Dr. Fidel Fajardo-Acosta's

World Literature Website

 

Timeline of World History

under construction ...

15-12 billion years ago

origins of the Universe

5 billion years ago

origins of solar system

4.5 billion years ago

origins of Earth

4 billion years ago

origins of life, bacteria, algae

Precambrian Period (4 billion to 540 million years ago)

700 million years ago

first "animals," coral, worms, jellyfish

570 million years ago

Precambrian Ice Age

540 million years ago

Paleozoic Era (540-245 million years ago)

Cambrian Period (540-505 million years ago)

trilobites appear

505 million years ago

Ordovician Period (505-438 million years ago)

fossils of oldest fish in Early Ordovician Period

land plant spores

438 million years ago

Silurian Period (438-408 million years ago)

408 million years ago

Devonian Period (408-360 million years ago)

360 million years ago

Carboniferous Period (360-286 million years ago)

286 million years ago

Permian Period (286-245 million years ago)

245 million years ago

final formation of supercontinent Pangaea (in late Paleozoic Era)

mass extinctions (e.g. trilobites) toward the end of the Permian Period

Mesozoic Era (245-66 million years ago)

Triassic Period (245-208 million years ago)

208 million years ago

Pangaea begins to break apart

Jurassic Period (208-144 million years ago)

144 million years ago

Cretaceous Period (144-66 million years ago)

90 million years ago

Argentinosaur, largest animal (80 ton, 120 ft long)

88 million years ago

Madagascar splits from India

66 million years ago

asteroid (10-20 mile diameter) impact?

extinction of the dinosaurs and other land animals heavier than 25 kg.

Cenozoic Era (66 million years ago to the present)

Tertiary Period (66-1.6 million years ago)

62 million years ago

origin of lemurs

6 million years ago

beginnings of climate change, drier, cooler conditions, loss of forests

formation of Antarctic ice cap

5.8-5.2 million years ago

oldest human ancestor, Ardipithecus ramidus kadabba, hominid fossil remains at Middle Awash, Ethiopia

4.4 million years ago

Ardipithecus ramidus, hominid fossil remains at Aramis, Ethiopia

4 million years ago

bipedal hominids, Australopithecus genus

Lake Turkana (Kenya) fossils, Australopithecus anamensis

3.6 million years ago

Laetoli (Tanzania) footprints, Australopithecus afarensis

3.18 million years ago

"Lucy" fossil remains in Ethiopia, Australopithecus afarensis

3 million years ago

rise of Isthmus of Panama, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans separated; drier and cooler Africa, further deforestation

beginnings of formation of polar ice cap

Australopithecus africanus, larger brains, more complex human social organization and modes of subsistence, development of meat eating

2.6 million years ago

oldest known stone tools (Gona, Ethiopia); beginnings of Paleolithic Period

2.5 million years ago

Homo genus (Homo rudolfensis, Homo habilis)

1.8 million years ago

Homo erectus, Homo ergaster

1.6 million years ago

Quaternary Period (1.6 million years ago to the present)

begins Pleistocene Epoch (1.6 million to 10,000 years ago); cooling climate, Ice Age

800,000 years ago

earliest known evidence of human cannibalism in caves at Sierra de Atapuerca (Spain), Homo antecessor

archaic Homo in Africa and western Europe, Homo antecessor (800,000 years ago), Homo heidelbergensis (500,000 years ago), likely ancestors of Neandertals

300,000 years ago

origins of Neandertals in western Europe (extinct by 28,000 years ago)

160,000 years ago

oldest fossils of modern humans, Homo sapiens idaltu (Herto, Afar Valley, Ethiopia)

150,000 years ago

Neandertals widespread in Europe and Asia (150,000-35,000 years ago)

100,000 years ago

modern Homo sapiens in Omo, Ethiopia

50,000 years ago

Cro-Magnon people migrate out of Africa

35,000 years ago

Cro-Magnon people (35,000-10,000 years ago) in Dordogne (France)

beginnings of migrations of humans from Asia to America across the Bering Strait

32,000 years ago

Chauvet Pont-d'Arc cave paintings (32,000-30,000 years ago)

28,000 years ago

Neandertals extinct

27,000 years ago

Venus of Willendorf figurines (27,000-20,000 years ago)

