Ancient World
Zhang Heng's Seismoscope (132): Detecting Earthquakes in China
Zhang Heng presented the first known instrument for detecting earthquakes, which reportedly registered a distant quake in Longxi.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Ancient World
Battle of Munda (45 BC): The Last Battle of Caesar's Civil War
Caesar's victory ended organised Pompeian resistance; Labienus was killed and Gnaeus Pompeius was caught and executed weeks later.
Ancient World
March of the Ten Thousand (401 BC): Xenophon's Anabasis
Most of the Greek mercenaries survived a retreat of well over 1,500 kilometres and reached the Black Sea, later returning to service in Thrace and Asia Minor.
Ancient World
Tomb of Nefertari: The Finest Tomb in the Valley of the Queens
Nefertari's tomb survived with its paintings largely intact and, after major conservation in 1986-1992, is regarded as the most beautiful tomb in Egypt.
Ancient World
Battle of Pelusium (525 BC): Cambyses II Conquers Egypt
Persian victory; Egypt was conquered and became a province of the Achaemenid Empire.
Modern Era
Operation Anthropoid (1942): The Assassination of Heydrich
Heydrich died of his wounds on 4 June 1942; the parachutists were killed in Prague on 18 June and the Nazis carried out brutal reprisals.
Modern Era
Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (1919): The Amritsar Shooting
British-led troops killed at least 379 people by the official count, and probably many more; the massacre turned millions of Indians against British rule.
Modern Era
Execution of José Rizal (1896): Martyr of the Philippines
Rizal was shot by a firing squad; his death made him the foremost martyr of the Philippine nationalist cause.
Modern Era
Canadian Confederation (1867): Birth of the Dominion of Canada
The Province of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick united as the Dominion of Canada, with four provinces and a federal parliament in Ottawa, on 1 July 1867.
Modern Era
Discovery of X-Rays (1895): Wilhelm Röntgen's Accidental Find
Röntgen identified a new, penetrating form of radiation that revolutionised medical diagnosis and opened the age of modern physics.
Modern Era
Charge of the Light Brigade (1854): Blunder at Balaclava
The Light Brigade reached the Russian guns but lost close to half its men killed, wounded or captured, with no military gain.
Middle Ages
Mongol Siege of Zhongdu (1215): Genghis Khan Takes Beijing
Zhongdu surrendered and was sacked; the Jin lost northern China north of the Yellow River and survived only from Kaifeng until 1234.