Years in history

A revolt by barons in England leads to the signing under duress by King John of Magna Carta; rebel barons later capture Rochester Castle but John retakes it

William II of England dies whilst hunting, and is succeeded by his brother Henry I

William I commissions the Domesday Book

Yuri Andropov dies; Konstantin Chernenko replaces him as Soviet leader. Sikh extremists occupy the Golden Temple at Amritsar; over 200 die when Mrs Gandhi sends troops in to clear them. Sikhs in revenge organise the assassination of Mrs Gandhi; her son Rajiv succeeds her as prime minister

Claudius dies after eating poisoned mushrooms administered by Empress Agrippina. Nero succeeds him

University of Oxford establishes St George's Day, 23 April, as national holiday of England

NATO is created. The Republic of Ireland is proclaimed. West and East Germany are created. Transjordan is renamed Jordan. The Chinese communists drive the Guomindang from China; it takes refuge on Formosa. Mao Zedong becomes the head of state of China. Indonesia is granted independence; Sukarno is elected president

An heir to James II is born. To forestall a Catholic succession William of Orange is invited to replace James, which he does in the 'Glorious Revolution'. James II flees to exile in France

Jesus of Nazareth is crucified at Golgotha.

Charles II dies, and is succeeded by his brother James II, but his illegitimate son the duke of Monmouth leads an uprising which ends in defeat at Sedgemoor

Britain and France declare war on Russia in support of Turkey and are victorious at the Alma, Balaklava (where the Charge of the Light Brigade takes place), and Inkerman, before besieging Sebastopol

The Pilgrim Fathers depart from Plymouth to America; the Speedwell is forced to turn back but the Mayflower arrives at Cape Cod; the settlement is called New Plymouth

Egypt is united under Menes, the first king of the First Dynasty, and the first prehistoric human whose name we know. Sumerians invent a primitive writing system

Garibaldi and his 1,000 redshirts sail from Genoa to Sicily, take the island and then progress to Naples, where he proclaims Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont king of Italy. Piedmontese troops invade the Papal States en route to the Two Sicilies, which Garibaldi hands to Victor Emmanuel II; Garibaldi retires to Caprera

Charles Martel defeats the Arabs at the battle of Tours, their furthest incursion into Europe

Islamic forces take Damascus, which becomes the capital of the Caliphate

The Romans, on the orders of Claudius, invade Britain

Muhammad born in Mecca

North Vietnam overruns South Vietnam; America withdraws and Vietnam is reunited under a communist leadership. The Khmer Rouge declare Year Zero in Cambodia and embark on a programme of mass executions. General Franco dies; the country reverts to a monarchy under Juan Carlos I, grandson of Alfonso XIII

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria is assassinated by a Serb extremist in Sarajevo. Austria seeks to punish Serbia, but merely succeeds in dragging most of Europe into World War I. The British Expeditionary Force lands to support the French. Russia invades Germany, but is repulsed at Tannenberg and defeated at the Masurian lakes. Germany invades Belgium and France, but is held at the Marne. The First battle of Ypres is a bloody draw and the trench system of warfare emerges on the Western Front. The British fleet is defeated by the Germans at Coronel but victorious at the Falkland Islands. Ireland is pushed to the brink of civil war over Home Rule, but the onset of war diverts attention away from the crisis. The Panama Canal opens

England, France and Burgundy sign the Truce of Hesdin, the latter two recognizing Edward IV of York as king of England

Seven Years War erupts as Prussia invades Saxony, which has allied with France, Austria, Russia and Sweden against it

Stephen of England dies and is succeeded by Henry

Constantinople falls to the Ottoman Sultan Muhammad II; Emperor Constantine XI perishes in the fighting and the Byzantine Empire is no more. The French win a decisive victory over the English at Castillon. The Hundred Years War is brought to an end

Galileo observes four moons orbiting Jupiter

Hadrian dies and is succeeded by his recently adopted son Antonius Pius

Thomas Malthus produces his Essay on the Principles of Population. Napoleon captures Rome, proclaiming the Roman Republic and forcing Pope Pius VI into custody at Valence. Napoleon then captures Malta en route to Egypt, where he defeats the Mamluks at the battle of the Pyramids, but Nelson destroys his fleet at the battle of the Nile. Income tax is introduced in Britain

Nelson Mandela is released from prison. Lithuania secedes from the USSR, which sends troops in an attempt to bring it to heel. East and West Germany are reunited. Iraq invades and annexes Kuwait. Sanctions are imposed by the UN, which sends troops to expel Iraq. The premiership of Mrs Thatcher collapses; John Major is elected to replace her

Algeria is granted independence by France. Former SS administrator Adolf Eichmann is hanged by Israel for war crimes. Russia attempts to send arms to Cuba and establish a missile base there; President Kennedy blockades the island and forces Khrushchev to withdraw; for a few days the spectre of nuclear war looms large

China's Sui dynasty founded by Emperor Wendi

Barack Obama, 47, becomes the first African-American US president

Simon Bolivar becomes dictator of Venezuela

Alexander the Great dies, aged 32, in Babylon

In an attempt to end the Great Schism a conclave of cardinals announces that both Gregory XII and Benedict XIII are deposed, and elects Alexander V in their stead. Both Gregory and Benedict refuse to accept this election, and there are now three contending popes

The USS Maine explodes in Havana harbour, Spanish involvement is suspected, and war breaks out between America and Spain; the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay is destroyed and the Americans are successful at San Juan and Santiago By; peace is made by the treaty of Paris, by which Spain cedes Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines in return for £20m

Churchill, Roosevelt and De Gaulle meet at Casablanca. The Germans surrender at Stalingrad and are driven back West. Mussolini is forced to resign and Badoglio replaces him. Italy signs an armistice with the Allies, but the Germans keep up the fight in the country. Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt meet at Tehran

The English clergy recognise Henry VIII as Supreme Head of the Church. The Inca chief Atahualpa seized by Pizarro, who reintroduces horses to South America

The American capital is transferred from Philadelphia to Washington DC

The Confederate States of America are proclaimed at the Congress of Montgomery and go to war with the Union by bombarding Fort Sumter: the Civil War begins. Prince Albert dies

Matilda lands at Arundel, staking her claim to the English throne; anarchy breaks out in the country

Treaty of Verdun establishes the territories of the three remaining sons of Louis the Pious, thus dividing for good the lands of the Holy Roman Empire. Kenneth McAlpin, king of Dalriada since 840, unites the Picts and Scots into a single kingdom (Alba), the forerunner of Scotland

The Vikings sack London and Canterbury, but are halted in their depredations by Aethelwulf of Wessex and his son Aethelbald at Aclea

The United Nations convenes in London, as the League of Nations is formally wound up. Jewish terrorism recommences in Palestine. Juan Peron becomes president of Argentina. Mao Zedong proclaims war against the Guomindang regime in China. Victor Emmanuel III of Italy abdicates in favour of his son Umberto II, who is exiled when a referendum votes to abolish the monarchy

Eton College is founded by Henry VI

Edward IV returns to England, defeats and kills Warwick at Barnet and then decisively defeats the Lancastrians at Tewkesbury, where Edward Prince of Wales perishes. Henry VI is murdered in the Tower

The Portuguese sell Africans as slaves in Lisbon: from this the slave trade will develop

The first Eurovision Song Contest is won by Switzerland. Sudan and Tunisia become independent republics. Morocco becomes an independent kingdom. Israel invades the Sinai, encouraged by Britain and France, who send troops to the Suez Canal to 'protect' it. Under international pressure, they withdraw when UN forces arrive

Pope Paul VI dies, as does his successor John Paul I after 33 days; Karol Wojtyla is elected the first non-Italian pope for 455 years and takes the name John Paul II

The Khmer move their capital from Angkor to Phnom Penh. Cosimo de Medici is recalled from exile to rule Florence. Jan van Eyck paints Giovanni Arnolfini and his wife

