Middle Ages
Lombard Invasion of Italy (568): Alboin and a Divided Peninsula
The Lombards conquered much of Italy, ending its unity under Byzantium; the peninsula stayed divided between Lombard and Byzantine territory until 774 and beyond.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Middle Ages
Gothic War (535-554): Justinian's Reconquest of Italy
Byzantine victory: the Ostrogothic kingdom was destroyed and Italy returned to Roman rule, but the peninsula was ruined and largely lost to the Lombards after 568.
Early Modern
Putney Debates (1647): Levellers, Soldiers and the Right to Vote
No agreement was reached; the debates ended when Charles I escaped from Hampton Court, and the army leadership suppressed Leveller unrest.
Early Modern
Battle of Wayna Daga (1543): Ethiopia and Portugal Defeat Adal
Decisive Ethiopian-Portuguese victory; Imam Ahmad was killed, his army scattered and the Adal occupation of the Ethiopian highlands collapsed.
Early Modern
Jamestown Settlement (1607): First Permanent English Colony
Despite famine, disease and war with the Powhatan, Jamestown survived to become the first permanent English settlement in North America and the capital of Virginia until 1699.
Early Modern
Manila Galleon Trade (1565-1815): Ships Linking Asia and America
For 250 years the galleons carried American silver to Asia and Asian goods to the Americas and Europe, creating the first regular trans-Pacific trade route.
Early Modern
Ottoman Capture of Belgrade (1521): Suleiman's First Conquest
Ottoman victory; Belgrade became an Ottoman stronghold and the gateway for the invasion of Hungary.
Early Modern
Plantin Press in Antwerp (1555): A Renaissance Printing Empire
Plantin built one of the largest printing businesses in sixteenth-century Europe; his house and workshop survive as the Plantin-Moretus Museum, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Early Modern
Revolt of the Comuneros (1520–1521): Castile vs Charles V
The royalist victory at Villalar ended the revolt; its leaders were executed and royal authority in Castile was strengthened.
Early Modern
John Cabot's 1497 Voyage to North America on the Matthew
Cabot reached and briefly landed on the North American coast, the first recorded European landing there since the Norse, giving England a basis for later claims.
Contemporary
Aberfan Disaster (1966): The Colliery Spoil Tip Collapse in Wales
144 people died, including 116 children at Pantglas Junior School; a tribunal blamed the National Coal Board and new laws on tip safety followed.
Contemporary
Treaty of Rome (1957): Founding the European Economic Community
Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands created the European Economic Community and Euratom, which came into being on 1 January 1958.