AP Euro

  • Gutenberg Printing Press
    1440

    Gutenberg Printing Press

    Johanes Gutenberg invents the printing press with the first book he prints being the Gutenberg bible. This leads to a major increase in literacy and leads to weakening in trust with the church.
  • Fall of Constantinople
    1453

    Fall of Constantinople

    Capture of Constantinople by the Ottomans removing it from Byzantine control. Major trade city with high political and economic benefits.
  • Period: 1485 to

    Tudor Dynasty Reign

    118 year period starting with the war of roses. Important events during this time: English reformation, defeat of the Spanish armada, the flourishing of the English renaissance, and England's growing prominence as a world power.
  • Alhambra Decree
    1492

    Alhambra Decree

    Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella issue decree that all Jews must convert to Catholicism or leave Spain.
  • Completion of Reconquista
    1492

    Completion of Reconquista

    Emirate of Granada surrenders to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. Paved way for the expulsion of Jews from Spain
  • Columbus Sails to the Americas
    1492

    Columbus Sails to the Americas

    Christopher Columbus sponsored by the Spanish monarchs sailed westward on the Atlantic to try to find a new route to Asia. He ends up discovering the Americas.
  • Michelangelo Completes Sistine Chapel Painting
    1512

    Michelangelo Completes Sistine Chapel Painting

    Painting took 4 years and depicted nine scenes from genesis.
  • Martin Luther Publishes 95 Theses
    1517

    Martin Luther Publishes 95 Theses

    Posted 95 theses on a church door directly criticizing and apposing church authority. Complaints about faults from the church.
  • Luther's Attendance at the Diet of worms
    1521

    Luther's Attendance at the Diet of worms

    Martin Luther is called to an imperial assembly where a representative of the church implores him to recant. Luther refuses and claims he is acting by gods will through his conscience. Result: Martin Luther declared a heretic and an outlaw.
  • Machiavelli's The Prince is Published
    1532

    Machiavelli's The Prince is Published

    Niccolo Machiavelli publishes his guide to rulers and princes and how to stay in power. Controversial for its bare and straightforward approach that can be seen as immoral.
  • Act of Supremacy under Henry VIII
    1534

    Act of Supremacy under Henry VIII

    Declares that Henry viii is the leader of the new Anglican church and opposes the pope. He did this to accept his own request for divorce.
  • Copernicus publishes On The Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres
    1543

    Copernicus publishes On The Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres

    Heliocentric model means centered around the sun. part of scientific revolution. heavily opposed by the church because of disagreement with established official doctrine.
  • Period: 1545 to 1563

    Council of Trent (Catholic Reformation)

    Catholic's means of reforming. A council developed to reform and change the church to try to retain the catholic population and prevent conversion to Protestantism.
  • Peace of Augsburg
    1555

    Peace of Augsburg

    Cuius Regio, Eius Religio. Who's religion, his religion
    rulers of each territory can choose the accepted religion of their subjects. Gave rights to subjects who disagree with their lords seizure or selling of property.
  • St. Bartholomews Massacre
    1572

    St. Bartholomews Massacre

    Mob violence against french protestants. 5,000-30,000. Huguenot leader, Admiral Gaspard de Coligny.
  • Period: to

    War of the Three Henry's

    Eighth and final war of the French Wars of religion. Between Henry iii of France, Henry of Navarre, and Henry i, Duke of Guise.
  • Defeat of the Spanish Armada

    Defeat of the Spanish Armada

    English decisive victory resulting in the loss of 44 Spanish ships and 10,000-20,000 men.
  • Edict of Nantes

    Edict of Nantes

    Results in the religious freedom of protestants. End the French Wars of Religion.
  • Period: to

    Thirty Years' war

    Defenestration of Prague. Protestants throw Catholic officials out of windows at Prague castle
    Four Phases war. Bohemian, Danish, Swedish, and French.
    Ends with the peace of Westphalia. establishes state sovereignty, ushers in modern nation-state system.
  • Period: to

    English Civil War

    Royalists (Charles I) vs Parliamentarians (Oliver Cromwell)
    Ends with execution of Charles I
    Order of the Cromwell burger
    James I
    Charles I
    Oliver Cromwell
    Charles II
    James II
  • Period: to

    Reign of Louis XIV at Versailles (Without regent)

    Centralized state with intendants, promoting mercantilism , fighting costly wars , and revoking Edict of Nantes to enforce religious unity.
    Sun king
  • English Bill of Rights

    English Bill of Rights

    Limits the power of the monarchy; establishes constitutional monarchy
    Locke’s Two Treatises on Government published
  • Glorious Revolution

    Glorious Revolution

    James II replaced by William III and Mary II (Protestant monarchs invited by parliament)
    Leads to the English Bill of Rights
  • Treaty of Utrecht ends the Spanish War of Succession

    Treaty of Utrecht ends the Spanish War of Succession

    Signifies the decline of French expansionism, Spain's golden age, and Britain's rise as a global maritime power.
  • Period: to

    Reign of Maria Theresa of Austria

    Significant administrative, financial, and educational reforms
    War of Austrian succession. Major conflict sparked by Prussia's Frederick II challenging Maria Theresa's right to the Habsburg throne
  • Period: to

    Diderots Encyclopedia published

    Intended to change the way people think by spreading Enlightenment ideas, secular knowledge, and promoting reason, despite facing bans and censorship from the Catholic Church and French government for its liberal content.
  • Period: to

    Seven Years' War

    Frederick the Great (Prussia), Louis XV (France), Maria Theresa, and George III (Britain)
    Ends with Treaty of Paris (This is NOT the Treaty of Paris from the American Revolution)
  • Period: to

    Early Industrial Revolution in Great Britain

    Shift from agrarian, hand-production economies to machine-based factory systems, starting with textiles, driven by resources like coal and iron, agricultural improvements, and a favorable political climate, leading to urbanization, new social classes (working class), and major inventions like the steam engine.
  • Period: to

    Reign of Catherine the Great

    Enlightened Absolutism, characterized by adopting Western ideas (arts, education) while maintaining autocracy, territorial expansion, and the tension between reform and reality (Pugachev's Rebellion, strengthened serfdom). She modernized Russia, expanded its empire significantly, patronized culture, and solidified its status as a major European power, but her reforms often benefited nobles at the expense of serfs, highlighting Enlightenment contradictions.
  • Period: to

    Pugachev's rebellion

    Russia's largest 18th-century peasant revolt, led by Yemelyan Pugachev, a Cossack claiming to be the deposed Tsar Peter III, against Catherine the Great, fueled by serf discontent, land hunger, and Cossack autonomy loss, but it was brutally crushed, leading Catherine to strengthen noble power and serfdom further.
  • American Revolution inspired by Enlightenment ideals

    American Revolution inspired by Enlightenment ideals

    Adam Smith publishes “On the Wealth of Nations”
    Challenged mercantilism with capitalism, advocating free markets, division of labor, and minimal government intervention, arguing self-interest boosts national wealth, influencing the Industrial Revolution and Enlightenment economic thought
  • French Revolution Begins

    French Revolution Begins

    Triggered under Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette
    Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. Popular sovereignty, influenced by Enlightenment thinkers like Locke and Rousseau, establishing universal principles of freedom, equality, and fraternity
    Storming of the Bastille
    National Assembly. Revolutionary body formed by France's Third Estate in 1789 during the French Revolution, declaring themselves the true representatives of the nation to create a new constitution
  • Period: to

    Haitian Revolution and Independence

    Successful slave revolt in France's rich colony, Saint-Domingue, inspired by Enlightenment ideals and the French Revolution's calls for liberty, leading to Haiti becoming the first free black republic and the only nation founded by a slave uprising.
  • Reign of Terror led by Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety

    Reign of Terror led by Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety

    Led by Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety, was a period of extreme political repression and mass executions using the guillotine, justified as necessary to purge internal enemies.
    Execution of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Symbolizing the end of absolute monarchy and fueling the Reign of Terror
  • Napoleon Bonaparte seizes power (Coup of 18 Brumaire)

    Napoleon Bonaparte seizes power (Coup of 18 Brumaire)

    Ends French Revolution; begins Consulate
    Established by Napoleon after overthrowing the Directory, featuring three Consuls but dominated by Napoleon as First Consul, marking a shift towards authoritarian rule and centralization, leading to the Napoleonic Empire.
  • Napoleon Crowns Himself Emperor of the French

    Napoleon Crowns Himself Emperor of the French

    Rejection of revolutionary ideals for autocracy, and ambition to build an empire. Done by his own hand to show that he is rejecting papal authority.
  • End of the Holy Roman Empire

    End of the Holy Roman Empire

    Emperor Francis II abdicated under pressure from Napoleon, dissolving the fragmented, centuries-old entity composed of hundreds of semi-independent states and marking the final demise of medieval imperial structures in Central Europe.
  • Battle of Waterloo and defeat of Napoleon by Duke of Wellington

    Battle of Waterloo and defeat of Napoleon by Duke of Wellington

    Napoleon's final defeat by Seventh Coalition army.
    Congress of Vienna led by Prince Metternich restores conservative (Euro definition) order. Aimed to restore conservative order after Napoleon by reinstating monarchies (legitimacy), creating a balance of power with buffer states, and suppressing revolutionary ideas like liberalism and nationalism, establishing the Concert of Europe to maintain stability against future French expansion and republicanism.
  • July Revolution in France

    Charles X overthrown; Louis-Philippe becomes “Citizen King”
  • Revolutions of 1848 across Europe

    Inspired by liberal, nationalist, and socialist ideas
    Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish Communist Manifesto
    Most revolutions fail; conservative regimes restored
  • Period: to

    Crimean War

    Russia (under Nicholas I) vs. Ottoman Empire, Britain, and France
    First modern war with war correspondents and photography
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    Unification of Italy led by Cavour (Piedmont) and Garibaldi (Redshirts)
    Alexander II of Russia emancipates the serfs
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    Franco-Prussian War

    Led by Otto Von Bismarck; France under Napoleon III
    Ends in German unification under Kaiser Wilhelm I
  • Period: to

    Berlin Conference

    Organized by Bismarck to regulate African colonization
  • Russian Revolution of 1905

    Under Tsar Nicholas II, leads to creation of the Duma
  • Triple Entente Forms