10,000 years ago

end of Pleistocene Epoch and Ice Age; beginnings of Holocene Epoch

9,000 BC

beginnings of Neolithic Period, cultivation of plants and domestication of animals in southwestern Asia

7,000 BC

agriculture and villages in Mesopotamia

6,500 BC

use of copper in Anatolia (Turkey)

earliest evidence of religious practices: fertility cults, goddess figures at Çatal Huyuk (Turkey)

5,000 BC

Great Flood, formation of the Black Sea

Sumerians (5,000-2,000 BC) in Mesopotamia

4,000 BC

Sumerian city of Eridu (before 4,000 BC)

3,300 BC

invention of writing by Sumerians in Mesopotamia, wheel, plows

3,100 BC

 

3,000 BC

beginnings of Bronze Age in Greece and China

Egypt's Archaic Period. King Menes (Scorpion, Narmer, Aha?) (c. 2925 BC); unification of upper and lower Egypt; foundation of Memphis; origins of hieroglyphic writing

2,900 BC

2,800 BC

2,700 BC

Gilgamesh, king of walled city of Uruk in Mesopotamia

Egypt: King Zoser (Djoser) (2650-2575 BC); Imhotep, minister to Zoser, also architect and physician; fist stone building, tomb at Saqqarah

2,600 BC

Egypt: Old Kingdom (2575-2130 BC); Giza Pyramids ( 2,575-2,465 BC), tombs of 4th dynasty kings Khufu (Cheops), Khafre (Chephren), and Menkaure (Mycerinus); Sphinx (2,575-2,465 BC), representation of King Khafre; Pyramid Texts

2,500 BC

2,400 BC

2,300 BC

2,200 BC

2,100 BC

law book of Ur-Nammu, king of Mesopotamian city of Ur

2,000 BC

earliest written versions of the Epic of Gilgamesh, tablets from city of Nippúr

Egypt: Middle Kingdom (1938-1600 BC); Coffin Texts; Cult of Osiris; "Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor" (2040-1651 BC)

1,900 BC

1,800 BC

Hammurabi of Babylon (c. 1750 BC)

Abraham dwelling at Ur in Mesopotamia

1,700 BC

1,600 BC

Minoan civilization in Crete (3000-1100 BC)

1,500 BC

Aryan occupation of Punjab in India, displacement of Dravidian peoples

Egypt: New Kingdom (1539-1200 BC); Book of the Dead (1500 BC)

Crete: raids by continental invaders against the Minoan culture of Knossos

1,400 BC

Rigveda, beginnings of Sanskrit Vedic literature

Akhenaten (ruled 1353-1336 BC), imposed monotheist cult of sun god Aten and suppressed the traditional cult of Amun-Re; Amarna cultural revolution; author of the "Hymn to the Sun"

Moses in Egypt (?) (see also reign of Ramses II, 1279-1213 BC)

Greece: Mycenean culture dominance (1400-1100)

Tutankhamen (r. 1333-1323 BC), married to a daughter of Akhenaten; restored traditional religion of Egypt and reversed the reforms of Akhenaten; Ay was regent/advisor to Tutankhamen and Horemheb general of his armies; Tutankhamen died young, under suspicious circumstances, at age 18 and was succeeded by Ay; the tomb of Tutankhame was discovered in 1922 by the Egyptologist Howard Carter

1,300 BC

Ramses II (r. 1279-1213 BC)

Egyptian literature of Ramesside Period 1300-1100 BC: Love Lyrics, Leiden Hymns (1238 BC)

Moses in Egypt (?) (also likely during or somewhat after the reign of Akhenaten, 1353-1336)

Trojan War: Mycenean Greeks raid and burn down the city of Troy (1250 BC)

1,200 BC

beginnings of the Iron Age in southeastern Europe

Egyptian literature: "Song of the Harper" (c. 1160 BC)

1,100 BC

Greece: destruction of Mycenae by Dorian invaders (c. 1100). Dorian dominance of the Peloponnese (1100-1000 BC)

1,000 BC

Greece: Dark Ages (1000-900 BC)

900 BC

800 BC

Homer, Iliad and Oddysey

700 BC

Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (reigned 668-627 BC); royal library at Niniveh

