Timelines

[MarkG]

9997 B.C.      Aborigines in Australia paint on stone

               portrayal of organized warfare              


9996-5000 BC   Cave paintings in Spain show bows in use


7000 B.C.      Fired-clay pottery


6000 B.C.      Simple bows common in northern Europe


5000 B.C.      Crop irrigation in Egypt


4500 B.C.      Badarian culture in Egypt with pottery, ivory

               spoons, and imported items such as malachite

               (green stone used for jewelry)


4000 B.C.      Domestic cattle


4000 B.C.      Wheels in Mesopotamia


4000 B.C.      Stone tools still used in Egypt and Mesopotamia


4000 B.C.      Egypt organized into nomos (provinces) ruled by

               nomarchs (chiefs)


3600 B.C.      Stone and wooden wheels widespread


3800 B.C.      Copper artifacts in Iran


3500 B.C.      Bread in Egypt


3500 B.C.      Egyptians have mirrors of metal


3500-3100 B.C. Naqada culture in Egypt, which became Egyptian

               state


3200 B.C.      Hieroglyphic writing in Egypt


3100 B.C.      Upper and Lower Egypt united under Menes,

               first Pharaoh, starts Early Dynastic Period


3100 B.C.      Writing, record keeping, and formal

               administrative organization evident in Egypt


3000 B.C.      Bronze (mix of tin and copper) tools common

               in Middle East


3000 B.C.      Chariots in Mesopotamia


3000 B.C.      Ox teams pulling plows in Egypt


3000 B.C.      Cuneiform writing in Sumer


3000 B.C.      Sumerians use fillings in bad teeth


3000 B.C.      Sumerians divide day into 24 hours


3000 B.C.      Sumerians divide hour into 60 minutes


3000 B.C.      Sumerians divide minute into 60 seconds


3000 B.C.      Sumerians divide circle into 360 degrees

               (a very divisive people, these Sumerians)


3000 B.C.      Pharaoh Atothis writes first book on human

               body (actually, ABOUT it, not ON it)


3000 B.C.      Minoans flourish on Crete


3000 B.C.      Troy inhabited


3000 B.C.      Lyre in Sumeria


3000 B.C.      Athens site inhabited


2773 B.C.      Egyptians use calendar with 365 days


2700 B.C.      Chinese make silk


2700 B.C.      "Old Copper" culture, near Lake Superior, uses

               copper for tools and ornaments


2700 B.C.      Urak of Mesopotamia is first undisputed example

               of fortified city


2700 B.C.      Sumer has fully articulated military, including

               standing army organized along modern lines


2700 B.C.      Formal record keeping and administration used

               throughout Mesopotamia


2700 B.C.      First "recorded" war, between Sumer (Iraq area)

               and Elam (Iran area), fought in Basra area


2686-2160 B.C. Period of Old Kingdom in Egypt, military staff

               developed


2630 B.C.      Egypt's first pyramid, at Saqqara, by Pharaoh

               Djoser


2600 B.C.      Advanced soldering skills in Mesopotamia


2600 B.C.      Paved highway in Egypt


2600 B.C.      Tablets of Shruppak (Sumer) tell of city-states

               equipping 600-700 soldier armies full time,

               first evidence of standing professional armies


2550 B.C.      Khufu's Great Pyramid at Giza, 481 feet high


2525 B.C.      First detailed account of a war, between Lagash

               and Umma (both Sumerian city-states), recorded

               in pictures on stele erected by victorious

               Eannatum of Lagash (victors write history)


2525 B.C.      Stele of Vultures (by Eannatum) shows war with

               phalanxes 6 deep by 8 wide; armor; helmets;

               spears; socket axes; sickle swords; and chariots

               pulled by onagers (wild asses)


2500 B.C.      Fortified cities are the norm in Mesopotamia


2500 B.C.      Copper helmets with leather liners common in

               Sumerian army, lessening impact of mace as a

               weapon


2500 B.C.      Battering ram developed to counter fortifications,

               since armies on the move needed supplies hidden

               in the cities


2500 B.C.      Mesopotamians develop weights and measures

               system


2500 B.C.      Great Pyramid at Giza


2500 B.C.      Egyptians performing surgery, and some

               patients live


2400 B.C.      Papyrus in Egypt


2300 B.C.      Sargon's army of 5,300 is big for the time


2300 B.C.      Sargon the Great, of Akkad, launches conquest of

               all of Mesopotamia, first great military dictator


2296 B.C.      Chinese record sighting of comet


2250 B.C.      First evidence of composite bow, during reign of

               Naram Sin, grandson of Sargon the Great -- able to

               penetrate leather armor, double range of simple bows


2200 B.C.      Duck decoys in use in Nevada


2200 B.C.      Fortress of Buhen, in Sudan, had walls, firing

               bastions, moat, and complex gates


2200 B.C.      Egypt fortifies southern area to protect against

               Nubian attack


2200 B.C.      Queen Semiramis of Babylon builds first

               tunnel under a river


2040-1786 B.C. Middle Kingdom period in Egypt, improvements in

               command structure of military and government


2000 B.C.      Celts begin spreading


2000 B.C.      First zoo has opening day, in China


1900 B.C.      Assyrians united in Mesopotamia


1900 B.C.      Hittites begin smelting iron (technology

               transfer often guarded as it spread)


1800 B.C.      Bronze metalworking spreads through Europe

               (note how long after Middle East -- see 3000 B.C.)


1800 B.C.      Babylonians have multiplication tables


1792 B.C.      Hammurabi rules Babylon


1720 B.C.      Hyksos invade Egypt, with mobility-based army,

               chariots, composite bows (outranged Egyptians

               by 200 yds), penetrating ax (vs Egyptian simple

               ax), swords, body armor, helmets, and quivers

               for rapid bowfire


1720 B.C.      Hyksos establish capital at Avaris


1700 B.C.      Knossos on Crete destroyed by fire


1674 B.C.      Hyksos capture Memphis


1674 B.C.      Half of Egypt ruled by foreign Hyksos kings, other

               half by Thebes


1600 B.C.      Greek hoplites popularize armor


1600 B.C.      Mycenae (Greece) flourishes


1600 B.C.      Water clock in Egypt


1570 B.C.      New Kingdom Pharaohs begin expansion


1570-1546 B.C. Ahmose I of Thebes captures Avaris and drives out

               Hyksos invaders


1567 B.C.      Hyksos expelled from Egypt


1546-1526 B.C. Amenhotep I begins Egyptian drive into Asia


1525-1512 B.C. Thutmose I pacifies Nubia


1512-1504 B.C. Thutmose II pushes Egypt to the edge of Syria


1504-1450 B.C. Thutmose III, greatest warrior pharaoh (won 17

               of 17 campaigns), established peak Egyptian

               power, adopted best of Hyksos weapons and

               mobility, and added archers on chariots,

               reserve forces, communication improvements

               (such as semaphore) and intelligence gathering


1500 B.C.      Glassmaking perfected in Middle East,

               including bottles in Egypt


1500 B.C.      Sundials in Egypt


1500 B.C.      Phoenicians found city of Tangier in

               North Africa


1500 B.C.      Pyramids are out, cutting tombs into rock is in


1450 B.C.      Mycenae dominates Aegean


1450 B.C.      Minoans overrun by mainland Greeks


1450 B.C.      Egypt reaches greatest extent, through the

               efforts of Thutmose III


1380 B.C.      Nefertiti is queen-consort to Akhenaten

               in Egypt


1361 B.C.      Tutankhamen king of Egypt at age 9


1320 B.C.      Mycenae reaches its peak


1300 B.C.      Hittites first employ iron for weapons


1300 B.C.      Egyptian army has special field intelligence

               and commander's conferences for staff planning

               on the battlefield


1290-1224 B.C. Ramses II, master builder pharaoh, known to

               Greeks as Ozymandias, has total army of 100,000


1288 B.C.      Battle of Kadesh, Ramses II and an army of

               20,000 ambushed by 16,000 Hittites, including

               2,500 chariots. Ramses escapes from trap and

               counterattacks as Hittites are looting the field.

               Subsequent stalemate begins 17 fruitless war years.       


