and Straits
1908 2 October – Details of Buchlau Agreement given to Russian Council of Ministers; Council upset
1908 5 October – Bulgaria declares itself independent of Turkey;
1908 6 October – Austria proclaims annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina; Izvolsky feels humiliated following blunt German diplomatic rebuttals that follow;
1908 6 October – Haldane’s Daily Telegraph publishes an interview with Kaiser;
1908 28 October – Daily Telegraph interview of Wilhelm II creates a backlash in Germany;
1908 10-11 November – Reichstag debates on Daily Telegraph Affair;
1909
1909 January Conrad (of Austria) writes Moltke asking what Germany would do if Austria attacked Serbia and Russians intervened over Bosnia;
1909 21 January Moltke writes Conrad, replying if Russia mobilizes, Germany will as well, using Bosnia as justification
1909 9 February – H.M.S. Dreadnaught launched
1909 9 February Franco-German Agreement over Morocco recognizing French political and German economic rights there
1909 26 February – French Ambassador to Russia tells Russian Government that the Bosnian situation should not be any of Russia or France’s concern
1909 12 March – British Navy bill accepted after “Navy Scare”
1909 24 March – Collapse of Bülow Bloc
1909 12 June – Hansabund founded
1909 24 June – Bülow tax reform bill defeated
1909 14 July – Theobold v Bethmann-Hollweg becomes German Chancellor (till July 1917)
1909 25 July – Louis Bleriot first man to fly across the Channel from France to England
1909 11 August – von Herringen becomes German Minister of War (till 7 Jun 1913)
1909 December – British General Wilson visits Foch and listens to lectures followed by private talks; invites Foch to London; Wilson tours Franco-German border for 10 days by train and bicycle and concludes Germans would invade France through Belgium
1910
1910 January General Wilson goes back to France and revisits Foch in Paris for further talks; Foch visits Wilson and General Staff in London later in the year. (Wilson asks Foch what the smallest British military force would be of value to France if Germany attacked, prompting the reply of “one British soldier”)
1910 15 January British general elections
1910 14 February – Churchill becomes Home Secretary
1910 6 May – Edward VII dies suddenly and is succeeded by George V
1910 27 May – Reform of Prussian three-class voting system fails
1911
1911 9 February – Churchill speech declaring British fleet a necessity and a German fleet a luxury 1911 March – British plans for B.E.F. mobilization in event of British intervention in general continental war-ready (schedule of mobilization)
1911 21 May – French occupy Fez (Morocco)
1911 30 June – Messiny named French War Minister
1911 July – during the Agasir crisis, Hoseph Cailloux (then French Premier) begins secret negotiations with the Germans concurrent with Cambon’s public ones; these private negotiations are discovered by the French who have broken one of the German diplomatic codes (the “Green Dispatches”) and Cailloux is forced to resign when Poincare is alerted to this information
1911 1 July – Panther at the port of Agadir
1911 July – Asquith appoints Cheruchill to Cabinet’s Committee of Imperial Defense
1911 20 July – Dubail-Wilson agreement signed agreeing to British mobilization following the intervention, specifying 150,000 men and 67,000 horses to be landed at Havre, Boulogne, and Rouen between 4th-12th day of mobilization and be sent to Mauberge region and ready for action on 13th day
1911 21 July – Lloyd George warns Germany in his “Mansion House speech”, stiffening German opinion towards his ideas; speech primarily meant as support for the French; during “crisis” period British make some preparations for war against Germany
1911 13 August – Churchill sends Asquith a memorandum analyzing a European war in which Germany attacks France through Belgium and recommends the use of the British Army to aid France
1911 23 August – Asquith calls a secret meeting of Imperial Defense Committee asking for preparation of war plans (Grey, Lloyd George, and Churchill present among others) Gen. Henry Wilson discusses Anglo-French “plans” against the German invasion of Belgium and France
1911 6 September – Stolypin was assassinated in the Kyiv Opera House in front of the Tsar
1911 29 September Tripoli War between Italy and Turkey begins
1911 10 October – (until 1912) Chinese Revolution begins at Wuhan
1911 25 October – Churchill becomes First Lord of the Admiralty and invites Fisher to meet him
1911 (till 1914) Mexican revolution; fighting begins in November
1911 4 November – Morocco Agreement signed
1911 4 November – Charykov (of Russia) offers Turks a guarantee of the status quo if Straits open to Russian warships
1911 9-10 November – Reichstag debates Morocco Agreement
1912
1912–1913 Irish Home Rule problem occupies British domestic politics
1912-1913 Krupp “Kornwalzer” stolen secret military documents scandal emerges and trials; Krupp not penalized
1912 January British War Staff established
1912 January Caillaux was ousted in France and followed by Poincaré
1912 – French Army General Staff makes the offensive à l’outrance official French military doctrine in its Regulations for the Conduct of Large Units
1912 January – French Senate initiates an investigative committee into Cailloux’s role in the Agadir Crisis and suspicions about Calloux’s “Germanophilia” became widespread; these sentiments led to the fall of the “Cailloux” government during 1912; Cailloux still maintained enough political power to return to his “old” post of Minister of Finance
1912 January – Reichstag elections with S.P.D. emerging as the strongest party
1912 February – Joffre tells (French) Supreme War Council that he was counting on British for 6 infantry and 1 cavalry division to be ready for action in Mauberge area by the 15th day of mobilization
1912 7 February – Kaiser announces Army and Navy Bills
1912 8 February – Haldane arrives in Berlin for talks
1912 March – Churchill announces enlarging the RN, and removal of the fleet from Malta to home waters (and with the French realigning their fleet)
1912 13 March – Balkan League between Serbia and Bulgaria formed
1912 22 March – New German naval program began marking the failure of Anglo-German talks on naval forces
1912 April – (2 week period) Turks close Straits fearing Italian attack with economic results in southern Russia creating tensions there
1912 15 April – Cambon proposes to Nicholson a renewal of Landsdowne’s “May 1905 offer” of an alliance; Grey writes Cambon with promises but no formal arrangement
1912 21 May – Military bills and Lex Bassermann-Erzberger passed by Reichstag
1912 29 May – Greece joins Balkan League 1912 17 August – Poincaré tells Sazonov (of Russia) of the verbal agreement by England to aid France if Germany attacked France (possibly posturing)
1912 15 October – Peace between Italy and Turkey completed
1912 17 October – First Balkan War begins; Montenegro declares war on Turkey, soon joined by Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia
1912 17 November – Poincaré tells Izvolski that France will back Russia in a war against Austria (which he said was backed by Germany)
1912 December – Haldane tells the German Ambassador that England would aid France if attacked by Germany and could not allow the balance of power to be changed
1912 8 December – Wilhelm II calls military conference at Potsdam (over Haldane’s comment)
1913
1913 – Wilson visits French General Staff every other month and reviews Foch’s maneuvers of XX Corp guarding the border
1913 5 January Jagow succeds Kidelen-Wächter in the German Foreign Office
1913 February – Russian celebrations for 300 years of Romanovs
1913 26 March – Churchill proposes Naval Holiday
1913 May – Treaty of London ending First Balkan War and Albania given international recognition; various territorial adjustments
1913 May – French General Staff adopts Plan 17
1913 24 May – Oberst Alfred Redl, Deputy Chief of the Austrian Intelligence Bureau commits suicide prior to being arrested as a Russian spy
1913 4 June Prussian Diet elections
1913 7 June – Erich v Falkenhayn becomes German Minister of War (till 21 Jan 1915)
1913 30 June – Second Balkan War begins with Bulgarian attack on Greece and Serbia
1913 30 June – German Army Bill and Tax Compromise accepted
1913 29 July – Anglo-Turkish understanding supporting German efforts in Turkey to build Bagdad railway
1913 August – Lusitania undergoes extensive modifications permitting guns to be mounted and ammunition holds and ammo elevators installed prior to registration as a Reserve RN cruiser, therefore listed by Germany as a warship, therefore German U-boat sinks it, therefore the USA will enter WWI.
1913 7 August – French Army bill ratified (“Three Year Law”)
1913 10 August Peace of Bucharest ends Second Balkan War and marked by territorial adjustments
1913 23 August – Churchill prepares contingency plans paper for Britain to send troops to aid France in the war against Germany
1913 28 August “Kartell der schaffenden Stände” proclaimed
1913 30 August – Churchill writes Grey that Britain should aid Russia and France in a war with Germany
1913 1 October – Greatest German Army increase since 1871; peace strength increased by 136,000 to 760,908 NCO’s and men
1913 18 October – Churchill again proposes a Naval Holiday
1913 18 October – Berchtold (Austria) sends an ultimatum to Serbia demanding withdrawal of forces that crossed into Albania; Serbs withdrew
1913 26 October – Kaiser meets Berchtold (Austrian Foreign Minister) in Vienna discussing possible Germanic-Slav (Serb) confrontation
1913 October-November – Zabern Affair in Germany
1913 October – French Army adopts new field regulations calling for offensive
1913 November – Liman von Sanders given total command of the Turkish army and in charge at Istanbul resulting in open Russian animosity towards Germans in Turkey; Russia becoming increasingly more anti-German and belligerent
1913 9 December – Liman von Sanders Commission to Turkey seen off by Kaiser
1913 November – King Albert of Belgium invited to Berlin; Kaiser tells King that he feels war with France inevitable; similar statements by Moltke
1913 9 December – Liman von Sanders Commission to Turkey seen off by Kaiser
1913 14 December – Liman von Sanders arrives in Constantinople
1914
1914 5 January – Gaston Calmette, editor of Le Figaro begins running a series of political and personal exposés on Cailloux
1914 20 January Sazonov and Tsar discuss Liman von Sanders in Turkey and competing with Austria over binding Poles to the Russian state1914 February – Durnovo (Russian State Council member) writes a memo to Tsar regarding Russian role in the war against Germany; assumes that Britain wouldn’t be able to help much and territorial gains wouldn’t be worthwhile and predicted war would lead to social revolution
1914 16 March – Joseph Caillaux’s wife buys a Browning automatic pistol in the morning and late that afternoon shoots Gaston Calmette the editor of Le Figaro; Cailloux resigns his political post in the Cabinet; Calmette dies that evening
1914 April, according to Tuchman, the Anglo-French military arrangements are completed even to point of details on billeting arrangements for British troops
1914 May – Anglo-Russian naval talks begin to determine co-operation between fleets
1914 12 May – Moltke and Conrad (of Austria) meet in Karlsbad
1914 13 June – Kaiser Wilhelm II and Franz Ferdinand meet for the last time at Konopischt, Serbia and Russia discussed
1914 28 June – Assassination of Franz Ferdinand and his wife at Sarajevo by Gavrilo Prinzip.
