Prehistory
Great Oxidation Event: How Oxygen First Filled Earth's Air
Free oxygen became a lasting part of Earth's atmosphere, transforming the chemistry of rocks, oceans and life.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Modern Era
Great Blizzard of 1888: The Storm That Buried the Northeast
More than 400 people died, New York was cut off for days, and the city accelerated plans to bury its wires and build an underground railway.
Modern Era
Siege of Malta (1940–1942): The George Cross Island Under Fire
Malta held out; the convoys of 1942 and the Allied victory in North Africa lifted the siege, and the island was awarded the George Cross.
Modern Era
Battles of the Isonzo (1915-1917): Italy's Mountain War
Eleven Italian offensives gained only a few miles at enormous cost; the twelfth battle, Caporetto, was an Austro-German breakthrough.
Modern Era
Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864): Hong Xiuquan's Heavenly Kingdom
The Qing dynasty survived after retaking Nanjing in 1864, but the war devastated central China and shifted military power to regional armies.
Modern Era
Independence of Brazil (1822): Pedro I and the Cry of Ipiranga
Brazil broke away from Portugal as the Empire of Brazil, a constitutional monarchy under Pedro I, recognised by Portugal in 1825.
Modern Era
SS Great Britain (1843): Brunel's Iron Screw Steamship
The first large iron-hulled, screw-propelled ocean steamship was launched; it later sailed for decades on the Australia route and survives as a museum ship in Bristol.
Modern Era
Dos de Mayo Uprising (1808): Madrid Rises Against France
The uprising was crushed within hours and followed by executions, but it became the symbolic start of the Spanish war of independence against Napoleon.
Middle Ages
El Tajin: Pyramid of the Niches and the Ballcourt City
A major Classic Veracruz city that declined around 1150–1230; its ruins became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992.
Middle Ages
Almoravids and Ghana (1076): Conquest of Koumbi Saleh Debated
Ghana's rulers and many subjects adopted Islam around 1076-77, but whether this followed a military conquest by the Almoravids is disputed.
Middle Ages
Pagan Kingdom (1044): Anawrahta and the Rise of Burma
Anawrahta made Pagan the dominant power of the Irrawaddy valley, laying the foundations of the first Burmese kingdom and of its Theravada Buddhist culture.
Middle Ages
Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an: Xuanzang's Tower (652)
A brick pagoda was raised at the Da Ci'en Temple to protect Xuanzang's Indian scriptures; rebuilt and enlarged under Wu Zetian, it survives as the best-known landmark of Tang Chang'an.