1200 B.C.      Hittites overrun by the Sea Peoples (mostly

               displaced from Aegean region by northern

               invaders, the Sea Peoples included Philis-

               tines and other groups who later settled

               in Palestine and surrounding area)


1200 B.C.      Iron smelting perfected (in only 700 years)

               and as Hittites are scattered, their ironsmiths

               spread the knowledge


1200 B.C.      Olmec civilization by Gulf of Mexico;

               includes written language, use of numbers,

               large temples, and intricate statues


1194-1163 B.C. Ramses III, last of great New Kingdom rulers


1190 B.C.      Trojan War (between Troy and Mycenae)


1100 B.C.      Phoenicians found Cadiz, Iberian Peninsula


1100 B.C.      Mycenae falls to invaders


1100-800 B.C.  Age of Darkness in Aegean area, Dorian and

               Ionian invasions interrupt Mycenaean civilization


1020 B.C.      Israelite tribes united under Saul


1000 B.C.      Jerusalem becomes Israeli capital


1000 B.C.      Saul succeeded by David


 972 B.C.      Solomon succeeds David


 900 B.C.      Celts spread through Gaul


 900 B.C.      First recorded mention of symbol for zero,

               in India


 883 B.C.      Assyrian empire expands


 814 B.C.      Phoenicians found Carthage


 800 B.C.      Corinth founded


 776 B.C.      First Olympic Games


 753 B.C.      Romulus and Remus found Rome


 750 B.C.      Homer writing


 750 B.C.      Caste system firmly established in India


 750 B.C.      Etruscans expand Italian colonies


 750 B.C.      Greek colony of Cumae in Italy


 734 B.C.      Corinth settles Corcyra (Corfu)


 732 B.C.      Assyria takes Damascus


 729 B.C.      Assyria takes Babylon


 722 B.C.      Assyria takes Israel


 721 B.C.      Sargon II forms last Assyrian dynasty

               (but he didn't know it at the time)


 715 B.C.      Sparta beats Messenia (details at 11) in

               First Messenian War


 712-612 B.C.  Assyrians dominate Fertile Crescent


 700 B.C.      Assyrians: 150-200,000 in army, with combined

               arms field armies of 50,000 mixed infantry,

               chariots, and cavalry


 700 B.C.      Biremes (two banks of oars) developed


 700 B.C.      Coins used in Lydia (Turkey)


 700 B.C.      Iron begins replacing copper in Europe


 700 B.C.      Saddle developed by Scythians (but no

               stirrups, yet)


 691 B.C.      Assyrian 34-mile aqueduct carries water

               to Nineveh


 689 B.C.      Assyrians destroy Babylon after it revolts


 688 B.C.      Boxing added to Olympics


 671 B.C.      Assyrians capture part of Egypt


 663 B.C.      Assyria peaks out


 660 B.C.      Byzantium (Istanbul) established


 650 B.C.      First reference of triremes (three rows of oars)


 640 B.C.      Kingdom of Macedonia started


 625 B.C.      King Cyaxares unites Median tribes


 624 B.C.      Horse racing added to Olympics


 616 B.C.      Etruscan king Tarquinius Priscus rules Rome


 612 B.C.      Medes and Babylonians sack Nineveh, and

               Assyrian empire falls


 610-545 B.C.  Greek scientist/philosopher Thales of

               Miletus teaches value of using reason and

               observation to understand the world


 609 B.C.      Necho II is Pharaoh of Egypt, Necho canal

               links Nile with Red Sea


 605-562 B.C.  Nebuchadnezzar II extends his empire and

               builds the Hanging Gardens


 600 B.C.      Greek colony of Poseidonia (Paestum), Italy


 600 B.C.      Greek colony of Massilia (Marseilles)


 600-509 B.C.  Estruscan dominance of Rome


 600 B.C.      Chinese practice cultivating crops in rows

               and hoeing intensively -- not practiced in

               Europe widely until 18th century


 594 B.C.      The archon named Solon brings BIG social

               reform to Athens. Archons were among chief

               magistrates of Athens.  Solon brought laws

               which ended enslavement for debt, intro-

               duced right of appeal, amended methods for

               contracts and taxation, and reduced powers

               of hereditary aristocracy over the poor --

               setting stage for later class struggles.

               His name became term commonly used to

               describe any wise lawgiver.


 586 B.C.      Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar II destroy

               Jerusalem, and take Jews into captivity


 585 B.C.      Greek scientist/philosopher Thales of

               Miletus predicts solar eclipse


 563-483 B.C.  Buddha


 561 B.C.      Peisistratus is tyrant of Athens, meaning

               one who rules without legal warrant, but

               not necessarily good or evil ruler


 556-539 B.C.  Nabonidus, King of Babylon, is first known

               archaeologist (he didn't have to dig far)


 551 B.C.      Birth of Confucius, Chinese philosopher who

               taught you should treat others as you would

               be treated


 551-478 B.C.  Confucius


 550 B.C.      Lao-Tzu outlines philosophy of Taoism


 550 B.C.      First Greek plays


 539 B.C.      Cyrus the Great (Persian) conquers Babylon


 537 B.C.      Persians free Jews from Babylonian rule


 530 B.C.      Cyrus the Great killed in battle


 525 B.C.      Persians under Cambyses II (son of Cyrus)

               whip Egypt


 512 B.C.      Darius I (Persian) conquers Byzantium (do

               you think he called himself "the first"?)


 510 B.C.      Spartan king Cleomenes I overthrows

               Athenian tyrant Hippias


 509 B.C.      Rome becomes republic after throwing out

               the last king


 507 B.C.      Cleisthenes gives democracy to Athens


 500 B.C.      First record of use of bow and arrow in

               North America, perhaps brought from Asia


 500 B.C.      "The Art of War," by Sun Tzu, mentions

               powerful crossbows firing arrows


 500 B.C.      Persian Empire near its peak


 499-448 B.C.  Greek-Persian War


 494 B.C.      Spartan king Cleomenes I defeats city of

               Argos


 493 B.C.      Rome allied with Latin League, the group

               of cities in the Latium district around

               Rome


 490 B.C.      Corinth foils plan of Spartan king

               Cleomenes I to reinstall Hippias as

               tyrant of Athens (apparently Cleomenes

               thought Hippias would be easier to handle

               than a democratic Athens)


 490 B.C.      Greeks bust Persian chops at Marathon


 490 B.C.      Battle of Marathon: 24,000 Persians vs 10,000

               Greeks; 6,400 Persian dead, 192 Athenians dead


 490-486 B.C.  Massive Persian preparations for going

               after Greece again


 486 B.C.      Egypt revolts against Persia, delaying

               Darius' rematch with Greece


 485 B.C.      Darius dies and Xerxes, his son, is king

               of Persia


 484 B.C.      Persians put down Egyptian revolt


 480 B.C.      Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus

               active


 480 B.C.      Carthaginian sea captain, Hanno, explores

               coast of West Africa with his fleet


 480 B.C.      Greek philosopher Pythagoras of Samos dies

               (but left us his theorem)


 480 B.C.      Xerxes builds bridge across Hellespont, using

               774 anchored boats


 480 B.C.      Greeks get big navy win over Persians at

               Salamis, and Xerxes has a ringside seat


 480 B.C.      Persians squeak by Thermopylae, beat

               Greeks, and loot and burn Athens (sounds

               like a soccer game, with fans)


 480 B.C.      Xerxes goes back to Persia, leaving

               Mardonius to mop up the Greek war


 479-431 B.C.  Golden Age of Athens

[MarkG]

 479 B.C.      Aristides and Pausanias lead Greeks over

               Persians at Plataea, destroying Mardonius

               and his army


 479 B.C.      Greeks land in Asia Minor and defeat

               Persian force at Mycale  (Greeks lead the

               series 4-1 )


 478 B.C.      Delian League established to maintain Greek

               naval supremacy in Aegean, get Persians off

               Greek islands, and free Greek colonies in

               Asia Minor


 469-399 B.C.  Socrates


 466 B.C.      Greek Cimon defeats Persians at Eurymedon,

               final battle to free Greeks in Asia Minor


 465 B.C.      Xerxes assassinated; son Artaxerxes I

               succeeds him


 460 B.C.      Pericles influential in Athens


 460-359 B.C.  Hippocrates


 460-445 B.C.  FIRST PELOPONNESIAN WAR, between Athens

               and Corinth-Sparta


 450 B.C.      Some of Delian League think Persian threat

               is gone; they try to quit; they sleep with

               the fishes when Athens says "NO"


 450 B.C.      Delian League becomes essentially Athenian

               empire, provoking fear and opposition in

               Sparta, Corinth, Thebes, and other cities


 447 B.C.      Parthenon construction started


 445 B.C.      "Thirty-Year Peace," initiated by Pericles,

               ends First Peloponnesian War


 445 B.C.      Rome removes ban on marriage between

               patricians and plebeians


 435 B.C.      Naval war between Corinth and Corcyra

               (Corfu): Corinth allied with Sparta;

