As part of the Visual Timeline series
1763: Anglo-Prussian victory over France-Habsburg-Saxony-Russia-Spanish in Seven Years War (1756-1763); triggered by unresolved Austrian succession, but ultimately about Britain-France vying for global dominance. France now in financial ruin.
1769: Watts patents more efficient steam engine with separate condenser (Britain)
1775: Battles of Lexington and Concord begins American Independence War / Revolution.
1776: US Declaration of Independence
1777: American victory over British at Battle of Saratoga; France now joins war against Britain
1781: French navy under Rochambeau plays critical role in American victory at Battle of Yorktown, last major battle of American Independence War.
1783: Britain recognizes US at Treaty of Paris
1788: Louis XVI summons the Estates-General, an advisory body
1789:
– (Jun) National Assembly Tennis Court Oath by Third Estate (inc Robespierre and Danton); form radical new political party Jacobin Club
– (Jul 14th) French Revolution starts as Bastille prison is stormed
1791:
– French National Assembly makes laws under Constitution of 1791; reducing King Louis XVI powers after he tries to flee France
– Guillotine introduced to move away from inhumane execution methods
1792:
– (Sep) National Convention declares French Republic
– (Sep) Radical Sansculottes now control govt of Paris; mass arrest and execute clergy and nobility (September Massacres)
– (Sep) France defeats Prussia-Austria invasion; Napoleonic Wars begin (War of First Coalition 1792-1797); French victory at Battle of Valmy
1793:
– (Jan) French King Louix XVI executed; horrifies European monarchs (Catherine of Russia turns back on liberal idealism of her youth); royalist counter-revolutionary rebellion begins in Vendee; Spain Holland Britain join First Coalition against France
– (May) Sanculotte radicals storm National Convention; Robspierre and radicals in full control (France)
– Committee of Public Safety est. (France)
1794:
– (Jun) French victory over First Coalition at Battle of Fleurus (Belgium)
– (Jul) National Convention executes Robespierre; more moderate Thermodorians control Convention; The White Terror (bourgeois moderates purge sansculotte radicals)
1795:
– France conquers mainland Netherlands; setting up puppet Batavian Republic
– National Convention turns France into a Directory (1795-1799)
– Metric system adopted in France
– (Oct) Royalist rebellion in Paris suppressed by Napoleon; promoted to general
1796:
– (May) Napoleon defeats Austrians at Battle of Lodi (northern Italy); earns his nickname “The Little Corporal”
1798:
– Russia joins War of the Second Coalition (1798-1802) fighting revolutionary France
– (Aug) British defeat French navy at Battle of Nile
1799:
– Napoleon becomes First Consul (dictator) of France after coup; France becomes Consulate (1799-1804)
1800:
– (Jun) Napoleon crosses the Alps and defeats Austrians at Battle of Marengo; ends War of Second Coalition (Austria, Russia, Britain)
– Neutral European powers inc Russia forms Second League of Armed Neutrality, to embargo British back for interfering with trade (British embargo on France); Britain disbands League after Battle of Copenhagen 1801
1803:
– After losing Haiti amidst its revolution, Napoleon fears losing Louisiana to British, and so sells it the US for $15m.
– War of Third Coalition against France (1803-1806) begins
1804:
– Napoleon crowns himself emperor; France becomes Empire (1804-1814)
– Haiti Revolution (1791-1804); French colony becomes first country to gain independence from European colonialism
1805:
– (Oct) Britain, under Nelson, defeats Franco-Spanish invasion fleet at Battle of Trafalgar
– (Oct) France defeats Austria at Battle of Ulm
– (Dec) France defeats Russia-Austria at Battle of Austerlitz; Napoleon’s greatest victory
1806:
– France rules over most of Germany; Francis II abolishes Holy Roman Empire and becomes emperor of Austria; France recognizes Germany as the Confederation of the Rhine
– Prussia declares war on France beginning War of Fourth Coalition (1806-1807)
– France sets up Continental System to blockade Britain
1807:
– French victory at Battle of Eylau and Battle of Friedland
– (Jul) Napoleon France-Alexander I Russia alliance at Treaties of Tilsit
– Napoleon France blockades Britain (Milan Decree); further enforcing Berlin Decree 1806; continental Europe suffers as it can’t trade with Britain
– (Sep) Britain retaliates blockade by attacking Denmark at Second Battle of Copenhagen
– (Nov) Napoleon invades Portugal for trading with Britain, going against continental blockade
1808:
– Peninsular War; Spain-Portugal-UK repel Napoleonic French invasion of Iberian Peninsula (1808-1814); Dos de Mayo Uprising aka Battle of Madrid; guerrilla war keeps hundreds of thousands of French and resources bogged down for years
– (Aug) British defeat French at Battle of Vimeiro (Peninsular War)
1809:
– Ottomans allied with Napoleon France repel British attack and win Anglo-Turkish War 1807-1809.