1914 30 June – German Ambassador in Vienna advises Austrians against taking hasty steps
1914 July – Trial of Madame Cailloux for the murder of Gaston Calmette; French public absorbed and distracted by details of the trial and surrounding scandals; on July 28th, the verdict of “not guilty” was rendered
1914 4 July – Hoyos mission to Berlin taking two notes; one being Austrian plans for Balkans (primarily Roumania) and a note from Franz Josef
1914 5 July – Austrian Ambassador in Berlin delivers a handwritten note from Franz Josef to Kaiser, over luncheon; the Kaiser`s ‘blank cheque’
1914 6 July – German Ambassador informs Grey that the crisis would be serious since Austria with German support was planning to act against Serbia
1914 6 July – Wilhelm II talks with Krupp and says he will not “chicken out” this time
1914 6 July – Wilhelm II leaves for Norwegian cruise (until 27 July)
1914 7 July – Austro-Hungarian Ministerial Council meets
1914 8 July – Ultimatum to Serbia being prepared
1914 11 July – German Naval HQ sends a telegram to Admiral Spree on Scharnhorst in a pacific advisory that England would probably be hostile in event of war
1914 14 July – Tisza (Hungarian Prime Minister) concedes to military action against Serbia
1914 14 July – Tschirschky tells Bethmann-Hollweg the Austrian note is composed to preclude acceptance by the Serbs
1914 15 July – Conrad of Austria goes on holiday
1914 15 July – Poincaré and Viviani leave for St. Petersburg
1914 16 July – Grey tells Russian Ambassador that Germans can no longer be counted on as peacemakers under any circumstances
1914 18 July – Admiralty Grand Review of the First Fleet (223 ships)
1914 19 July – Austro-Hungarian Ministerial Council meets and approves ultimatum to be handed over on 23 July; course of action planned
1914 19 July – Jagow plants article in Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung advocating localization of Austro-Serb conflict
1914 20 July – Poincaré and Viviania arrive in St Peterburg
1914 20 July – Churchill orders First Fleet not to disperse
1914 21 July – Franz Josef approves ultimatum at Bad Ischl; text of ultimatum sent to Berlin
1914 21 July – Cambon asks Jagow if he knows anything of the contents of the Austrian note
1914 21 July – Sazonov tells Austrian Ambassador that Russia will try to persuade Serbs to make reasonable amends
1914 21 July – George V summons all parties to a conference at Buckingham Palace to discuss the Irish situation; Grey reports to Cabinet and discussion of the European situation follows
1914 23 July – Austria delivers an ultimatum to Serbia at 6 PM; limited Austrian mobilization at Temesvar and Austrian fleet gathers at Semlin
1914 23 July – Poincaré and Viviani leave St. Petersburg for a state visit to Oslo and Copenhagen
1914 23 July – Lloyd George tells House of Commons that relations with Germany were better than they have been for years
1914 24 July – Asquith writes a friend that he expected a war between Austria and Germany on one side, and France and Russia on the other ( “a real Armageddon”) and hopes Britain can stay out of it
1914 24 July – Austria-Hungary informs France, Russia, and Britain of ultimatum at 9 AM; Grey informed at 2 PM
1914 24 July – Grey informs Cabinet of contents of ultimatum and proposes to mediate among the powers
1914 24 July – German ambassadors transmit note in Paris, London, and St Petersburg that conflict be localized
1914 24 July – Paul Cambon proposes conference and announces support of Russia in case of war with Austria
1914 24 July – Delbrück meets Reich and Prussian authorities
1914 24 July – Russian Council of Ministers considers partial mobilization and asks Austria to extend the time for the ultimatum to Serbia; Sazanov says Serbia would become a protectorate of the Central Powers, loss of Russia’s historic mission, and loss of prestige of Russia in Balkans
1914 24 July – Churchill sends Fleet advisory notice of crisis, but not a full alert
1914 24 July – Italian Government takes conciliatory stance towards crisis and attempts to maintain interests in Balkans and Adriatic without war
1914 25 July – Serbian Parliament meets in special session and sends a reply to the ultimatum
1914 25 July – King Peter of Serbia moves capital from Belgrade to Kraguyavatz
1914 25 July – Vienna breaks off diplomatic relations with Belgrade and Serbian envoy dismissed
1914 25 July – Austro-Hungarian Government declares martial law and war measures begun
1914 25 July – Moltke and Falkenhayn return to Berlin; Wilhelm II leaves Norway to return to Berlin
1914 25 July – Wilhelm II orders return of Fleet
1914 25 July – French Ministerial Council urges immediate return of Poincaré and Vivianni
1914 25 July – Paris and Berlin crowds demonstrate in favor of war
1914 25 July – Grey again proposes mediation
1914 25 July – Jagow forwards Grey’s proposal to Vienna
1914 25 July – Russian Crown Council meets with Tsar and approves resolutions of Ministerial Council; Tsar orders preparations for mobilization
1914 25 July – Italian Government shows no interest in supporting Austria
1914 26 July – Royal Navy holds test mobilization for one day and plans to disperse next morning (27th)
1914 26 July – Serbian army begins mobilizing and panic in Belgrade
1914 26 July – Russians begin preparatory measures for war (not mobilization)
1914 26 July – Russia asks Germany to exert moderating influence on Austria-Hungary; Germans try to localize war
1914 26 July – Grey proposes Four-Power Conference of Ambassadors in London
1914 26 July – Austria mobilizes on the Russian frontier
1914 26 July – Austrian reservists in the U.S. are warned to return for service; some Serbs in New York make ready to return home
1914 26 July – The emergency meeting of French Cabinet
1914 26 July – France takes precautionary military measures and French fleet order to prepare; French officers and men excused for harvesting recalled to their units
1914 26 July – Italy masses its fleet
1914 26 July – Belgium increases its army to enforce neutrality
1914 27 July – Wilhelm II returns to Potsdam/ Berlin
1914 27 July – France accepts Grey’s proposals of mediation while telling Russians the French army would fully stand by Russia militarily
1914 27 July – French units in Morocco ordered back to France
1914 27 July – Bethmann-Hollweg rejects the idea of Four Power conference
1914 27 July – (AM) Churchill orders Royal Navy to be kept together and not disperse as planned and later informs Grey of his action
1914 27 July – Poincaré cancels visit to Copenhagen and Oslo and starts to return home
1914 27 July – Anti-war demonstrations in Paris
1914 28 July – Churchill orders fleet to sail to its war base at Scapa Flow
1914 28 July – Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia; Austrian reservists in the U.S. are ordered to return to Austria
1914 28 July – King Peter of Serbia goes to Nish
1914 28 July – Prince Henry of Prussia reports to Wilhelm II on his conversations with George V
1914 28 July – Wilhelm issues ‘Halt-in-Belgrade’ appeal shortly after seeing the Serb reply to the Austrian ultimatum
1914 28 July – Wilhelm II appeals to Tsar’s monarchial solidarity; crosses the Tsar’s telegram to him
1914 28 July – Russia orders mobilization of four western military districts and Black Sea coastline black-out
1914 28 July – Grey hopes that Austria-Hungary and Russia can be brought to negotiate
1914 28 July – Bethmann-Hollweg meets Südekem (S.P.D.)
