Contemporary
Strategic Defense Initiative (1983): Reagan's Star Wars Plan
SDI funded a large research programme but never deployed a working shield; it complicated arms talks and was reorganised in 1993.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Ancient World
Yungang Grottoes: Colossal Buddhas of the Northern Wei Dynasty
The Northern Wei carved about 45 major caves with more than 51,000 statues, creating one of the earliest great centres of Buddhist rock-cut art in China.
Ancient World
Death of Nero (AD 68): The End of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty
Nero's suicide ended the Julio-Claudian dynasty founded by Augustus and opened a year of civil war in which four men claimed the throne.
Ancient World
Battle of Gaugamela (331 BC): The Fall of the Persian Empire
Decisive Macedonian victory; Darius III fled and the Achaemenid Persian Empire collapsed, leaving Alexander master of its heartland.
Ancient World
Alexandrian War (48-47 BC): Caesar, Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII
Caesar's victory; Ptolemy XIII drowned and Cleopatra VII was confirmed as queen of Egypt under Roman protection.
Ancient World
Taq-e Bostan: Sasanian Rock Reliefs and Grottoes at Kermanshah
The site preserves the last great group of Sasanian royal rock reliefs, including the largest carved grotto of the dynasty.
Modern Era
Rescue of the Danish Jews (1943): Escape Across the Sound
About 7,200 Jews and some 700 non-Jewish relatives reached Sweden; around 470 were deported to Theresienstadt, where about 50 died.
Modern Era
General Strike of 1926: Britain's Nine Days of Industrial Action
The Trades Union Congress called off the strike after nine days without guarantees; the miners fought on alone until they were forced back to work on worse terms late in 1926.
Modern Era
Siege of Port Arthur (1904-1905): Trench Warfare in Manchuria
Japanese victory; the Russian garrison surrendered and the Russian Pacific Squadron was destroyed, at a cost of tens of thousands of Japanese casualties.
Modern Era
Bonus Army (1932): First World War Veterans March on Washington
Congress refused early payment and the army forcibly cleared the camps on 28 July 1932; the bonus was finally paid in 1936.
Modern Era
General Relativity (1915): Einstein's New Theory of Gravity
Einstein completed general relativity, which explained the orbit of Mercury and replaced Newton's theory as the most accurate description of gravity.
Modern Era
Siege of Paris (1870-1871): Balloons, Hunger and Surrender
Paris capitulated after about four months; an armistice on 28 January 1871 ended the main fighting of the Franco-Prussian War.