1845. Dec 2 US President James K. Polk announces to Congress that the United States should aggressively expand into the West, a widely held belief termed "manifest destiny" by newspaper editor John O'Sullivan.
1847 Sep 13 American-Mexican war: US General Winfield Scott captures Mexico City
1848 Feb 2 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the Mexican–American War: US acquires Texas, California, New Mexico and Arizona for $15 million
May 30 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo between US and Mexico comes into force, giving New Mexico, California and parts of Nevada, Utah, Arizona and Colorado to the US in return for $15 million
March 27, 1814: Andrew Jackson, along with U.S. forces and Native American allies attack Creek Indians who opposed American expansion and encroachment of their territory in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. The Creeks cede more than 20 million acres of land after their loss.
1825 Jan 27, US Congress approves Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), clearing the way for the forced relocation of the Eastern Indian tribes via the "Trail of Tears."It was US President Andrew Jackson's policy to removing Native Americans from their ancestral lands to make way for settlers and speculators that led to the infamous Trail of Tears in the 1830s.
May 28, 1830: President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act, which gives plots of land west of the Mississippi River to Native American tribes in exchange for land that is taken from them.
1836: The last of the Creek Native Americans leave their land for Oklahoma as part of the Indian removal process. Of the 15,000 Creeks who make the voyage to Oklahoma, more than 3,500 don’t survive.
1838: With only 2,000 Cherokees having left their land in Georgia to cross the Mississippi River, President Martin Van Buren enlists General Winfield Scott and 7,000 troops to speed up the process by holding them at gunpoint and marching them 1,200 miles. More than 5,000 Cherokee die as a result of the journey. The series of relocations of Native American tribes and their hardships and deaths during the journey would become known as the Trail of Tears.
829
Wessex becomes the Supreme Kingdom. Egbert, King of the West Saxons, conquers Mercia and forces the Northumbrians to submit as well. From then on, Wessex retained its dominance in England. Egbert's grandson, Alfred, initiated the creation of the single kingdom of England.
1775 - American Revolution: George Washington leads Continental Army to fight against British rule.
1776 4 July - Declaration of Independence endorsed by Congress; colonies declare independence.
1781 - Rebel states form loose confederation after defeating the British at the Battle of Yorktown.
Sep 28 9,000 American and 7,000 French troops begin siege of Yorktown
Oct 19 British forces under General Charles Cornwallis sign terms of surrender to George Washington and Comte de Rochambeau at Yorktown at 2 pm, ending the US Revolutionary War
Time Line
6000 BC - The British Isles are formed as water levels rise separating them from mainland Europe.
Stonehenge
2200 BC - The construction of Stonehenge is completed.
The Celts
600 BC - The Celtic peoples begin to arrive and establish their culture.
First Roman Invasion
55 BC - Roman leader Julius Caesar invades Britain, but withdraws.
AD 43 - The Roman Empire invades Britain for the second time and makes Britannia a Roman province.
AD 50 - The Romans found the city of Londinium (which later becomes London).
Queen Boudica of the Icenni tribe
A.D.122 - Roman Emperor Hadrian orders the construction of Hadrian's Wall.
Druidism
12,000 B.C.
North American Indian cultures flourished
2600 B.C
A Mesoamerican civilization commenced
1307- 1312
Mansa Abu Bakr II
abdicated his throne in order to explore "the limits of the ocean. Recife, Brazil
1394 – 1460 Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal. expeditions of West African coast for gold and the road to India.
450 First invasions of the Jutes from Jutland, Angles from South of Denmark and Saxons from Germany. Britain is divided up into the Seven Kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia, Anglia, Wessex, Essex, Sussex and Kent.
1587 The lost Roanoke Colony was the second of two attempts by Sir Walter Raleigh to found the first permanent English settlement in North America. It was led by John White and landed on the same island where the unexplained disappearance of its population is still a mystery.
1497-1504 Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian merchant, explorer, and navigator from the Republic of Florence, from
whose name the term "America" is derived. Between 1497 and
1504, Vespucci participated in at least two voyages of the Age
of Discovery, first on behalf of Spain and then for Portugal.
597
St Augustine brings Christianity to England from Rome
King Æthelberht of Kent gave him land in Canterbury to build a church. Æthelberht became the first Anglo-Saxon king to turn his back on paganism and become Christian.