1914 28 July – French General Staff informs Russian military attaché in Paris that French Army is fully ready and active to do her duty as an ally of Russia
1914 28 July – French Army moves to the frontier areas
1914 28 July – French and German Socialists demonstrate against war; anti-war rallies
1914 28 July – Italian Government orders concentration of 1st and 2nd naval squadrons at Gaeta and Italian vessels ordered home
1914 29 July – Churchill persuades Asquith to authorize “Warning Telegram” to fleet
1914 29 July – Nicholas II and Kaiser, start “Willy-Nicky” telegrams in English over next three days
1914 29 July – Vienna refuses to negotiate with Serbia, Belgrade shelled by Austrian artillery
1914 29 July – Franz Josef sends letter to Tsar Nicholas
1914 29 July – Austrian forces repulsed at Losnitza
1914 29 July – Montenegrins occupy Cattaro
1914 29 July – Serbs blow up bridges at Semlin
1914 29 July – Belgian army reserves called up
1914 29 July – Trade in Antwerp “paralyzed”
1914 29 July – Tschirischky transmits Kaiser’s ‘Halt-in-Belgrade” proposal
1914 29 July – Poincaré and Vivianni return to Paris and hold Cabinet council meeting
1914 29 July – Business in Paris almost at a standstill
1914 29 July – Kaiser holds military councils and issues German warnings to Russia
1914 29 July – Moltke sends a memorandum to Chancellor and demands general mobilization of German Armed forces; Moltke also send a telegram to Conrad suggesting Austria begin full mobilization and Germany would follow
1914 29 July – Bethmann-Hollweg makes moves to keep Britain neutral; final draft of ultimatum to Belgian Government sent to the German ambassador in Brussels
1914 29 July – Grey informs Lichnowsky (German Ambassador) that Britain could not remain neutral in the event of a continental war; proposes mediation
1914 29 July – Grey and Cabinet begin meeting daily, sometimes twice or more a day over the next several days; following this meeting “Warning Telegram” sent to all British naval, military and colonial stations warning that war was possible
1914 29 July – (and 30th) R.N. leaves Portsmouth
1914 29 July – British and German fleets in the Far East begin mobilizing
1914 29 July – King of Montenegro’s yacht evades capture by Austrian destroyers
1914 29 July – Russian general mobilization ordered, but revoked by Tsar later that same evening; Russian hopes for Serb victory; Russians black-out Baltic coastline
1914 29 July – Kaiser holds Crown Council at Potsdam over the possibility of British involvement in France
1914 30 July – Bethmann-Hollweg unsuccessfully tries to reverse German policy
1914 30 July – Belgian forts provisioned and the Belgian Government forbids the export of horses or vehicles
1914 30 July – Holland declares neutrality
1914 30 July – Austria-Hungary agrees to negotiations with Russia but refuses to delay operations against Serbia
1914 30 July – Austria expels newspaper correspondents from Semlin
1914 30 July – Moltke presses for general mobilization
1914 30 July – Berliner Lokalanzeiger announces German mobilization but the issue is withdrawn; official denial
1914 30 July – Prussian State Ministry meets at Potsdam
1914 30 July – Austria-Hungary orders general mobilization including men up to 50 years old
1914 30 July – Russian general mobilization ordered for 31 July; Russian Government takes control of railways
1914 30 July – Unionist papers in England call for Britain to go to war against Germany if France attacked
1914 30 July – Halifax garrison in Canada begins preparations
1914 30 July – French troops guard railways; French Army withdraws 10 kilometers along the entire border with Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany; Germans covering troops along the border. In Paris, nothing yet known of Austrian and Russian mobilization.
1914 30 July – Guiseppe Garibaldi says he will fight for Serbia if Italy remains neutral
1914 31 July – Vienna rejects international conference and orders a general mobilization
1914 31 July – Austrian Government assures Italy Government that more territory is not wanted
1914 31 July – Russian general mobilization becomes known in Berlin at noon
1914 31 July – Russian Council of Ministers meet at Peterhof and Government does not reply to German note
1914 31 July – Russian reserves called up
1914 31 July – Russians blow up railway bridge on Vienna-Warsaw line
1914 31 July – Serbs halt Austrians at Semendria and on the Bosnia frontier
1914 31 July – 10 AM London Stock Exchange closes in a wave of financial panic (Monday a Bank Holiday) started in New York
1914 31 July – Reichstag summoned
1914 31 July – Kaiser proclaims ‘state of imminent war’ at 1 PM (one hour after Russian mobilization was learned of); martial law declared and Kaiser makes speeches
1914 31 July – Crown Prince Wilhelm assigned military command
1914 31 July – Germany refuses to mediate and issues an ultimatum to Russia to halt demobilization within 24 hours
1914 31 July – Germans send an ultimatum to Paris demanding to know if France will stay neutral and if so, to hand over forts at Toul and Verdun; given 18 hours to reply
1914 31 July – French Government prepares to refuse German ultimatum; Paul Cambon goes to see Grey for British commitment
1914 31 July – Churchill orders confiscation of Turkish ships Sultan Osman and Reshadieh canceling delivery
1914 31 July – French socialist leader Jean Jaurès assassinated in Paris
1914 31 July – French Ministerial Council decides to order mobilization for 1 August
1914 31 July – Grey asks French and German Governments if they will respect Belgian neutrality; France agrees, Germans evasive; British Cabinet close to abandoning France; Tory leaders be called to London to confer on crisis
1914 31 July – French answer to German note about Russia
1914 31 July – French Government mobilizes steamship La France for Government service
1914 31 July – Belgian Army mobilizes
1914 31 July – Dutch Army ordered to mobilize
1914 31 July – Belgian State Railway schedule of trains into Germany suspended
1914 31 July – Italian Council of Ministers votes to remain neutral
1914 1 August – 2AM Izvolsky (Russian Ambassador) awakens Poincaré, who had retired for the night, and asks what France plans to do
1914 1 August – (morning) Governor of Bank of England visits Lloyd George to tell him that Bank was opposed to British intervention; Asquith gets similar messages from others in the financial community
1914 1 August – French Army ordered to begin mobilization at 3:40 PM; French Government says it will respect Belgian neutrality
1914 1 August – Cambon asks Grey if Britain will intervene and asks if “honor” was erased from the British dictionary
1914 1 August – Delcassé becomes War Minister in France
1914 1 August – German Ambassador prepares to leave Paris and American Ambassador and Council will look after German affairs there
1914 1 August – War rallies in Vienna and pressure on Austrian Government to keep war localized and to negotiate with Russia
1914 1 August – German ultimatum to Russia expires at noon; Germany declares war on Russia at 12:52 PM and begins mobilization at 5 PM when announcement made to the crowd at Imperial palace gates
1914 1 August – German ultimatum to France expires at 1 PM
1914 1 August – (ca 7 PM) Kaiser orders troops planning to invade Luxemburg to halt and tells Molke that it may be possible to prevent war with France and Moltke says that once mobilization began stopping war with France was no longer possible
1914 1 August – Reichstag convened
1914 1 August – German reservists in China begin concentrating at Tsing-tau; German officials in South Africa begin returning home
1914 1 August – Russian forces fire on German patrol near Prostken
1914 1 August – Continued hopes in Berlin that Britain might stay neutral
1914 1 August – Belgian Government buys the entire wheat supply on market in Antwerp
1914 1 August – Special meeting of British Cabinet (night session); Churchill asks to mobilize the fleet and call up reserves and is turned down; Grey asks to use fleet to support French in event of Germans in Channel (as promised to French); Lloyd George not in favor of war; on leaving the meeting, Grey tells Churchill he will honor a pledge to Cambon and close the Channel with RN
1914 1 August – King George appeals to the Tsar for peace
1914 1 August – London Times denunciation of Germany
1914 1 August – Canadian Cabinet meets and agrees to send its offer of Canadian troops to England
1914 1 August – Italian Government tells Germany that Triple Alliance agreement only applied to a defensive war
1914 1 August – Japanese navy prepares for war
1914 2 August – German troops occupy Luxembourg
1914 2 August – Ambassador Cambon blames Germany for the cause of conflict
1914 2 August – French Government declares a state of siege in France and Algiers
1914 2 August – French Socialists display patriotism in support of the war
1914 2 August – French cut railway communications with Germany and Belgium
1914 2 August – Russian Ambassador in Berlin given passport
1914 2 August – (afternoon) Tsar formally declares war on Germany
1914 2 August – Russians cross German frontier and seize railroad station
1914 2 August – fighting between Russian and German cruisers near Libau; German ships at sea ordered to seek neutral ports
1914 2 August – Germans in Kiao-Chau declare martial law
1914 2 August – German High Seas Fleet captures Wilson Liner Castro and a collier
1914 2 August – Montenegrin King signs mobilization order
1914 2 August – Austrian military cadets commissioned
1914 2 August – Germans and French recall all military reserves at home and abroad
1914 2 August – Two British Cabinet meetings (11AM-2PM and 6:30 PM-8PM); during second meeting Cabinet agrees that if Belgium invaded Britain would declare war
1914 2 August – Trafalgar Square anti-war demonstration evaporates and pro-war sentiments spread in Britain
1914 2 August – German ambassador in Brussels delivers an ultimatum to Belgian Government at 8 PM; 12 hour period to reply
1914 2 August – Belgian King holds Council of State at 9 PM-midnight to discuss ultimatum
1914 2 August – Invasion fears in Holland result in plans to flood the country to prevent it
1914 2 August – Belgian guards posted at bridges at Liege and Namur and Belgian “civic guard” called out
1914 2 August – Kitchener orders military censorship for British papers
1914 2 August – Canadian volunteers enlisting for possible war
1914 2 August – Canadian Royal Naval reserve called up
1914 2 August – Italian Cabinet ratifies neutrality declaration but troops called to colors as precautionary measure
1914 2 August – Japanese Emperor summons Council and asks for report on army; Japanese navy warships readied
1914 3 August – 2:30 AM Belgian Council of State re-convenes to approve reply to German ultimatum, over at 4:00 AM; reply given at 7 AM
1914 3 August – Bank Holiday in England; crowds in Whitehall
1914 3 August – British Cabinet meets at 11AM (still unaware of Belgium’s plans to refuse ultimatum) and learns of Belgian reply during the session; King Albert sends George V telegram asking for Britain to back its treaty obligations towards Belgium; Cabinet sanctions mobilization of Fleet and Army but no decision to send BEF to France yet; Grey says Britain will keep the German Navy out of the Channel
1914 3 August – Haldane sending out mobilization telegrams calling up Reservists and Territorials
1914 3 August – Dense crowds in Whitehall in support of the war
1914 3 August – Italy declares neutrality
1914 3 August – Germans seize three towns in Russian Poland
1914 3 August – Tsar calls Russians to war and issues paper on causes of war
1914 3 August – Austrians and Serbs fighting along the Drona River
1914 3 August – Germany declares war on France and German Ambassador leaves Paris; French Ambassador leaves Berlin
1914 3 August – American Ambassador in Moscow will look after German interests in Russia and Eastern Europe
1914 3 August – Belgium rejects German demands
1914 3 August – German-Turkish Treaty concluded
1914 3 August – German Ambassador sees Grey and asks about British intentions and decisions regarding the war
1914 3 August – Grey addresses House of Commons (ca. 3 PM) and debate follows with dinner break; German ultimatum to Belgium becomes known; Redmond promises Irish support
1914 3 August – British ultimatum contemplated being sent to Germany regarding Belgian neutrality
1914 3 August – German declaration of war on France (ca. 5:30 PM)
1914 3 August – Canadian ports of Quebec and Montreal put in charge of military authorities
1914 3 August – Canadian militia called up and reserves prepared to sail for England
1914 4 August – Serbs ban the sending of press dispatches
1914 4 August – German ambassador in Brussel delivers German response to Belgian reply at 6 AM
1914 4 August – 8:02 AM Germans invade Belgium
1914 4 August – 9 AM King Alfred meets Belgian parliament
1914 4 August – German troops cross French border near Mars-La-Tour and Moineville
1914 4 August – Joffre leaves for the frontier
1914 4 August – Riots in Paris
1914 4 August – Noon. King Alfred appeals to Britain and France for military support regarding Belgian neutrality
1914 4 August – British Cabinet meets at 11 AM after hearing of Belgian invasion and issues ultimatum to expire at midnight
1914 4 August – Whitehall filled with crowds in support of British intervention in the war
1914 4 August – British ultimatum transmitted to Berlin and British Ambassador prepares to leave Berlin
1914 4 August – German Government appeals to Italians to honor treaty go unheeded
1914 4 August – Reichstag opens; speech by Kaiser (morning), stops for church services, reconvenes for German Chancellor speech (3 PM); Reichstag support of war and votes for war credits then adjourns (Socialists agree to set differences aside and vote in support).
