Modern Era
Legion of Honour (1802): Napoleon's Order of Merit for France
France gained a single national order rewarding both soldiers and civilians, which has survived every change of regime since.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Middle Ages
Pakal the Great of Palenque: The Maya King and His Tomb
Pakal restored Palenque after foreign defeats and made it one of the great Maya cities; his tomb became one of the most famous finds in American archaeology.
Middle Ages
Faras Cathedral Frescoes: Christian Art of Medieval Nubia
More than a hundred medieval Nubian wall paintings were removed from the cathedral and are preserved in the National Museum in Warsaw and the Sudan National Museum in Khartoum.
Middle Ages
Borobudur: Building Java's Great Buddhist Monument
The Sailendra kings created the largest Buddhist monument in the world, a stepped stone mandala covered with more than 2,600 relief panels.
Middle Ages
Imperial Examination System: China's Civil Service Exams (605)
Written examinations became the main route into the Chinese civil service for some 1,300 years and influenced Korea, Vietnam and Western civil service reform.
Middle Ages
Treaty of Hudaybiyyah (628): Truce Between Medina and Mecca
A ten-year truce was agreed; the Muslims turned back that year but won the right to make the pilgrimage in 629.
Middle Ages
Domesday Book (1086): William the Conqueror's Great Survey
A detailed record of landholding and resources in most of England, still the oldest surviving public record in The National Archives.
Middle Ages
St Columba Founds Iona (563): Monastery of the Hebrides
Iona became the head of a network of monasteries in Ireland and Britain and the base for missions to the Picts and to Anglo-Saxon Northumbria.
Middle Ages
Vandalic War (533-534): Belisarius Reconquers North Africa
Byzantine victory: the Vandal kingdom was destroyed, Gelimer surrendered and North Africa was restored to the Roman Empire.
Early Modern
New Model Army (1645): Parliament's Professional Fighting Force
The army won the First and Second Civil Wars, purged Parliament, brought the king to trial and dominated government until the Restoration of 1660.
Early Modern
Battle of Shimbra Kure (1529): Ahmad Gran Defeats Ethiopia
Victory for the Adal Sultanate; the Ethiopian army was defeated and the way opened for the Adal conquest of much of the Ethiopian highlands from 1531.
Early Modern
Quilombo dos Palmares (c. 1605–1694): Zumbi's Free Settlement
Palmares resisted Dutch and Portuguese attacks for most of the 17th century before its main settlement fell to Portuguese colonial forces in February 1694; Zumbi was killed in November 1695.