779
Mercia becomes the Supreme Kingdom and King Offa builds
a Dyke along the Welsh Border
1497 John Cabot was an Italian navigator and explorer. His 1497 voyage to the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England is the earliest known European exploration of coastal North America since the Norse visits to Vinland in eleventh century.
The 13 Colonies established
1620 The Mayflower Voyage
Plymouth Colony, near Cape Cod, is founded by the Pilgrim Fathers, whose example is followed by other English Puritans in New England.
1607
Jamestown, Virginia, founded by English settlers, who begin growing cash crops.
1763 Britain gains control of territory up to the Mississippi river following victory over France in Seven Years' War/The French and Indian War.
May 7, 1763: Ottawa Chief Pontiac leads Native American forces into battle against the British in Detroit. The British retaliate by attacking Pontiac’s warriors in Detroit on July 31, in what is known as the Battle of Bloody Run. Pontiac and company successfully fend them off, but there are several casualties on both sides.
793
First recorded Viking attack happens in Dorset.
Vikings attack the monastery of Lindisfarne, Northumbria.
Vikings attack the island monastery of Iona, Scotland
Iona was attacked in 795 AD, in 802 AD and again in 806 AD
886
England is Divided. Alfred, King of Wessex, agrees a treaty with Vikings to divide England. The Saxons retain the west, while the east was to be Viking territory - later known as the 'Danelaw' - where English and (Danish) Vikings were equal in law.
1055
6th January: Edward the Confessor dies and is succeed by Harold Godwinson Harold, earl of Wessex, was crowned king of England on 6 January 1066. He was immediately faced with powerful threats from William, duke of Normandy, and Harold Hardrada, king of Norway, both of whom laid claim to the English throne.
The year 1066 AD marked the end of Anglo-Saxon rule and the beginning or Norman England under the Feudal System.
927
Athelstan, king of Wessex, takes York (Yorvik) from the Vikings, and forces the submission of Constantine of the Scots and of the northern kings.
Kings and Queens of Great Britain (royal families tree)
1086 The 413-page Domesday Book is published as William needed to raise taxes to pay for his army.
1087 – 1100 Reign of William II (aka William Rufus .Third son of William the Conqueror, He is killed in ‘mysterious’ circumstances whilst hunting in the New Forest, Hampshire.
1120 Henry I’s two sons, including his heir, William Adelin, are drowned in the White Ship disaster, near the Normandy coast off Barfleur. Henry’s daughter Matilda is announced as his successor.
1135 – 54 Reign of Stephen I. After Henry I died of food poisoning, the Council considered a woman (Matilda) unfit to rule and so offered the throne to Stephen, a grandson of William I. A decade of civil war known as The Anarchy ensued when Matilda invaded from Anjou in 1139.
1154-89 Reign of Henry II (Matilda 's Son). A brilliant soldier, Henry extended his French lands until he ruled most of France; he also laid the foundation of the English Jury System. Henry is mostly remembered for his quarrel with friend, counsellor, and the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket.
1170 Murder of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral.
1189-99 Reign of Richard I (The Lionheart, Richard spent all but 6 months of his reign abroad, preferring to use the taxes from his kingdom to fund his various armies and military ventures in Palestine
1199-1216 Reign of King John (Lackland/SoftSword)
1215 The Great Charter, or Magna Carta is agreed by King John at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15th June. Drafted to make peace between the unpopular king and a group of rebel barons, it would last less than three months but laid the foundations for the later Parliamentary monarchy.
1327-77 Reign of Edward III. Edward’s ambition to conquer Scotland and France plunged England into the Hundred Years War.
1337-1453 Hundred Years War between England and France.
1346 With the help of a few thousand longbow men, English forces defeat the French at the Battle of Crecy. Edward III and his son, the Black Prince, become the most renowned warriors in Europe.