1914 4 August – (circa 2 PM and concurrent with Bethmann-Hollweg in Reichstag) Asquith announces to House of Commons that he has a message from King (Mobilization Proclamation) and reads terms of the British ultimatum to Germany.
1914 4 August – 7 PM British ultimatum (two parts) becomes known in Berlin; British Ambassador presents it to Bethmann-Hollweg
1914 4 August – circa 9 PM, British intercept German message from Berlin that Germany considers itself at war with Britain the moment the British Ambassador asked for his passport (during delivery of British ultimatum)
1914 4 August – Japanese Government proclamation preparing the country for war on behalf of England (war on 23 Aug)
1914 4 August – Canadian Cabinet meeting and mobilization of Canadian Expeditionary Force begins; reservists sail
1914 4 August – Message of appreciation sent to Canada by King George
1914 4 August – Rival warship off Port of New York; Foreign consulates in the U.S. busy with returning nationals
1914 6 August – Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia
1915
1915 24 April: The deportation of Armenian leaders and notables in Constantinople signals the onset of the Armenian Genocide.
1915 7 May: Sinking of the RMS Lusitania.
1915 The first large scale use of poison gas by both sides in World War I occurs, first by the Germans at the Battle of Bolimów on the eastern front, and at the Second Battle of Ypres on the western front, and then by the British at the Battle of Loos.
1916
1916 9 January: The Gallipoli Campaign ends in failure.
1916 February to December: Battle of Verdun.
1916 24–30 April: Easter Rising in Ireland.
1916 30 April: The first nationwide implementation of daylight saving time in the German Empire and Austria-Hungary.
1916 June to September: Brusilov Offensive.
1916 June: The Arab Revolt begins.
1916 6 June: The Warlord Era begins in China after the death of Yuan Shikai.
1916 July to November: Battle of the Somme.
1916 15–22 September: First use of tanks at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette.
1916 21 November: Sinking of the HMHS Britannic.
1916 December: The Pact is agreed upon by both the Congress and the Muslim League at the Indian city of Lucknow.
1916 6 December: David Lloyd George becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1916 30 December: Grigori Rasputin is assassinated by H.H. Prince Felix Youssoupov.
1917
1917 8 March: Russian Revolution ends the Russian Empire; beginning of Russian Civil War.
1917 6 April: USA joins the Allies for the last 17 months of World War I.
1917 May to October: Apparitions of Our Lady of the Rosary in Fatima, Portugal.
1917 July to November: Battle of Passchendaele.
1917 October to November: Battle of Caporetto.
1917 1–2 November: The Third Battle of Gaza ends in British victory.
1917 7 November (O.S. 25 October): October Revolution in Russia.
1917 8 November: The Ukrainian–Soviet War begins.
1917 6 December: Independence of Finland.
1918
1918 January to May: Finnish Civil War.
1918 22 January: Ukraine declares independence from Russia.
1918 February: Beginning of the Spanish flu pandemic, which lasts until April 1920 and kills tens of millions.
1918 March to July: The German spring offensive.
1918 25 March: Belarus declares independence from Russia.
1918 30 March: The Armenian–Azerbaijani War begins.
1918 28 May: Azerbaijan Democratic Republic declared.
1918 4 July: Mehmed VI becomes the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and the last Caliph.
1918 16–17 July: Assassination of Tsar Nicholas II and his family.
1918 8–12 August: Battle of Amiens.
1918 August to November: The Hundred Days Offensive sends Germany into defeat.
1918 October: the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs is established.
1918 29 October: German Revolution begins.
1918 The Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire begins.1918 1 November:
1918 Independence declared in the West Ukrainian People’s Republic.
1918 The Polish–Ukrainian War begins.
1918 9 November: Abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II.
1918 11 November: The Armistice of 11 November 1918 ends World War I.
1918 Poland declares independence from Russia.
1918 1 December: The Kingdom of Iceland, a personal union with Denmark, is formed.
1918 The British occupy Palestine.
1919
1919 14 February: Polish-Soviet War begins.
1919 2 March: Comintern established.
1919 11 April: The International Labour Organization is established.
1919 3 April: The Jallianwala Bagh massacre in northern India: Acting Brigadier-General
1919 Reginald Dyer orders troops of the British Indian Army to fire their rifles into a crowd of unarmed Indian civilians, killing from 379 to 1,000 people and injuring another 1,500.
1919 19 May: Turkish War of Independence begins.
1919 28 June: The Treaty of Versailles redraws European borders.
1919 July: The Egyptian Revolution of 1919 ends.
1919 8 July: End of Polish–Ukrainian War.
1919 11 August: German Revolution ends with the collapse of the German Empire and the establishment of the Weimar Republic.
1920
1920 10 January: League of Nations founded.
1920 17 January: Prohibition in the United States begins.
1920 2 February: Victory for Estonia in the Estonian War of Independence.
1920 25 April: Mandatory Palestine established.
1920 27–28 April: Red Army invasion of Azerbaijan and Armenia ends the Armenian–Azerbaijani War and concludes with their incorporation into the Soviet Union.
1920 21 May: The Mexican Revolution ends.
1920 5 September: Mahatma Gandhi launches Non-cooperation movement.
1920 Greece restores its monarchy after a referendum.
1921
1921 February to March: Russia invades Georgia and incorporates it into the Soviet Union.
1921 4 March: Warren G. Harding is inaugurated as President of the United States.
1921 July 29: Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of the Nazi Party as hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic begins.
1921 18 October: End of the Polish-Soviet War.
1921 9 November: The Italian National Fascist Party is established by Benito Mussolini.
1921 17 November: End of the Ukrainian–Soviet War.
1 1921 5 December: Coup brings the Pahlavi dynasty to power in Iran
1922
1922 6 February:
1922 Pius XI becomes Pope.
1922 The Washington Naval Treaty is signed.
1922 Mohandas Gandhi calls off Non-cooperation movement.
1922 28 February: Egypt gains independence from the United Kingdom, though British forces still occupy the Suez Canal.
1922 16 June: End of Russian Civil War.
1922 28 June: The Irish Civil War begins.
1922 23 October: Andrew Bonar Law becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1922 28 October: March on Rome brings Benito Mussolini to power in Italy.
1922 1 November: Ottoman Sultanate abolished by the Turkish Grand National Assembly; Sultan Mehmed VI is deposed.
1922 14 November: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) established.
1922 6 December: Irish Free State is established, while the Province of Northern Ireland is created within The United Kingdom.
1922 16 December: Gabriel Narutowicz, President of Poland, is assassinated.
1922 30 December: The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), the world’s first officially Communist state, is formed.
1922 The Italian reconquest of Libya begins.
1923
1923 3 March: Time Magazine is first published.
1923 22 May: Stanley Baldwin becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1923 24 May: The Irish Civil War ends.
1923 9 June: A military coup ousts and kills Bulgarian Prime Minister Aleksandar Stamboliyski.
1923 2 August: Death of Warren G. Harding; Vice President Calvin Coolidge assumes office as President of the United States.
1923 1 September: The Great Kantō earthquake kills at least 105,000 people in Japan.
1923 11 October: Turkish War of Independence ends; Ankara replaces Istanbul as its capital.
1923 29 October: Kemal Atatürk becomes the first President of the newly established Republic of Turkey.
1923 8 November: The Beer Hall Putsch, an attempt to overthrow the Weimar Republic, ends in failure and brief imprisonment for Adolf Hitler but brings the Nazi Party to national attention.
1923 15 November: Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic ends with the introduction of the Rentenmark.
1924
1924 21 January: The death of Vladimir Lenin triggers power struggle between Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin.
1924 22 January: Ramsay MacDonald becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1924 3 March: The Caliphate is abolished by Kemal Atatürk.
1924 10 May: The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation founded under J. Edgar Hoover.
1924 24 May: U.S. Immigration Act of 1924 significantly restricts immigration from Asia, the Middle East, and Southern Europe.
1924 28 August: The August Uprising in Georgia against Soviet rule.
1924 4 November: Stanley Baldwin becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1925
1925 3 January: Benito Mussolini delivers a speech which is considered the beginning of this dictatorship.
1925 18 July: Mein Kampf is published.
1925 October 5–16: Locarno Treaties signed.
1926
1926 12–14 May: May Coup in Poland.
1926 28 May: 28 May 1926 coup d’état in Portugal.