600 BC

Aesop

Behistun Rock (516 BC), memorial to military victories of King Darius I of Persia; made possible the deciphering of cuneiform script

500 BC

Persia: Darius I, the Great (r. 521-486 BC), Achaemenid Dynasty

Buddha (563-483 BC)

Confucius (551-479 BC)

Heraclitus (535-475 BC)

Socrates (469-399 BC)

400 BC

Plato (427-347 BC)

Aristotle (384-322 BC)

begin conquests of Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), king of Macedon and Greece (r. 336-323 BC)

death of Alexander the Great (323 BC)

Egypt ruled by Greek general, Ptolemy I (r. 323–285 BC)

death of Aristotle (322 BC)

300 BC

200 BC

Rosetta Stone (196 BC): rock inscribed with three bands of writing in hieroglyphic, demotic, and Greek; it made possible the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphics. Discovered in 1799.

100 BC

begins Roman occupation of Egypt (30 BC-395 AD)

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100 AD

200 AD

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312

begins reign of Constantine I, the Great (280-337), first Western Roman Emperor (r. 312-324), Roman Emperor (r. 324-337), embraced Christianity (313)

337

death of Constantine I the Great (280-337), first Western Roman Emperor (312-324), Roman Emperor (324-337), embraced Christianity (313)

496

List of banned and recommended books issued by Pope Gelasius I

561

death of Chlotar I (Clotaire), Merovingian Frankish king (558-561)

594

death of Gregory of Tours (539-594), author of History of the Franks

732

victory over the Moslems of Charles Martel (689-741), leader of the Franks, grandfather of Charlemagne

741

death of Charles Martel (689-741), leader of the Franks, grandfather of Charlemagne

751

begins reign of Pepin the Short (714-768), King of the Franks (751-768), son of Charles Martel, father of Charlemagne

768

death of Pepin the Short (714-768), King of the Franks (751-768), son of Charles Martel, father of Charlemagne

begins reign of Charlemagne (742-814), King of the Franks (as Charles I, r. 768-814), Holy Roman Emperor (r. 800-814)

800

coronation as Holy Roman Emperor (Charles I) of Charlemagne (742-814), King of the Franks (as Charles I, r. 768-814), Holy Roman Emperor (r. 800-814)

 

814

death of Charlemagne (742-814), King of the Franks (Charles I, r. 768-814), Holy Roman Emperor (r. 800-814)

begins rule of Louis I (778-840), the Pious/the Debonair, son of Charlemagne, Holy Roman Emperor (814-840)

840

death of Louis I (778-840), the Pious/the Debonair, son of Charlemagne, Holy Roman Emperor (814-840)

843

begins reign of Charles II (823-877), the Bald, king of Franks (843-877), Holy Roman Emperor (875-877), son of Louis I, the Pious

877

death of Charles II (823-877), the Bald, king of Franks (843-877), Holy Roman Emperor (r. 875-877), son of Louis I, the Pious

879

death of Louis II (846-879), the Stammerer (le Bègue), West Frankish king (r. 877- 879)

1086

begins rule of Guilhem de Peitieus (William of Poitou, VII Count of Poitiers, IX Duke of Aquitaine) (1071-1126), the first troubadour

1088

begins reign of Pope Urban II (r. 1088-1099), preached the First Crusade in 1095

1099

end of reign of Pope Urban II (r. 1088-1099), preached the First Crusade in 1095

begins reign of Pope Paschal II (r. 1099-1118)

death of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, El Cid (1043-1099)

1126

death of Guilhem de Peitieus (William of Poitou, VII Count of Poitiers, IX Duke of Aquitaine) (1071-1126), the first troubadour and grandfather of Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204)

1180

begins reign of Philip II, Philip Augustus (1165-1223), King of France (r. 1180-1223)

1223

death of Philip Augustus (Philip II, 1165-1223), king of France (r. 1180-1223)

1231

Inquisition established by Pope Gregory IX

1223

begins reign of Louis VIII, Louis the Lion (1187-1226), king of France (1223-1226); Capetian dynasty; subjection of Poitou (1224), participation in Albigensian crusade against Avignon (1226);