1455-85 Wars of the Roses between Henry VI (Lancaster) and the Dukes of York
1778 Sep 3, Treaty of Paris signed in Paris ends the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain and United States of America
Nov 25 Britain evacuates New York city, its last military position in the United States
August 20, 1794: The Battle of Timbers, the last major battle over Northwest territory between Native Americans and the United States
1803 Jul 4 The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American people by President Thomas Jefferson. Dec 20 French flag lowered in New Orleans to mark the formal transfer of the Louisiana Purchase from France to USA for $27M
1810 Sep 16, Mexico issues Grito de Dolores, calling for the end of Spanish rule (Mexican Independence Day)
1836
Feb 23 Alamo besieged for 13 days until March 6 by Mexican army under General Santa Anna; entire garrison eventually killed
Mar 6 Battle of the Alamo: After 13 days of fighting 1,500-3,000 Mexican soldiers overwhelm the Texan defenders, killing 182-257 Texans including William Travis, Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett
On July 2, 1839 Slaves aboard a Spanish schooner La Amistad revolt to secure their freedom while being transported from one Cuban port to another
1848 California Gold Rush
Jan 24 James Marshall finds gold in Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California
Feb 21st ship load of Chinese immigrants arrive in San Francisco
1849 Sep 17 Harriet Tubman 1st escapes slavery in Maryland with two of her brothers
1850Sep 18 US Congress passes Fugitive Slave Law as part of Compromise of 1850. Sep 20 Slave trade abolished in DC, but slavery allowed to continue
1807 Mar 2, US Congress bans the slave trade within the US, effective January 1, 1808.
1808 Jan 1, Congress prohibits importation of slaves
November 1811: U.S. forces attack Native American War Chief Tecumseh and his younger brother Lalawethika. Their community at the juncture of the Tippecanoe and Wabash rivers is destroyed.
1813 Nov 6 Chilpancingo congress declares Mexico independent of Spain.
1603 March 24, Scottish King James VI son of Mary Queen of Scots, becomes King James I of England in succession to Elizabeth I, thus joining the English and Scottish crowns. Stewart Dynasry Begins
1625 Mar 27: Death of King James VI & I
1485 – 1509 Invasion of the Tudor after the Battle of Bosworth Field. End of the Wars of the Roses. Reign of Henry VII and the start of the Tudor Dynasty. Henry marries Elizabeth of York uniting the two warring houses of York and Lancaster.
1509-47 Reign of Henry VIII. The best known fact about Henry VIII is that he had six wives… “ Catherine of Aragon (Divorced), Anne Boleyn (Beheaded,) Katherine Howard (Beheaded) Jeanne Seymour (Died,) Anne of Cleves (Beheaded,) Catherine Parr ( survived).
1534 After the Pope refused to grant his divorce from Catherine of Aragon, Henry set up the Church of England. The Act of Supremacy confirmed the break from Rome, declaring Henry to be the Supreme Head of the Church of England.
1547-53 Reign of Edward VI. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward succeeded his father at the age of 9. A sickly child, he suffered from tuberculosis and died aged just 15.
1553-58 Reign of Mary I. Daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, and a devout Catholic. She attempted to enforce the wholesale conversion of England back to Catholicism, earning herself the title of ‘Bloody Mary’.
1558 – 1603 Reign of Elizabeth I. A golden age in English history, Elizabeth was a woman noted for her learning and wisdom. Never married, she was popular with the people and surrounded herself with capable advisors, artists, and literary figures of the time.
1628 Mar 1: Writs issued by Charles I that every county in England (not just seaport towns) pay ship tax by this date
1629 Mar 10: Parliament dissolved by King Charles I – did not meet for another 11 years
1640
Nov 3: Charles I forced to recall Parliament (the 'Long Parliament') due to Scottish invasion
1641
Charles I's policies cause insurrection in Ulster and Civil War in England
1642
The Civil War interrupted
English theatres closed by Puritans (till 1660)
Aug 22: Charles I raises his standard at Nottingham – First Civil War in England (to 1649) – first engagement at Edgehill (23 Oct) – Scottish Covenanters side with the English rebels who take power – the Earl of Montrose sided with King Charles, strife spilled into Scotland
Nov 13: Battle of Turnham Green – Royalist forces withdraw in face of the Parliamentarian army and fail to take London
1643
Dec 13: Battle of Alton – victory for Parliamentarians
1644
Jun 29: Battle of Cropredy Bridge – Royalists beat the Parliamentarian forces
Jul 2: Battle of Marston Moor, near York – Parliamentarian forces beat the Royalists
1645
Jun 14: Battle of Naseby: Parliament's New Model Army crushes the Royalist forces
1646
May 5: Charles I surrenders to the Scottish Army at Newark
1660
May 29: Restoration of British monarchy (Charles II) – 'Oak Apple Day' – theatres reopened
Oct 17: Ten participants in the Regicide f King Chartles I are executed at Charing Cross or Tyburn: Thomas Harrison, John Jones, Adrian Scrope, John Carew, Thomas Scot and Gregory Clement, who had signed the death warrant; the preacher Hugh Peters; Francis Hacker and Daniel Axter, who commanded the soldiers at the trial and the execution of the king; and John Cook the solicitor who directed the prosecution
1661
Jan 30: Oliver Cromwell ritually 'executed', having been dead for over two years!
1649
Jan 6: 'Rump' Parliament votes to put Charles I on trial
Jan 30: King Charles I executed
May 19: Commonwealth declared
Dec 20: Theatres banned by Cromwell
Christmas banned by Cromwell
Cromwell's Irish campaign starts
King Charles II proclaimed King of Scots and England in Scotland
1653
Apr 20: Cromwell dissolves the Rump Parliament
Dec 16: Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland
1658
Sep 3: Death of Oliver Cromwell
Huygens pendulum clock
1658-1660
Richard Cromwell (son of Oliver) Lord Protector
1672
War between Britain (in secret alliance with Louis XIV's France ) and Holland (to 1674) – British Army increased to 10,000 men
1685
James the Second succession (1685-1689, died 1701)
1686. Release of all prisoners held for their religious beliefs
1687 Apr 4: James II issues the Declaration of Indulgence, suspending laws against Catholics and non-conformists
Nov: The Glorious Revolution: James II abdicates – William of Orange lands at Torbay on 5 Nov – William III and Mary II, daughter of James II, jointly take the throne 13 Feb 1689 – (only William, however, has regal power)
Bill of Rights limits the powers of the monarchy over parliament
1702
Mar 8: Anne Stuart becomes Queen
1853 Mar 3 Transcontinental railroad survey is authorized by US Congress
1851: Congress passes the Indian Appropriations Act, creating the Indian reservation system. Native Americans aren’t allowed to leave their reservations without permission.
Civil War
1854 - Opponents of slavery, or abolitionists, set up Republican Party.
1860 - Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln elected president.
1860-61 - Eleven pro-slavery southern states secede from Union and form Confederate States of America, triggering civil war with abolitionist northern states.
1863 - Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation, declaring slaves in Confederate states to be free.
1865 - Confederates defeated; slavery abolished under Thirteenth Amendment. Lincoln is assassinated.
During Reconstruction, Black people took on leadership roles like never before. They held public office and sought legislative changes for equality and the right to vote.
In 1868, the 14th Amendment to the Constitution gave Black people equal protection under the law. In 1870, the 15th Amendment granted Black American men the right to vote. Still, many white Americans, especially those in the South, were unhappy that people they’d once enslaved were now on a more-or-less equal playing field.
November 29, 1864: 650 Colorado volunteer forces attack Cheyenne and Arapaho encampments along Sand Creek, killing and mutilating more than 150 American Indians during what would become known as the Sandy Creek Massacre.
1867
Mar 30: USA buys Alaska from Russia ("Seward's Folly") – formal transfer on 18 Oct
The Klu Klux Klun first appearance started in 1866,
a terrorist white supremacist group against black Americans.
1873: Crazy Horse encounters General George Armstrong Custer for the first time.
1874: Gold discovered in South Dakota’s Black Hills drives U.S. troops to ignore a treaty and invade the territory.
June 25, 1876: In the Battle of Little Bighorn, also known as “Custer’s Last Stand,” Lieutenant Colonel George Custer’s troops fight Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne warriors, led by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, along Little Bighorn River. Custer and his troops are defeated and killed, increasing tensions
1877 “Jim Crow” laws were established in the South beginning in the late 19th century. Black people couldn’t use the same public facilities as white people, live in many of the same towns or go to the same schools. Interracial marriage was illegal, and most Black people couldn’t vote because they were unable to pass voter literacy tests.
In June 1877, the Nez Perce War began. The Indian tribe of Nez Perce fought this war against the U.S. army. The U.S. army wanted the Nez Perce to give up their native lands and move to a government reservation. When the Nez Perce refused, the U.S. army tried to force them.
Southern segregation gained ground in 1896 when the U.S. Supreme Court declared in Plessy v. Ferguson that facilities for Black and white people could be “separate but equal.
1707
Jan 16: Union with Scotland – Scots agree to send 16 peers and 45 MPs to English Parliament in return for full trading privileges – Scottish Parliament meets for the last time in March
May 1: English and Scottish Parliaments united by an Act of the English Parliament – The Kingdom of Great Britain established – largest free-trade area in Europe at the time
Last use of veto by a British sovereign
1714
Aug 1: Queen Anne Stuart dies – George I Hanover becomes king (1714-1727).
