Prehistory
Late Ordovician Mass Extinction: The First of the Big Five
An estimated 85% of marine species died out in two pulses, but the main Paleozoic groups survived and recovered in the Silurian.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Modern Era
Second Battle of El Alamein (1942): Montgomery Defeats Rommel
Decisive Allied victory; the Axis Panzer Army Africa was driven out of Egypt and began a retreat that ended with its surrender in Tunisia in May 1943.
Modern Era
German Spring Offensive (1918): Ludendorff's Last Gamble
German forces won the largest advances on the Western Front since 1914 but failed to break the Allies, and the losses left Germany unable to resist the Allied counter-offensives.
Modern Era
Berlin Conference (1884-1885): Rules for the Partition of Africa
The General Act of Berlin set rules for new claims on African coasts, declared free trade in the Congo basin and smoothed recognition of Leopold II's Congo.
Modern Era
Battle of Gettysburg (1863): Turning Point of the Civil War
Union victory; Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was repulsed with heavy losses and retreated to Virginia, ending its second invasion of the North.
Modern Era
Brooklyn Bridge (1883): The Roeblings' Steel-Wire Masterpiece
The bridge opened as the longest suspension bridge in the world and the first to use steel wire for its cables, linking New York and Brooklyn.
Modern Era
Slavery Abolition Act 1833: Ending Slavery in the British Empire
Slavery was abolished in most of the British Empire from 1 August 1834, followed by an apprenticeship system that ended in 1838, with 20 million pounds paid to slave owners.
Middle Ages
Nezahualcoyotl: Poet-King of Texcoco and Aztec Ally
Restored to the throne of Texcoco, Nezahualcoyotl made his city a partner in the Aztec Triple Alliance and its leading centre of law, learning and the arts.
Middle Ages
Kano under Muhammad Rumfa (1463-1499): Hausa City Reforms
Rumfa turned Kano into a walled Islamic commercial capital with a new palace, a central market and royal institutions that lasted for centuries.
Middle Ages
Timur's Sack of Delhi (1398): Ruin of the Tughluq Capital
Timur defeated the Tughluq army and sacked Delhi; the Delhi Sultanate was left fragmented and the Tughluq dynasty soon ended.
Middle Ages
Iron Pagoda of Kaifeng (1049): The Song Glazed-Brick Tower
A brick pagoda clad in brown glazed tiles replaced an earlier wooden tower and has survived nearly a thousand years of floods, earthquakes and war.
Middle Ages
Al-Biruni and His Study of India: A Scholar in Ghazni
Al-Biruni produced the most detailed medieval account of Indian religion, science and society, and an estimate of the Earth's radius close to the modern value.