NOTE: Only the Major Events are given here as this is not intended to be a list of all events of the History of Western Civilization. This page is here to help history students see history in an organized pattern.

Dates ---------------------------------------Major Events

? - 20,000 BCE ----------------------------------- Pre-History

10,000 - 6,000 BCE ------ Agricultural Settlements, Animal Domestication

6,000 BCE ------------------------ Early Civilizations Begin (Mesopotamia, India, egypt)

4,000 BCE ------------------------ 1st Patriarchal Invaders (the Kurgans) Move into Greece

3,000 - 1400 BCE ---------- Celts & Carians migrate west from Asia Minor

2900 BCE ------------------------- Crete is settled by emigrants from Caytal Huyuk (A.Minor)

2400 BCE ------------------------- Northern Patriarchal Invasions into S.W. Asia

2000 BCE ------------------------- Etruscans settle in N. Italy (Migrating from A. Minor)

1800 BCE ------------------------- Patriarchal Invaders (the Hiksos) Conquer Egypt

1800 - 1400 BCE ---------- Golden Age of Crete

1500 BCE ------------------------ Northern Patriarchal Invaders (the Aryans) Conquer India

1500 BCE ------------------------ Hindu Vedas are written

1400 - 1200 BCE ---------- Hittites at War with Egypt

1200 BCE ------------------------ Dorians invade Greece & settle in the Peloponnesus

1100 BCE ------------------------ End of Crete--Dorian invasions & Earthquakes

1100 BCE ------------------------ Trojan War-->Greeks vs Troy in Ionia

850 BCE --------------------------- Carthage founded by Phoenicians

800 - 612 BCE --------------- Assyrian Empire in S.W. Asia

700 BCE --------------------------- Greek foot soldiers (Phalanx) demand voice in government

600 BCE --------------------------- Good Greek Tyrants represent common Greeks in Gov.

700 BCE --------------------------- Rome is founded and Ruled by the Etruscans

700 BCE --------------------------- Sparta conquers Peloponesus & begins the Spartan System

612 - 550 BCE ---------------- Medes & Chaldeans replace Assyrians in S.W. Asia

521 BC ------------------------------ Gautama Buddha founds Buddhism

550 - 330 BCE ---------------- Persian Empire Established in S.W. Asia

509 BCE --------------------------- Romans rebel against Etruscans, establish Roman Republic

490 BCE --------------------------- Persian War in Greece begins

462 BCE -------------------------- Golden Age of Athenian Democracy begins

431 - 404 BCE --------------- Peloponnesian War: Athens vs Sparta

338 BCE --------------------------- Battle of Chaeronea: Philip of Macedon conquers Greece

330 BCE --------------------------- Alexander conquers the Persian Empire

323 BCE -------------------------- hellenistic Age begins with death of Alexander

321 BCE -------------------------- War of the Successors (over Alexander's Empire)

301 BCE -------------------------- Battle of the Kings at Ipsus ends War of Successors

264 - 241 BCE --------------- 1st Punic War-- Rome vs Carthage

215 BC ------------------------------ Great Wall of China Built to keep out invaders

218 - 202 BCE ------------- 2nd Punic War-- Rome vs Carthage

133 - 27 BCE ------------------ Roman Revolution

44 BCE ------------------------------ Death of Julius Caesar

31 BCE ------------------------------ Battle of Actium

27 BCE ----------------------------- Roman Empire established & Pax Romana begins

30 AD -------------------------------- Christianity established out of Judaism

30 - 50 AD ----------------------------- Paul & Tecla spread Cristianity among gentiles

64 AD ------------------------------------ First persecution on Christians under Emperor Nero

324 -337 AD ------------------- 1st Christian Roman Emperor-- Constantine

378 AD ------------------------------- Romans defeated by German barbarians at Adrianople

379 - 395 AD ------------------- Theodosius makes Christianity Rome's official religion

400's AD -------------------------- Barbarians over run Western Europe

400's AD ------------------------- Anglo-Saxons invade the Celts in England

410 AD ----------------------------- The City of Rome falls to Barbarians (the Visagoths)

433 - 493 AD ------------------ Oadoacer rules Italy from Rome

450 AD ----------------------------- Huns invade Western Europe

480 AD ------------------------------ West. Monasticism set up by St. Benedict

481 AD ----------------------------- "France" is established as a Christian Nation

500's AD ------------------------- Byzantine Empire established around Constantinople