1721
Apr 2: Robert Walpole (Whig) becomes first Prime Minister (to 1742) . The British king residing in Germany could not speak English and uses French to address English parliamentarian.
1727
Jun 11: George I dies – George II Hanover becomes king
1742
England goes to war with Spain – incited by William Pitt the Elder (Earl of Chatham) for the sake of trade
1743
Jun 16 Battle of Dettingen – last time a British sovereign (George II) led troops in battle
1757
India: The Nawab of Bengal tries to expel the British, but is defeated at the battle of Plassey (Palashi, June 23) – the East India Company forces are led by Robert Clive
The foundation laid for the Empire of India
1758
India stops being merely a commercial venture – England begins dominating it politically – The East India Company retains its monopoly although it ceased to trade
1760
Oct 25: George II dies – George III Hanover, his grandson, becomes kingThe date conventionally marks the start of the so-called "first Industrial Revolution"
1770
Apr 28: Capt James Cook lands in Australia (Botany Bay) — Aug 21: formally claims Australia for Britain
1781
Oct 19: Lord Cornwallis's army surrenders to George Washington; ends the American War of Independence. America lost by Britain
1788 King George III's mental illness occasions the Regency Crisis.
1811
Feb 5: Prince of Wales (future George IV) made Regent after George III deemed insane. His accession as George IV happened in Jan 29 1820
1815
Mar 1: Napoleon escapes Elba; arrives in France
Jun 18: The Battle of Waterloo: Napoleon defeated by British Army and exiled to St. Helena
February 8, 1887: President Grover Cleveland signs the Dawes Act, giving the president the authority to divide up land allotted to Native Americans in reservations to individuals.
December 15, 1890: Sitting Bull is killed during a confrontation with Indian police in Grand River, South Dakota.
December 29, 1890: U.S. Armed Forces surround Ghost Dancers led by Chief Big Foot near Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota, demanding the surrender of their weapons. An estimated 150 Native Americans are killed in the Wounded Knee Massacre, along with 25 men with the U.S. cavalry.
1898 US gains Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines and Cuba following the Spanish-American war. US annexes Hawaii.
1929
Wall Street crashes, and with it comes the beginning of the Great Depression.
1941
Japan attacks Pearl Harbor and the United States enters World War II.
By the early 1940s, war-related work was booming, but most Black Americans weren’t given the better paying jobs. They were also discouraged from joining the military.
After thousands of Black people threatened to march on Washington to demand equal employment rights, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802 on June 25, 1941. It opened national defense jobs and other government jobs to all Americans regardless of race, creed, color or national origin.
1945
The first atomic bomb is detonated in New Mexico; bombs are dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end the war with Japan.
1955
On December 1, 1955, a 42-year-old woman named Rosa Parks found a seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus after work. Segregation laws at the time stated Black passengers must sit in designated seats at the back of the bus, and Parks had complied.
She became the “mother of the modern day civil rights movement.” Black community leaders formed the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) led by Baptist minister Martin Luther King, Jr. He called for boycott of the Montgomery bus system. The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted 381 days. On November 14, 1956 the Supreme Court ruled segregated seating was unconstitutional.
On February 1, 1960, four college students took a stand against segregation in Greensboro, North Carolina when they refused to leave a Woolworth’s lunch counter without being served.Over the next several days, hundreds of people joined their cause in what became known as the Greensboro sit-ins
1963
Arguably one of the most famous events of the civil rights movement took place on August 28, 1963: the March on Washington. It was organized and attended by civil rights leaders such as A. Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin and Martin Luther King, Jr.
More than 200,000 people of all races congregated in Washington, D. C. for the peaceful march with the main purpose of forcing civil rights legislation and establishing job equality for everyone. The highlight of the march was King’s speech in which he continually stated, “I have a dream…”King’s “I Have a Dream” speech galvanized the national civil rights movement and became a slogan for equality and freedom.
1963 President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas.
On March 7, 1965, the civil rights movement in Alabama took an especially violent turn as 600 peaceful demonstrators participated in the Selma to Montgomery march to protest the killing of Black civil rights activist Jimmie Lee Jackson by a white police officer and to encourage legislation to enforce the 15th amendment.
Marchers were viciously beaten and teargassed by police and dozens of protesters were hospitalized.
The entire incident was televised and became known as “Bloody Sunday.” Some activists wanted to retaliate with violence, but King pushed for nonviolent protests and eventually gained federal protection for another march.