               Corcyra allied with Athens


 433 B.C.      Athens intervenes in naval war between

               Corinth and Corcyra


 432-404 B.C.  SECOND PELOPONNESIAN WAR


 432 B.C.      Sparta declares war against Athens


 432 B.C.      Parthenon finished


 431 B.C.      Athens can put forth 13,000 hoplites; 16,000

               older garrison soldiers; 1,200 mounted men;

               and 1,600 archers


 431-421 B.C.  The Archidamian War, first phase of Second

               Peloponnesian War


 431-430 B.C.  Sparta ravages Attica


 430 B.C.      Herodotus writes History of Persian Wars

               (if you want to look good in history, you

               better write it)


 430 B.C.      Pestilence hits Athens, behind her walls,

               and one fourth of population dies


 429 B.C.      Pericles dies from the pestilence


 427 B.C.      Revolts of Corcyra and Lesbos against

               Athens


 427 B.C.      First Sicilian expedition by Athens


 427 B.C.      Sparta and Thebes destroy Plataea, Athens' ally


 425 B.C.      Athenians under Cleon and Demosthenes win

               at Pylos and Sphacteria, an island off

               southwestern Greek coast, and capture

               Spartan prisoners.  Sparta sues for peace


 425 B.C.      Oedipus Rex, play by Sophocles, performed

               (Greece enters its Freudian period)


 424 B.C.      Boetians use flame thrower against wooden walls

               of Delium


 424-422 B.C.  Spartan general Brasidas leads expedition

               into Thrace to strike at Athenian posses-

               sions in that region


 422 B.C.      Spartan general Brasidas and Athenian

               general Cleon killed at Amphipolis


 421-413 B.C.  Peace of Nicias and Sicilian Expedition,

               second phase of Second Peloponnesian War


 421 B.C.      Athens can put forth 1,300 hoplites and

               1,000 horsemen


 421 B.C.      Peace of Nicias, between Spartan and

               Athenian sides, scheduled to last 50 years

               ... but sporadic fighting continues


 418 B.C.      Sparta wins A BIG ONE at Battle of Mantinea


 418 B.C.      Melian Dialogue, where Athens discusses the

               punishment island of Melos should get for

               misbehavin' -- the decision, kill all the

               men (WHAT KIND OF A DIALOGUE IS THAT?)


 415 B.C.      Athenians send an expedition to conquer

               Sicily (as foreboding music plays)


 415 B.C.      Alcibiades defects to Sparta


 414-404 B.C.  The Ionian War, the final phase of the

               Second Peloponnesian War


 414 B.C.      Sparta joins Syracuse against Athens


 413 B.C.      Sparta establishes fort at Decelea,

               defeats Athenian force in Great Harbor of

               Syracuse; captures and kills Nicias and

               Demosthenes


 412 B.C.      Athenian counterattacks bring victories at

               Chinos and Miletus


 412-411 B.C.  Some of Athenian allies revolt, Persians

               join Spartan side, Athens raises another

               fleet, AND GIVES ITS COMMAND TO ALCIBIADES,

               the same guy who earlier betrayed Athens to

               Sparta (these Athenians would be good to

               have on your parole board)


 411 B.C.      Athenian naval victory over Spartan fleet

               at Hellespont


 411 B.C.      End of Thucydides' History


 410 B.C.      Alcibiades whoops a joint Spartan and

               Persian force, Sparta suggests peace,

               Athens refuses (greed is an ugly thing)


 409 B.C.      Carthaginians attack and seize cities in

               Sicily (Athens could have used these guys)


 408 B.C.      Persian king Darius II sends his younger

               son Cyrus to govern Asia Minor, and help

               Sparta against Athens


 408-407 B.C.  Sparta allied with Persia


 406 B.C.      Carthaginians continue conquest of Sicily


 405 B.C.      Athenian fleet almost totally destroyed by

               Spartan admiral Lysander, when he catches

               it on the beach at Aegospotami (triremes

               normally came to shore at night, but you

               don't want to sleep later than opponent)


 405 B.C.      Athens besieged


 405 B.C.      Dionysius (not a Carthaginian) becomes

               ruler in Syracuse


 404 B.C.      Athens surrenders


 404 B.C.      SECOND PELOPONNESIAN WAR ENDS -- Sparta

               the winner


 404 B.C.      Egypt gains independence from Persia


 401-400 B.C.  Cyrus the Younger leads expedition against

               his older brother Artaxerxes (now ruler of

               Persia)


 400 B.C.      Cyrus the Younger dies in battle, and his

               10,000 Greek mercenaries fight long route

               back to Black Sea, through Persian army

               and a bunch of other folks ("Retreat of

               the Ten Thousand" written of by Xenophon)


 400 B.C.      Greek physician Hippocrates active


 400 B.C.      Greek philosopher Democritus suggests world

               is made up of tiny particles called atoms


 400 B.C.      Greek gastraphetes ("belly shooter"), early

               large crossbow, used as heavy artillery


 400 B.C.      Trace harness developed in China.  The concept,

               of a yoke across the chest with traces

               connected, may have originated in use with

               humans used to pull boats on canals.  The

               harness will arrive in Europe in 568 A.D.


 400 B.C.      Cast iron in use in China.  Would be in use

               in Scandinavia by late 8th century A.D. and

               throughout Europe by 1380 A.D.


 399 B.C.      Socrates executed for being impious and

               contributing to the delinquency of minors

               (ah, back when crime didn't pay)


 399-394 B.C.  Spartans war against Persians in Asia Minor

               (how quickly those allies are forgotten)


 397 B.C.      Dionysius successfully defends Syracuse

               against Carthaginians


 397 B.C.      Dionysius uses siege towers and catapults

               against Motya


 396 B.C.      Rome's first biggie -- destroying Etruscan

               city of Veii


 394-393 B.C.  Athenian admiral Conon, aided by a Persian

               fleet, defeats Spartans and restores

               fortifications of Athens


 390 B.C.      Gallic king Brennus sacks Rome and burns

               it, and also smashes many of Rome's

               northern allies (payback to come later)


 390 B.C.      First known kite, in China


 387 B.C.      Plato founds Academy


 387-386 B.C.  Persian king helps Greeks negotiate peace


 386 B.C.      Thebans and Athenians renew war with Sparta


 371 B.C.      Theban king Epaminondas defeats Spartans at

               Leuctra; Thebes dominates Greece.


 370 B.C.      Plato writes The Republic


 362 B.C.      Athens and Sparta form alliance against

               Thebes


 362 B.C.      Theban king Epaminondas wins big victory

               at Mantinea, but is killed, and Theban

               power quickly peters out


 359-336 B.C.  Philip II is king of Macedonia, having

               earlier been a hostage and student of

               Epaminondas, at Thebes, where Philip took

               lots of notes


 359 B.C.      Philip II begins thorough training program

               for Macedonian army


 350 B.C.      Philip II of Macedon organizes special

               military engineer group


 343 B.C.      Rome begins Samnite wars, which last 50

               years but secure central Italy


 342-270 B.C.  Epicurus and followers, Epicureans,

               advocating less dependence on material things


 341 B.C.      Persians reconquer Egypt


 339 B.C.      Philip II of Macedonia defeats Athens and

               Thebes at Chaeronea, establishing

               Macedonian dominion over Greece


 338 B.C.      Rome defeats Latin League (old ally of

               Rome, there's a lesson here) in Latin Wars


 338-146 B.C.  Hellenistic Age


 336 B.C.      Philip II assassinated; Alexander succeeds

               him


 336-323 B.C.  Alexander rules


 336 B.C.      Rumors of Alexander's death (while he is

               fighting northern barbarians) cause several

               Greek cities to revolt


 336 B.C.      Alexander comes home, quickly destroys

               Thebes, and convinces the other cities that

               rumors of his death are greatly exaggerated


 334 B.C.      Alexander crosses Hellespont and wins the

               Battle of Granicus, opening Asia to him


 333 B.C.      Alexander defeats Persian king Darius III

               at Battle of Issus


 333 B.C.      Alexander lays siege to Tyre in Phoenicia


 332 B.C.      Alexander captures Tyre, Gaza, and Egypt


 332 B.C.      Alexander founds Alexandria in Egypt (one

               of over 20 towns by that name which he founded

               -- not very original, is he?)