1926 22 August: General Georgios Kondylis overthrows General Theodoros Pangalos in Greece.
1926 25 December: Emperor Taishō dies; his son, the Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) becomes Emperor of Japan.
1927
1927 World population reaches two billion.
1927 1 January: The BBC is granted a Royal Charter in the United Kingdom.
1927 May: Australian Parliament convenes in Canberra for the first time.
1927 13 May: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland officially becomes the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
1927 18 May: The Bath School disaster, a series of violent attacks perpetrated by Andrew 1927 Kehoe on May 18, 1927, in Bath Township, Michigan, United States, results in 45 deaths.
1927 20 May: Saudi Arabia gains independence.
1927 20–21 May: Charles Lindbergh performs the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris.
1927 1 August: The Chinese Civil War begins.
1927 12 November: Soviet general secretary Joseph Stalin becomes leader of the Soviet Union.
1928
1928 March: Hassan al-Banna founds the Muslim Brotherhood.
1928 1 September: King Zog I is crowned in Albania.
1928 3 September: Accidental rediscovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming.
1928 24 July: The Kellogg-Briand Pact is signed in Paris.
1928 29 December: The Warlord Era ends in China.
1928 Malta becomes a British Dominion.
1929
1929 February: Leon Trotsky is exiled.
1929 11 February: Pope Pius XI signs the Lateran Treaty with Italian leader Benito Mussolini, after which the Vatican City is recognized as a sovereign state.
1929 14 February: Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre, the murder of seven members and associates of Chicago’s North Side Gang.
1929 4 March: Herbert Hoover is inaugurated as President of the United States.
1929 5 June: Ramsay MacDonald becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1929 24–29 October: Wall Street crash of 1929 and the beginning of the Great Depression.
1929 First people sent to the gulag in the Soviet Union as Stalin assumes effective control.
1930
1930 12 March: Salt March by Mohandas Gandhi and the official start of civil disobedience in British India.
1930 2 April: Haile Selassie becomes Emperor of Abyssinia.
1930 14 September: Aided by the Great Depression, the Nazi Party increases its share of the vote from 2.6% to 18.3%.
1930 November: First Round Table Conference between India and Great Britain, which goes until January 1931.
1930 3 November: The Vargas Era begins in Brazil.
1931
1931 3 March: “The Star-Spangled Banner” is adopted as the United States’s national anthem.
1931 1 May: Empire State Building completed.
1931 June: Floods in China kill up to 2.5 million people.
1931 14 April: The Second Spanish Republic is declared.
1931 September: Japan invades Manchuria, part of the chain of events leading to the start of World War II.
1931 September to December: Second Round Table Conference.
1931 7 November: The Chinese Soviet Republic is proclaimed by Mao Zedong.
1931 11 December: Statute of Westminster creates the British Commonwealth of Nations.
1931 11 December: Independence of South Africa.
1931 9 March: Éamon de Valera becomes President of the Executive Council (prime minister) of the Irish Free State.
1931 9 September: The Chaco War between Bolivia and Paraguay begins.
1931 4 June: Military coup in Chile.
1931 24 June: Siamese Revolution establishes a constitutional monarchy.
1931 November to December: Failed Emu War in Australia. Third Round Table Conference.
1931 19 December: BBC World Service starts broadcasting.
1931 The neutron is discovered by James Chadwick.
1931 Soviet famine of 1932–33 and Holodomor begin.
1931 The Nazi party becomes the largest single party in the German parliament.
1931 Aldous Huxley publishes Brave New World.
1933
1933 30 January: Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany.
1933 4 March: Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated as President of the United States, after 1933 being elected to the first of his record four terms.
1933 27 March: Japan announces it will leave the League of Nations.
1933 14 October: Germany announces its withdrawal from the League of Nations and the World Disarmament Conference, after the U.S., the U.K. and France deny its request to increase its defense armaments under the Versailles Treaty.
1933 5 December: Prohibition in the United States is abolished.
1933 New Deal begins in America.
1933 United States occupation of Nicaragua ends.
1934
1934 12–16 February: The Austrian Civil War results in Fascist victory.
2 1934 4 March: The United States grants more autonomy to the Philippines.
1934 30 June to 2 July: Adolf Hitler instigates the Night of the Long Knives, which cements his power over both the Nazi Party and Germany.
1934 1 August: The United States occupation of Haiti ends.
1934 2 August: With the death of President Hindenburg, Hitler declares himself Führer of Germany.
1934 16 October: Mao Zedong begins the Long March.
1934 November: David Toro overthrows the government of Bolivia in a military coup.
1935
1935 31 May: Establishment of 20th Century Fox.
1935 21 March: Reza Shah of Iran asks the international community to formally adopt the name “Iran” to refer to the country, instead of the name “Persia”.
1935 7 June: Stanley Baldwin becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1935 12 June: Chaco War ends.
1935 15 September: Enactment of the Nuremberg racial laws.
1935 3 October: The Second Italo-Abyssinian War begins and goes until February 1937. It includes events such as the exile of Haile Selassie and the conquest of Abyssinia by Benito Mussolini.
1935 23 October: William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes Prime Minister of Canada.
1935 15 November: Manuel L. Quezon becomes President of the Philippines.
1936
1936 20 January: Edward VIII becomes King of the British Commonwealth and Emperor of India.
1936 9 May: Italy annexes Ethiopia.
1936 17 July: Beginning of the Spanish Civil War.
1936 11 December: After a reign shorter than one year, Edward VIII abdicates and hands the throne to his brother, George VI.
1936 The Hoover Dam is completed.
1936 Great Purge begins under Stalin.
1936 Arab Revolt in Palestine against the British begins to oppose Jewish immigration.
1937
1937 6 May: German zeppelin Hindenburg crashes in Lakehurst, New Jersey, ending the airship era.
1937 28 May: Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1937 7 July: Japanese invasion of China, and the beginning of World War II in the Far East.
1937 28 August: Toyota founded in Japan by Kiichiro Toyoda.
1937 13 December: The Nanjing Massacre begins, ending about a month later in January 1938. It results in 40,000 to 200,000 deaths according to various estimates.
1937 The Irish Republican Army attempts to assassinate King George VI of the United Kingdom.
1937 Volkswagen was founded by the German Labor Front.
1938
1938 The Great Purge ends after nearly 700,000 executions.
1938 12 March: Anschluss unifies Germany and Austria.
6–15 July: Évian Conference ends with all attendee nations save the Dominican Republic refusing to accept more Jewish refugees from the Third Reich.
1938 The Great Purge ends after nearly 700,000 executions.
1938 12 March: Anschluss unifies Germany and Austria.
1938 6–15 July: Évian Conference ends with all attendee nations save the Dominican Republic refusing to accept more Jewish refugees from the Third Reich.
1938 30 September: Munich agreement hands Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany.
1938 9–10 November: Kristallnacht, a pogrom of over 90 Jews in Germany.
1938 December: Time Magazine declares Adolf Hitler as Man of the Year.
1938 30 September: Munich agreement hands Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany.
1938 9–10 November: Kristallnacht, a pogrom of over 90 Jews in Germany.
1938 December: Time Magazine declares Adolf Hitler as Man of the Year.
1939
1939 2 March: Pius XII becomes Pope.
1939 1 April: End of Spanish Civil War; Francisco Franco becomes dictator of Spain.
1939 23 August: The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between Germany and the Soviet Union.
1939 13 September: Ferrari founded in Modena, Italy (as Auto Avio Costruzioni) by Enzo Ferrari.
1939 September to October: Nazi invasion of Poland triggers the beginning of World War II in Europe. Soviet invasion of Poland begins 16 days later.
1939 The Palestinian revolt against the British ends.
1940
1940 January: Chechen insurgency begins in Soviet Union.
1940 13 March: The Winter War between Soviet Union and Finland ends with a costly victory for the USSR.
1940 April to May: The Katyn massacre of Polish soldiers in USSR and the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states.
1940 10 May: Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1940 May to June: Nazis invade France, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway.
1940 June: The Soviet Union annexes the Baltic states.
1940 July to October: Battle of Britain, the first entirely aerial military campaign, becomes the first significant defeat for the Axis powers.
1940 20 August: Leon Trotsky is assassinated in Mexico.
1940 7 September: The Blitz, a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, begins.
1940 Neptunium is synthesized.
1941
1941 June to December: Hitler commences the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.
1941 25 June: Continuation War between Finland and the Soviet Union begins. Siege of Tobruk in North Africa is the first major defeat for Hitler’s land forces.
1941 8 September: Siege of Leningrad begins.
1941 October: Operation Reinhard commences the main phase of The Holocaust.
1941 7 December: Attack on Pearl Harbor, which leads to the USA joining World War II.
1942
1942 April: Bataan Death March.
1942 4–8 May: Battle of the Coral Sea.
1942 4–7 June: Battle of Midway.
1942 1–27 July: First Battle of El Alamein.
1942 August: Battle of Stalingrad and Guadalcanal Campaign begin.
1942 Internment of Japanese-American citizens in the US begins.
1942 October to November: Second Battle of El Alamein.
1942 The Manhattan Project begins.
1943
1943 15 January: The Pentagon is completed.
1943 2 February: Battle of Stalingrad ends with over two million casualties and the retreat of the German Army.
1943 April to May: Warsaw Ghetto uprising fails.
1943 5 May: American Broadcasting Company (ABC) founded in New York City.
1943 July to August: The failed Battle of Kursk becomes the last Nazi offensive on the Eastern Front.
1943 November to December: Tehran Conference between Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin agrees to launch Operation Overlord.
1943 A famine in Bengal kills up to 3 million people.
1944
1944 27 January: The Siege of Leningrad ends with Soviet victory after over a million deaths.
1944 February to March: Chechen insurgency ends with deportation of the entire Chechen population.
1944 1 June: First operational electronic computer, Colossus, comes online.
