Modern Era
Battle of Solferino (1859): Bloodshed That Led to the Red Cross
Franco-Sardinian victory; Austria withdrew behind the Mincio and soon agreed to the armistice of Villafranca, giving up most of Lombardy.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Middle Ages
Tripitaka Koreana: 80,000 Woodblocks Carved in Goryeo
The complete set of 81,258 woodblocks survives at Haeinsa and is a UNESCO Memory of the World register item; its storage halls are a World Heritage Site.
Middle Ages
Nur ad-Din: Zengid Ruler Who Unified Syria (1146-1174)
Nur ad-Din united Muslim Syria under one ruler, brought Egypt into his orbit and laid the foundations for Saladin's later campaigns against the crusaders.
Middle Ages
Declaration of Arbroath (1320): Scotland's Letter to the Pope
The pope urged peace but did not immediately recognise Bruce; England accepted Scottish independence in 1328 and the letter later became a symbol of Scottish nationhood.
Middle Ages
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (c. 890): England's Year-by-Year History
A set of related annals in Old English, surviving in seven main manuscripts, that became the most important narrative source for English history from the 9th to the 11th century.
Middle Ages
Battle of Nicopolis (1396): Sigismund's Crusade Crushed
Decisive Ottoman victory; the crusader army was destroyed and Ottoman control of the Balkans was confirmed.
Early Modern
Constitution of 3 May 1791: Poland's Landmark Reform Charter
The Sejm adopted a modern written constitution, but it was overturned after the Russian invasion of 1792 and the Second Partition of Poland.
Early Modern
Siege of Charleston (1780): America's Worst Defeat of the War
British victory; Lincoln surrendered the city and some 5,000 soldiers and militia, the largest American surrender of the Revolutionary War.
Early Modern
Macartney Embassy (1793): Britain's Mission to Qing China
The Qianlong Emperor rejected every British request, and the embassy returned home without a treaty or improved trading rights.
Early Modern
Battle of Chesma (1770): Russia Destroys the Ottoman Fleet
Decisive Russian victory; almost the entire Ottoman battle fleet in the Aegean was destroyed.
Early Modern
Mary Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)
The book became a founding text of modern feminism, arguing that women's apparent inferiority came from lack of education rather than nature.
Early Modern
Thirty Years' War (1618–1648): Europe's Most Destructive War
The Peace of Westphalia ended the war in the Empire, recognised Calvinism, strengthened the German princes and gave territory to Sweden and France.