Ancient World
Hammurabi's Conquests: How Babylon United Mesopotamia
Babylon became the dominant power of southern and central Mesopotamia, and the region was ruled from Babylon for the rest of Hammurabi's reign.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Prehistory
Banpo Village: Yangshao Neolithic Settlement near Xi'an
The first Neolithic village in China to be excavated on a large scale, later preserved under cover as the Banpo Museum, opened in 1958.
Prehistory
Linear Pottery Culture: The First Farmers of Central Europe
The first farming culture of central Europe, which settled the loess lands in a few centuries and ended in a period of crisis around 5000-4900 BC, giving way to regional successor cultures.
Prehistory
Venus of Willendorf: The Famous Palaeolithic Figurine
Found during excavations in 1908, the figurine became the world's best-known Palaeolithic image of the human body and is kept at the Natural History Museum in Vienna.
Prehistory
Jebel Irhoud: The Oldest Known Homo sapiens Fossils in Morocco
New excavations and dating published in 2017 placed the Jebel Irhoud fossils at about 315,000 years old, pushing back the known origin of Homo sapiens by roughly 100,000 years.
Prehistory
Crystal Palace Dinosaurs (1854): The First Life-Size Models
The sculptures became the world's first life-size models of dinosaurs and other extinct animals; they survive today as Grade I listed monuments.
Prehistory
Gunflint Chert: Microfossils That Proved Precambrian Life
The first widely accepted Precambrian microfossils were described, opening the modern study of early life.
Modern Era
General Slocum Disaster (1904): Fire on New York's East River
An estimated 1,021 people died; the captain was imprisoned and federal steamboat inspection was reformed, while Little Germany in Manhattan declined.
Modern Era
British Home Guard (1940–1944): Dad's Army and Home Defence
The Home Guard grew to about 1.7 million men, freed regular troops for service abroad and was stood down in December 1944 once the invasion threat had passed.
Modern Era
Battle of the Somme (1916): The Bloodiest Day in British History
The Allies advanced about 10 km at a cost of over a million casualties on both sides; no breakthrough was achieved.
Modern Era
Siege of Lucknow (1857): The Residency Under Fire
The Residency held out and was evacuated after Campbell's relief in November 1857; the British recaptured Lucknow in March 1858.
Modern Era
Battle of the Alamo (1836): The Siege That Shaped Texas
Mexican victory; nearly all the Alamo's defenders were killed, but the loss became a rallying cry that helped Texas win independence weeks later.