 331 B.C.      Alexander defeats Darius III at Gaugamela or

               Battle of Arbela: Darius III has army of

               300,000 infantry; 40,000 cavalry; 250 chariots;

               and 50 elephants -- beaten by Alex and 60,000


 327 B.C.      Alexander invades India


 323 B.C.      Alexander dies at Babylon; the Diadochi

               ("successors" in Greek) seek to control

               the empire 


 323 B.C.      Alexander's general Ptolemy I gets Egypt

               and Palestine


 312 B.C.      Romans begin building the Via Appia

               (Appian Way)


 305 B.C.      Seleucus I Nicatur (the Conqueror) is king

               of Macedonia


 300 B.C.      Greek mathematician Euclid active


 300 B.C.      Bantu people spread over eastern and

               southern Africa


 287-211 B.C.  Archimedes


 279 B.C.      Greeks block Gauls at Thermopylae


 270 B.C.      Greek astronomer, Aristarchus, states the

               Earth revolves around the sun


 270-230 B.C.  Alexandrian mathematician, Ctesibius,

               invents the organ, the water pump, the

               spring, and the valve


 264-241 B.C.  First Punic War


 264 B.C.      Carthage occupies Sicily, starting First

               Punic War with Rome


 264 B.C.      Adulis in Ethiopia is large trade center

               for trade between Africa and Arabia, with

               goods from Europe and India as well


 264-100 B.C.  Frequent bouts of pirates in greater

               Mediterranean Sea


 256 B.C.      Romans besiege Carthage, but are beaten


 255 B.C.      Roman fleet of 248 ships sunk in storm off 

               Cape Pachymus, losing 100,000+ men, fifteen

               percent of military age men in Italy


 250 B.C.      Greek mathematician, Archimedes, states

               laws of specific gravity


 241 B.C.      Romans defeat Carthaginians, ending the

               First Punic War


 240 B.C.      Eratosthenes of Cyrene calculates Earth's

               circumference at about 24,000 miles (in

               their units of course, he didn't use miles)


 240 B.C.      First Latin literature, in Rome


 239 B.C.      Halley's comet first recorded (but under an

               assumed name)


 238 B.C.      Romans seize Sardinia and Corsica from

               Carthage


 237 B.C.      Carthaginian generals Hasdrubal and

               Hannibal conquer lots of Iberian Peninsula


 227 B.C.      Spartan king Cleomenes III defeats Achaean

               League


 222 B.C.      Macedonian king Antigonus III helps Achaean

               League to defeat Sparta (don't these end-

               less things make you think of that phrase

               "what goes around comes around"?)


 222 B.C.      Alexandria is center of science and learning,

               with 400,000 scrolls in library, and a 200

               foot lighthouse to guide folks to the library


 219 B.C.      Hannibal attacks Romans at Saguntum

               (Sagunto)


 218 B.C.      Hannibal crosses Alps into Italy


 218 B.C.      Rome declares war on Spain, starting Second

               Punic War


 218-201 B.C.  Second Punic War


 218 B.C.      Battle of Trebia, Hannibal destroys Roman army

               of 40,000


 217 B.C.      Battle of Lake Trasimene, Hannibal destroys

               Roman army of 40,000


 216 B.C.      Hannibal is BIG (we're talking REALLY BIG)

               winner over Romans at Battle of Cannae,

               destroying Roman army of 80,000


 215-205 B.C.  Macedonian-Rome Wars


 215 B.C.      Great Wall of China begun (but not by Han-

               nibal, he had his hands full)


 212 B.C.      Mathematician Archimedes killed during

               Roman siege of Syracuse


 206 B.C.      Roman general Scipio Africanus Major beats

               Carthaginians in Spain


 206 B.C.      Seleucid king Antiochus III takes Armenia,

               Parthia, and Bactria


 206 BC-220 AD Crossbows common in China during Han dynasty


 204 B.C.      Roman general Scipio Africanus Major

               invades Africa (that's how he got his name)


 202 B.C.      Battle of Zama, Second Punic War


 202 B.C.      Seleucid king Antiochus III begins conquest

               of Syria and Palestine


 200-0 B.C.    Han dynasty in China develops paper, gun-

               powder,and moveable type


 201 B.C.      Rome, Pergamum, and Rhodes unite against

               Philip V of Macedonia


 200 B.C.      Parisii tribe (Gauls) settle on site of

               Paris


 200 B.C.      Iron horseshoes arrive (allowing

               increased speed of cavalry and greater

               mobility over rough ground)


 200 B.C.      Parchment in wide use


 200 B.C.      Stirrups in use (... IN CHINA ! ... not

               in the West for a long time)


 200 B.C.      Gimbals in use in China -- not the department

               store, but the basis of gyroscopes


 200 B.C.      Very expensive mail armor (from Latin macula, net)


 197 B.C.      Romans defeat Macedonians at Cynoscephalae


 196 B.C.      Seleucid king Antiochus III invades Thrace

               (this is one busy guy)


 191 B.C.      Antiochus III defeated by Romans at

               Thermopylae (no wonder ... he was wore out)


 184 B.C.      Cato becomes censor of Rome (what were they

               writing on those parchments?) -- a censor

               being one of two chief magistrates who

               controlled registration of citizens and

               property, and who were entrusted with

               supervision of manners and morals


 183 B.C.      Hannibal commits suicide to avoid surren-

               dering to Rome (ooo, way to hurt 'em,

               Hannibal ... take that)


 179 B.C.      Perseus is king of Macedonia, succeeding

               his father Philip V


 168 B.C.      Jews, under Maccabees, revolt against

               Seleucids


 168 B.C.      Romans defeat Perseus of Macedonia and

               abolish Macedonian monarchy (Macedonian

               tabloids were furious)


 157 B.C.      Chinese arsenals contain 200,000+ crossbows,

               of such complicated high-tolerance that

               captured ones couldn't be duplicated by

               enemies, and the arrows were too short for

               enemy bows


 150 B.C.      Hipparchus of Rhodes compiles first star

               catalog (and Tom Cruise wasn't in it)


 149 B.C.      Third Punic War starts when Carthage

               attacks Roman ally Numidia


 149-146 B.C.  Third Punic War


 146 B.C.      Roman general Scipio Africanus Major

               destroys Carthage, after 3-year siege,

               thus ending Third (and final) Punic War


 146 B.C.      Rome destroys Achaean League in Greece

               (good year for Rome, bad for the rest)


 139 B.C.      Rome defeats Celts in Iberian Peninsula

               and establishes Lusitania


 130 B.C.      List of Seven Wonders of the World, by

               poet Antipater of Sidon, comes out to rave

               reviews and goes to the top of the charts

[MarkG]

 130 B.C.      List of Seven Wonders of the World, by

               poet Antipater of Sidon, comes out to rave

               reviews and goes to the top of the charts


 121 B.C.      Rome gains control of Gallic settlement of

               Nimes (from which we got "de Nimes" or

               "denims," which is French for "the pants

               you wear to look cool")


 119 B.C.      Han dynasty in China nationalizes natural

               gas, cast iron, and salt industries. The

               natural gas was gotten by deep drilling

               and used primarily to heat and speed

               evaporation of the brine in the salt works.


 111 B.C.      China's Han dynasty annexes Annam

               (northern Vietnam)


 106 B.C.      Rome takes Gallic city of Tolosa (Toulouse)


 105 B.C.      Roman army adopts training methods used in

               gladiator schools


 105 B.C.      Rome conquers Numidia (hey, weren't they an

               ally just a few lines ago?)


 100 B.C.      Greek grammarian Dionysius Thrax publishes

               Art of Grammar


  95 B.C.      Armenia, under Tigranes I, begins to expand


  91 B.C.      Rome and allies begin Social War (isn't

               that an oxymoron?) -- allies revolted

               against Rome, and Rome declared that those

               who submitted to Rome would have Roman

               citizenship


  89 B.C.      Roman citizenship rights granted throughout

               Italy


  87 B.C.      Rome captured by rebels in civil war


  82 B.C.      Roman general Sulla, using his private

               army, recaptures Rome and becomes dictator

               in an attempt to restore the oligarchy --

               a dictator was usually a chief magistrate

               with supreme authority, usually appointed

               by Senate, usually in times of emergency,

               and usually for a term of six months


  80 B.C.      Sulla smashes Etruscans; then they become

               Roman citizens


  77 B.C.      First "encyclopedia"...Pliny the Elder's

               Historia Naturalis


  73 B.C.      Gladiator Spartacus leads uprising of

               around 40,000+ fugitive Roman slaves


  71 B.C.      Spartacus killed at Lucania by Roman

               general Marcus Licinius Crassus


  63 B.C.      Roman general Pompey conquers Palestine


  60 B.C.      Pompey, Crassus, and Julius Caesar form

               First Roman Triumvirate


  59 B.C.      Acta diurna, a news gazette, published

               in Rome


  58 B.C.      Julius Caesar invades Gaul, starting

               Gallic Wars


58-52 B.C.     Gallic Wars


  57 B.C.      Julius Caesar defeats the Belgae, in

               present day Belgium


  55 B.C.      Julius Caesar invades Britain


  52 B.C.      Vercingetorix unifies Gallic tribes

               against Rome


  51 B.C.      Julius Caesar conquers Gaul, ending the

               Gallic War (on a galling note for Gauls)


