Top 25 Events from 1600-2000

[molly bloom]

I don't believe the execution of the 'man of blood' Charles I, is as important as his trial. Kings and Queens had been removed before, by fair means and foul (Edward II and Richard II, Mary Stuart).

The principle established, that a monarch, especially one who claimed, or sought, Divine Right of Kings to legitimate personal rule without Parliament, could then be tried by Parliament (if you like, the people) for treason against the state, is the revolutionary event.

http://www.wwnorton.com/nael/nto/17thC/politics/trial.htm

20 January 1649

In political terms, the Putney Debates of 1647 clearly foreshadow the ideals, concepts underpinning the American Revolution:

http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/print_documents/v1ch15s1.html

You might also consider:

publication of the Authorized version of the King James Bible, and the final revision of the Book of Common Prayer-

King James Bible: 1611

Book of Common Prayer: 1662

Both these texts are instrumental in the dissemination and establishment of the English language worldwide. Without these two works (and Shakespeare) the global reach of English would be neither as profound nor as widespread. Credit should however be given to both Miles Coverdale and William Tyndale who were persecuted for attempting to translate the Bible into English before such an act was given the royal imprimatur.

[Shi Huangdi]

I'd strongly reccomend having something on the collapse of the Ottoman rule in east Europe. The removal of the OE as one of the great powers was an extremely big event.

[JohnT]

Originally posted by ranskaldan


That's about as Eurocentric as you can get!!

Oh well.

So? The world moves to the Wests desires. If, as the title of the book implies ("World History: The West and the World"), the focus of the course is the rise of the West and it's impact upon the world, then wouldn't it, by definitition and by necessity, be "eurocentric"?

You're getting all worked up over nothing. But, the fact remains that the rise of the West IS the defining story of the past millennium, and the fact remains that this is a world that still increasingly moves to Western impulses and desires. Even China, a society as fiercely resistant to foreigners as any, has adopted Marxism, a system of thought devised by a German Jew who analyzed working conditions in English factories and never went west of Prussia in his life.

If the history is Eurocentric, that's because the modern world is.

[aaglo]

21th of June 1972 : I was born
21th of June in the years 1973 - 1994 : my 1st - 24th birthdays

[Buck Birdseed]

Originally posted by Shi Huangdi
I'd strongly reccomend having something on the collapse of the Ottoman rule in east Europe. The removal of the OE as one of the great powers was an extremely big event.

I was thinking along the same lines, but with their removal of ambition in central europe as the focal point instead (they had eastern european possessions well into the twentieth century, after all, and by some accounts still do ). Their defeat by the Austrians at the battle of Zenta and subsequent loss of Hungarian territories in 1697 effectively killed off Turkish attempts to establish themselves as a european power.

Another event I'd consider very significant was the move from Moscow to St. Petersburg of the Russian Capital in 1712, as the focal point of Russia becoming a Great European Power. Either that or one of the battle of Poltava (you do need more battles) in 1709 or the treaty of Nystad/Nistadt in 1721, both of which have the added advantage of signalling the death of one great power (Sweden) in favour of another.

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Buck Birdseed
Congress of Vienna is way more important that Waterloo, which is essentially a non-event. Vienna set up a political system in europe that lasted a century.

How about the Battle of Leipzig in 1813? Napoleon had a chance of defeating the allied powers right up until this battle. After the battle his main army was smashed and as the allies began to close in on France he was given no breathing space to form another.