Middle Ages
Al-Ghazali's Incoherence of the Philosophers (1095)
A landmark critique of Aristotelian philosophy in Islam that shaped theology for centuries and provoked Averroes' famous reply.
All Articles
Every Chronicle article on world history, newest first: battles, empires, disasters, discoveries and revolutions.
Middle Ages
Battle of Stirling Bridge (1297): William Wallace's Victory
Decisive Scottish victory; the English army was routed and Edward I's hold on Scotland temporarily collapsed.
Middle Ages
Viking Sack of Paris (845): Reginherus and the Danegeld
The Vikings plundered Paris and left after Charles the Bald paid them 7,000 pounds of silver and gold.
Middle Ages
Battle on the Ice (1242): Alexander Nevsky at Lake Peipus
Victory for Novgorod and its allies; the Livonian Order gave up its recent conquests in the Pskov and Novgorod lands and made peace.
Early Modern
Great Siege of Gibraltar (1779–1783): Britain Holds the Rock
The British garrison held out for three years and seven months, and Gibraltar remained British under the peace of 1783.
Early Modern
Washington Crossing the Delaware and the Battle of Trenton
American victory: about 900 Hessian soldiers were captured and the Patriot cause, close to collapse, was revived.
Early Modern
Qianlong Emperor (1735-1796): The High Qing at Its Peak
The Qing Empire reached its greatest territorial extent and cultural splendour, but ended the reign burdened by corruption, rebellion and a strained treasury.
Early Modern
Founding of the Khalsa (1699): Guru Gobind Singh and the Sikhs
The Khalsa was established as the order of initiated Sikhs, giving the community a distinct identity, discipline and military organisation.
Early Modern
Encyclopaedia Britannica First Edition (1768-1771), Edinburgh
A three-volume reference work was completed in 1771 and grew, through many later editions, into the best-known English-language encyclopedia.
Early Modern
Battle of Ivry (1590): Henry IV Defeats the Catholic League
Decisive royalist victory; the League field army was broken, but Henry IV still could not take Paris until 1594.
Early Modern
Florentine Codex: Sahagún's Nahua Encyclopedia of Mexico
A twelve-book bilingual, illustrated encyclopedia of Nahua culture and the conquest survived in Florence and became a key source on the Aztec world.
Contemporary
2010 Haiti Earthquake: Destruction of Port-au-Prince and Recovery
Port-au-Prince was devastated, with deaths estimated from under 100,000 to over 300,000 and about 1.5 million people made homeless.