Modern Era
Easter Rising (1916): The Irish Rebellion in Dublin
The rising was defeated within six days, but the executions of its leaders transformed Irish opinion in favour of independence.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Modern Era
French Conquest of Vietnam (1858-1885): Birth of French Indochina
France annexed Cochinchina as a colony and imposed protectorates on Annam and Tonkin, which became the core of French Indochina from 1887.
Modern Era
Amistad Case (1839-1841): The Revolt and the Supreme Court
The US Supreme Court ruled in March 1841 that the Africans had been illegally enslaved and were free; 35 survivors returned to Sierra Leone.
Modern Era
Bessemer Process (1856): Cheap Steel for the Industrial Age
Steel could be made in tonnes in minutes instead of days, cutting its price sharply and replacing wrought iron in rails, ships and structures.
Modern Era
Battle of the Berezina (1812): Napoleon's Desperate Crossing
Napoleon and the core of his army escaped across the river, but tens of thousands of soldiers and stragglers were killed, captured or left behind.
Middle Ages
L'Anse aux Meadows: The Norse Site in Newfoundland
The site proved that Norse Greenlanders reached North America about 500 years before Columbus; it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978.
Middle Ages
Great Mosque of Djenne: Origins of the Mud-Brick Mosque
Djenné's ruler converted to Islam and turned his palace into a mosque; the present building of 1907 on the same site became the most famous mud-brick structure in the world.
Middle Ages
Destruction of Nalanda (c. 1193): End of a Great University
Nalanda was sacked and largely abandoned, a severe blow to Indian Buddhist scholarship, though a small community survived for some decades.
Middle Ages
Todai-ji and the Great Buddha of Nara: Dedication in 752
The Great Buddha was dedicated, making Todai-ji the head of Japan's state Buddhist temple network and a lasting symbol of the Nara period.
Middle Ages
Great Mosque of Cordoba: Masterpiece of Umayyad al-Andalus
The mosque grew into one of the largest in the Islamic world and, after the Christian conquest of Córdoba in 1236, became the city's cathedral.
Middle Ages
Leaning Tower of Pisa: Why the Medieval Bell Tower Tilts
The campanile was completed in the fourteenth century with a permanent tilt, which engineers reduced and stabilised between 1990 and 2001.
Middle Ages
Franks Casket (c. 700): Anglo-Saxon Whalebone Box with Runes
The casket survives as one of the most important objects of Anglo-Saxon art and a key source for early English runic writing.