– (Apr-Oct) War of the Fifth Coalition; France defeats Austria again
– (May) Battle of Aspern-Essling one of bloodiest Napoleon battles to date, and one his first major defeats
– (Jul) Napoleon victory at Battle of Wagram; but costly victory
1812:
– (Jun-Dec) Napoleon invades Russia; 650k men largest army ever assembled
– (Sep) Russians burn Moscow for scorched earth strategy; French victory at Battle of Borodino; but ends up retreating in winter; 1m casualties
– (Jul) British-Portuguese-Spanish victory over France at Battle of Salamanca (under Wellington command) (Peninsular War)
1813:
– War of the Sixth Coalition (1813-1814); coalition armies had been reforming and UK ramps up financial aid
– (Jun) Battle of Vitoria; decisive battle in Peninsula War; breaking Napoleon’s power in Spain
– (Oct) Prussia, Russia, Britain defeats France at Battle of Leipzig, largest battle in European history (0.5m soldiers involved); two major battles in May, climax third in Oct; Napoleon federation of Rhine dissolved
1814:
– (Feb) Six Days Campaign; Napoleon delays Allied invasion; but ultimately Paris falls and Napoleon abdicates; exiled to Elba island (Mediterranean)
1815:
– (Mar-Jul) Hundred Days War (War of Seventh Coalition); Allies war on returned Napoleon
– (Jun) Britain-Prussia defeats Napoleon at Battle of Waterloo; under Duke of Wellington; Napoleon exiled to St Helena; monarchy re-established in France
– Congress of Vienna: Prussia regains territory lost to France and new territory in Germany; Poland mostly goes to Russia.
– Prussia Austria Russia forms Holy Alliance, agreeing to aid each other if internal rebellion
– Bourbon monarchy restored in France (1815-1830)
1821:
– Greek Independence War against Ottomans starts (1821-1832)
– Napoleon dies in exile at St Helena (Africa)
1827: Ottoman-Egyptian fleet re-captures parts of Greece; British, French, Russians send navy and sink Ottoman main fleet at Battle of Navarino
1830:
– French July Revolution; Louis Philippe ousts his cousin Charles X; France becomes Constitutional Monarchy (1830-1848)
– Belgian Revolution (1830-1839); revolting Dutch role; Belgium and Luxembourg created out of post-Napoleonic Netherlands
1832:
– First Reforms Act 1832 passed in UK (1832, 1867 1884); removing some inequalities in electorate representation
– Greece official independence from Ottoman Empire
– Mazzini founds Young Italy movement calling for an independent unified Italian Republic
1837: Queen Victoria ascends British throne (r.1837-1901)
1845: Great Famine in Ireland (1845-1851); aka potato famine; 1m deaths, 25% population decline from deaths and emigration
1848:
– Liberal and nationalist European Revolutions (1846-1848); 50 nations
– French monarchy falls; Second Republic established; Louis Napoleon elected; France becomes Republic (1848-1851)
1852: France becomes Empire (1852-1870); Louis Napoleon III becomes emperor
1853: Crimean War (1853-1856); Britain and France helps Ottomans halt Russian advance; major European war of 19th century; Britain and France secures remains of declining Ottoman empire rather than giving it to Russians
1858: First Trans-Atlantic telegraph cable
1859: France-Piedmont-Sardinia defeats Austria at Battle of Solferino-San Martino and Battle of Magenta over Italian nation creation
1861: Italy unified; Garibaldi leads military campaigns; Emmanuel II becomes king
1862: US president Lincoln announces Emancipation Proclamation; deterring European intervention in American Civil War (1860-1865)
1869: Suez Canal opens
1871: Prussia wins Franco-Prussian war (1870-1871); Bismarck portrays France as aggressor, southern German states move towards unification; Prussia king Wilhelm I is proclaimed emperor
1875: French Third Republic Constitution est.