1226

begins reign of Louis IX, Saint Louis (1214-1270), king of France (1226-1270); Capetian dynasty; led Seventh Crusade (1248-50); died during crusade at Tunisia

1300

climate change leads to dry weather conditions in American Southwest

1450

Francesco Sforza (1401-1466) declares himself Duke of Milan

1453

Fall of Constantinople to the Turks led by Mohammed II

1483

Sandro Botticelli (1444-1510) paints Birth of Venus sometime after 1482

begins reign of Charles VIII (1470-1498), King of France (r. 1483-1498), campaigns in Italy, occupied Naples in 1495

1484

death of Pope Sixtus IV (r. 1471-1484), famed for building of Sistine Chapel, sale of indulgences, nepotism

1492

discovery of America by Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)

1493

begins reign of Maximilian I (1459-1519), Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1493-1519)

1494

death of Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494)

French invasion of Italy led by Charles VIII

1498

death, burned at the stake in Florence, of Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498), Dominican monk and religious reformer, opposed to the Medicis, the Borgias, and humanism

death of Charles VIII (1470-1498), King of France (r. 1483-1498), campaigns in Italy, occupied Naples in 1495

begins reign of Louis XII, King of France (r. 1498-1515), called the "Père du Peuple" ("Father of the People"), campaigns in Italy

1499

French invasion of Italy led by Louis XII

1500

French capture of Milan

Treaty of Granada between France (Louis XII) and Spain (Ferdinand II) agreeing to share Naples

1503

death of Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia) (r. 1492-1503)

begins papacy of Julius II (r. 1503-1513), strongly anti-Borgia, war-like leader

1506

death of Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)

1507

death of Cesare Borgia (1474-1507), Italian political figure, son of Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia) and brother of Lucrezia Borgia (1480-1519)

1509

Henry VIII, king of England (r. 1509-1547)

1510

death of Sandro Botticelli (1444-1510), Italian painter, author of Birth of Venus (after 1482)

1512

death of Amerigo Vespucci (1451-1512)

1513

Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince (1513)

death of Pope Julius II (r. 1503-1513), strongly anti-Borgia, war-like leader

1515

death of Louis XII, king of France (r. 1498-1515), called the "Père du Peuple" ("Father of the People")

Francis I, king of France (r. 1515-1547)

1516

Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso; Sir Thomas More, Utopia

death of Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516), Dutch painter, author of Garden of Delights (1505-1510)

1519

death of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)

death of Maximilian I (1459-1519), Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1493-1519)

Charles V (1500-1558), Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1519-1556), king of Spain (Charles I, r. 1516-1556)

1521

death of Pope Leo X (Giovanni de' Medici) (r. 1513-1521)

1527

death of Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527), Italian diplomat and author of The Prince (1513)

sack of Rome by forces of Charles V

1528

death of Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)

1532

François Rabelais, Pantagruel

1533

death of Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533), Italian poet, author of Orlando Furioso (1516)

1534

François Rabelais, Gargantua

1535

death of Sir Thomas More (1478-1535)

1543

Nicolaus Copernicus, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (1543)

death of Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543)

1545

Council of Trent (1545-1563)

1554

Benvenuto Cellini, Perseus and Medusa (Bronze, 1545-1554)

1556

death of Pietro Aretino (1492-1556), Italian writer, satirist and political figure

1558

Elizabeth I, queen of England (r. 1558-1603)

death of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1519-1558)

1559

Index of Forbidden Books (Index Librorum Prohibitorum) published by the Roman Inquisition (last published in 1948 and finally discontinued in 1966).

1564

death of Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564)

death of Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564), Flemish anatomist

1569

death of Pieter Brueghel, the Elder (1525-1569)

1571

death of Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571), Italian sculptor and goldsmith, author of Perseus and Medusa (Bronze, 1545-1554)

1588

Philip II's Spanish Armada defeated by the English

1598

Edict of Nantes issued by French King Henry IV in protection of Protestant rights of worship (revoked by Louis XIV in 1685)

1601

birth of Louis XIII (1601-1643, reigned 1610-1643), ruled France with the help of his mother Marie de Medici and his chief minister Cardinal de Richelieu

death of Tycho Brahe (1546-1601), Danish astronomer

1610

begins reign of Louis XIII (1601-1643, reigned 1610-1643), ruled France with the help of his mother Marie de Medici and his chief minister Cardinal de Richelieu

1616

death of William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

death of Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616)

1618

beginning of Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), struggle of German Protestant princes in alliance with France, Sweden, England, Denmark and others against Holy Roman Empire (Hapsburgs) and Catholic German nobility; Peace of Prague (1635); hostility of Richelieu toward Hapsburgs; French offensive (1635); Peace of Westphalia (1648); France emerged as dominant power.