568 AD ----------------------------- The Lombards take over Italy, defeating the Ostragoths

590 AD ----------------------------- 1st strong Pope-- Gregory the Great

622 - 630 AD ------------------ Islam established by Mohammed, beginning Arab Empire

632 AD ----------------------------- Abu Bakr succeeds Mohammed as Caliph (1st one)

641 AD ----------------------------- Moslems destroy the Persian Empire

660 AD ----------------------------- Founding of the Moslem Ummayyad dynasty

732 AD ----------------------------- Moslems are defeated at the Battle of Tours

750 AD ----------------------------- Moslem Umayyads overthrown by Abbassides

750 AD ----------------------------- Iconoclastic Struggle, East & West Churches Split

755 - 1492 AD --------------- Moslems conquer Spain--broke from the Abbassides

800 AD ----------------------------- Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope

843 AD ----------------------------- Treaty of Verdun, Divided W. Europe into France & Germany

871 - 901 AD ------------------ Vikings rule England & they raid France and Germany

987 - 1328 AD --------------- Capet Dynasty rules France (longest ruling Dynasty)

1042 AD ----------------------------- The rise of the Seljuk Turks (as Moslems)

1065 - 1077 AD ------------- German Kings vs Pope in the Lay Investiture Struggle

1066 AD --------------------------- Norman Conquest of England (William the Conqueror)

1095 AD --------------------------- 1st Crusade to Re-Take the Holy Land from the Moslems

1214 AD --------------------------- Battle of Bouvines, 1st All-Europe Battle

1215 AD --------------------------- English King, John, signs Magna Carta

1300 - 1600 AD ------------- Renaissance-- Rebirth of Culture in W. Europe

1328 - 1429 AD ------------- Hundred Years War in France-- France vs England

1453 AD --------------------------- Fall of Constantinople to Moslem Turks

1455 - 1485 AD ------------- War of the Roses in England (Lancaster defeats York)

1473 - 1533 AD ------------- Copernicus lived (heliocentric theory)

1500's AD ----------------------- Protestant Reformation

1500's - 1800's AD ------ Exploration & Colonization of world by Europeans

1558 - 1603 AD ------------- Elizabethian Age in England

1564 - 1650 AD ------------ Galileo lives (first telescope)

1571 - 1630 AD ------------ Keplar forms the three laws of planetary motion

1590 ---------------------------------- Janssen built the first microscope

1603 AD --------------------------- The stuarts became rulers of England

1632 - 1723 AD ------------- Leeuwenhoek first saw bacteria

1643 - 1715 AD ------------- Age of Louis XIV, the Sun King of France

1649 AD --------------------------- England excutes King Charles I & becomes a Commonwealth

1653 - 1658 AD ------------- Cromwell rules as Lord Protector of England

1665 AD --------------------------- Janissen built the first microscope

1714 AD --------------------------- Cabinet government developed in England

1733 AD --------------------------- Industrial Revolution begins: Flying Shuttle invented

1756 - 1763 AD ------------- 7 Years War (French & Indian War in America)-- Fr. vs Eng.

1769 AD --------------------------- Spinning Jenny invented

1776 - 1778 AD ------------- American Revolution against England

1789 - 1799 AD ------------- French Revolution

1799 - 1815 AD ------------- Era of Napoleon-- the French conquest of W. Europe

1800 AD --------------------------- Industrialization began and the Power Loom is invented

1808 AD -------------------------- Napoleon took control of Spanish throne

1814 AD -------------------------- Congress of Vienna

1822 - 1895 AD ------------- Pasteur lives (establishes germ theory)

1833 - 1847 AD -------------- Factory codes and child labor laws were written

1833 AD ---------------------------- Zollverein tariff union set up

1850's AD ------------------------ Pasteur proved that germs cause disease

1853 AD --------------------------- Crimean War

1854 AD --------------------------- Florence Nightingale opened nursing to women

1860 - 1864 AD ------------- American Civil War

1861 AD ---------------------------- the Unification of Italy

1870 AD --------------------------- Franco-Prussian War

1870's AD ----------------------- Property requirements for male voting ended

1870 - 1920 AD ------------ Women were given the right to vote in many countries

1871 AD --------------------------- Public schools were established in western countries

1871 AD --------------------------- German Empire created

1880's AD ------------------------ The Creole rebellions began in Latin America

1880's AD ------------------------ Mass- circulation newspapers were started

1890's AD ------------------------ Political parties became mass organizations

1890 AD --------------------------- Women gained the right to own property

1914 - 1918 AD ------------- World War I

1917 AD --------------------------- Russian Revolution

1920 AD --------------------------- United States granted women the right to vote

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