  50 B.C.      Glassblowing in Phoenicia


  49 B.C.      Julius Caesar crosses Rubicon into Italy,

               starting a civil war


  48 B.C.      Julius Caesar beats Pompey at Pharsalus

               (Pompey flees to Egypt, where he is

               assassinated)


  48 B.C.      Egyptian civil war between Ptolemy III

               and his sister Cleopatra


  47 B.C.      New Year starts on January 1st for first

               time, with new Roman calendar


  47 B.C.      Caesar arrives in Egypt, with army, ...

               and likes Cleopatra ... a LOT


  47 B.C.      Ptolemy killed


  46 B.C.      Caesar appointed dictator of Rome


  44 B.C.      Caesar assassinated


  43 B.C.      Mark Anthony, Octavian (Augustus), and

               Lepidus are Second Roman Triumvirate


43-41 B.C.     War of the Second Triumvirate (Rome)


  42 B.C.      Octavian and Mark Anthony defeat Brutus

               and Cassius at Philippi (these two were

               among the alleged killers of Caesar)


  42 B.C.      Mark Anthony finds he also likes Queen

               Cleopatra ... a LOT


  37 B.C.      Herod the Great rules Judea


  31 B.C.      Octavian defeats Mark Anthony at Actium


  31 BC-450 AD Roman Empire


  30 B.C.      Mark Anthony and Cleopatra commit

               suicide, separately


  27 B.C.      Octavian is first Roman emperor, and the

               Senate names him Augustus (our Senate could

               never get away with renaming presidents,

               and CALLing them names just isn't the same)


  27 B.C.      Octavian establishes Praetorian guard (see,

               he did notice what happened to Julius)


  23 B.C.      Roman poet Horace writes his odes


  20 B.C.      Marcus Verrius Flaccus compiles first general

               dictionary


  12 B.C.      Rome begins attempt to grab Germany

[MarkG]

   9       German tribal chief Armenius in Teutoberg Forest

           massacres three Roman legions (about 20,000)

  43-85    Rome goes after Britain

  50       Front and rear grid sights used on Chinese

           crossbows -- greatly improved accuracy

  64       1st persecution of Christians in Roman Empire

  66-70    Jewish-Roman War

  70       Jerusalem destroyed

  74       Fall of Masada (Jews) to Rome

 100       Repeating crossbow in China

 117       Roman Empire to the max with Emperor

           Trajan's successful campaigns

 122       Romans begin Hadrian's Wall

 132-135   Jewish revolt against Rome

 139-142   Roman campaign in Britain/ Antonine Wall

 162-166   Parthian War (with Rome)

 166-175   First German War (with Rome)

 177-180   Second German War (with Rome)

 178       Chinese use "tear gas" (lime smoke) to suppress

           peasant revolt

 193-197   Roman civil war

 208-211   Roman campaigns in Britain

 235-284   "The Anarchy" Roman civil war

 260       Alamanni move into Alvergne country

 260       Franks move into Spain

 260       Goths cross Danube in large numbers

 298       Defeat of Persians by Rome

 302       Chinese pottery pictures depict metal stirrup

           in use on horses.  They may have been in

           use for a century or more, perhaps from

           origins with the horse-centric people of the

           steppes.

 303-313   Widespread persecution of Christians

 306-337   Constantine era in Roman world

 312       Milvian Bridge (first false teeth?), outside

           Rome's city walls, collapses as Maxentius

           and his troops retreat across it toward the

           safety of the walls. Max and his armored

           cavalry drown. Constantine is victor and

           accepted as emperor of the Western Empire.

           He said it was "divine inspiration" from

           his new faith in the Christian God.

 324-337   Constantine rules all of Roman world

 326-330   Constantine moves capital to Constantinople

 351       Battle of  Mursa (Roman)

 363       Julian (Roman) invades Persia

 392-395   Christianity is sole official religion of the

           Roman Empire

 406       Collapse of Rome's Rhine Frontier

 410       Rome sacked by Visigoths

 410-442   Roman occupation of England ends

 429       Vandals invade Africa

 439       Vandals take Carthage

 450       England begins being invaded big time by Saxons,

           Angles, and Jutes

 455       Rome sacked by Vandals

 476       End of Western Roman Empire

 481-511   Clovis is King of Franks

 493-526   Theodoric, Ostrogoth, is King of northern Italy

 568-774   Lombards rule northern Italy

 568       Avars (from the East) invade Hungary, bringing to

           Europe the trace harness and stirrup.  The harness

           made it through Europe as far as Ireland by the

           8th century.  It increased the pulling capacity of

           horses by a factor of 6 or more.

 570-632   Mohammed

 624-982   Muslim conquests

 630       Mohammed takes Mecca

 632       Mohammed dies, after unifying most of Arabia

 632-644   Moslems capture Syria, Palestine, and Egypt

 673-678   Moslems turned back from Constantinople

 698       Carthage falls to Moslems

 708       Berbers fall to Moslems

 711-713   Moslems take Spain from Visigoths

 717-718   Moslems turned back from Constantinople, again

 732       Battle of Tours, stops Moslem expansion into France

 750       Large winch-armed multi-arrow Chinese crossbow with

           range of 1160 yards, hand-held 500 yds, horseback 330

 768-804   Campaigns of Charlemagne

 771-814   Charlemagne is King of Franks

 772-803   Charlemagne wars against Saxons

 774       Charlemagne defeats Lombards

 777       Charlemagne roams around Spain

 787       Charlemagne takes Bavaria

 800-1453  High Middle Ages (between Dark Ages and Renaissance)

 800-814   Charlemagne is Emperor of Romans

 827       Moslems invade Sicily

 829       Egbert unites seven Saxon kingdoms

 843       Treaty of Verdun breaks up Charlemagne's Empire

 862       Norse take part of Russia

 865-879   Great Viking Army in England

 871-900   Alfred the Great ruler of England

 885       Vikings besiege Paris, but have no fashion sense

 896       Magyar invasions into eastern Europe

 900-1300  Europe dominated by feudalism

 900       Paper money used by merchants in Szechuan, China

 962       Otto I is crowned Emperor of Holy Roman Empire

1000       Leif Erickson sails to America

1017-1042  Normans take Sicily and southern Italy

1023       First governmental currency reserve bank,

           in China, with notice on the money stating it

           was only good for 3 years (carrying expiration

           dates a little far, aren't we) -- counterfeiting

           carried the death penalty.  First Western paper

           money issued in Sweden in 1661, America in 1690,

           France in 1720, England in 1797, and Germany in

           1806 -- though Marco Polo wrote of it in 1270's.

1042-1066  Edward the Confessor ruler of England

1044       Gasoline-based flamethrowers common in China

           (generating a lot of stir-fried enemies). Also in

           use are exploding arrows and aerial bombs, primarily

           to stun the enemy and cause confusion

1054       Eastern and Western Churches split

1056-1106  Henry IV rules Germany, is at odds with Pope

1066       Battle of Hastings

1066       Norman conquest of England begins with Battle of

           Hastings

1072-1090  Christians expel Moors from most of Spain

1077       Henry IV submits to Pope Gregory VII

1078       Jerusalem falls to Seljuk Turks

1096-1102  First Crusade

1099       Jerusalem falls to crusaders (1st Crusade)

1100       Crossbows common in Europe, range 300 meters

1139       Pope Innocent II forbids use of crossbows

           against Christians

1147-1149  Second Crusade

1150       Chinese publication describes how to make your own

           rocket-powered bowless arrow, covered in poison,

           fired from a single tube or launcher box

1154-1214  Angevin-Capetian Wars

1160       Welsh longbow has range of 250 meters, more accurate

           than crossbow, and with four times the rate of fire

1182-1226  St. Francis of Assisi

1184       Paved streets in Paris

1187       Battle of Hattin (2nd Crusade)

1189-1192  Third Crusade

1190-1402  Mongol Wars

1191       Battle of Arsuf (3rd Crusade)

1202-1204  Fourth Crusade

1204       Sack of Constantinople, a Christian city, by

           the Christian crusaders (4th Crusade)

1206-1227  Genghis Khan on the prowl

1209       Cambridge University founded

1212-1250  Frederick II is ruler of Germany and Sicily

1215       Magna Carta signed

1215       Peking taken by Mongols

1216-1272  Henry III rules England

1218-1221  Fifth Crusade

1220-1250  Frederick II rules Holy Roman Empire

1221       Cast iron bombshells in China (1467 in Europe)

1225-1274  Thomas Aquinas

1228-1229  Sixth Crusade

1237-1240  Mongols conquer Russia

1238-1241  Mongol invasion of Europe

1242       Roger Bacon works on gunpowder formula

1248-1254  Seventh Crusade

1250-1517  Mameluke Dynasty in Egypt

1258       Bagdad sacked by Mongols, overthrowing Abbasid

           Dynasty

1260       Mongol emperors in China distrusted native Chinese

           and developed civil service of Mongols, Arabs,

           and Europeans (greatly aided tech transfer to West)