Emperor Nerva dies and is succeeded by Trajan

Guernica is destroyed by aircraft of the German Condor Legion assisting Franco's rebels. The Peel Commission on Palestine proposes partition into Arab and Jewish states with a British mandate for Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Amelia Earhart disappears on a Pacific flight. Japan invades China, surprising the Chinese at the Marco Polo Bridge and capturing Beijing, Nanjing, Tianjin and Shanghai; the Chinese government moves to Chongqing. Italy withdraws from the League of Nations

Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, El Cid, takes Valencia from the Moors

First Viking raid on England, near Wareham

Richard I, realizing he cannot win in Palestine, makes a truce with Saladin, ending the Third Crusade. On his return home, he is captured and imprisoned by Leopold, duke of Austria

The Anglo-Sikh War is ended by the treaty of Lahore. The treaty of Washington settles the Oregon-Canada border along the 49th Parallel. America goes to war with Mexico after failing to purchase New Mexico; after victories at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma New Mexico is annexed by the United States

The Vietnamese communists defeat the French at Dien Bien Phu and occupy Hanoi. Vietnam is split into two at a conference in Geneva. Rebellion breaks out in French Algeria

Irish republicans begin guerrilla war against continued British rule. President Venustiano Carranza of Mexico is assassinated; he is succeeded by Adolfo de la Huerta. The treaties of Trianon with Hungary and Sevres with Turkey are imposed. The International Court of Justice is established at The Hague. King Alexander I of Greece dies; his father Constantine I resumes the throne

The year of four Roman emperors, Galba, Vitellius, Otho and Vespasian

Gunbjorn discovers Greenland. The Arab physician al-Razi identifies measles, smallpox, plague, consumption and rabies

Thomas Aquinas dies, leaving unfinished his Summa Theologiae. Kublai Khan sends an invasion fleet to Japan, but it is destroyed by a typhoon

Kublai Khan dies, and is succeeded by his grandson Temur

The UN force expels Iraq from Kuwait, but leaves Saddam Hussein in power in Iraq. Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated by Tamil extremists while campaigning in the Indian general election. Croatia and Slovenia declare independence from Yugoslavia; Serbs and Croats begin a series of ethnic wars. Hard-line Communists attempt to overthrow President Gorbachev, but fail and communism in Russia collapses. The Baltic states are granted independence. Gorbachev resigns as Russian president and Boris Yeltsin is elected his successor. The USSR dissolves into its constituent parts

George Washington chairs a Constitutional Convention in America which draws up the constitution. Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey are the first states to join the union of the United States

Commodus murdered by his mistress and chamberlain, who found their names on an execution list

Christianity proclaimed the state religion in Armenia

Tibetan independence from China ratified by treaty at Chang'an

Edward IV dies, and is succeeded by his son Edward V, who disappears along with his brother Richard in the Tower. Their uncle Richard assumes the kingship

Siddhartha Gautama is born

Edward IV defeats a rebel army at Empingham, but Warwick and the Lancastrians reach an accord and invade, forcing Edward to flee to Burgundy. Henry VI is restored to the throne

Macrinus is defeated in battle near Antioch and executed. He is succeeded by Varius Avitus Bassianus, who takes the name Heliogabalus

Reunification of Francia by Chlothar I after the death of his brother Childebert I

Jane Seymour dies after bearing the future Edward VI

Frederick William I of Prussia dies, and is succeeded by his son Frederick II the Great, who invades Silesia. Emperor Charles VI dies; and is succeeded in his kingdoms by his daughter Maria Theresa, but Saxony, Bavaria and Spain dispute her right to succeed and the War of the Austrian Succession begins

Genghis Khan dies; his empire is divided among his three sons

Vespasian's son, Titus, sacks Jerusalem, destroying most of the 3rd temple; only the Wailing Wall is left standing

Slavery is prohibited in Britain

General Monck, commanding general in Scotland, leads his troops to London to call for a new Parliament, which meets and votes for the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II

Death of Edward the Confessor causes succession dispute in England. Harold II Godwinson chosen king, defeats and kills Harald Hardrada at Stamford Bridge but is defeated and killed at Hastings by William of Normandy, who becomes king

Henry VIII marries Catherine Parr. Copernicus publishes his De revolutionibus orbium coelestrium, stating his belief that the planets orbit a stationary sun

William Herschel discovers Uranus

Gold is discovered in California. The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the conflict between America and Mexico, which is forced to yield its lands north of the Rio Grande. Marx and Engels publish the Communist Manifesto

The Act of Supremacy restores the Church of England

St Augustine arrives in Kent, converts King Aethelbert and founds the archdiocese of Canterbury

Pope Gregory XIII introduces the Gregorian calendar, devised by Aloysius Lilius

Fall of the Han Dynasty in China, which splits into a number of smaller states

Tiberius dies at Misenum and is succeeded by Caligula. Nero is born

The Later Han dynasty falls in China; Emperor Yindi is replaced by Guo Wei of the Later Zhou, who takes the name Taizu

Japan is granted independence after military occupation. A general election makes Churchill prime minister again

Zimbabwe gains independence; Robert Mugabe comes to power. President Tito of Yugoslavia dies, leaving a power vacuum. Iran and Iraq go to war

England and Scotland formally unite with the Act of Union

Yasser Arafat is elected first president of Palestine. Benjamin Netanyahu defeats Shimon Peres in the Israeli general election; his hardline policies set back the peace process

Chinese attempts to stop the importation of opium lead to the Opium War with Britain

Gandhi is arrested after the Indian National Congress is declared illegal. President Doumer of France is assassinated by a Russian emigre. The Nazis win the German general election, but refuse to serve under President Hindenburg's nominee as Chancellor, Von Papen, who is later forced to resign. Oswald Mosley founds the British Union of Fascists. Franklin D Roosevelt defeats President Hoover in a landslide victory in the American presidential elections

Charles Lindbergh makes the first solo flight across the Atlantic. Trotsky is expelled from the Communist Party. Ferdinand I of Romania dies, and is succeeded by his infant nephew Michael

Britain invaded by Angles, Saxons and Jutes

Venizelos becomes prime minister of Greece. Lenin dies; a triumvirate of Stalin, Kamenev and Zinoviev replaces him in power. After a general election produces a hung parliament, Ramsay MacDonald forms the first Labour government in Britain; he is defeated in a subsequent election, in which the Conservatives are helped by the forged Zinoviev Letter. Kemal abolishes the Caliphate and exiles the Ottomans from Turkey

The rebel prince Ardashir takes control of Persia, founding the Sassanid dynasty

The British fleet is victorious at Trafalgar over a Franco-Spanish fleet, but Nelson is mortally wounded. On the same day, Napoleon defeats an Austro-Russian army at Ulm, and is subsequently victorious at Austerlitz

Marco Polo dies

The Saar is returned to Germany after a plebiscite; Hitler repudiates the Versailles treaty and passes the Nuremberg decrees against Jews. Persia is renamed Iran by order of the Shah. Japan withdraws from the League of Nations

The Peace of Westphalia ends the Thirty Years War, but is condemned by Pope Innocent X

Charles I dissolves Parliament and assumes direct rule

The Alemanni invade Gaul, but are bought off by Severus Alexander. As a result, he is murdered by his army, who proclaim Maximinus as Emperor

Louis XVI is executed, as are his cousin Philippe Egalite, duke of Orleans, and Queen Marie Antoinette

Bill Clinton is impeached but cleared of high crimes and misdemeanour. The Australian people vote to 're-elect' the Queen as their Head of State

Yasser Arafat is elected chairman of the PLO. General de Gaulle resigns as President of France, and is replaced by Georges Pompidou. America begins to withdraw troops from Vietnam. America lands men on the moon. Civil unrest in Northern Ireland spills over into fighting and terrorism; troops are sent to maintain order. Colonel Gaddafi deposes King Idris of Libya and assumes power

Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated by John Bellingham, and is succeeded by the earl of Liverpool. America declares war on Britain. Napoleon leads his Grand Army into Russia

