Early Modern
Dream of the Red Chamber (1791): Cao Xueqin's Great Qing Novel
The first printed 120-chapter edition made the novel widely available and it became the most celebrated work of classical Chinese fiction.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Early Modern
Third Battle of Panipat (1761): Marathas Versus Ahmad Shah
Decisive Afghan victory; the Maratha army was destroyed, halting Maratha expansion in the north for a decade.
Early Modern
Galvani and Animal Electricity (1791): Frog Legs and Nerves
Galvani showed that electricity makes muscles contract, founding electrophysiology and provoking the debate that led Volta to invent the battery.
Early Modern
Pendle Witch Trials (1612): England's Most Famous Witch Hunt
Ten people from the Pendle case were hanged, nine at Lancaster and one at York; another accused died in prison before trial.
Early Modern
Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (1570): Ortelius and the First Atlas
Ortelius produced the first systematic collection of uniform printed maps bound as a book, which became a bestseller and set the model for the modern atlas.
Contemporary
Killing of Osama bin Laden (2011): The Abbottabad Raid
Bin Laden was killed with four others in a 40-minute raid; his body was buried at sea and US-Pakistani relations were badly strained.
Contemporary
Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute (1988) at Wembley Stadium
The concert brought the campaign to free Nelson Mandela to a global television audience and strengthened international pressure on the apartheid government.
Contemporary
Falcon 9 First Booster Landing (2015): Reusable Rockets
The first stage of an orbital-class rocket was landed upright and intact after launching a payload to orbit, paving the way for routine booster reuse.
Contemporary
Sri Lankan Civil War 1983–2009: The Tamil Tigers and the State
The Sri Lankan armed forces defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in May 2009; the war cost an estimated 80,000–100,000 or more lives.
Contemporary
Operation Linebacker II (1972): The Christmas Bombing of Hanoi
North Vietnam returned to the Paris talks, and the Paris Peace Accords were signed a month later, at the cost of heavy US aircraft losses and civilian deaths in the North.
Ancient World
Visigothic Kingdom of Toulouse (418-507): Goths Settle in Gaul
The kingdom became the strongest successor state in Gaul but lost almost all its Gallic lands to the Franks after the Battle of Vouillé in 507.
Ancient World
Battle of Red Cliffs (208): Cao Cao's Defeat on the Yangtze
Decisive allied victory; Cao Cao's attempt to conquer the south failed, ensuring China would split into rival states.