1965
The civil rights movement had tragic consequences for two of its leaders in the late 1960s. On February 21, 1965, former Nation of Islam leader and Organization of Afro-American Unity founder Malcolm X was assassinated at a rally.
On April 4, 1968, civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on his hotel room’s balcony. Emotionally-charged looting and riots followed, putting even more pressure on the Johnson administration to push through additional civil rights laws.
1968
Robert F. Kennedy are assassinated.
1969
Apollo 11 takes two men to the surface of the Moon.
1973-4
A world oil crisis plunges the US into economic crisis.
1989
An earthquake, 7.1 on the Richter scale, collapses a freeway and causes chaos in the San Francisco area.
1991
American-led forces liberate Kuwait in the first Gulf War.
2000
The presidential election is undecided by counting votes, and the Supreme Court gives the presidency to George W. Bush.
2001
Hijackers fly passenger airliners into New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon. A "war on terrorism" is declared.
2005
Hurricane Katrina hits the Gulf Coast states, killing thousands.
2008
The government injects billions of dollars into the economy after the "credit crunch".
2009
The US's first African-American president, Barack Obama, takes office.
2011
In Pakistan, Osama bin Laden is found and killed by American soldiers.
2012
Barack Obama is re-elected for a second term as President.
2014
Riots in Ferguson, Missouri, after shooting of a black teenager by a white policeman.
2015
Supreme Court ruling legalizes same-sex marriage in all states. USA restores diplomatic relations with Cuba ending over half a century of hostility.
September 3, 1957, Little Rock Nine, incident
Finally, President Dwight D. Eisenhower intervened and ordered federal troops to escort the Little Rock Nine to and from classes at Central High. Still, the students faced continual harassment and prejudice.
1830
Jun 26: George IV dies – his brother, William IV, accedes to the throne
1837 Jun 20: William IV dies Accession of Queen Victoria (to 1901)
1838
Jun 28: Coronation of Queen Victoria at Westminster Abbey
1854
Mar 27: Britain declares war on Russia (Crimean War)
Jun: First Victoria Cross won during bombardment of Bomarsund in the Aland Islands
Sep 14: Allied armies land in Crimea
Sep 20: Battle of Alma: British and French troops defeat Russians in the Crimea
Oct 25: Battle of Balaklava in Crimea (charge of the Light Brigade)
1856 Mar 30: Treaty of Paris signed, ending the Crimean War
1857–8
Indian Mutiny (unrest started March 1857 – peace treaty signed 8 July 1858)
1869 Nov 17: Suez Canal opens
1875 Britain takes 42% share in Suez Canal
1876 May 1: Victoria proclaimed Empress of India
1901
Jan 22: Queen Victoria dies – Edward VII king
Feb 2: Queen Victoria's funeral – interred beside Prince Albert in the Frogmore Mausoleum at Windsor Great Park.
1905
The title 'Prime Minister' noted in a royal warrant for the first time – placed the Prime Minister in order of precedence in Britain immediately after the Archbishop of York
1910 May 6: Edward VII dies – George V king. Coronated on Jun 22 1911
1914-1918
First World War (the "Great War")
1914 Aug 4: Britain declares war on Germany, citing Belgian neutrality as reason. Aug 12: Britain declares war on Austria-Hungary
1915 Feb: Submarine blockade of Britain starts
1917.
May 26: George V changes surname from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor (Royal proclamation on 17 July)
Nov 2: Balfour Declaration: Britain will support a Jewish state in Palestine
Dec 9: British forces capture Jerusalem
1918 Nov 11: Armistice signed. End of WWI
1936
Jan 20: George V dies; Edward VIII king
Dec 5: Edward VIII abdicates (announced Dec 10) – popular carol that Christmas: "Hark the Herald Angels sing, Mrs Simpson's got our King"
Duke of York becomes George VI. Jun 3: Duke of Windsor marries Wallis Simpson in 1937
1937
May 12: Coronation of King George VI
1939-45
Second World War (the "Peoples War").The king's popularity rises after the Blitz.
1947 Aug 14/15: India gains independence: sub-continent partitioned to form India (Secular, Hindu majority) and Pakistan (Islamic)
American democracy
Alexis de Tocqueville visit to America
The American Political system
How The U.S. Stole the Middle East
American War on Iraq
1952
Feb 6: George VI dies; Elizabeth II queen, returns from Kenya
The American Marshall Plan to Rebuild Europe after World War II