Ancient World
Battle of Raphia (217 BC): Ptolemy IV's Great Elephant Battle
Ptolemaic victory; Egypt kept Coele-Syria and the Fourth Syrian War ended.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Ancient World
Mani and Manichaeism: A New World Religion in Sasanian Persia
Mani founded a missionary religion that spread across Eurasia, flourished for centuries in Central Asia and China, and then disappeared as an organised faith.
Modern Era
Battle of Kasserine Pass (1943): America's First Defeat in Africa
Axis tactical victory; US forces were driven back but the Axis offensive was halted at Thala and Rommel withdrew.
Modern Era
Great Fire of Smyrna (1922): The Burning of a Cosmopolitan City
The Greek, Armenian and European quarters of Smyrna were destroyed and their surviving Christian inhabitants fled or were evacuated by sea.
Modern Era
Treaty of Vereeniging (1902): The End of the Second Boer War
The Boer republics accepted British sovereignty in return for amnesty, reconstruction aid and a promise of eventual self-government.
Modern Era
Tulsa Race Massacre (1921): The Destruction of Greenwood
Some 35 blocks of Greenwood were burned, an estimated 75-300 people were killed and thousands of Black residents were left homeless; no one was convicted.
Modern Era
Blériot Crosses the Channel (1909): First Flight to England
Blériot made the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air aircraft, winning the Daily Mail's £1,000 prize.
Modern Era
Fenian Rising (1867): The Irish Republican Brotherhood Revolts
The rising was quickly suppressed, but the Manchester executions and the Clerkenwell explosion kept the Irish question at the centre of British politics.
Middle Ages
Xanadu (Shangdu): Kublai Khan's Summer Capital (1256)
Shangdu served as the Yuan dynasty's summer capital for about a century before being burned in 1358; its ruins are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Middle Ages
Battle of Hattin (1187): Saladin Destroys the Crusader Army
Decisive Ayyubid victory; the Frankish field army was destroyed, King Guy was captured and most of the Kingdom of Jerusalem fell within months.
Middle Ages
Hanseatic League: The Merchant Alliance That Ruled the Baltic
A loose league of up to some 200 towns dominated northern European trade for about three centuries before declining in the 1500s and 1600s.
Middle Ages
Althing (930): Iceland's Parliament at Thingvellir
Iceland gained a single annual assembly for law and justice that governed the island without a king until 1262–1264.