1632

Galileo, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632)

1633

Galileo brought before the Inquisition and forced to renounce his beliefs

1638

death of Cornelis Jansen (1585-1638), founder of Jansenism, a strict Catholic sect, believed in predestination, denied free will.

1642

death of Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

death of Marie de Medici (1573-1642) mother of Louis XIII, Regent of France (1610-1614), initially supported Richelieu, eventually became enemy of Richeliu and was exiled in 1631.

death of Cardinal de Richelieu (1585-1642), minister of Louis XIII, chief minister since 1624, in full control of France since 1630; founder of French Academy and protector of artists and writers; instigated anti-protestant policies.

1643

death of Louis XIII (1601-1643), King of France

beginning of reign of Louis XIV, Le Roi Soleil ("The Sun King") (1638-1715, r. 1643-1715), initially under the control of his mother, Anne of Austria (1601-1666), Regent of France (1643-1651) and who was perhaps secretly married to minister Jules Mazarin.

1648

end of Thirty Years' War, Peace of Westphalia (1648) negotiated by Jules Mazarin; France emerged as dominant power.

beginning of the Fronde Revolt (1648-1653), series of anti-royal, anti-absolutist, anti-taxation, anti-Mazarin rebellions instigated by Parlement de Paris, French nobility, spread to popular classes.

1650

death of Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

1657

death of William Harvey (1578-1657), English physician, discovered blood circulation

1660

beginnings of the Enlightenment (c. 1660-1770)

death of Diego Velázquez (1599-1660), Spanish painter

1661

death of Cardinal Jules Mazarin (1602-1661), chief minister to Anne of Austria (1643) and her son, Louis XIV; participated in negotiation of Peace of Westphalia (1648); forced into exile in 1651 by Fronde Revolt but returned victorious in 1653; negotiated peace with Spain, Peace of the Pyrenees (1659).

1664

Molière, Tartuffe (1664)

1667

Milton, Paradise Lost (1667)

1668

Palace of Versailles, built by Louis XIV as place of entertainment, major expansion after 1668, seat of government moved to Versailles in 1682.

1673

death of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, Molière (1622-1673)

1674

death of John Milton (1608-1674)

1685

revocation of Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV (originally issued in 1598 by Henry IV in protection of Protestant rights of worship)

1687

Isaac Newton, Principia Mathematica

1698

Revolt of the Streltsy (1698), also known as the "Revolt of the Musketeers;" an ineffectual conspiracy cruelly suppressed by the Russian Czar, Peter the Great

1715

death of Louis XIV, Le Roi Soleil ("The Sun King") (1638-1715, reigned 1643-1715)

1716

death of Baron Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646-1716), German mathematician and rationalist philosopher

1727

death of Sir Isaac Netwon (1642-1727), English mathematician, philosopher, and scientist

Joseph II (1741-1790), archduke of Austria and Holy Roman Emperor from 1765-1790; son of Empress Maria Theresa; progressive, secular views.

Jean Jacques Rousseau, Discours sur les sciences et les arts (Discourses on the Sciences and Arts) (1750), beginnings of Romanticism.

Great Lisbon earthquake and fire (November 1, 1755), between thirty and forty thousand deaths resulted. A second quake occurred on December 21, 1755.

Seven Years' War (1756-1763), involved nine European powers; Britain acquires Canada and Florida, Spain gets Cuba and the Philippines, France wins colonies in India and Africa as well as Guadeloupe and Martinique

1727

death of Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

1759

Voltaire, Candide

birth of Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805), German dramatist, poet, and historian who led (with Goethe) the movement known as Weimar Classicism.