1944 6 June: D-Day landings in Normandy.
1944 June to August: Soviet forces launch Operation Bagration on the Eastern Front, the biggest defeat in German military history.
1944 20 July: Adolf Hitler survives the 20 July plot to assassinate him led by Claus von Stauffenberg.
1944 19–25 August: Liberation of Paris.
1944 19 September: The Continuation War ends.
1944 October to December: American and Filipino troops begin the Battle of Leyte in the Philippines.
1945
1945 4–11 February: Yalta Conference.
1945 13–15 February: Allied bombing of Dresden.
1945 February to March: Battle of Manila.
1945 March to July: Battle of Okinawa.
1945 12 April: Death of Franklin D. Roosevelt; Vice President Harry Truman assumes office as President of the United States.
1945 April to May: Battle of Berlin.
1945 28 April: Execution of Benito Mussolini.
1945 30 April: Suicide of Adolf Hitler.
1945 May: End of World War II in Europe.
1945 The 1945 he Holocaust ends after ~12 million deaths, including 6 million Jews.
1945 26 June: United Nations founded (UN Charter).
1945 26 July: Clement Attlee becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1945 July to August: The Potsdam Conference divides Europe into Western and Soviet blocs.
1945 6 and 9 August: Harry S. Truman drops the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
1946
1946 30 September/October 1: Nuremberg trials end.
1946 27 October: French Fourth Republic established.
1946 19 December: First Indochina War begins.
1947
1947 12 March: Harry Truman establishes the Truman Doctrine of containment of Communism.
1947 26 July: Creation of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
1947 14–15 August: Independence of India and Pakistan and beginning of First Indo-Pakistani War.
1947 Hyundai Group founded by Chung Ju-yung in Seoul, South Korea.
1948
1948 30 January: Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.
1948 4 February: Independence of Burma and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) from Britain.
1948 3 April: The Marshall Plan, an American initiative for foreign aid of $13 billion to 16 1948 Western European countries, comes into effect.
1948 7 April: The World Health Organization (WHO) founded.
1948 16 April: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) founded.
1948 23 April: The Soviet Sever-2 expedition become the first party to indisputably set foot on the North Pole.
1948 14 May: United Nations establishes Israeli Independence and the formation of the official State of Israel.
1948 15 May: The Arab–Israeli War begins.
1948 24 June: Berlin Blockade begins.
1948 August to September: Division of North and South Korea.
1948 24 September: Honda founded in Hamamatsu, Japan by Soichiro Honda and Takeo Fujisawa.
1949
1949 5 January: The First Indo-Pakistani War ends.
1949 5–8 January: COMECON founded by USSR and the Eastern Bloc.
1949 1949 4 April: Creation of NATO.
1949 12 May: Berlin Blockade ends.
1949 23 May: Creation of NATO-backed Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany).
1949 8 June: George Orwell publishes Nineteen Eighty-Four.
1949 1 October: Establishment of the People’s Republic of China under CCP Chairman Mao Zedong; The Republic of China relocates to Taiwan.
1949 7 October: Creation of the socialist German Democratic Republic (East Germany).
1949 Soviet Union tests the atomic bomb.
1950
1950 26 January: The Constitution of India comes into effect.
1950 Communist victory in the Landing Operation on Hainan Island (March to May) and Wanshan Archipelago Campaign end the Chinese Civil War (May to August).
25 June: North Korean invasion of South Korea begins the Korean War.
1950 August to September: North Korean forces capture most of Korea, to the Pusan Perimeter.
1950 September to November: UN forces reclaim Seoul and invade North Korea.
1950 October: Alan Turing publishes the Turing test, one of the most influential yet controversial concepts in artificial intelligence research.
1950 17 November: Lhamo Dondrub assumes full political powers as the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet.
1951
1951 1 July: Colombo Plan, a regional organisation of 27 countries designed to strengthen 1951 economic and social development of member countries in the Asia-Pacific region, commences.
1951 8 September: The Treaty of San Francisco ends the Occupation of Japan and formally concludes hostilities between Japan and the US.
1951 26 October: Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1951 The Soviet Union has the atomic bomb.
1952
1952 6 February: Queen Elizabeth II becomes Monarch of the Commonwealth realms.
1952 May: Bonn–Paris conventions end allied occupation of West Germany.
1952 27 May: European Defence Community formed.
1952 23 July: Egyptian Revolution under Gamal Abdel Nasser overthrows King Farouk and ends British occupation.
1952 1 November: The United States successfully detonates the first hydrogen bomb, codenamed “Ivy Mike”, at Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the central Pacific Ocean, with a yield of 10.4 megatons.
1952 Development of the first effective polio vaccine by Jonas Salk.
1952 The Mau Mau Uprising begins in Kenya.
1953
1953 20 January: Dwight D. Eisenhower is inaugurated as President of the United States.
1953 5 March: Death of Stalin.
1953 25 April: Discovery of the three-dimensional structure of DNA.
1953 2 June: Coronation of Elizabeth II.
1953 16–17 June: An East German Uprising leads to the arrest and execution of Lavrentiy Beria; power struggle begins between Georgy Malenkov and Nikita Khrushchev.
1953 27 July: End of the Korean War.
1953 19 August: Mohammed Mossadeq deposed in Iran.
1953 9 November: Independence of Cambodia.
1954
1954 1 August: First Indochina War ends.
1954 14 September: The Soviet Union generates first electricity by nuclear power.
1954 23 October: The Western European Union is established.
1954 1 November: Algerian War begins.
1955
1955 After winning the power struggle that followed Stalin’s death two years earlier, Nikita Khrushchev assumes control of the Soviet Union.
1955 24 February: Formation of the Central Treaty Organization.
1955 6 April: Anthony Eden becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1955 12 April: The Salk polio vaccine having passed large-scale trials earlier in the United States, receives full approval by the Food and Drug Administration.
1955 14 May: Signing of the Warsaw Pact.
1956
1956 1 January: Independence of Sudan from Britain.
1956 20 March: Independence of Tunisia from France.
1956 23 March: Full independence of Pakistan.
1956 Central Treaty Organization Central Treaty Organization
1956 11 November: The Hungarian Uprising crushed by Soviet troops.
1956 Central Treaty Organization 29 October to 7 November:
1956 Nasser’s nationalization of the Suez Canal triggers the Suez crisis.
1957
1957 10 January: Harold Macmillan becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1957 6 March: Independence of Ghana from Britain.
1957 17 March: Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay and 24 others are killed in a plane crash.
1957 25 March: Treaty of Rome, which would eventually lead to the European Union.
1957 4 October: Launch of Sputnik 1 and the beginning of the Space Age.
1957 3 November: Laika becomes the first animal launched into Earth orbit.
1957 Beginning of the Asian flu in China, leading to a worldwide pandemic that lasts until the following year.
1958
1958 29 July: NASA formed.
1958 23 August: Federal Aviation Authority formed.
1958 4 October: French Fifth Republic established.
1958 28 October: John XXIII becomes Pope.
1959
1959 World population reaches three billion.
1959 19 February: Independence of Cyprus.
1959 4 July: Admission of Alaska, the 49th state, into the United States.
1959 21 August: Admission of Hawaii, the 50th state, into the United States.
1959 7 October: The U.S.S.R. probe Luna 3 sends back the first ever photos of the far side of the Moon.
1959 By this time, the gulag has been effectively disbanded, after over a million recorded deaths.
1960
1960 European Free Trade Association formed.
1960 17 January: The assassination of Patrice Lumumba begins the Congo Crisis.
1960 1 May: 1960 U-2 incident sparks deterioration in relations between superpowers.
1960 8 November: The 1960 United States presidential election marks the first televised debates between presidential candidates.
1960 Khrushchev withdraws Soviet cooperation with China, initiating the Sino-Soviet split.
1960 Mau Mau Uprising ends.
1960 The Beatles form in Liverpool.
1961
1961 20 January: John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as President of the United States.
1961 12 April: Yuri Gagarin, flying the Vostok 1 spacecraft as part of the Vostok program, becomes the first human in space.
1961 25 May: In an address to Congress, John F. Kennedy declares the United States’ objective of “landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth”
1961 13 August: Construction of the Berlin Wall.1961 8 September: UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld dies in a plane crash.
1961 The Great Leap Forward ends in China after the deaths of roughly 20-45 million people.
1962
1962 19 March: The Algerian War ends with the independence of Algeria.
1962 26 July, Rolling Stones formed
1962 11 October: The Second Vatican Council is opened by Pope John XXIII.
1962 16–29 October: The Cuban Missile Crisis nearly causes nuclear war.
1963
1963 21 June: Paul VI becomes Pope.
1963 19 October: Alec Douglas-Home becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1963 22 November: Assassination of John F. Kennedy. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson assumes
1964
1964 2 July: Civil Rights Act abolishes segregation in the USA.
1964 14 October: Leonid Brezhnev ousts Khrushchev and assumes power in the Soviet Union.
1964 16 October: Harold Wilson becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1965
1965 24 January: Death of Winston Churchill.
1965 8 December: Second Vatican Council is closed by Pope Paul VI.
1965 30 December: Ferdinand Marcos becomes President of the Philippines.
1966
1966 China’s Cultural Revolution begins.11 August: The Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation ends.
1966 Joseph Weizenbaum, a German computer scientist at MIT, completes ELIZA, the first ever chatbot.
1967
1967 A 0 series Shinkansen high-speed rail set in Tokyo, May 1967
1968
1968 January to March: Protests erupt in the United States, Europe and Latin America.
1968 January to August: Prague Spring crushed by the Eastern Bloc military intervention.
1968 January to September: The Tet Offensive occurs in South Vietnam.
1968 4 April: Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. during the Poor People’s Campaign.