The first £1 banknotes are issued. John Adams succeeds George Washington as American President. Napoleon defeats the Austrians at Rivoli, seizes Mantua, and founds the Ligurian republic in Genoa and the Cisalpine Republic

The Vandals sack Rome

Titus dies of the plague and is succeeded by his brother, Domitian

Norway renames its capital Oslo and annexes Spitsbergen. Sun Yat-sen dies; Chiang Kai-shek is appointed his replacement by the Guomindang (Chinese Nationalist Party). Hindenburg is elected president of Germany. Hitler sets up the SS (Schutzstaffel) as his personal bodyguard. Reza Khan Pahlavi deposes the Shah Ahmad of Persia and ascends the throne himself

James I dies, and is succeeded by his son Charles I

Edward III dies, and is succeeded by his grandson Richard II; John of Gaunt becomes Regent. The French raid Sussex and Kent, burning Rye and Hastings. Sir Thomas Hungerford becomes the first official holder of the title Speaker of the House of Commons

Idi Amin seizes power in Uganda. The Vietnam war spreads into Laos and Cambodia. Decimal coinage is introduced in Britain

Alfonso XIII of Spain abdicates and leaves the country. Japan occupies Manchuria. The Statute of Westminster defines dominion statutes and creates the Commonwealth

Mark, a disciple of Jesus, chronicles the life of his master, from baptism by his cousin, John, to his eventual death

All 7 crew dies when the space shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after take-off. The nuclear power station in Chernobyl, Ukraine, suffers meltdown and explodes. The London Stock Exchange is computerised in the 'big bang'

William III defeats James II at the battle of the Boyne, forcing James back to France

France organises the Confederation of the Rhine; the Holy Roman Empire thus ceases to exist and Francis II is merely Emperor of Austria

Birth of Alfred the Great of Wessex, at Wantage

William IV dies, and is succeeded in England by his niece Victoria and in Hanover by his brother Ernst Augustus, duke of Cumberland, who promptly cancels the constitution of 1833 there

Czechoslovakia splits into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Israel and the PLO sign a peace accord

St Augustine dispatched by Pope Gregory to convert Britain

England and France agree a 28-year truce

Vlad III the Impaler retakes the Wallachian throne from Vladislav II

The Great Pyramid of Khufu (aka Cheops), at Giza, is built and stands at 480 feet high

Hitler is appointed German Chancellor. Prohibition is abolished in America. The Reichstag, Germany's parliament building, burns down; Communists are blamed. Chancellor Dollfuss of Austria rules by decree, provoking riots from Austrian Nazis. The first German concentration camps are opened. Hitler takes dictatorial powers; systematic persecution of Jews begins; the Gestapo is founded. Nadir Shah of Afghanistan is assassinated, succeeded by his son Muhammad Zahir Shah

The Nigerian civil war ends with the capitulation of Biafra. Brazil win the football World Cup with the best team ever according to popular press. The Portuguese dictator Salazar dies, and is succeeded as premier by Marcello Caetano. President Nasser of Egypt dies, and is succeeded by Anwar Sadat

Henry VIII executes Catherine Howard for adultery

Hadrian's Wall is completed

The Irish famine begins as the potato crop fails. British incursions in the Punjab and Kashmir cause the Anglo-Sikh War

The Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa raids New Mexico. Germany and France fight a bloody draw over Verdun, which remains in French hands. Irish republicans stage the Easter rising in Dublin, but the coup fails and the leaders are executed. The British and German fleets fight the battle of Jutland, which proves indecisive but the German fleet withdraws to Kiel and remains there. Allied troops mount a major offensive on the Somme, which gains them some ground after 5 months of bloody battle. Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria dies, and is succeeded by his great-nephew Charles I. The Russian monk Rasputin is assassinated by a group of nobles concerned about his influence at court. Einstein publishes his general theory of relativity

George I dies of apoplexy, and is succeeded by his son George II

The Metropolitan Police is founded by Robert Peel. The first Boat Race takes place at Henley

Diocletian and his co-ruler Maximian abdicate and are succeeded by Galerius and Constantius Chlorus respectively

Hulagu Khan conquers Baghdad, killing Caliph al-Musta'sim and bringing the Abbasid Caliphate to an end

The USSR begins withdrawal from Afghanistan. Iran and Iraq end their 8-year war. Iraq gasses dissident Kurds. General Zia of Pakistan is killed in a plane crash. Benazir Bhutto is subsequently elected prime minister of Pakistan. A terrorist bomb brings down a Pan-Am 747 over Lockerbie

The Shogunate is abolished in Japan; by the Meiji Restoration power passes to Emperor Matsuhito. Disraeli becomes Prime Minister, but is defeated in a general election by Gladstone, who replaces him. The last public hangings in England take place

Edward III claims the throne of France, thus precipitating the Hundred Years War

Fidel Castro ousts President Batista from Cuba and creates a communist state there. The Dalai Lama is forced to flee Tibet as China represses the indigenous population. Mao Zedong resigns as China's head of state in favour of Liu Shaoqi, but remains in power as chairman of the communists. Singapore gains independence under prime minister Lee Kuan Yew

Wanderers win the first FA Cup final

Princess Anne returns to court to act as hostess for her brother-in-law William III

The treaties of Utrecht end the War of the Spanish Succession, with Philip V allowed to keep the throne, establishing the Bourbon dynasty in the country; the thrones of France and Spain are never to be united

Death of Clovis. His kingdom of Francia is divided into four to provide kingdoms for his four sons

Atilla becomes co-ruler of the Huns

Iain Duncan Smith loses a confidence vote and is forced to resign as leader of the Conservative Party; he is temporarily replaced by Michael Howard

Yuri Gagarin is launched into space in Vostok 1. Cuban rebels, assisted by America, land at the By of Pigs, but are repulsed by the Cuban army. The Berlin Wall is constructed

The Mongol leader Temujin is proclaimed Genghis Khan at Karakorum

London is ravaged by a Great Fire starting in Pudding Lane

Battle of Thermopylae gives the Persians, under Xerxes, victory over the Spartans and Thespians, under Leonidas

Napoleon invades Syria, but is repulsed by Sir Sidney Smith at Acre. The Rosetta Stone is discovered

Byzantine forces capture Alexandria, which revolted against Islamic rule, but the Arabs retake it. Caliph Umar dies, to be succeeded by Uthman

The Victoria Cross is instituted. The Crimean War is ended by the treaty of Paris; the integrity of the Ottoman Empire is recognised and the Black Sea demilitarised

Chernenko dies; Mikhail Gorbachev succeeds him as Soviet leader and undertakes policies of openness (Glasnost) and reform (Perestroika). Enver Hoxha dies, and is succeeded by Ramiz Alia as President of Albania

Construction of Hadrian's Wall is begun

Rome is founded by Romulus and Remus

North Korea invades South Korea, but the United Nations sends troops to defend it; when North Korea is forced to withdraw, China sends troops to assist it. China invades Tibet

Ali deposed and murdered; the Umayyad dynasty, founded by Muawiya, assumes the Caliphate at Damascus

First Crusade launched by Pope Urban II at the council of Clermont, aiming to take Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Seljuk Turks

Martin Luther King makes his 'I have a dream' speech. Macmillan resigns through ill health, and is replaced by Alec Douglas-Home. A military coup succeeds in South Vietnam. President Kennedy is assassinated; his assumed killer Lee Harvey Oswald is shot dead days later by Jack Ruby

James Garfield is inaugurated as American president but is shot and fatally wounded soon after. Tsar Alexander II is assassinated; he is succeeded by his son Alexander III, who responds by introducing repressive measures

Ronald Reagan becomes US president. President Sadat of Egypt is assassinated by extremists; Hosni Mubarak replaces him

Otto I of Germany is crowned Holy Roman Emperor, re-establishing that title

George Washington is elected the first president of the United States. A mutiny takes place, led by Fletcher Christian, on HMS Bounty; Christian and the mutineers settle on Pitcairn Island; Captain Bligh, set adrift, navigates across 3,600 miles of ocean to Timor. The Paris mob storm the Bastille, starting a revolution