1266       Opus Maius of Roger Bacon

1266       Polo bros. sans Marco take first trip to Cathay

1266       Pope Clement IV requests copy of Roger Bacon's

           manuscript (but he took the final exam on his own)

1270       Eighth Crusade

1271-1295  Marco Polo expeditions

1273-1291  Rudolf is first Hapsburg Emperor

1276       Colored signal flares used to signal troops in

           China

1277       Powerful exploding land mines used in China

           (appeared in Europe in Pisa-Florence war of 1403)

1250-1280  First true guns in China (in Europe by 1320's)

1291       First Swiss Confederation

1293       Paper manufactured in Bologna

1295       Model Parliament in England

1298       Hanseatic League started

1300-1500  Venice dominates commerce of Western world

1302       First meeting of Estates General in France

1304-1374  Petrarch lives

1320       Four-stage anti-ship rockets used in China, with

           range up to 1800 yards, designed to fly 3 to 4 feet

           above the water

1326       1st illustration of cannon in the West

1337-1453  Hundred Years' War between France and England

1339       Battle of Laupen, Swiss infantry defeated mounted

           knights, using Macedonian style phalanx, with

           18 ft pikes

1340       Battle of Sluys (Hundred Years' War)

1340-1400  Geoffrey Chaucer

1346       Battle of Crecy (Hundred Years' War) demonstrates

           cavalry's vulnerability to long-range longbow

1346       English use cannon at Crecy

1348-1349  The Black Death

1350-1355  Economic war between Genoa and Venice

1350       Steel crossbows common in Europe

1353       Ottoman Turks cross Dardanelles to the Balkans

1356       Battle of Poitiers (Hundred Years' War)

1364       Battle of Perugia, handheld firearms

1375       Firearms common in Europe

1380       Wycliffe's translation of New Testament

1381       Peasants' Revolt in England

1386       Unification of Lithuania and Poland

1388       1st Urban Sanitary Act by English Parliament

1389       Battle of Kossovo

1390       Heavy smoothbore German gun, arquebus, needs

           stand to hold it while firing, uses slow burning

           cord for ignition

1397       Unification of Denmark and Norway

1410       Canister artillery rounds

1411       Simple matchlock 

1412       Use of sea mines declassified and talked about

           freely in China 

1415       Oct 26, Battle of Agincourt

1438       Hapsburgs return at top as Holy Roman Emperors

1453       Constantinople falls to Ottoman Turks

1453       Final defeat of Byzantines by Ottoman armies

           (using cannon extensively)

1455-1485  War of the Roses

1476-1477  Swiss-Burgundian Wars

1477       Caxton's printing press set up in England

1490       First true field artillery, French mount bronze

           cannon on carriages

1492       Granada falls, the last Moslem stronghold in Spain

1492       Lorenzo de Medici dies

1493-1519  Maximillian heads Holy Roman Empire

1500       Grenades first used, limited effect

1500       Leonardo da Vinci sketches wheellock mechanism

[MarkG]

1503       Battle of Cerignola, handheld firearms have impact

1504       "Mona Lisa" by Leonardo da Vinci

1508       Michelangelo does the Sistine Chapel

1509       Henry VIII of England marries Catherine of Aragon

1513       The Prince written by Machiavelli (not published

           until 1532)

1515       "Sister Madonna" by Raphael

1517       Luther posts Ninety-Five Theses

1518       Wheellocks banned within Holy Roman Empire

1519       Cortez enters Mexico City

1519-1522  Magellan's ship goes around the world

1520       Luther burns Papal Bull

1520-1566  Suleiman the Magnificent rules from Bagdad to Hungary

1525       Tyndale translates New Testament into English

1526       Suleiman the Magnificent defeats Hungarians

1527       German troops pillage Rome

1529       Ottoman conquest of Europe stopped at Vienna

1531-1537  Pizarro defeats Incas

1533       Henry VIII marries Anne Boleyn

1534-1535  Jacques Cartier in America

1536       Anne Boleyn divorced, executed, causing break with

           Papacy

1536-1539  Henry VIII seizes monasteries in England

1540       Cartier sails up St. Lawrence

1540       Pistols

1543       Portuguese take matchlock guns to Japan

1545       Council of Trent opened

1547       Henry VIII dies

1547       Ivan III heads up Russia

1549       First Jesuit missionaries to South America

1550       Rifling in some guns

1550       Chinese mortars fire shells which explode to

           cover ground with poison-covered sharp

           metal objects 

1554       England reconciles with Papacy

1562-1598  English religious wars

1567-1648  Netherlands War of Independence

1570       Heavy muskets popular (with a rest)

1571       Sea battle of Lepanto, Christians defeat Turks,

           marks supplanting of oared galleys by heavily

           gunned galleons

1577-1580  Drake circumnavigates globe

1580       Kepler and Brahe publish astronomical tables

1587       Execution of Mary Stuart

1588       Spanish Armada suffers ill wind

1603       Dutch East India Company organized

1605       Don Quixote, Part 1, printed

1607       Galileo discovers satellites of Jupiter

1607       Jamestown

1608       Quebec founded

1610       True flintlocks

1611       King James Bible published

1618-1648  Thirty Years' War

1620       During Thirty Years' War, Gustavus Adolphus

           standardizes manufacture and size (millimeter

           caliber) of rifles and shot, and cannon and shot;

           and standard efficient artillery firing procedures

1620       Gustavus Adolphus (Sweden) uses light,

           leather-bound cannon

1624-1627  Richelieu controls France (he dies in 1648)

1630-1631  Battle of Magdeburg (Thirty Years' War)

1632       Battle of Luetzen (Thirty Years' War)

1635       Peace of Prague

1637       Japan excludes foreigners

1640       Bayonet in use

1640       Portugal wins independence from Spain

1642-1646  First English Civil War (Great Rebellion), also

           called Bishops' War, with Charles I and the Scots

           versus Parliament and their backers

1643       French and Swedes attack Bavaria

1644       Battle of Marston Moor (1st English Civil War)

1644       Manchu dynasty in China

1645       Battle of Naseby (1st English Civil War)

1648       Peace of Westphalia recognizes Holland's

           independence from Spain (de facto since 1609)

1648-1651  Second English Civil War, continuation of fighting

           for power by Charles I (1648) and Charles II later

1649       Liquidation of Russian Duma

1649       Monarchy abolished in England and Commonwealth

           established

1651       English Navigation Act

1651       Leviathon written by Hobbes

1652       Anglo-Dutch Naval War

1654       Portuguese take Brazil from Dutch

1655-1658  Military rule in England, with Cromwell in charge

1664       English push Dutch from North America

1666       French Academy of Science founded

1667       Russia takes most of Ukraine

1670       French "Organ gun" machine gun, rows of barrels

1682       La Salle claims Louisiana Territory for France

1682       Pennsylvania founded

1687       Principia written by Newton

1688       "The Glorious Revolution" overthrow of Catholic

           James II, by his daughter Mary II and her Dutch

           Protestant husband William III.  In 1689 the

           joint sovereigns (Bill and Mary) acquiesced to

           a Bill of Rights, opening way for constitutional

           monarchy

1688-1697  War of the League of Augsburg

1689       Peter I, Tsar of Russia

1689-1692  War of the Glorious Revolution

1689       Battle of Londonderry (War of the Glorious Revolution)

1690       Treatises on Government written by Locke

1699       English factory in Canton

1700-1721  Great Northern War

1700s      Hand grenade appears widely

1701-1714  War of Spanish Succession

1709       Battle of Pultava (Great Northern War)

1713-1714  Peace of Utrecht

1715       Louis XIV (Fr.) dies

1717       Well-Tempered Clavichord by Bach

1720       Texas under Spanish rule

1721       Walpole is Prime Minister of England

1732       Georgia founded

1733       War of Polish Succession

1738       Methodism founded

1740       Maria Theresa is Empress

1740       Frederick the Great (Prussia) introduced mobile,

           horse artillery (no, horses not fired from guns)