1968 5 June: Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy during the Poor People’s Campaign.
1968 Another new strain of a flu in Hong Kong spreads again.
1968 The Troubles begin in Northern Ireland.
1969
1969 20 January: Richard Nixon is inaugurated as President of the United States.
1969 March to September: Sino-Soviet border conflict.
1969 20 July: The first manned mission to the Moon.
1969 1 September: Muammar Gaddafi overthrows King Idris of Libya in a Coup d’état and establishes the Libyan Arab Republic.
1969 29 October: Creation of Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET), the earliest incarnation of the Internet.
1970
1970 5 March: Ratification of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
1970 19 June: Edward Heath becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1970 28 September: Death of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser.
1970 October to December: FLQ seizes hostages, causing Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau of Canada to issue the War Measures Act.
1970 15 October: Anwar Sadat becomes President of Egypt.
1970 18 December: Establishment of Airbus.
1971
1971 25 January: Idi Amin seizes power in Uganda.
1971 26 March: Bangladesh Liberation War occurred, independence of Bangladesh from Pakistan and precipitates Third Indo-Pakistani War.
1971 9–10 August: Internment begins in Northern Ireland.
1971 Nixon shock removes gold back-up for the US Dollar triggering export of inflation from rich to poor nations.
1971 Greenpeace founded.
1972
1972 30 January: Northern Ireland’s Bloody Sunday.
1972 5–6 September: The Munich massacre, perpetrated by the Black September terrorist organization and aimed at the Israeli Olympic team, results in 17 total deaths.
1973
1973 14 May: The first space station, Skylab, is launched.
1973 October: 1973 oil crisis.
1973 6 to 25 October: Yom Kippur War.
1973 3 December: Pioneer 10 sends back the first close-up images of Jupiter.
1974
1974 World population reaches four billion.
1974 4 March: Harold Wilson becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1974 July to August: The Turkish invasion of Cyprus leads to the creation of the Northern Cyprus.
1974 8-9 August: Resignation of Richard Nixon; Vice President Gerald Ford assumes office as President of the United States, the first person not elected as either President or Vice President to take the role.
1974 12 September: Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia is overthrown in a military coup.
1974 24 November: Discovery of “Lucy” (Australopithecus afarensis) in Tanzania’s Olduvai Gorge.
1975
1975 January: Altair 8800, the first commercially successful personal computer, is released.
1975 4 April: Microsoft founded in Albuquerque, New Mexico by Bill Gates and Paul Allen.
1975 17 April: The Cambodian Civil War ends with victory for the Khmer Rouge.
1975 30 April: The Fall of Saigon ends the Vietnam War.
1975 20 November: Death of Francisco Franco.
1975 22 November: Juan Carlos I becomes King of Spain.
1975 The Killing Fields murders begin.
1976
1976 5 April: James Callaghan becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1976 9 September: Death of Mao Zedong.
1976 6 October: End of Cultural Revolution in China.
1976 First outbreak of the Ebola virus in Zaire.
1977
1977 20 January: Jimmy Carter is inaugurated as President of the United States.
1977 9 February: Queen Alia of Jordan is killed in helicopter crash.
1977 26 October: The last wild case of smallpox is eradicated by the WHO.
1978
1978 27 April: The War in Afghanistan (1978–present) begins.
1978 26 August: John Paul I becomes pope.
1978 28 September: John Paul I dies, his papacy being one of the shortest in history.
1978 1 October: Independence of Tuvalu from Britain.
1978 16 October: John Paul II becomes pope.
1978 18 December: Deng Xiaoping commences the Chinese economic reform.
1979
1979 7 January: The Vietnamese invasion of Kampuchea ends Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge regime.
1979 11 February: The Iranian Revolution ends. Shah Reza Pahlavi is overthrown and forced into
1979 28 March: The Three Mile Island nuclear accident
1979 4 May: Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1979 4 November: The Iran hostage crisis begins.
1979 12 December: The Rhodesian Bush War ends.
1979 24 December: The Soviet–Afghan War begins.
1979 Implementation of China’s one-child policy.
1979 The 1979 oil crisis becomes the second one since 1973.
1980
1980 18 April: Independence of Rhodesia, which becomes Zimbabwe.
1980 30 April: Queen Beatrix becomes monarch of the Netherlands.
1980 31 August: Solidarity union forms at Poland’s Gdańsk Shipyard under Lech Wałęsa, and begins agitation for greater personal freedoms.
1980 4 November: Ronald Reagan is elected as the 40th President of the United States, the oldest person to be elected.
1980 8 December: Murder of John Lennon.
1981
1981 20 January: Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as President of the United States.
1981 30 March: President Reagan and three others are injured after an assassination attempt.
1981 13 May: Pope John Paul II assassination attempt.
1981 5 June: The AIDS epidemic officially begins in the United States, having originated in Africa; making this to be an ongoing pandemic.
1981 6 October: Assassination of Anwar Sadat.
1982
1982 25 April: Israel withdraws from Sinai Peninsula.
1982 April to June: Falklands War.
1982 1 October: Sony releases the world’s first commercially sold CD Player, the Sony CDP-101.
1982 10–15 November: Death of Leonid Brezhnev; Yuri Andropov becomes General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
1983
1983 1 January: Independence of Brunei.
1983 18 April: The Bombing of U.S. Embassy in Beirut results in 63 deaths.
1983 1 September: Korean Air Lines Flight 007, a scheduled flight from New York City to Seoul via Anchorage, Alaska, is shot down by a Soviet Su-15 interceptor, resulting in 269 fatalities and no survivors. This leads to the declassification of GPS development.
1984
1984 13 February: Konstantin Chernenko becomes General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
1984 31 October: Assassination of Indira Gandhi, Indian Prime Minister.
1985
1985 11 March: Mikhail Gorbachev becomes General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
1985 20 August: Beginning of the Iran–Contra affair, a political scandal in the United States that occurred during the second term of the Reagan Administration involving the sale of arms to the Khomeini government of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
19 September: An earthquake in Mexico City, magnitude 8.0, kills from 5,000 to 45,000 people.
1 October: Release date of the Macintosh 128K, the first successful mass-market personal
1986
1986 28 February: Assassination of Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden.
1986 26 April: The Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine kills about 100 people.
1987
1987 World population reaches five billion.
1987 19 October: Stock market crash of 1987.
1988
1988 2 January: Beginning of the perestroika (“restructuring”), a political movement for reformation within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during the 1980s associated with Gorbachev and his glasnost (“openness”) policy reform.
1988 21 December: Pan Am Flight 103 falls over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people and leaving no survivors.
1988 George H. W. Bush is elected President of the United States.
1989
1989 1989 20 January: George H. W. Bush is inaugurated as President of the United States.
1989 14 February: Fatwa issued against Salman Rushdie.
1989 15 February: End of the Soviet war in Afghanistan.
1989 3 June: Ruhollah Khomeini dies; Ali Khamenei becomes Supreme Leader of Iran.
1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall; the Revolutions of 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Bloc begin in Europe, which leads to the end of the Cold War.
1989 25 December: Trial and execution of Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu in Romania.
1990
1990 11 March: End of dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet in Chile.
1990 2 August: Gulf War begins.
1990 3 October: German reunification.
1990 28 November: John Major becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1990 20 December: Tim Berners-Lee publishes the first web site, which described the World Wide Web project.
1990 The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change releases its first assessment report, linking increases in carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere, and a resultant rise in global temperature, to human activities.
1991
1991 28 February: The Gulf War ends in US withdrawal and a failed uprising.
1991 21 May: Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, Indian Prime Minister.
1991 10 July: Boris Yeltsin becomes the first President of Russia.
1991 28 September: Death of Miles Davis, American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer.
1991 26 December: Dissolution of the Soviet Union and independence of 15 former Soviet republics.
1991 Sino-Soviet Border Agreement.
1992
1992 7 February: The Maastricht Treaty creates the European Union.
1992 April: End of dictatorship in Albania.
1992 6 April: The Bosnian War begins.
1992 8 August: After the end of its dictatorship, South Korea is admitted to the UN.
1992 29 December: After controversies surrounding his result in an impeachment process, Fernando Collor resigns and Itamar Franco takes office as President of Brazil.
1992 Discovery of the Kuiper belt and the first extrasolar planets.
1993
1993 1 January: Velvet Divorce between Czech Republic and Slovakia.
1993 20 January: Bill Clinton is inaugurated as President of the United States.
1993 13 September: Oslo accords end First Intifada between Israel and Palestine.
1994
1994 1 January: Establishment of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
1994 10 May: End of apartheid in South Africa and election of Nelson Mandela.
1994 6 May: Opening of the Channel Tunnel.
1994 5 July: Amazon founded in Bellevue, Washington by Jeff Bezos.
1995
1995 1 January: Establishment of the World Trade Organization.
1995 Austria, Finland and Sweden join the European Union.
1995 20 March: The Tokyo subway sarin attack, an act of domestic terrorism perpetrated by members of the doomsday cult movement Aum Shinrikyo (now Aleph), in which they released sarin, an extremely toxic synthetic compound, in five coordinate attacks, resulting in 13 deaths and 6,252 injuries.
1995 August to September: NATO bombing raids in Bosnia end the Bosnian War.
1995 28 September: Oslo II Accord.
1995 4 November: Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli Prime Minister and Defence Minister, by Yigal Amir, an Israeli right-wing extremist.
1995 14 December: The signing of the Dayton Accords put an end to the three-and-a-half-year-long Bosnian War.
1997
1997 2 May: Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1997 1 July: Transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from UK to China.
1998
1998 February: Osama bin Laden publishes a fatwa against the West.
1998 28 May: Murder of Phil Hartman.
1998 4 September: Google is founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
1998 October to November: Hurricane Mitch leaves more than 19,325 dead in Central America as a result of catastrophic flooding and mudslides.
