Contemporary
German Reunification (1990): How East and West Germany Became One
The German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany, creating a single sovereign German state with five new federal states.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Contemporary
Sexual Offences Act 1967: Partial Decriminalisation in England
Private homosexual acts between two consenting men aged 21 or over ceased to be crimes in England and Wales, though with strict limits.
Contemporary
First Network Email (1971): Ray Tomlinson and the @ Sign
Electronic messages could be sent between users on different computers, and the user@host address format became the standard for email.
Contemporary
Annexation of Goa 1961: India Ends Portuguese Rule in Goa
Portuguese forces surrendered on 19 December 1961 and Goa, Daman and Diu became part of India; Portugal recognised Indian sovereignty in 1974.
Contemporary
Ho Chi Minh Trail: North Vietnam's Supply Route Through Laos
Despite years of heavy US bombing, the network kept supplying communist forces and made possible the final North Vietnamese offensive of 1975.
Ancient World
Darius I's Scythian Campaign (513 BC): Persia Beyond the Danube
The Scythians avoided battle and Darius withdrew without conquering them, but Persia secured Thrace and a foothold in Europe.
Ancient World
Teotihuacan: Rise of the City of the Gods in Ancient Mexico
Teotihuacan grew into a planned metropolis of perhaps 100,000 people whose influence reached across Mesoamerica before its centre was burned around AD 550.
Ancient World
Qin Straight Road: The First Emperor's Military Highway
A direct military road linked the Qin capital region with the northern frontier; it was largely complete but reportedly unfinished when the emperor died.
Ancient World
Kalinga War (261 BC): The Conquest That Transformed Ashoka
Kalinga was annexed to the Maurya Empire; Ashoka, by his own account, renounced wars of conquest and promoted dhamma.
Ancient World
Battle of Magnesia (190 BC): Rome Defeats Antiochus III
Decisive Roman and Pergamene victory; the Seleucids lost Asia Minor west of the Taurus under the Treaty of Apamea (188 BC).
Ancient World
Ostracism in Athens (487 BC): Voting to Exile Leaders
A democratic procedure that exiled about a dozen known politicians for ten years before falling out of use in the late 5th century BC.
Ancient World
Thutmose III: The Pharaoh Who Built Egypt's Empire
Egypt's greatest warrior king of the 18th Dynasty extended Egyptian control from the Fourth Cataract of the Nile to the Euphrates.