1740-1748  War of Austrian Succession

1741       Messiah by Handel

1746       Battle of Culloden, appearance of fluted bayonet

1748       Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle

1751       French publish Encyclopedia

1755       University of Moscow founded

1756-1763  Seven Years' War

1760       French ousted from India

1760       George III is King of England

1762       Catherine II is Tsarina of Russia

1762       The Social Contract written by Rousseau

1763       Treaty of Paris

1764       Hargreave's spinning jenny

1768       Cook's voyage to Pacific

1769       Watt's steam engine

1772       First Partition (aka shrinking) of Poland

1774       First Continental Congress

1775-1783  American Revolution

1775       Battle of Bunker Hill (Amer. Rev.)

1775       Rifles improved in American Revolution

1775       David Bushnell (Amer.) demos dynamite explosion underwater

1776       Bushnell builds one-man sub called Turtle

1776       American Declaration of Independence

1776       Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Gibbon

1776       Wealth of Nations, by Smith

1778       French Alliance with America

1781       The Critique of Pure Reason, by Kant

1781       Yorktown surrenders

1782       Rockets by William Congreve (Brit.) used in sea

           battles, range 2,000 meters, inaccurate/little damage

1783       Peace of Paris

1784       Mid-air bursting shell, by Lieutenant Henry Shrapnel

1785       Cartwright's power loom

1786       The Marriage of Figaro, by Mozart

1786-1798  Wars in India

1789       French Revolution

1791       Canadian Act

1792       Austria and Prussia fight France

1792       Battery, by Alessandro Volta

1792-1802  French Revolution

1793       "Reign of Terror" in France

1793       Execution of Louis XVI

1793       Second Partition (aka shrinking) of Poland

1793       Whitney's cotton gin

1794       French tethered balloon provided intel about Austrians

           at Battle of Fleurus

1795       Directory (France)

1795       Napoleon given command of French army

1795       Third Partition (aka shrinking) of Poland

1796       Death of Catherine II

1798       Napoleon in Egypt

1799       Napoleon is First Consul

1799       Rosetta stone discovered, spurring Egyptology

1803       Louisiana Purchase

1803-1815  Napoleonic Wars

1804       Civil Code in France

1804       Napoleon is Emperor

1805       Battle of Trafalgar

1805       Percussion cap developed by Reverend Alexander Forsyth

1806       Battle of Jena

1806       Confederation of the Rhine

1807       British slave trade illegal

1807       Fulton's steamboat

1807       Percussion ignition patented (Dr. Forsyth)

1808       5th Symphony, by Beethoven

1812       Battle of Leipzig

1812       Cartridge breech-loader patented (Pauly)

1812-1815  War of 1812 (US-Brit)

1815       Congress of Vienna

1815       Waterloo

1819       Britain acquires Singapore

1819       Krupp Co. founded

1820       Italian revolts

1820       Revolt in Spain

1822       Modern camera, recording on glass plates

1823       Monroe Doctrine

1825       Erie Canal

1825       Russian Decembrist uprising

1825       Aluminum first isolated, by Hans Oersted

1828       Russo-Turkish War

1830       French Revolution

1833       British Factory Act

1833       Slavery ends in British Empire

1835       Colt patents his first revolver

1837       Queen Victoria

1839       Anglo-Chinese War

1839       Belgium and Holland separate

1840       Livingstone to Africa

1840       Prussians use needle gun

1843       US develops a controlled mine (not mind)

1845       Texas in Union

1846-1848  US-Mexican War

1847       Battle of Vera Cruz (US-Mexican War)

1848       Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

1849       Minie ball bullet developed

1849       Austrians tried to use unmanned balloons to drop

           bombs on Venetians, paper balloons with 30 pound

           fused bombs, little damage done

1850       Minie rifles begin replacing smoothbore muskets

1850       Screw propeller for ships

1852       Henri Giffard (Fr.) flew propeller powered balloon

           with 3 h.p. engine

1853       Taiping Rebellion

1853-1856  Crimean War

1854       Battle of Balaclava (Crimean War)

1854       Battle of Sebastopol (Crimean War)

1854       In Crimean, 1st use of rifled, breech-loading cannon

           by British

1854       Perry, treaty with Japan

1855       French introduce iron plating on wooden ship hulls

1857-1858  Indian Mutiny

1858       French go with rifled artillery

1858       Second Anglo-Chinese War

1858       Aerial photos, from balloon, by Gaston Tournachon

1859       First armored ship, frigate La Gloire (Fr.)

           with 110 mm iron plates

1859       Lead-acid battery developed by Gaston Plante'

1859-1870  Unification of Italy

1860       British H.M.S. Warrior, first iron-hulled (not plated)

           warship

1860       Nitro-cellulose (gun-cotton) explosive developed

           by Christian Schoenbein

1861-1865  American Civil War

1861       Battle of Ft Sumter (US Civil War)

1861       Battle of First Bull Run (US Civil War)

1861       Emancipation of Russian serfs

1861       Kingdom of Italy proclaimed

1862       Battle of Antietam (US Civil War)

1862       Battle of Second Bull Run (US Civil War)

1862       Battle of Shiloh (US Civil War)

1862       Bismarck is Prussian Minister/Pres.

1862       Chemically triggered contact mines developed

1862       Gatling gun

1862       Merrimac and Monitor, end of wooden men-of-war

1863       Battle of Chancellorsville (US Civil War)

1863       Battle of Chickamauga (US Civil War)

1863       Battle of Gettysburg (US Civil War)

1863       Battle of Vicksburg (US Civil War)

1864       Danish War

1864-1865  Battle of Petersburg (US Civil War)

1866       Austro-Prussian War

1866       Self-propelled torpedoes introduced

1867       Alaska purchased

1867       Dominion of Canada declared

1869       Suez Canal opened

1870       Compulsory education in Britain

1870       Franco-German War

1870       French use mitrailleuse, 25-barrel machine gun,

           125 rds/min, 2000 yds

1870       Italy takes Rome

1870       Modern firing pin introduced in Prussian

           Dreyse "needle gun"

1870       During seige of Paris, Krupp Co. developed 37mm

           antiaircraft gun to try to shoot down French balloons

1870-71    French free-flight balloons, from Paris, carried

           microfilm messages and homing pigeons for replies

1871       Franco-Prussian War, breech-loading rifle

           standard in Europe

1871       German Empire declared

1871       Third French Republic

1873       Economic Depression

1874       Barbed wire machine developed by Joseph Glidden (Amer.)

1875       British control Suez Canal

1875       Smokeless ballistite by Alfred Nobel

1875       Spool film (100 exposure), by Leon Warnerke

1876       Telephone, by Bell

1877       French develop timed fuses for artillery shells

1877       Russo-Turkish War

1877       Victoria declared Empress of India

1878       Treaty of Berlin

1879       Austro-German Alliance

1879       Electric lamp, by Edison

1879       16' submarine, by John Philip Holland, Irish-American

           schoolteacher

1880-1881  First Boer War

1880s      Guns as big as 75 tons, firing 1-ton shell 16,000 meters

1881       Tsar Alexander II assassinated

1882       Triple Alliance formed

1882-1889  British Egyptian and Sudan Campaigns

1883       Fabian Society founded

1883       Maxim patents machine gun

1884       Smokeless powder developed by French (just a

           pinch between cheek and gum?), more stable

           and potent than black powder

1884       Steam turbine developed

1886       French develop smokeless powder cartridges

1888       Konrad Haussner develops long-recoil hydraulic

           cylinders which help stabilize artillery, increase

           rate of fire and accuracy

1888       William II is German Emperor

1889       Brazil is a Republic

1890       Bismarck resigns

1890       Hiram Maxim's portable machine gun, 600 rds/min

1890       The Influence of Seapower Upon History, by Mahan

1891       British synthesize cordite, new shell explosive

1893       Evolution and Ethics, by Huxley

1894       Franco-Russian Alliance

1894       Sino-Japanese War

1894       Tsar Nicholas II ascends

1895       Gyroscope

1895       X-rays discovered

1897       First Zionist Conference

1898       Russian Social Democratic Party formed

1898       Spanish-American War

1899       "The White Man's Burden," by Kipling

1899       Boer War

1899       Boer War sees use of Maxim's "pom-pom," first

           automated cannon

1899       Hague Conference

1899-1902  Second Boer War

[MarkG]