Hitler purges the Nazi party in the 'Night of the Long Knives'. Austrian Nazis assassinate Dollfuss in a failed putsch; Schuschnigg becomes chancellor. Hitler becomes German president on the death of Hindenburg. The USSR joins the League of Nations. Mao Zedong leads the Chinese Communists on the Long March

Caracalla murders Geta and slaughters thousands of his brother's supporters

Oliver Cromwell dies; his son Richard becomes Lord Protector

Robert Catesby leads a plot to assassinate James I, but the plot fails and Guy Fawkes is caught red-handed under the House of Lords. Miguel de Cervantes publishes part one of Don Quixote. Akbar the Great dies, and is succeeded by his son Jahangir

The second Roman Triumvirate is formed by Octavian, Mark Antony and Marcus Lepidus

Nero marries his stepsister Octavia

Chancellor Willy Brandt of West Germany resigns when one of his aides is unmasked as an East German spy. President Nixon is forced to resign as a result of the Watergate affair; Gerald Ford replaces him and grants a pardon

Nelson Mandela is elected President of South Africa. The US invades Haiti. Jordan and Israel sign a peace treaty. Russia invades Chechnya. John Smith dies of a heart attack and Margaret Beckett becomes temporary leader of the Labour Party, before giving way to Tony Blair

Royalist armies in Exeter and Oxford capitulate to Parliamentarians; Charles surrenders to the Covenanters at Southwell. Held in Newcastle, Charles fails to reach agreement with Parliament and tries, but fails, to escape

Edward III conquers most of Brittany

Cornwall conquered by Egbert of Wessex

The Mary Rose capsizes off Portsmouth

Henry VII dies, and is succeeded by his son Henry VIII

Jerusalem falls to Islamic forces under Umar

Henry VIII divorces Catherine of Aragon and marries Anne Boleyn with the sanction of Thomas Cranmer, newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury; this leads to Henry's excommunication. Pizarro executes Atahualpa by strangling and causes the downfall of the Incas. Holbein paints The Ambassadors. Vasili III of Moscow dies, and is succeeded by his son Ivan IV the Terrible

William III dies, and is succeeded in England by his sister-in-law Anne, whilst in Holland the Stadtholdership is put into abeyance. The Daily Courant becomes London's first daily newspaper

Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister of Pakistan, is assassinated on leaving an election rally in Rawalpindi. Tony Blair stands down as prime minister and is replaced by Gordon Brown

Death of Muhammad; Abu Bakr chosen as Caliph

Picts, Scots, Angles and Saxons invade Britain in a joint attack, later known as the 'Barbarian Conspiracy'

General Augusto Pinochet, who was to stand trial in Britain for human rights violations, is allowed home to Santiago, Chile, following medical opinion that he is not fit enough to face the ordeal. The Right Reverend Lord (Donald) Coggan, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1974-1980, dies

Mary Queen of Scots executed at Fotheringhay Castle

The Black Death pandemic- a combination of bubonic and pneumonic plague passed on by fleas from infected rats- emerges in China

Paul Revere rides to Lexington to warn of British troop movements. The American War of Independence opens. The colonists win victories at Concord, Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point

Dissolution of the monasteries commences in England, leading to a rising under Robert Aske (the pilgrimage of Grace). Henry VIII executes Anne Boleyn on the grounds of adultery and marries Jane Seymour. Wales is formally united with England

Pontius Pilate becomes the 5th Roman procurator of Judaea and Samaria

The Titanic sinks on its maiden voyage, with the loss of over 1,500 lives. Emperor Meiji (Mutsuhito) of Japan dies, and is succeeded by his son Yoshihito. The treaty of Lausanne makes peace between Italy and Turkey, and accepts Italy's conquest of Tripolitania. The first Balkan war takes place when Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declare war on Turkey, whose remaining European possessions are overrun

Joseph Smith founds the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. George IV dies, and is succeeded by his brother William IV

The young Pharaoh, Tutankhamun, is buried at Thebes

Henry II dies, and is succeeded by his son Richard, whose coronation is accompanied by a massacre of Jews

At the age of 15, Clovis I succeeds his father Childeric I as king of the Franks

Constantinople is dedicated as the new capital of the Roman Empire

Thomas Becket returns to Canterbury, but is murdered four weeks later

The Vedas are written

The Japanese take the Philippines, Dutch East Indies, Singapore and Burma, but lose the naval battles of the Coral Sea and Midway to the Americans. The battle of Stalingrad begins

Christianity declared the official religion of the Roman Empire

Germany uses poison gas for the first time at the Second battle of Ypres. The British attempt to surprise Turkey at Gallipoli, but are repulsed. German U-boat sinks the Lusitania, causing international outrage. Italy is enticed on to the Entente side in the war by the secret treaty of London and attacks Austria, but fails to advance

A ceasefire is proclaimed in the Vietnam War, but fighting still continues in the area. The Cod War between Britain and Iceland develops. General Pinochet ousts President Allende of Chile in a violent coup, in which Allende perishes. Egypt and Syria attack Israel in the Yom Kippur War, but Israel repulses them. Arab oil producers embargo shipments to the West, which supports Israel in the war, causing an energy crisis

Britannia is divided into four provinces- Britannia Prima, Britannia Secunda, Flavia Caesariensis and Maxima Caesariensis

Mary II of England dies. William Paterson leads the founding of the Bank of England, with Sir John Houblon as its first Governor

Julius Caesar is assassinated on the Ides of March

The English Church adopts the Roman liturgy in preference to the Irish at the Synod of Whitby

Lambert Simnel leads revolt against Henry VII, claiming to be Edward IV's nephew, but is defeated at Stoke and sent to work in the royal kitchens

Khrushchev ousts Bulganin as Chairman of the Council of Ministers in Russia and has effective control of the government. The Fourth Republic in France collapses through ramifications of the Algerian crisis; de Gaulle forms a government, establishes the Fifth Republic and is elected president

Richard Cromwell resigns as Lord Protector; conflict between army and Parliament leads to a state of near-anarchy

The first Olympic Games are held in Olympia, Greece

Christopher Columbus discovers Cuba and Hispaniola

The French initiate hostilities against England, burning Portsmouth and Southampton. Edward III and Emperor Louis IV enter into an alliance

Greece joins the anti-Turkish alliance in the Balkans. George I of Greece is assassinated; his son Constantine I succeeds him. The great powers force the treaty of London on the combatants, which leaves none of them satisfied. Suffragette Emily Davison throws herself under the king's horse at the Derby. A Second Balkan War, precipitated by Bulgaria, erupts, with Serbia, Greece, Russia and Turkey against the country; this war is resolved by the treaty of Bucharest but tensions still simmer

Edward VI dies, and is succeeded by his Catholic half-sister Mary, despite the duke of Northumberland's efforts to install Lady Jane Grey, his daughter-in-law, as a Protestant queen. Northumberland is later executed

Paul of Tarsus is executed, as is Peter the apostle. Fire destroys over half of the city of Rome

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother dies, aged 101. Switzerland joins the United Nations. HRH Princess Margaret dies

William Wallace is captured, tried and executed by the English

Dick Turpin is hanged at York. England and Spain go to war (the War of Jenkins' Ear) over alleged Spanish transgressions

Antonius dies and is succeeded by his adopted son Marcus Aurelius

Charles I enters the House of Commons to arrest Hampden, Pym, Holles, Haselrig and Strode for treason, but the quintet have been warned and take refuge in the City of London. Charles I flees London, rejects Parliament's 19 Propositions and raises his standard in Nottingham, triggering the Civil War

Stamford Raffles founds the city of Singapore. The United States take over Florida from Spain. The Peterloo Massacre kills 11 people in Manchester, when yeomen attack a reformist crowd

Stonehenge is laid out

Kaiser Wilhelm I dies; his son Frederick III succeeds him, but dies soon after and is succeeded by his son Wilhelm II. Brazil frees its slaves. The Jack the Ripper murders take place in London

