Contemporary
Truth and Reconciliation Commission: South Africa Faces Apartheid
The commission documented gross human rights violations from 1960 to 1994, granted amnesty to a minority of applicants and became a model for truth commissions worldwide.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Contemporary
Iran-Contra Affair (1985-1987): Arms, Hostages and the Contras
The scandal damaged the Reagan presidency; 14 people were charged, 11 convicted, and six were pardoned by President George H. W. Bush in 1992.
Ancient World
Colosseum (AD 70-80): Building Rome's Flavian Amphitheatre
Rome gained its largest amphitheatre, used for gladiatorial games and animal hunts for over four centuries and now one of the world's best-known monuments.
Ancient World
Burning of Persepolis (330 BC): Alexander Torches the Palace
The main palaces of Persepolis were destroyed by fire after their treasury had been looted, and the city never regained its royal role.
Modern Era
Battle of the North Cape (1943): The Sinking of the Scharnhorst
British victory: the Scharnhorst was sunk with the loss of almost all her crew, and the Arctic convoys were no longer threatened by German capital ships at sea.
Modern Era
Salt March (1930): Gandhi's Walk to Dandi Against British Rule
Gandhi broke the salt law at Dandi, launching a nationwide civil disobedience campaign that led to tens of thousands of arrests and the Gandhi-Irwin Pact of 1931.
Modern Era
Treaty of Portsmouth (1905): Ending the Russo-Japanese War
Russia ceded southern Sakhalin and its Manchurian leases to Japan and recognised Japanese dominance in Korea, but paid no indemnity.
Modern Era
Discovery of Insulin (1921): Banting, Best and Diabetes
Insulin was isolated and used successfully on patients, making type 1 diabetes a survivable condition; Banting and Macleod received the 1923 Nobel Prize.
Modern Era
Paris Commune (1871): Revolution and the Bloody Week
The Commune was crushed by the army of the Versailles government; thousands of Parisians were killed and tens of thousands arrested.
Middle Ages
Marco Polo in China: A Venetian at Kublai Khan's Court (1275)
Marco Polo spent about 17 years in Yuan China, and his book became medieval Europe's most influential account of Asia.
Middle Ages
Battle of Arsuf (1191): Richard I Defeats Saladin's Army
Crusader victory; Saladin's army failed to stop Richard's march and the crusaders reached Jaffa.
Middle Ages
Bryggen, Bergen: The Hanseatic Wharf on Norway's Coast
German merchants of the Hanse dominated Bergen's stockfish trade for about two centuries; the surviving wharf became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.