1900       Hiram Maxim develops portable machine gun

           capable of 600 rds/min

1900       Frederick Simms (British) develops armored "war car"

1900       LZ1 rigid airship by Colonel Count von Zeppelin (Ger.)

1900       Labour Party founded in Britain

1900       About 80 percent of world's ships built by British

1901       Transatlantic wireless

1902       Anglo-Japanese Alliance

1903       1st sustained flight by Wright brothers

1903       Bolshevik Party started

1904       Anglo-French Entente

1904-1905  Russo-Japanese War

1905       Einstein's theory of relativity

1905       Moroccan Crisis

1905       Russian Revolution

1905       USS Holland advanced submarine design

1906       Duma in Russia

1906       H.M.S. Dreadnought launched, 17,900 tons, 527'x 82',

           ten 12" guns, 27 ea. 12 lb guns, 5 ea. 18" torpedoes,

           21 kts, 23,000 hp

1907       Triple Entente

1908       "Young Turk" Revolution

1908       Bosnian Crisis

1909       First warplane delivered to US military

1910       Eugene Eli (Amer.) flew airplane off navy cruiser

1910       Japan annexes Korea

1911       Aircraft landed on a ship

1911       Chinese revolution

1911       Glen Curtis produced first seaplane

1911-1912  Turko-Italian War, in Libya, first military use of

           aircraft in war, and Italians first to drop bombs

           from a plane in combat

1912       First catapult launch of aircraft from a ship

1912       Royal Flying Corps becomes first official air force

1912-1913  Balkan Wars

1914       Adoption of Home Rule (Br.)

1914-1918  World War I 

1914       Battle of First Ypres (WW I)

1914       Battle of Marne (WW I)

1914       Battle of Mons (WW I)

1914       Battle of Tannenberg (WW I)

1914       French formed first Bomber Group, in November

1914       Panama Canal finished

1915       Battle of Neuve Chapelle (WW I)

1915       Battle of Second Ypres (WW I)

1915       Poison gas in canisters ushers in chemical warfare

1915       Fighter aircraft with fixed forward-firing machine guns

1915       British use depth charges, but only effective if within

           21 feet of the targeted submarine

1916       Battle of Jutland (WW I)

1916       Battle of Somme (WW I)

1916       Battle of Verdun (WW I)

1916       Irish Easter Rebellion

1916       William Boeing builds his first plane

1917       Battle of Cambrai (WW I), first massed tank attack,

           476+ tanks

1917       Battle of Caporetto (WW I)

1917       Battle of Passchendaele (Third Ypres) (WW I)

1917       US joins WW I

1917-1918  Tsar Nicholas II descends

1918       Battle of Amiens (WW I)

1918       Battle of Belleau Wood (WW I)

1918       Battle of Megiddo (WW I)

1918       Battle of Meuse-Argonne (WW I)

1918       Battle of Saint-Mihiel (WW I)

1918       Royal Air Force formed, combining Royal Naval Air Service

           and Royal Flying Corps

1918       First true aircraft carrier, HMS Argus (not used in WW I)

1919       Paris Peace Treaty

1919       In Afghan Wars, British use aircraft and armored cars

1919       Over 200,000 aircraft have been built worldwide

1920       League of Nations formed

1921       Washington Conference

1922       Washington Naval Treaty, constrained building battleships,

           but left open building of carriers

1922       China Nine Power Treaty

1922       Irish Free State declared

1923       French occupy Ruhr

1923       Lectures in Psychoanalysis, by Freud

1924       Dawes Plan

1924       Lenin dies

1925       Locarno

1927       Chiang Kai-shek unites China

1927       Lindbergh flies Atlantic

1928       First Russian Five Year Plan

1929       Great Depression (not so great)

1929       Papal sovereignty restored

1930       Television (seeds of couch potatoes)

1931       Spanish Republic

1931-1945  Sino-Japanese War

1933       FDR takes office, New Deal begins

1933       Hitler rules Germany

1933       Japan and Germany quit the League

1934       First airborne division, in Russia

1935       Abyssinian War

1935       Russian T-34 tank produced

1935-1937  US Neutrality Acts

1936       Nazis occupy Rhineland

1936       Rome-Berlin Axis

1936-1939  Spanish Civil War

1937       Battle of Guernica (Spanish Civil War)

1937       Sino-Japanese War

1938       Battle of Ebro River (Spanish Civil War)

1938       Czechoslovakia broken up

1938       Germany seizes Autria

1938-1939  Russo-Japanese border clashes

1939       Soviet-Nazi pact

1939-1945  World War II

1940       Churchill is P.M.

1941       Germany invades Russia

1941       Pearl Harbor

1941       Penicillin discovered

1942       Kalishnikov develops AK47 assault rifle prototype

1942       Bazooka developed by Colonel Skinner, US Army

1944       Electronic variable time fuse developed

1945       Operation Paperclip

1945       A-bomb

1945       Germany partitioned

1945       UN

1945-1949  Chinese Civil War

1945-1949  Indonesian War of Independence

1946       Philippines independent

1946-1954  Indo-China War

1947       "Containment" Doctrine

1947       India independent

1947       Marshall Plan

1947       Study of History, by Toynbee

1948       Berlin Airlift

1948       Israel independent

1948       Yugoslavia breaks with Soviets

1949       China goes communist

1949       Ireland breaks from Britain

1949       NATO

1949       Soviets have the bomb

1950       Battle of Inchon (Korean War)

1950-1953  Korean War

1953       Atomic cannon shells

1953       Coal and Steel Community formed

1953       H-bomb

1953       Stalin dies

1954       Battle of Dien Bien Phu (Indo-China War)

1954       SEATO

1954       US-Japanese Alliance

1954       US intervention in Guatemala

1954-1962  Algerian War

1954-1975  Laos Civil War

1955       Austria is independent

1955       Bagdad Pact

1955       Geneva Summit

1955       India-Pakistan War

1955       Warsaw Pact formed

1955       West Germany in NATO

1955-1959  Cyprus

1956       Hungary revolts, gets no help

1956       Macmillan replaces Eden as P.M.

1956       Suez Crisis

1957       Euratom

1957       ICBMs

1957       Sputnik

1958       Boeing 707, 1st successful jetliner

1958       Eur. Econ. Community (Common Market)

1958       Lebanon Civil War

1959-1962  China-India War

1960       Republic of South Africa formed

1960       Soviet manned space flights

1960-1965  Congo Civil War

1961       Bay of Pigs

1961       Berlin Wall goes up

1961-1975  Vietnam War

1962       Albania expelled from Soviet bloc

1962       China invades India

1962       Cuban Missile Crisis

1962       DeGaulle wins election

1962       US manned space flights

1962-1966  Brunei-Borneo confrontation/conflict

1962-1969  Yemen

1963       DeGaulle vetoes British entry into Common Market

1963       Sino-Soviet split

1963       US-UK-USSR Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

1963-1974  Cyprus

1964       Chinese have the bomb, and blow it

1964       Krushchev replaced by Kosygin and Brezhnev

1964-1975  Mozambique War of Independence

1964-1980  Zimbabwe Civil War

1965       C-5A contract awarded

1965       India-Pakistan make bad neighbors

1965-1968  Rolling Thunder bombing offensive (Vietnam)

1967       Arab-Israeli "Six Day" War

1967-1970  Nigerian Civil War

1968       Soviets invade Czechoslovakia

1968       Tet Offensive (Vietnam)

1968-1988  Chad Civil War

1969       Boeing 747 certified airworthy

1972       Linebacker I,II bombing offensives

1973       October "Yom Kipper" Arab-Israeli War

1978-1989  Vietnam Occupation of Cambodia

1980       Caseless ammo gains acceptance

1980-1988  Iran-Iraq War (shades of 2700 B.C.)

1989       December, Berlin Wall opened up

1991       Gulf War

that was a long list, wasnt it?

anyway, for future reference.....

[Tjoepie]

11 sept 2001 :

- WTC towers and part of pentagon destroyed by terrorist attack using hijacked airliners.

[Lemmy]

what about 1848 A.D. when a lot of european countries had revolutions into democracies.

/edit nice list btw

[OneFootInTheGrave]

Don't we need a history subforum in the Miscelaneous section? this is Civ III site and at least vageuly related to history...

Just to have a place to discuss related stuff. Otherwise this thread will go down soon...

You could top it on that forum...

[Gramphos]

Leif Erickson?
I would spell it either
Erikson,
Ericson,
Eriksson,
or Ericsson, but not Erickson. I'll chek what the right spelling is anyway (as soon as I'm home).

[Ribannah]

Yes, that's a long list, but what is the purpose?
To me it seems a rather random selection of events on a much, much longer list.

[Gramphos]

Checked Now

It is Leif Eriksson.
(Icelandic: Leifr EirÃksson)

[Dauphin]

9997 B.C. Aborigines in Australia paint on stone portrayal of organized warfare

Seems that they dated their paintings even in prehistory.

Who compiled that list then Markos? I can't believe you'd want to spend all that time doing it.

Is it designed to help people on Civ3 trivia by any chance?

[MarkG]

Originally posted by Big Crunch
Who compiled that list then Markos? I can't believe you'd want to spend all that time doing it.

i found it while browsing at work(my boss would be thrilled). i dont have the url handy

it reminded me of the timeline that was organied here with when was everything invented, so i just posted it for future reference....

[Shadowstrike]

That list vaguely reminds me of the endless hours I spent as a little kid reading history and dreaming of making a coprehensive list of it (I think I got to 16 pages, put lots of people must have done it).