Contemporary
Warsaw Genuflection (1970): Willy Brandt Kneels in Warsaw
Brandt's silent act of contrition became a lasting symbol of German acknowledgement of Nazi crimes and of reconciliation with Poland.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Contemporary
Aldermaston Marches (1958): CND and the Birth of the Peace Symbol
The first Aldermaston march launched an annual Easter tradition, made CND a mass movement and introduced the peace symbol to the world.
Contemporary
Invention of the Laser (1960): Theodore Maiman's Ruby Laser
Maiman's ruby laser produced the first coherent light beam, launching laser science and technology.
Contemporary
1948 Arab-Israeli War: The First War over Israel and Palestine
Israel survived and expanded beyond the UN partition lines; Jordan held the West Bank and Egypt the Gaza Strip; some 700,000 to 750,000 Palestinian Arabs became refugees.
Contemporary
First Soviet Atomic Bomb (1949): The RDS-1 Test in Kazakhstan
The Soviet Union became the world's second nuclear power, ending the American atomic monopoly four years earlier than US intelligence had expected.
Ancient World
Suppiluliuma I: Builder of the Hittite Empire in Anatolia
The Hittite kingdom became an empire controlling northern Syria and rivalling Egypt, while Mitanni was reduced to a Hittite client state.
Ancient World
La Venta: The Olmec Ceremonial Centre of Tabasco
La Venta became the leading Olmec centre after San Lorenzo and left monuments that define Olmec art; it declined around 400 BC.
Ancient World
Confucius (551-479 BC): The Life and Teachings of Kong Qiu
Confucius died with little political success, but his disciples preserved his teachings, which became the official orthodoxy of the Chinese state and shaped East Asian society for two millennia.
Ancient World
Vedic Period: Ancient India from the Rigveda to the Upanishads
A pastoral tribal society became a world of agricultural kingdoms, producing the Vedas, the varna system and the ritual and philosophical foundations of Hinduism.
Ancient World
Via Appia (312 BC): The Appian Way, Queen of Roman Roads
Rome gained a strategic all-weather road to Campania that became the main route to southern Italy and the eastern Mediterranean.
Ancient World
Tiryns (c. 1300 BC): The Cyclopean Walls of a Mycenaean Citadel
One of the strongest Mycenaean fortresses; its palace burned c. 1200 BC and the town was destroyed by Argos in the 5th century BC.
Ancient World
Pyramid of Khafre at Giza: The Second Pyramid and Its Complex
The second-largest pyramid at Giza and the centre of a complex that includes the valley temple and the Great Sphinx.