Modern Era
Discovery of Nuclear Fission (1938): Hahn, Meitner, Strassmann
Uranium nuclei were shown to split into lighter elements, releasing large amounts of energy and neutrons and opening the way to nuclear reactors and atomic weapons.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Modern Era
Russian Revolution of 1905: Bloody Sunday to October Manifesto
The tsar granted a constitution-like manifesto and an elected Duma, but kept most of his power and crushed the revolt by 1907.
Middle Ages
Yellow River Floods of 1344 and the Fall of the Yuan Dynasty
Years of flooding wrecked the North China Plain; the huge repair works of 1351 coincided with the outbreak of the Red Turban Rebellion.
Middle Ages
Seventh Crusade (1248-1254): Louis IX's Campaign in Egypt
Crusader defeat; Louis IX was captured and ransomed, and the crisis helped bring the Mamluks to power in Egypt.
Middle Ages
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales: Pilgrims, Stories and Middle English
Chaucer left a collection of 24 tales within a pilgrimage frame that became a founding work of English literature.
Middle Ages
Death of Edward the Confessor (1066) and the Succession Crisis
Harold Godwinson was crowned king on 6 January 1066, but his right to the throne was challenged by William of Normandy and Harald Hardrada of Norway.
Early Modern
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685) and the Huguenot Exodus
Protestant worship was banned in France; an estimated 150,000–200,000 Huguenots fled abroad, while most of the rest were forced into nominal Catholicism until toleration returned in 1787.
Early Modern
Mutiny on the Bounty (1789): Bligh, Christian and Pitcairn
Christian seized the ship; Bligh and 18 men reached Timor in an open boat, and the mutineers settled on Pitcairn Island.
Contemporary
War in Darfur (2003): Janjaweed Atrocities and Genocide Charges
Hundreds of thousands died and over two million were displaced; the conflict led to the first ICC arrest warrants against a sitting head of state.
Contemporary
August Coup (1991): The Failed Hardliner Putsch in Moscow
The coup collapsed after three days; it destroyed the authority of the Communist Party and hastened the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991.
Ancient World
Trajan's Dacian Wars (101-106): How Rome Conquered Dacia
Roman victory; the Dacian kingdom was destroyed, Decebalus died and Dacia became a Roman province in AD 106.
Ancient World
Zeno of Citium and the Founding of Stoicism (c. 300 BC)
Zeno's school became Stoicism, one of the most influential philosophies of the Hellenistic and Roman worlds.