1776

beginning of American Revolution

Maximilian von Klinger's play Der Wirrwarr, oder Sturm und Drang (Chaos, or Storm and Stress), beginnings of German Romanticism

1778

death of François-Marie Arouet de Voltaire (1694-1778)

death of Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), French philosopher, author, political theorist, composer.

1787

Mozart, Eine kleine Nachtmusik

1789

French Revolution: popular uprising against the monarchy of Louis XVI; ideals of liberty, equality, and brotherhood; storming of the Bastille (July 14); "Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen" (August 27)

1791

death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

1792

Second Revoution in France

First Republic in France

French National Convention (1792-1795)

1793

execution of Louis XVI, January 21

Queen Marie Antoinette guillotined, October 16

1795

French Directorate (1795-99)

1799

Consulate of Napoleon Bonaparte (1799-1804)

1801

Unification of England, Scotland, and Ireland as the United Kingdom of Great Britain

1804

begins reign of Napoleon I , Emperor of France (r. 1804-1815)

death of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), German philosopher

1815

Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon defeated by a British, German, Dutch, Belgian and Prussian alliance led by the Duke of Wellington and Blücher

1821

Napoleon's death (1821)

birth of Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880)

1824

death of Louis XVIII, king of France (r. 1815-1824)

begins reign of Charles X, king of France (r. 1824-1830)

1830

The July Revolution in France, students and workers who wanted a republic against monarchists.

Constitutional monarchy, Louis-Philippe, king of France (r. 1830-1848), House of Orléans, favoring of upper bourgeoisie

birth of Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

1837

begins reign of Victoria, queen of United Kingdom (r. 1837-1901)

1839

Opium War (1839-1842), imperialist trade war waged by Britain against China; second Opium War (1856-1860) was waged by France and Britain against China

1848

Revolution in France(1848); beginning of Second Republic (1848-1852), President Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte (nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte

1852

Second Empire in France, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte crowned as Emperor Napoleon III (r. 1852-1870)

1856

Second Opium War (1856-1860), waged by France and Britain against China

1857

Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary

Charles Baudelaire, The Flowers of Evil

1859

Charles Darwin, Origin of Species

1861

beginning of American Civil War (1861-1865)

1865

end of American Civil War, surrender of Robert E. Lee to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox (April 9)

assassination of Abraham Lincoln, April 14

1866

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment

1869

Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

France at war with Germany, Napoleon III taken prisoner, Revolution in France, Third Republic established (1870); President Adolphe Thiers (in office 1871-1873), loss of Alsace and Lorraine to Germany; civil war in France, Paris Commune uprising, brutal repression and massacre of commune supporters, (1871); Patrice de Mac Mahon, president of France (in office 1873-1880).

1876

Telephone invented

1886

Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

death of Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

1887

Eiffel Tower built for Paris World Fair

Gottlieb Deimler develops automobile engine

1894

Sino-Japanese War (1894-95)

1900

Boxer Rebellion, anti-foreigner uprising in China

Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams

1904

Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)

1911

Revolution of 1911, ended the Ch'ing Dynasty

1912

establishment of the Republic of China in 1912 and the formation of SunYat-sen's Nationalist Party (Kuomintang)

1914

beginning of World War I (1914-1918), European war between Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria) and the Allies (Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, and the U.S.); fought over nationalistic rivalries, chauvinistic patriotisms, as well as the commercial and industrial interests of growing capitalist powers; new weapons such as machine guns, tanks, aircraft, submarines and poison gas were used for the first time, resulting in huge human losses, civilians and soldiers alike, on both sides; impoverished much of the world; also undermined popular faith in social progress and scientific optimism.

1918

Lu Xun, "Diary of a Madman"

1919

May 4th Movement, intellectual revolution and sociopolitical reform movement in China, directed toward national independence, emancipation of the individual, and rebuilding of society and culture.

1931

Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung, 1893-1976) becomes leader of Chinese Communist Party. He became Chairman of the People's Republic of China from 1949 to 1959 and Chairman of the Communist Party until his death.

1939

death of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

1946

Civil War in China (1946-1949), communists defeated Chiang Kai-shek's nationalist forces which withdrew to Taiwan.

1949

People's Republic of China proclaimed

 

 

 

 

© 2001 by Fidel Fajardo-Acosta, all rights reserved