Ancient World
Cyaxares and the Median Kingdom: Iran Before the Persians
The Medes helped destroy the Assyrian Empire and became the dominant power of the Iranian plateau until Cyrus the Great overthrew them around 550 BC.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Prehistory
Hunebedden: The Neolithic Megalithic Tombs of Drenthe
The largest surviving group of Neolithic megaliths in the Netherlands, protected by law since 1734.
Prehistory
Arslantepe: Early Palace and the World's Oldest Swords
An early centre of public administration whose palace and metal hoard were inscribed with the site on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2021.
Prehistory
Gwion Gwion Rock Paintings of the Kimberley, Australia
Dating of mud wasp nests placed the Gwion Gwion style at about 12,000 years ago, confirming it as an ancient part of Aboriginal Australian rock art traditions.
Prehistory
Cro-Magnon 1: The Rock Shelter That Named Europe's Early Humans
The finds gave their name to the early modern humans of Ice Age Europe; Cro-Magnon 1 became one of the best-known early Homo sapiens skulls.
Prehistory
Eurypterids: The Giant Sea Scorpions of the Paleozoic Era
Eurypterids flourished for more than 200 million years, produced the largest known arthropods, and died out in the end-Permian extinction.
Modern Era
Battle of Stalingrad (1942–1943): Turning Point of the East
Decisive Soviet victory; the German Sixth Army was encircled and destroyed, and about 91,000 Axis soldiers surrendered.
Modern Era
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918): Soviet Russia Leaves the War
Soviet Russia left the First World War and gave up Poland, the Baltic lands, Finland and Ukraine; the treaty was annulled after Germany's defeat in November 1918.
Modern Era
Anglo-Egyptian War (1882): Urabi Revolt and British Occupation
British victory; Urabi was exiled and Britain occupied Egypt, keeping troops there until 1956.
Modern Era
Emancipation Proclamation (1863): Lincoln's Order to Free Slaves
Declared about 3.5 million enslaved people in Confederate-held areas free, made emancipation a Union war aim and opened the Union army to Black soldiers, paving the way for the Thirteenth Amendment.
Modern Era
Pearl Street Station (1882): Edison's First Central Power Plant
The station supplied direct-current electricity to paying customers in Lower Manhattan, proving the central-station model on which the electric utility industry was built.
Modern Era
Great Reform Act 1832: Reshaping the British Parliament
The Representation of the People Act 1832 redistributed seats to industrial towns and set a uniform borough franchise, enlarging the electorate of England and Wales by around half.