1877: Republicans win general elections in France; ending hopes of monarchist revival
1878: Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania gain independence from Ottomans at Congress of Berlin with Russian intervention; Britain and Austria-Hungary alarmed by Russian gains forces treaty to limit Russian military power.
1884: Europeans divide Africa at Congress of Berlin; scramble for Africa; Belgium Congo; Germany Tanzania; Britain Botswana; France Central Africa and northern Madagascar
1887: France colonizes Indochina (1887-1954); modern-day Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos
1889: Eiffel Tower opens; becomes tallest man-made struc for 41 years
1904: Britain and France form Entente Cordiale alliance
1907: France-Britain-Russia form Triple Entente alliance
1913: Balkan League (Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, Bulgaria) liberates from Ottoman rule in First Balkan War (Oct1912 – Jul1913).
1914:
– (Jun 28th) Austrian archduke Ferdinand assassinated in Serbia
– (Jul 28th) Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia (start WW1)
– (Jul 31st) Russia mobilizes to aid Serbia
– (Aug 1st) Germany mobilizes to aid Austria-Hungary
– (Aug 4th) Germany invades Belgium, Britain declares war on Germany
– (Aug 12th) British expeditionary force lands in France
– (Aug 28th) British win first battle at sea, sinking 3 German cruisers at Battle of Heligoland Bight, and impose naval blockade on Germany
– (Sep 5th) First submarine warfare, Germans sink British cruiser
– (Sep 5-12) France repels German attack on Paris at First Battle of the Marne
– (Oct) Allies repel Germans at Battle of Ypres
– (Dec 16th) Germans raid British coast
– (Dec 20th) French launch first major offensive against Germany, small gains at big cost
– (Dec 25th) Xmas truce in Western front trenches
– (Aug 15-24th) Austria-Hungary unsuccessful in Serbia invasion, Battle of Cer
– (Aug 24-30) Germans repel Russian offensive into east Prussia at Battle of Tannenberg
– (Sep 7-14th) Germans push Russians further back, Battle of Masurian Lakes
– (Oct 29th) Ottoman joins Central Powers to fight against Russia
– (Nov) Germans attack Warsaw, Battle of Lodz
– (Dec 2nd) Austria-Hungary troops capture Belgrade, but Serbs counter and push back again
[WW1]
[WW2]
1943:
– (Nov) Lebanon gains independence from France
1945:
– (1-17th Jan) Germans withdraw from Ardennes; (16th Jan) US 1st and 3rd Armies link up after month-long separation during Battle of the Bulge; (13-14th Feb) Allied bombings destroy Dresden in firestorm (22k killed) (7th Mar) Allies capture Cologne and establish bridge across Rhine; (12th Apr) Allies liberate Buchenwald and Belsen concentration camps; (18th Apr) Germans in Ruhr surrender to Allies
(Jan 30th) German ship Wilhelm Gustloff sunk by Soviet submarine; killing 9k, making it greatest maritime disaster in history
(17th Jan) Soviets capture Warsaw, Poland; (Jan 27) Soviets liberate Auschwitz; (6th Mar) last German offensive of war to defend oil fields in Hungary; (30th Mar) Soviets capture Danzig; (16th Apr) Soviets begin attack on Berlin; (21st Apr) Soviets reach Berlin
– (Feb 4-11) FDR Churchill Stalin discuss post-war Europe at Yalta Conference; (Jul 17 – Aug 2) US Britain USSR settle post-war Europe borders at Potsdam Conference
(1st Apr) Allied offensive in northern Italy; (29th Apr) Mussolini killed by Italian partisans; Allies capture Venice.
(Apr 30th) Hitler commits suicide as Red Army enters Berlin; (2nd May) Germans in Italy surrender; (7th May) German unconditional surrender (under Alfred Jodl); (8th May) Victory in Europe Day; (5th Jun) Allies divide Germany and Berlin.
(26th Jul) Atlee succeeds Churchill as Britain PM.
See also: