MAJOR EVENTS

The Persian Empire had expanded into the Aegean world. Athens supported the Ionian Greek cities during their revolt against Persian rule.

Miltiades

The Athenian-led army defeated the Persian force.

The victory strengthened Athens and became an important episode in the history of the Greco-Persian Wars.

Alexander's campaign against the Achaemenid Persian Empire had already brought several Persian territories under Macedonian control.

Alexander III • Darius III

Alexander's forces won a decisive victory.

The battle accelerated the collapse of Achaemenid imperial power.

Caesar's growing political authority had caused concern among senators who feared the concentration of power.

Julius Caesar • Brutus • Cassius

Rome entered another period of political conflict and civil war.

The assassination did not restore the old political order and was followed by further struggles for power.

Communities had developed around the fertile volcanic region near the Bay of Naples.

Pompeii

Several settlements were buried by volcanic deposits.

Archaeological remains from the disaster provide an unusually detailed view of Roman daily life.

Byzantine authority in the Levant was challenged by the rapidly expanding Rashidun Caliphate.

Khalid ibn al-Walid

Byzantine forces were defeated and Byzantine control of much of the Levant weakened substantially.

It became one of the decisive engagements in the early Islamic expansion into the Levant.

Alp Arslan • Romanos IV

Byzantine forces suffered a major defeat and Emperor Romanos IV was captured.

Anatolia

The defeat contributed to the long-term expansion of Turkic power in Anatolia.

William the Conqueror • Harold II

Battle of Hastings

William became king of England.

Norman rule transformed England's political structure, aristocracy, language and culture.

Mehmed II • Constantine XI

Constantinople became an Ottoman city and later the imperial capital.

Late Medieval

The event marked the end of the Byzantine Empire and had major consequences for Mediterranean and European politics.

Columbus sought a westward maritime route to Asia with support from the Spanish monarchy.

Christopher Columbus

The expedition reached islands in the Caribbean.

It began a period of sustained European exploration, colonization and exchange across the Atlantic.

Copernicus • Galileo • Kepler • Newton

Greater reliance on mathematical reasoning, observation and systematic investigation.

c. 1500–1700

It helped establish foundations for modern scientific thought.

Financial crisis, social inequality, political conflict and Enlightenment ideas contributed to the revolutionary crisis.

Louis XVI • Robespierre • Napoleon

The French monarchy was abolished and France experienced major political transformation.

Revolutionary ideas about citizenship, sovereignty and political rights had lasting international influence.

Britain became the earliest major center of industrialization.

Steam engines • mechanized textile production • railways

Production and transportation changed dramatically.

It transformed economies, cities, transportation and patterns of work.

Rival alliances, militarism, imperial competition and nationalism contributed to the crisis of 1914.

1914–1918

Several empires collapsed and new states emerged.

The war fundamentally changed the political map of Europe and helped shape the twentieth century.

1939–1945

Allied Powers • Axis Powers

The Axis powers were defeated and a new international order emerged.

It reshaped global politics and contributed to the creation of major international institutions.

Neil Armstrong • Buzz Aldrin • Michael Collins

Apollo 11

Armstrong and Aldrin walked on the lunar surface while Collins remained in lunar orbit.

It became a landmark achievement in human space exploration and engineering.