Giovanni Boccaccio completes The Decameron

Hernan Cortes enters Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, and is received by Emperor Montezuma, whom he takes prisoner

The Montgolfier brothers make the first balloon flight at Annonay

The communists begin the Tet Offensive in Vietnam. America commits the My Lai Massacre. Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy are assassinated. Alexander Dubcek comes to power in Czechoslovakia, but his liberalization policies are unpopular in Russia, which sends in troops to re-establish a government more to its liking

British troops help the Abyssinians expel the Italians; Haile Selassie is restored to his throne. The pro-Nazi Regent Paul of Yugoslavia is deposed; Germany invades the country. Germany invades Russia. Reich Marshal Hermann Goring instructs Reinhard Heydrich, deputy chief of the SS, 'to carry out the final solution of the Jewish question'. Iran is invaded by Britain and Russia; Reza Shah abdicates in favour of his pro-Allied son Muhammad Reza. Japan bombs Pearl Harbour and invades the Philippines; America thereby enters the war

Fighting breaks out in Cyprus between the Greek and Turkish communities; Greece refuses direct talks while the UN sends peacekeeping troops. Nelson Mandela, found guilty int the Rivonia treason trial, is sentenced to life imprisonment. America escalates operations against North Vietnam. Khrushchev is ousted from power in the USSR; Brezhnev and Kosygin take over

Septimius Severus dies at York; he is succeeded by his sons Caracalla and Geta

Port Arthur surrenders to to the Japanese; the resulting protests in St Petersburg are brutally crushed (Bloody Sunday); revolts flare up in Russia as a result, exacerbated by defeats at Mukden and the Tsushima Strait, where the navy is annihilated; the battleship Potemkin mutinies; the Russo-Japanese war is ended by the treaty of Portsmouth, a Soviet is established in St Petersburg and Tsar Nicholas II issues a liberal policy (the October Manifesto). Albert Einstein publishes his special theory of relativity

Mrs Gandhi becomes prime minister of India. England win the football World Cup, defeating West Germany 4-2. South African prime minister Hendrik Verwoerd is assassinated, replaced by Vorster

Robert Walpole is appointed First Lord of the Treasury by George I, becoming the first prime minister

The United States purchase the Louisiana territory- over 800,000 sq. miles of land west of the Mississippi- from France

Nero commits suicide to end the Julio-Claudian line of Roman Emperors. He is succeeded by Servius Sulpicius Galba

Alexander Nevsky succeeds to the Grand Duchy of Novgorod

Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is executed for his crimes against humanity

Death of Pepin II in Francis. His son, Charles Martel, begins to unify the Frankish kingdom

Henry I of England dies of a surfeit of lampreys; although he made his barons swear that his daughter Matilda would succeed him, his nephew Stephen of Blois engineers his own coronation as king

Henry VIII marries Anne of Cleves but quickly repudiates her. The marriage is annulled and he marries Catherine Howard. Thomas Cromwell falls from grace over the Cleves marriage and is executed

Lindisfarne and Jarrow sacked by the Vikings

Eden resigns as prime minister after the Suez fiasco, and is succeeded by Harold MacMillan. Russia launches Sputnik I, the first space satellite. Mao Zedong decrees the disastrous Great Leap Forward in Chinese agriculture and rural industry

Gerhard Schroder, the Social Democrat leader, replaces Christian Democrat leader Helmut Kohl as German Chancellor

Edward II is forced to abdicate in favour of his son Edward III, and is murdered 8 months later in Berkeley Castle

Caliph Uthman is murdered in Medina. Muhammad's son-in-law Ali replaces him

Edward I of England dies, and is succeeded by his son Edward II

Sui dynasty replaced by the Tang

Becquerel discovers radioactivity in uranium. Italy is defeated by the Abyssinians at Adowa and withdraws by the treaty of Addis Ababa. The first modern Olympic Games are held Athens. Marconi patents wireless telegraphy. Kitchener leads an Anglo-Egyptian force into the Sudan. Over 50,000 Armenians are massacred by the Turks

Richard I dies after an injury at the siege of Chalus. He is succeeded by his brother John, although Philip II goes to war in France in support of John's nephew Arthur of Brittany

George V dies, his son Edward VIII succeeds him but abdicates in favour of his brother George VI after falling in love with Wallis Simpson. The Japanese army attempts a coup, but fails. Germany reoccupies the Rhineland. King Fuad of Egypt dies, and is succeeded by his son Farouk. Italy completes the conquest of Abyssinia. Spanish generals, led by Franco, revolt against the Republican government; this leads to civil war

The Huns invade Europe for the first time

Germany occupies the rump Czech lands and places Slovakia under protection. Franco's insurgents capture Madrid and are victorious in the Spanish Civil War. Italy invades Albania. Germany and Russia conclude a non-aggression pact and carve up Poland between themselves. Poland is invaded by the two countries; Britain and France, who have pledged to guarantee Poland, declare war on Germany as a result

All taxes, bar that on tea, on the American colonists are repealed. Captain James Cook lands at Botany Bay, Australia

The Boxer Rebellion against foreign influence in China breaks out; the German ambassador is murdered and the foreign legations in Beijing besieged, but are subsequently relieved. The first Zeppelin airship takes to the air. Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by an anarchist; his son Victor Emmanuel III succeeds him

Ramesses II of Egypt dies and is succeeded by his son Merneptah

Deng Xiaoping assumes power in China

Nicolae Ceausescu becomes premier of Romania. Rhodesia declares independence from Britain; sanctions are imposed on it as an illegal state. General Mobutu takes power in the Belgian Congo in a coup

Pertinax is chosen as emperor by the senate, but his strict rule leads to his assassination. Didius Julianus becomes emperor after an auction but has already been deposed and killed by the time that Septimius Severus, the Pannonian legate, invades Rome and is declared emperor

Korea becomes independent from China. Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone. Queen Victoria is proclaimed Empress of India and is officially inaugurated the following January. General Custer is defeated and killed by the Sioux at the battle of Little Big Horn

The Great Exhibition is held in Hyde Park. The Americas Cup yacht race is first held around the Isle of Wight. Louis Napoleon Bonaparte stages a coup d'etat in France

The first Tour de France takes place. The Russian Social Democratic Party splits into Mensheviks and Bolsheviks at its London conference. The Wright Brothers perform the first successful powered flight

John of Gaunt dies. Richard II confiscates the Lancastrian inheritance of Gaunt. Henry Bolingbroke returns from exile, engineers the deposition of Richard II, and is crowned Henry IV in his stead

Peter the Great founds St Petersburg

In Britain, a Representation of the People Act gives the vote to all men over 21 and all women over 30. Russia withdraws from the war by making the treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany; Finland, Poland and the Baltic States are given independence. A coalition of Bolshevik opponents declare war on them, starting civil war in Russia. The Bolsheviks murder the Tsar and his family. A German offensive is successful on the Western Front, but the Allies regroup and push them back, being victorious at the Marne and Amiens. Ferdinand I of Bulgaria abdicates in favour of his son Boris III. The Austro-Hungarian Empire collapses; Emperor Charles I abdicates and the Empire becomes several republics. Allied forces remove the Turks from the Middle East. The Czechs declare independence under Tomas Masaryk. The German navy mutinies. Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates; Germany becomes a republic. An armistice is signed ending action in World War I. The kingdom of Yugoslavia, under Peter I of Serbia, is proclaimed. A Spanish Influenza pandemic begins

Final schism between Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches

William Wallace leads a Scottish revolt against Edward I, defeating the English at Stirling Bridge and invading Northumberland and Cumberland

France starts work on the Maginot Line of defences. Primo de Rivera resigns through ill health and dies soon after. Bruning forms a right-wing coalition government in Germany. Haile Selassie becomes king of Abyssinia. Carol II of Romania replaces his young son Michael as King. President Leguia of Peru is forced from office by a military coup. Jose Uriburu leads a military coup in Argentina. Getulio Vargas leads a revolution in Brazil and is named President

The Treaty of Wallingford brings the English anarchy to an end by recognising Henry of Anjou as Stephen's heir

The first All-India parliament is opened in Delhi. Reza Khan Pahlevi organises a coup d'etat in Persia. The Bolsheviks are victors in the Russian Civil War, but the economy is ruined, forcing Lenin to adopt the New Economic Policy. Britain and Irish republicans reach an accord; Northern Ireland is granted its own parliament with Sir James Craig as prime minister. Faisal I is elected king of Iraq after a plebiscite. Eduardo Iradier, prime minister of Spain is assassinated by an anarchist. Takashi Hara, prime minister of Japan, is assassinated

Adam Smith publishes The Wealth of Nations. The American colonists issue the Declaration of Independence. After defeat at Long Island and on Lake Champlain they score a major victory at Trenton

Bohemian rebels throw the regents, Jaroslav von Martinitz and William Slawata, out of the Hradcany Palace in the Defenestration of Prague, an act which precipitates the Thirty Years War, as rebels led by Heinrich von Thurn advance on Austria and an Imperial army is raised to face them

The treaty of Nanking ends the Opium War; Hong Kong is ceded to Britain

Tarquinius Superbus, King of Rome, is overthrown and Rome becomes a republic

Newton's Principia is published

Nero has his mother, Agrippina, killed

George III dies, and is succeeded by his son George IV

Queen Victoria dies, and is succeeded by her son Edward VII. US President William McKinley is assassinated by an anarchist; Vice-President Theodore Roosevelt succeeds him. The Boxer Rebellion is ended by the Peace of Beijing. The first Nobel Prizes are awarded

William I dies of an injury sustained at the siege of Mantes, and is succeeded by his sons Robert in Normandy and William II Rufus in England

Charles I is forced to reconvene Parliament but the 'Short Parliament' refuses to authorise any taxes and is dissolved. The Great Council of Peers summoned by Charles I concludes the treaty of Ripon, paying off the Scots, and insists on the election of Parliament. The 'Long Parliament', is duly elected

Caligula declares himself a god and is assassinated shortly afterwards. Claudius succeeds him

Arthur, Prince of Wales, dies at Ludlow. His brother, Henry, becomes Prince of Wales and heir to the throne

Abu Bakr dies; Umar becomes Caliph

The Confederate States surrender to the Unionists at Appomattox; five days later Abraham Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. The Thirteenth Amendment abolishes slavery in the US

Louis V dies; the Carolingians are replaced as kings of France by the Capetians, when Hugh I is crowned king

Diocletian partitions the Empire- he rules in the East, to counter the barbarian threat there, while Maximian is appointed to the Western portion

The Allies enter Germany. The Americans take the Philippines and Okinawa. FD Roosevelt dies, and is succeeded as American president by Truman. Mussolini is killed by partisans. Hitler commits suicide. Germany surrenders to the Allies. Churchill, Truman and Stalin meet at Potsdam to consider the future. Attlee replaces Churchill after a Labour landslide at the general election. America drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Japan surrenders. Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnam an independent republic. The United Nations is founded. The Nuremberg trials commence

Death of Charlemagne. His son Louis the Pious succeeds him

James Watt patents a steam engine. Napoleon is born

Alexander I of Yugoslavia suppresses the constitution and proclaims a dictatorship. Italy and the Vatican make the Lateran Treaties, establishing an independent Vatican City. The St Valentine's Day Massacre of gangsters occurs in Chicago. Labour wins a general election for the first time and Ramsay MacDonald returns to office as prime minister. The Wall Street Crash leads to a collapse of share prices and the onset of severe economic depression in America

In Britain, all women receive the vote. The anti-war Kellogg-Briand Pact is signed. Albania becomes a kingdom under Ahmed Bey Zogu, who takes the title Zog I. The first Five Year Plan is outlined by Stalin. Chiang Kai-shek is formally elected president of China

The Confederates are victorious at Chancellorsville, but are routed at Gettysburg, which proves a turning point. The English Football Association is founded

Emperor Hirohito of Japan dies, and is succeeded by his son, Akihito. Ayatollah Khomeini dies and Hojatolislam Rafsanjani becomes president of Iran. Communist governments collapse in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Romania. The Berlin Wall comes down. President Ceausescu is executed in Romania

Prime minister Stamboliski of Bulgaria is removed from office by a coup and shot while trying to escape. The treaty of Lausanne resolves the war between Greece and Turkey. President Warren Harding of America dies in office, and is succeeded by his laconic Vice-President Calvin Coolidge. Germany is hit by hyperinflation. Primo de Rivera establishes a dictatorship in Spain with the approval of Alfonso XIII. Mustafa Kemal moves the Turkish capital to Ankara. Hitler mounts the 'Beer Hall Putsch'; it fails and he is imprisoned. The Greek army deposes George II

Electric escalators are installed for the first time at Earl's Court Station. The Parliament Bill is passed by the Lords, under duress, settling the constitutional crisis. Italy declares war on Turkey as it attempts to invade Tripolitania (Libya). Sun Yat-sen leads a revolution overthrowing the Manchu monarchy in China and establishing a republic, with himself as its first president. The Mexican Civil War is ended by the establishment in power of the revolutionary, Francisco Madero. Roald Amundsen becomes the first man to reach the South Pole

Trajan dies and is succeeded by Hadrian

Henry Tudor invades England against Richard III, defeats and kills him at Bosworth Field, and takes the throne

Marcus Aurelius dies and is succeeded by his son Commodus

The Knights Templar founded in Jerusalem by Hugh de Payens

Germany invades Norway, Denmark, Benelux and France. Churchill replaces Chamberlain as Prime Minister. Allied troops are evacuated at Dunkirk. Italy declares war on Britain and France. A German aerial assault on Britain is repulsed (the Battle of Britain). Trotsky is assassinated in Mexico, possibly on Stalin's orders. Germany, Italy and Japan form the 'Axis'

Macbeth defeats and kills King Duncan of Scotland and assumes the crown. Harold I dies; Harthacnut successfully claims the English crown

Vesuvius erupts, destroying Pompeii and the neighbouring towns of Herculaneum and Stabiae. Vespasian dies, and his son Titus succeeds him

John Quincy Adams is elected American president by the House of Representatives after none of the four candidates gains a majority in the election. The Stockton-Darlington railway opens, the first passenger-carrying line

Carloman of France dies while hunting. Emperor Charles III the Fat takes control, temporarily reuniting most of the Holy Roman Empire

Northumbrians and Mercians rebel, with Danish help, against William I, but the risings are put down and William devastates Northumbria ('the harrying of the North')

Pilsudski stages a coup d'etat in Poland. Lebanon is proclaimed a republic. Stalin forces the banishment of Trotsky and Zinoviev from Moscow as he assumes control of Russia. Emperor Yoshihito of Japan dies, and is succeeded by his son Hirohito. John Logie Baird develops television

The apostle Luke begins to write his gospel. The Colosseum is opened in Rome

Harthacnut dies; his half-brother Edward the Confessor is elected king

Edward II invades Scotland, but is routed at Bannockburn

Civil war erupts in England between Henry III and a baronial alliance led by Simon de Montfort; de Montfort defeats and captures Henry at Lewes, becoming de facto ruler of England

Jeanne d'Arc is burned as a witch at Rouen

Spain and Portugal divide the New World by the treaty of Tordesillas

Argentina invades the Falklands, but Britain sends a task force and retakes them; the military junta in Argentina falls as a result of this defeat. Leonid Brezhnev dies; Yuri Andropov replaces him as Soviet leader

Slavery is abolished in the British Empire

Cymbeline, ruler of most of southern England, dies

Liberals and Tories tie in a General Election; Asquith's government depends on Labour and Irish Nationalist votes. Edward VII dies, and is succeeded by his son George V, who inherits a constitutional crisis. Japan annexes Korea. Montenegro declares itself a kingdom under Nicholas I. Manuel II of Portugal is deposed by a revolution which declares Portugal a republic headed by Teofilo Braga

Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emperor on Christmas Day. The Book of Kells (four gospels) is transcribed by Celtic monks

Napoleon returns from Elba, forcing Louis XVIII to flee to Ghent. His forces under Ney are victorious at Quatre Bras, but Wellington defeats him at Waterloo. After surrendering to the British, he is exiled to St Helena. The treaty of Vienna draws up a new political map of Europe: Norway is passed to Denmark, the Rhineland to Prussia, Poland to Russia and various monarchs restored to their thrones

French lose to the English at Rouvray (battle of the Herrings) but under the leadership of Jeanne d'Arc relieve Orleans and are victorious at Patay.

The Bloody Sunday shootings take place in Londonderry. The Democratic headquarters in the Watergate building, Washington are burgled; President Nixon is implicated, but is re-elected for a 2nd term. Palestinian terrorists seize and kill Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics

Prince William, heir and only legitimate son of Henry I, drowns in the wreck of the White Ship

Victor Emmanuel II of Italy dies, and is succeeded by his son Umberto I. Russia takes Adrianople; the Turks capitulate and sign the treaty of San Stefano, in which Bulgarian, Romanian and Serbian independence is fully established

Richard II murdered in Pontefract Castle. Owain Glyndwr attacks Lord Grey of Ruthin, proclaims himself prince of Wales and engineers a revolt in the Principality. Chaucer dies before completion of the Canterbury Tales; 22 finished and 2 unfinished stories were later published

An epidemic of St Vitus' Dance sweeps Europe

Emperor Domitian is stabbed to death by plotters led by his wife, Domitia. Senator Marcus Cocceius Nerva succeeds him

The treaty of Shimonoseki ends the Sino-Japanese War after the Japanese crush the Chinese at Wei hai wei; Formosa and Port Arthur are ceded to Japan but returned in exchange for an indemnity. Italy invades Abyssinia, but is defeated at Amba Alagi. Wilhelm Rontgen discovers X-rays

Gandhi is assassinated by a Hindu fundamentalist. The British leave Palestine once their mandate expires; Ben Gurion proclaims the state of Israel, which is immediately attack by its Arab neighbours but fights them off. The Russians blockade West Berlin; the Allies respond by an airlift. Apartheid laws are passed in South Africa

Eric the Red settles in Greenland

Caracalla is murdered by his officers, and is succeeded by Macrinus

England and Portugal sign the treaty of Windsor, sealed by the marriage of Joao I with John of Gaunt's daughter Philippa

Henry V dies, and is succeeded by his nine month-old son Henry VI

Great Library at Alexandria is destroyed in a fire. Persia is conquered and made subject to the Caliphate

The cities of Buda and Pest are united to form the Hungarian capital

King Priam's city of Troy falls to the Greeks under Agamemnon

Ivan IV the Terrible of Moscow crowned Tsar of Russia. Henry VIII dies, and is succeeded by his nine-year-old son Edward VI

Malenkov resigns in Russia, and is replaced by Bulganin. Churchill resigns as prime minister, and is replaced by Eden. The Warsaw Pact is established as a communist counterweight to NATO. Austrian independence is restores by the Vienna Treaty. Juan Peron is ousted by a military coup in Argentina

George III descends into madness and the prince of Wales is declared Regent. Luddism erupts in the Midlands

The Eighteenth Amendment is passed, establishing Prohibition in America. The Allies convene in Paris to settle the world map after World War I; the treaties of Versailles with Germany, Saint-Germain with Austria and Neuilly with Bulgaria are imposed. The League of Nations is founded. In India, British troops kill 379 demonstrators in the Amritsar Massacre. Austria exiles the Habsburgs

The English win a decisive naval victory over the French at Sluys

Tea is thrown into the sea in the protest known as the Boston Tea Party as a protest against the tea duty. The first Stock Exchange opens in London

Britain goes to war with the Zulus, who massacre the British at Isandhlwana but are held at Rorke's Drift and defeated at Ulundi. Britain occupies the Khyber Pass by the treaty of Gandamak with Afghanistan and invades when the legation in Kabul is massacred, taking the city and deposing Emir Yakub

The Irish Free State is established, but the IRA declares civil war against the government in Dublin and assassinates Prime Minister Michael Collins. The kingdom of Egypt is established under Fuad I. Mustafa Kemal evicts the Greeks from Smyrna. The Arabs in Palestine reject the British mandate. Constantine I of Greece abdicates again, in favour of his son George II. The Conservatives withdraw from the coalition government, bringing down Lloyd George. Bonar Law becomes prime minister. Mussolini leads the fascists in a March on Rome and succeeds in forming a government. Mustafa Kemal proclaims Turkey a republic; Sultan Muhammad VI is deposed; his cousin Abdul-Majid II maintains the title Caliph. The USSR is formed

Tsai Lun, a Chinese eunuch, invents a kind of paper made from tree bark, hemp and rags

Alaska is sold by Russia to America. Garibaldi marches on Rome, but is defeated by a Franco-Papal army at Mentana and taken prisoner. The Queensbury Rules on boxing are drawn up

Paul Kruger becomes president of the South African Republic. Krakatoa erupts in spectacular fashion. The Orient Express makes its first run

During a rebellion led by Queen Boudicca of the Iceni, the Trinovantes and Iceni tribes sack Roman Colchester, St Albans and London. Boudicca commits suicide after defeat by Suetonius Paulius

Henry III of England dies, and is succeeded by his son Edward I, who is on crusade. Robert the Bruce is born at Turnberry

The Spanish Armada sails for England under the duke of Medina Sidonia, but is defeated by the English and the weather

Abraham, a prince of Ur, moves to Canaan and founds a religion

America, Cuba and China enter the war on the Allied side. The Allies are victorious at Arras and Passchendaele, although with much loss of life at the latter. Constantine I of Greece abdicates in favour of his son Alexander I. Mata Hari is executed as a spy. The Balfour Declaration over a Jewish homeland in Palestine is issued. Tanks are used for the first time with any effect at Cambrai. Troops mutiny in Russia; the worsening situation prompts Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate in favour of his brother Grand Duke Michael, who refuses the throne and the Tsardom collapses. A provisional government is set up, but fails to manage the war any better. Revolts against it in July are suppressed, as is Brusilov's coup attempt. However, the Bolsheviks succeed in a coup in November, forcing prime minister Kerensky to flee. Lenin is established in power

Queen Anne dies, and is succeeded by her second cousin George I, as his mother Sophia had died shortly before

Charles II is crowned at Scone and invades England but is defeated by Cromwell at Worcester, evades capture and flees to France

Work commences on Offa's Dyke

Wat Tyler and John Ball lead the Peasants' Revolt in England. Archbishop Sudbury is murdered outside the Tower by a mob but Tyler is stabbed to death by William Walworth, mayor of London, on meeting Richard II at Smithfield. Ball is executed and the rising is suppressed

Death of Atilla on his wedding night

Kublai Khan comes to power in China

Edward I conquers Wales. Prince David of Gwynedd is surrendered by his men and executed by Edward

Cromwell dissolves the Long Parliament, and after the unsuccessful Barebones Parliament is made Lord Protector

George VI dies, and is succeeded by his daughter Elizabeth II. Kenyatta heads the Mau Mau resistance to drive the British from Kenya

The first Roman Triumvirate is formed by Julius Caesar, Pompey and Crassus

The World Trade Organisation is founded. The Russians take the Chechen capital, Grozny; resistance continues elsewhere, but peace is agreed. Prime minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel is assassinated by a Jewish fanatic; Shimon Peres succeeds him

North America is subjected to a devastating series of terrorist attacks. American Airlines flight AA11, a Boeing 767 from Boston, is hijacked en route to Los Angeles and crashes into the World Trade Centre North Tower at 8:58am, killing all 92 on board. United Airlines flight UA175, a Boeing 767 from Boston, is also hijacked en route to Los Angeles and crashes into the South Tower at 9:16am, killing all 65 on board. American Airlines flight AA77, a Boeing 757, is hijacked en route from Washington to Los Angeles and crashes into the Pentagon at 9:43am, killing 64 on board. United Airlines flight UA93, a Boeing 757 from Newark to San Francisco, targeted on Camp David, crashes at 10:30am, 80 miles south-east of Pittsburgh, killing 45 on board. Thousands more are killed in the building and on the streets below. The terrorist group al-Qa'ida and its leader Osama bin Laden are thought to be responsible for the atrocities

The Black Death sweeps across Europe and has entered England by the Summer. Despite Pope Clement VI absolving them of blame, Jews are blamed in areas of France, Germany and Switzerland for the plague pandemic and are persecuted

Tiberius' nephew Germanicus is poisoned in Syria, possibly by Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, the governor of Syria

The treaty of Paris ends the Seven Years War

Death of Augustus. His adopted son Agrippa Postumus is immediately executed, and Tiberius becomes emperor

Charles Edward Stuart lands on Eriskay, proclaiming his father king. He gains support from various Scottish clans, takes Edinburgh and is victorious at Prestonpans, but loses his nerve on reaching Derby and withdraws

The Palestine question is passed to the United Nations for resolution after British partition proposals are rejected there. United Nations partition proposals are rejected by the Arabs. India, Pakistan and Burma become independent states

Edward I invades Scotland, forces John de Balliol to abdicate and takes the Stone of Scone, where Scottish kings are crowned, to Westminster

Battle of Marathon gives Athens victory over the Persians

Matthew Hopkins, the 'Witchfinder General', is found guilty of witchcraft himself and hanged. The Scots hand over Charles I to Parliament in return for £400,000

The War of the Spanish Succession opens; England, Holland and Savoy join the Holy Roman Empire in the Grand Alliance. The Act of Settlement provides for the succession in England to pass to Electress Sophia of Hanover after Princess Anne

Stalin dies; Malenkov succeeds to his posts; Khrushchev is appointed First Secretary. Hillary and Tensing achieve the first successful ascent of Mount Everest. The combatants in the Korean War sign an armistice at Panmunjon, ending the active war

Julius Caesar is born

Christianity tolerated in the Roman Empire by the Edict of Milan

Augustus becomes the first Roman Emperor after changing his name from Octavian

Thomas Becket is chosen as Archbishop of Canterbury

Geoffrey Chaucer begins The Canterbury Tales- a story of 29 pilgrims and their host, Harry Bailey, who set out from the Tabard Inn, Southwark, to visit the shrine of St Thomas Becket of Canterbury Cathedral

William Shakespeare dies on his 52nd birthday

Heliogabalus is murdered by the Praetorian Guard. His cousin and adopted son Bassianus succeeds him, taking the name Severus Alexander

Napoleon abdicates, is banished to Elba, and is granted its sovereignty. The White House is burned down by British troops. The Congress of Vienna opens. The treaty of Ghent ends hostilities between Britain and America

Chou En-lai and Mao Zedong die in China; the 'Gang of Four' attempt to take over but are arrested. Harold Wilson resigns as prime minister and is succeeded by James Callaghan. Palestinian terrorists hijack an Air France plane, but Israeli commandos storm it at Entebbe

Scotland, resentful of a summons to help Edward I, forms the Auld Alliance with France

Henry IV of England dies; his son Henry V succeeds him

St Patrick sent as a missionary to Ireland

Theodosius dies, and the Roman Empire splits in two for good. His son Arcadius rules in the East, Honorius in the West

Deng Xiaoping dies; Jiang Zemin takes power in China. Hong Kong is passed to China. Diana, Princess of Wales, is killed in a car crash. Labour wins a landslide victory in the general election; Tony Blair becomes prime minister. General Mobutu is overthrown in Zaire, which the new government renames the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mother Teresa of Calcutta dies in her adopted city, aged 87. William Hague replaces John Major as leader of the Conservative Party

Henry V goes to war with France after the failure of negotiations to marry Catherine of Valois, and gains a crushing victory at Agincourt

Elizabeth I dies, her cousin twice removed; James VI of Scotland, succeeds her. Walter Raleigh attempts to put Arabella Stuart on the throne rather than James, and is imprisoned for treason

Austria is forced to unite with Germany (the Anschluss). The Sudeten Germans demand secession from Czechoslovakia; Britain and France appease Hitler at Munich and allow this, to much public disgust. Britain drops the Peel proposals on Palestine, prompting terrorist attacks in the area. Hungary annexes southern Slovakia. The anti-Jewish Kristallnacht takes place in Germany. Kemal Ataturk dies, and is succeeded as Turkish president by Ismet Inonu

Mary I dies, and is succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth. William Cecil becomes Secretary of State

Robert Walpole resigns as Prime Minister, replace by the earl of Wilmington

Pope John Paul II dies peacefully at the Vatican. The Prince of Wales marries Camilla Parker Bowles in a civil wedding at Windsor's Guildhall. David Cameron defeats David Davis to become leader of the Conservative Party

Arab nations invade Israel, but Israel forces them back and captures Sinai, the West Bank and the Golan Heights in the Six Days War. Che Guevara is captured and shot in Bolivia

Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Aragon, marries Isabella, heiress of Castile

Henry VI recovers his sanity and dismisses the duke of York from the post of Protector. The Wars of the Roses begin when York and the earl of Warwick raise an army and defeat and capture Henry VI at St Albans. York is made Constable of England but pro-Lancastrian riots break out. Johannes Gutenberg produces the first printed Bible

Confucius is born

Baronial revolts against King John gather force and the Dauphin Louis is invited to become king of England. John loses his baggage in the Wash and dies at Newark; he is succeeded by his son Henry III, with William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, proclaimed Regent.

El Cid founds the world's first leper hospital in Castile

Shakespeare writes the Henry VI trilogy

Philadelphia becomes the American capital. Alexander Hamilton founds Washington DC

Siddhartha Gautama dies

The library at Alexandria is destroyed in a fire started by a Christian mob seeking to eradicate non-Christian works

The Allies land at Anzio and take Rome. Leningrad is relieved by the Russians. The D-Day landings provide the springboard for the reconquest of France. Iceland gains independence from Denmark. Stauffenberg leads a failed attempt on Hitler's life; Rommel is implicated and forced to commit suicide. The Germans fight back at the battle of the Bulge

Alfred the Great dies, and his son Edward succeeds him

Great Britain and Ireland unite. France adopts a metric system of weights and measures. Thomas Jefferson becomes American president

Sultan Selim I dies, and is succeeded by his son Suleiman I the Magnificent. Ferdinand Magellan sails through the Strait of Magellan and names the Pacific

Henry VI defeated and captured by the Yorkists at Northampton; the duke of York is named heir to Henry but dies at the battle of Wakefield, where the Lancastrians are victorious

The Khmer Rouge are overthrown in Cambodia. The Shah of Iran flees to Egypt and an Islamic fundamentalist regime under Ayatollah Khomeini is established; when the seriously ill Shah is allowed into America, extremists seize the American embassy in Tehran. Former prime minister Bhutto of Pakistan is hanged by the regime of General Zia. Margaret Thatcher comes to power in Britain. Saddam Hussein comes to power in Iraq, relacing Hassan al-Bakr. Soviet troops enter Afghanistan, supposedly at the request of the government there, igniting civil war

Alexander the Great succeeds his father on the Macedonian throne

Jean-Jacques Rousseau writes the Social Contract. John Stuart, Earl of Bute, becomes the first Scottish Prime Minister and the first Tory to hold the office

Cnut invades England and Wessex submits to him

Charles I is tried by Parliament and executed; Parliament abolishes the monarchy and the House of Lords, proclaiming a 'Commonwealth'

Carlos I of Portugal and his heir are assassinated; his younger son Manuel II succeeds him. The first Ford Model T is sold. Bulgaria declares independence; Prince Ferdinand assumes the title of Tsar