Modern Era
Anzio Landings (1944): Operation Shingle and the Road to Rome
Allied success at heavy cost: the landing failed to outflank the Gustav Line quickly, but the beachhead held and its breakout in May 1944 helped open the way to Rome.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Modern Era
Hitler Becomes Chancellor (1933): How the Nazis Took Power
Hitler was appointed head of a coalition cabinet with only three Nazi ministers, and within months he had dismantled Weimar democracy.
Modern Era
Tongmenghui (1905): Sun Yat-sen's Revolutionary Alliance
The alliance launched a series of failed uprisings, then helped lead the Xinhai Revolution of 1911 and became the core of the Kuomintang in 1912.
Modern Era
Discovery of Penicillin (1928): Alexander Fleming's Mouldy Plate
Fleming identified penicillin's antibacterial effect; the Oxford team developed it into a drug, mass-produced from 1943–44, opening the antibiotic era.
Modern Era
Jack the Ripper: The Whitechapel Murders of 1888
The murders stopped after November 1888, but no one was ever charged and the killer's identity remains unknown.
Middle Ages
Rabban Bar Sauma: A Mongol Envoy in Europe (1287–1288)
Bar Sauma was warmly received by European rulers, but no Mongol–European military alliance against the Mamluks resulted.
Middle Ages
Sixth Crusade (1228-1229): Frederick II Regains Jerusalem
Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth were returned to Christian rule by the Treaty of Jaffa, with a truce of ten years, while the Temple Mount stayed under Muslim control.
Middle Ages
Western Schism (1378-1417): When Rival Popes Divided Europe
The Council of Constance removed or accepted the resignation of all three claimants and elected Martin V in 1417, ending the schism but leaving a lasting debate over papal and conciliar authority.
Middle Ages
Cnut the Great Conquers England (1016): A North Sea Empire
Cnut won at Assandun, shared England with Edmund Ironside and became sole king after Edmund's death on 30 November 1016.
Early Modern
Franco-Dutch War (1672–1678): Louis XIV Invades the Republic
The Dutch Republic survived intact; France gained the Franche-Comté and a belt of towns in the Spanish Netherlands at the Peace of Nijmegen.
Early Modern
James Cook's Second Voyage (1772-1775): The Antarctic Circle
Cook circled the globe at high southern latitudes, showing that no habitable southern continent existed, and proved the chronometer could find longitude at sea.
Contemporary
Beirut Port Explosion (2020): Ammonium Nitrate Blast in Lebanon
At least 218 people were killed, about 7,000 injured and some 300,000 left homeless; the government resigned, but the judicial investigation was repeatedly blocked.