1999
1999 1 January: Euro introduced to the financial markets. Coins and banknotes enter circulation in participating countries in 2002.
1999 11 June: The end of the Kosovo War ends the Yugoslav Wars.
1999 16 July: John F. Kennedy Jr. plane crash.
1999 12 October: World population reaches 6 billion.
1999 31 December: Vladimir Putin becomes President of Russia.
2000
2000 George W. Bush takes office as the 43rd president of the United States.
2000 September 11 attacks: Al-Qaeda terrorists crash two planes into the twin towers of the 2000 World Trade Center in New York City, the third plane into the Pentagon in Washington, DC. A fourth plane is downed on the outskirts of Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania; 2,996 people die in the attacks.
2000 of American Airlines Flight 587.
2000 An earthquake strikes Gujarat, India, on Republic Day, resulting in more than 20,000 deaths.
2000 The United States invades Afghanistan and topples the Taliban regime, resulting in a long-term war.
2000 China becomes a member of the World Trade Organization.
2000 Wikipedia is launched.
2001
2001 George W. Bush takes office as the 43rd president of the United States.
2001 September 11 attacks: Al-Qaeda terrorists crash two planes into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, the third plane into the Pentagon in Washington, DC. A fourth plane is downed on the outskirts of Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania; 2,996 people die in the attacks.
2001 Crash of American Airlines Flight 587.
2001 An earthquake strikes Gujarat, India, on Republic Day, resulting in more than 20,000 deaths.
2001 The United States invades Afghanistan and topples the Taliban regime, resulting in a long-term war.
2001 China becomes a member of the World Trade Organization.
Wikipedia is launched.
2001 Eleven members of the royal family of Nepal, including the king and queen, are killed by Crown Prince Dipendra, who wounds himself and dies three days later.
2001 Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after a series of scandals.
2002
2002 The African Union is founded.
2002 Chechen rebels seize a theater in Moscow. Amid this siege, around 200 people died.
2002 The Euro enters circulation.
2002 Switzerland joins the United Nations as the 190th member.
2002 The International Criminal Court is established.
2002 The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is established.
2002 Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II.
2002 Hu Jintao is elected as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China.
2003
2003 The United States invades Iraq and ousts Saddam Hussein, triggering worldwide protests and an 8 year war.
2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates upon reentry, killing all 7 astronauts on board.
2003 The Human Genome Project is completed.
2003 The Rose Revolution occurs in Georgia.
2003 The first six-party talks, involving South and North Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia.
2004
2004 NATO and the European Union incorporates most of the former Eastern Bloc.
2004 Union of South American Nations formed.
2004 President of the Palestinian National Authority Yasser Arafat dies.
2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine.
2004 Boxing Day Tsunami occurs in Indian Ocean, leading to the deaths of 230,000.
2005
2005 The Irish Republican Army end its military campaign in Northern Ireland.
2005 7/7 attacks on London Underground.
2005 Angela Merkel becomes Germany’s first female Chancellor.
2005 Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan.
2005 Israel withdraws from Gaza.
2005 Cedar Revolution in Lebanon triggered by the assassination of Rafic Hariri.
2005 The Kyoto Protocol comes into effect.
2005 Pope John Paul II dies, Benedict XVI becomes Pope.
2005 World Summit.
2006
2006 Independence of Montenegro.
2006 Lebanon War.
2006 Comprehensive Peace Accord ends the Nepalese Civil War.
2006 The International Astronomical Union creates the first formal definition of a planet, and excludes Pluto from the list.
2006 Execution of Saddam Hussein.
2006 A coup d’état in Thailand overthrows the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
2007
2007 Spike in food prices and subprime crisis help trigger global recession.
2007 Assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
2007 Gordon Brown becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
2008
2008 Stock markets plunge around the world, signaling the start of the Great Recession.
2008 Barack Obama is elected as the President of the United States
2008 Dmitry Medvedev becomes President of Russia.
2008 The Gaza War begins.
2008 South Ossetia war.
2009
2009 Barack Obama takes office as the first African-American president of the U.S.
2009 The cryptocurrency Bitcoin is launched.
2009 Boko Haram rebellion begins in Nigeria.
2009 Formation of BRICS economic bloc.
2009 Treaty of Lisbon ratified.
2009 swine flu pandemic began in North America.
2010
2010 After the 2010 United Kingdom general election, David Cameron becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
2010 The largest oil spill in US history occurs in the Gulf of Mexico.
Arab Spring starts.
2010 Kyrgyz Revolution of 2010.
2010 Nigerien coup d’état.
2010 The President of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, is among 96 killed when their airplane crashes in Smolensk on April 10.
2011
2011 World population reaches 7 billion.
2011 Osama bin Laden is shot dead by United States Navy SEALs in Pakistan.
2011 Arab Spring: revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya follow, as well as uprisings in Yemen and Bahrain, and protests in several other Arab countries.
2011 Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton.
2011 Occupy movement inspires worldwide protests.
2011 Riots flare across England.
2011 Muammar Gaddafi is captured and killed during the Battle of Sirte.
2011 Space Shuttle program is officially ended.
2012
2012 The Higgs boson is discovered.
2012 Vladimir Putin is elected president of Russia for the third time.
2012 UN Climate Change Conference agrees to extend the Kyoto Protocol until 2020.
2012 Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II.
2012 Barack Obama wins second term as President of the United States
2012 Xi Jinping is elected as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China.
2013
2013 Pope Benedict XVI resigns, the first Pope to do since 1415, and Pope Francis is elected, becoming the first Pope from Latin America.
2013 Death and state funeral of Hugo Chavez.
2013 President of Egypt Mohamed Morsi is deposed by the military in a coup d’état.
2013 Croatia becomes a member of the European Union.
2013 Death and state funeral of Nelson Mandela.
2014
2014 Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the War in Donbas.
2014 King Juan Carlos I of Spain abdicates; his son becomes King Felipe VI.
2014 The people in Scotland votes to remain in the United Kingdom.
2014 Narendra Modi is elected as the Prime Minister of India.
2015
2015 A series of earthquakes in the Himalayas kills over 10,000 people.
2015 The heads of China and Taiwan meet for the first time, while the United States and Cuba resume diplomatic relations.
2015 195 nations agree to lower carbon emissions.
European migrant crisis.
2016
2016 The United Nations lifts sanctions from Iran in recognition of the dismantling of its nuclear program.
2016 Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill sign the Ecumenical Declaration, the first meeting between Catholic and Orthodox heads since their split in 1054.
2016 Barack Obama becomes the first U.S. president to visit Cuba since Calvin Coolidge in 1928.
2016 The Paris Agreement, signed by 195 nations to fight global warming, goes into effect.
2016 The people of the United Kingdom vote to leave the European Union; David Cameron resigns as a result, and Theresa May succeeds him as the Prime Minister.
2016 Donald Trump wins the 2016 presidential election
2017
2017 Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of Kim Jong-Un, is assassinated in Kuala Lumpur
2017 Two earthquakes strike Mexico on September 8 and September 19, killing over 400 people
2017 The city of Charlottesville is the site of a far-right rally protesting the removal of Confederate statues throughout the US.
2018
2018 Turkey invades northern Syria, while 70 die in a chemical attack, triggering a missile strike against Bashar al-Assad.
2018 The first summit between the US and North Korea and the first ever crossing of the Korean Demilitarized Zone by a North Korean leader occur.
2018 Yellow vests movement becomes France’s largest sustained period of civil unrest since 1968.
2018 The Sunda strait tsunami kills 426 and injures 14,000 and the 2018 Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami kills 4,340 and injures 10,700.
2018 Exiled Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi is assassinated inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, triggering a diplomatic crisis for Saudi Arabia.
2018 Macedonia and Greece reach a historic agreement in the Macedonia naming dispute, in which the former is renamed in 2019 to the ‘Republic of North Macedonia’.
2018 China’s National People’s Congress votes to abolish presidential term limits, allowing Xi Jinping to rule for life. Xi is also the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, the highest position without term limits.
2018 Armenian revolution occurs.
2018 Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
2019
2019 Christchurch mosque shootings kill 51 people, while a suicide bombing in Iran kills 41, and a series of bomb attacks in Sri Lanka kills 250.
2019 Abdelaziz Bouteflika resigns as President of Algeria
2019 India revokes the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
A major fire engulfs Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, resulting in the roof and main spire collapsing.
2019 Pope Francis abolishes pontifical secrecy in sex abuse cases.
2019 US President Donald Trump is impeached by the House of Representatives for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
2019 The COVID-19 pandemic begins in Wuhan, China; the start of an ongoing global pandemic.
2019 The United States Space Force is announced by Vice President Mike Pence and created in December.
2020
2020 The COVID-19 pandemic claims 4 million lives and infects 190 million people worldwide.
2020 Donald Trump is acquitted by the United States Senate in his first impeachment trial.
2020 Qasem Soleimani is targeted and killed at Baghdad International Airport.
2020 The United Kingdom formally withdraws from the European Union.
2020 Fears of COVID-19 cause the Dow Jones Industrial Average to fall ten percent in one week, its largest drop in history, triggering the COVID-19 Recession, the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
2020 The United States signs a tentative peace agreement with the Taliban.
2020 The murder of George Floyd sparks protests across the United States and the world.
2020 China’s National People’s Congress grants itself sweeping powers to curtail civil liberties in Hong Kong.
2020 Crewed spaceflight resumes in the United States for the first time since 2011.
2020 Protests begin in Bulgaria against the government of Boyko Borisov.
2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
2020 The United States formally exits the Paris Agreement on climate change.
2020 Joe Biden wins the 2020 United States presidential election and becomes the 46th President of the United States.
2020 Kamala Harris becomes the first female, Black, and Asian vice president in U.S history.