Contemporary
First Human Heart Transplant (1967): Christiaan Barnard
The transplanted heart worked, but Washkansky died of pneumonia 18 days later; the operation launched the era of clinical heart transplantation.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Contemporary
Hundred Flowers Campaign 1956-1957: Mao Invites Criticism
A brief burst of free criticism was followed by the Anti-Rightist Campaign, in which more than 550,000 people were labelled rightists.
Contemporary
1953 Iranian Coup: The Overthrow of Mohammad Mosaddegh
Mosaddegh was overthrown and arrested; General Zahedi became prime minister and the Shah's power was restored and expanded.
Ancient World
Gordion and King Midas: The Phrygian Kingdom in Anatolia
Under Midas Phrygia became a major power of central Anatolia, remembered by Greeks as a kingdom of fabulous wealth; it was broken by Cimmerian raids in the early 7th century BC.
Ancient World
Voyage of Hanno the Navigator: Carthage Explores West Africa
Carthage founded or reinforced trading settlements on the Moroccan coast and gained knowledge of West Africa preserved in a Greek account.
Ancient World
Han Feizi and Legalism: The Philosophy Behind the Qin State
Han Fei died in Qin captivity in 233 BC, but his writings became the fullest statement of Legalist thought and shaped imperial Chinese government.
Ancient World
Pataliputra: Capital of Magadha, the Mauryas and the Guptas
Pataliputra became the political centre of ancient India and one of the largest cities in the world.
Ancient World
Battle of the Trebia (218 BC): Hannibal's First Great Victory
Decisive Carthaginian victory; most of the Roman army was killed or scattered, and the Gauls of northern Italy joined Hannibal.
Ancient World
Draco's Law Code (621 BC): The First Written Laws of Athens
Athens received its first written law code; most of it was repealed by Solon about 594 BC, but Draco's homicide law stayed in force for centuries.
Ancient World
Pyramid of Amenemhat III at Hawara and the Egyptian Labyrinth
Amenemhat III's final pyramid and the huge temple beside it, later famous to Greek and Roman visitors as the Labyrinth.
Ancient World
Venus Tablet of Ammisaduqa: Babylonian Astronomy and Dating
A record of Venus's appearances that underpins the competing high, middle and low chronologies of the ancient Near East.
Prehistory
Gavrinis Passage Grave: Carved Megalithic Tomb of Brittany
Gavrinis became the most richly decorated megalithic tomb in Brittany and a key to how Neolithic builders reused older standing stones.