Contemporary
Paris Peace Accords (1973): The Agreement to End US Fighting
US forces withdrew from Vietnam and American prisoners were released, but the ceasefire between North and South Vietnam soon collapsed.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Ancient World
Battle of the Catalaunian Plains (451): Attila Checked in Gaul
Tactical stalemate and strategic success for Aetius; Theodoric I was killed and Attila withdrew from Gaul.
Ancient World
Battle of Yiling (222): Lu Xun's Fire Attack Defeats Liu Bei
Decisive Wu victory; Shu lost most of its army, Liu Bei died the next year, and Wu kept Jing province.
Ancient World
Theatre of Marcellus (13 BC): Rome's Ancient Stone Theatre
Rome's largest surviving ancient theatre, later turned into a medieval fortress and a Renaissance palace that is still partly inhabited.
Ancient World
Philip II of Macedon (359 BC): Building the Macedonian Army
Philip turned Macedon from a weak kingdom into the dominant power in Greece and left Alexander a professional army ready to invade Persia.
Ancient World
Shoshenq I's Campaign in Canaan (c. 925 BC) and the Bible
Egyptian raid through Canaan that damaged many towns and is widely linked with the biblical account of Shishak's attack on Jerusalem.
Ancient World
Canal of Darius: The Ancient Nile-Red Sea Waterway
Darius's canal linked the Nile with the Red Sea, allowing ships to sail from Egypt towards Persia; it was later restored by Ptolemaic, Roman and early Islamic rulers.
Modern Era
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (1943): Jewish Armed Resistance
The uprising was crushed and the ghetto razed; tens of thousands of Jews were killed on the spot or deported to camps, but the revolt inspired resistance elsewhere.
Modern Era
Kapp Putsch (1920): The Right-Wing Coup Attempt in Berlin
The coup collapsed after four days in the face of a general strike and the refusal of civil servants to cooperate; the Weimar Republic survived.
Modern Era
Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901): Uprising and Siege of the Legations
The Eight-Nation Alliance relieved the legations and occupied Beijing; the Boxer Protocol of 1901 imposed a huge indemnity and foreign garrisons on China.
Modern Era
Lei Áurea (1888): The Abolition of Slavery in Brazil
Slavery was abolished immediately and without compensation, freeing around 700,000 people; the monarchy lost planter support and fell in November 1889.
Modern Era
Planck's Quantum Hypothesis (1900): The Birth of Quantum Theory
Planck derived the correct law of black-body radiation by treating energy as exchanged in discrete packets, introducing the constant h and the quantum.