Middle Ages
Battle of Grunwald (1410): Poland-Lithuania Defeats the Teutons
Decisive Polish-Lithuanian victory; the Grand Master and most of the Order's leadership were killed, beginning the long decline of the Teutonic Order's state.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Early Modern
Flight to Varennes (1791): Louis XVI's Failed Escape from Paris
The royal family was arrested at Varennes and brought back to Paris, and public trust in Louis XVI as a constitutional monarch collapsed.
Early Modern
Siege of Yorktown (1781): Cornwallis Surrenders to Washington
Decisive Franco-American victory; Cornwallis surrendered his army of some 8,000 men, leading Britain to open peace negotiations and effectively ending major fighting in the American Revolutionary War.
Early Modern
White Lotus Rebellion (1794-1804): Revolt That Shook the Qing
The rebellion was suppressed by 1804, but at enormous cost to the Qing treasury and army.
Early Modern
Treaty of Kucuk Kaynarca (1774): Russia Gains the Black Sea
The Ottoman Empire lost its control of Crimea and the northern Black Sea coast, and Russia gained trade, navigation and diplomatic rights inside the empire.
Early Modern
Edward Jenner's Smallpox Vaccine (1796): The First Vaccination
Jenner showed that cowpox protects against smallpox, creating vaccination, which spread worldwide and eventually made possible the eradication of smallpox in 1980.
Early Modern
Defenestration of Prague (1618): Spark of the Thirty Years' War
All three victims survived, but the act launched the Bohemian revolt against the Habsburgs and began the Thirty Years' War.
Early Modern
Martin Frobisher's Arctic Voyages (1576-1578) and Fool's Gold
Frobisher failed to find a Northwest Passage or gold; the ore he brought home proved worthless, the Company of Cathay collapsed, and several Inuit taken to England died there.
Contemporary
Libyan Civil War (2011): Uprising, NATO Intervention and Gaddafi
Rebel forces backed by NATO airstrikes overthrew Gaddafi, who was captured and killed near Sirte on 20 October 2011; Libya then slid into prolonged instability.
Contemporary
Same-Sex Marriage in the Netherlands (2001): A World First
The Netherlands became the first country in the world to allow same-sex couples to marry on the same terms as opposite-sex couples.
Contemporary
James Webb Space Telescope (2021): Launch and First Images
JWST deployed successfully, reached its orbit around L2 in January 2022 and released its first science images in July 2022, becoming the most powerful space telescope ever launched.
Contemporary
People Power Revolution 1986: Marcos Falls in the Philippines
Ferdinand Marcos fled into exile on 25 February 1986 and Corazon Aquino became president, ending two decades of Marcos rule.