WORLD HISTORY -- Key dates and events BEGINNING: God makes the universe and creates Adam and Eve ~DATES BEFORE CHRIST 12,000 B.C. Last Ice Age coming to an end. Bering Straits continues to serve as a route for humans chasing game from the Old World to the New World. 8,000 B.C. Crop cultivation and the domestication of animals by humans first appears in Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. After the last Ice Age, which ended approximately 11,000 years ago, gargantuan glaciers receded to the north leaving rich soil in their tracks. Crop cultivation and domestication of animals requires sedentary life, which begins the process of division of labor, the concept of land ownership (property), and the emergence of social hierarchies that we equate with civilization. A leisurely, or non-producing, class develops (the priests and royalty) which does not produce the food, clothing, and shelter for survival, but lives off of those who do. How does this arrangement come about? The royalty are said to be divine. In these early societies, the royalty, along with the priests, were the keepers of agricultural fertility. 3,100 B.C. Mennes unites Upper and Lower Egypt. This is an example of one of the earliest and largest empires in the ancient world. Egypt is the most stable of the ancient civilizations, mainly because of its relative isolation and the predictability of the Nile river (unlike the Tigris and Euphrates, which flooded on an irregular basis). The symbol of the stability of the ancient Egyptians is the Pharaoh – depicted almost identically for three thousand years. Hatshepsut – the female Pharaoh who began ruling in 1,473 B.C. – is no exception, having been depicted in sculpture in the same way as her male predecessors, including the attached chin beard, stiff posture, and double-crown. 2,000 B.C. Life of Abraham, father of Isaac, father of Jacob -- origin of the Jews 1,790 B.C. Hammurabi, ruler of the Old Babylonian Amorite dynasty, united the Mesopotamian kingdom by controlling the Euphrates River. He developed the first known legal code in history, Hammurabi's Code of Laws. The Code begins the Western legal tradition. By creating a written set of codes, or law, royal power is placed in check. That is, law is less arbitrary and can be used as recourse in the event of differences of opinion surrounding punishment of offenses. Historically, though, law has been used to justify the actions of those in power. To that point, most crimes or errors could be compensated for with money. But in hammurabi's Laws, it was an eye for an eye (Law 196) and a tooth for a tooth (Law 200). Hammurabi's Code led, in part, to the Mosaic code (Hebrew law). The Code is a compendium of earlier laws rather than an innovation of the Babylonian ruler. The main source of Hammurabi's Code is a stone slab discovered in 1901 and preserved in the Louvre, Paris. The Laws clearly distinguish between three classes of persons: free men, serfs (also called villeins) and slaves. Fees and punishments often differ between classes. 1,500 B.C. Moses and the Exodus of Israel from Egypt 1,375 B.C. Akhenaton is the first Pharoah to encourage monotheism. He was also the first of whom a true likeness is recorded -- as was his wife, Nefertiti. Some of their court frescoes imply motion, with double and triple images next to each other. 1,200 B.C. The Olmec, the mother civilization of Mesoamerica (Central, or "middle," America), and the Phoenicians in the Levant (Eastern Mediterranean) who are known as great seafarers and developed the earliest form of alphabet, are possibly related through Pre-Columbian contacts. (Pre-Columbian means before Columbus made contact in 1492). Theories abound about the mysterious origins of the Olmec, who appeared in a relatively well-developed form around 1,200 B.C. with few antecedents. Archeologists say there was no long, slow sequence of local growth in the Gulf Coast lowlands prior to the Olmec rise. Historians and anthropologists continue to argue both for and against the idea that these ancient people were influenced by non-indigenous civilizations -- be they Shang (China) refugees or West Africans who used the North Equatorial currents of the Atlantic to travel to Mesoamerica. The debate concerning the Pre-Columbian origins of the Olmec may help us better understand the interconnectedness between civilizations in the ancient world. We are just beginning to understand the vast trade networks and exploratory missions between and among the ancients. 1,000 B.C. The reign of King David, and them Solomon, over Israel 563 B.C. The Buddha is born in Nepal as Prince Gautama Siddhartha. 531 Confucius begins teaching. 509 B.C. Beginning of the Roman Republic. The period would also see Confucius, Socrates, and the Buddha. The Golden Age ... 500 B.C. Hanno, a Carthaginian, leads an expedition which consists of sixty vessels and an estimated crew of thirty thousand to explore the western coast of Africa and set up trading stations along the way. 350 (circa) B.C. Aristotle begins to develop his work on logic, ethics, politics, biology, zoology, and physics at Plato's Academy. He will become Alexander's tutor by the request of King Phillip of Macedonia, Alexander's father. Aristotle's Rhetoric 327 B.C. - Alexander the Great, the Macedonian conqueror, crosses the Hindu Kush and spreads Hellenic culture while absorbing the culture of the lands he and his armies cross. He founds Alexandria, the ancient center for learning, at the mouth of the Nile. The Museum and Library of Alexandria kept knowledge from African, Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean cultures. They had legions of scribes transcribe books that were temporarily confiscated from any ship that docked into the city. Its chief librarians and scholars made key discoveries in the ancient world (Eratosthenes' calculation of the circumference of the earth, Archimedes' devise to pull water to higher planes, and Euclid's mathematics, to name a few). (The history of Alexandria, in progress.) 350 B.C. The writing of the Old Testament is finished. 221 B.C. Ch'in Dynasty (which is what China is named after) begins constructing the Great Wall. This marks the unification of China under one dynasty, even though the Ch'in Dynasty only lasts 14 years. (The Ch'in Dynasty is overtaken by the Han Dynasty, which lasts for the next 500 years.) Dynastic China, not unlike Egypt, would last over two thousand years, up through the beginning of the 20th century. While accomodating many traditions, China's government would be heavily influenced by the hierarchical ordering of people's roles in society taught by Confucius (K'ung-fu-tzu). 218 B.C. Hannibal, with some 90,000 men, 12,000 horses, and 37 African elephants, began the historic march on Rome which carried him over the Pyrannes into Gaul, across the waters of Rhône, and through the ice and snow of the high Alps, which he crossed in only fifteen days. Sixteen years later, despite many victories in the field, he withdrew to North Africa in a failed attempt to save his city of Carthage. His prolonged campaign against Rome was directed at the city's grain supply. While seeking control over Sicily, his war was lost at sea. 200 B.C. The Old Testament is translated into Greek, the Septuagint, which became the Bible of Jesus and the Apostles. 167 B.C. Beginning of the reign of the Maccabees over Judea 73-71 B.C. Slave revolt led by Spartacus. 45 B.C. Alexandria's Library is burned by invading Roman legions. 44 B.C. Julius Ceasar is assassinated. 27 B.C. Roman Empire begins under Octavian, now Augustus. 4 B.C. Jesus of Nazareth is born ~DATES AFTER CHRIST 66 A.D. Jewish rebels seize Jerusalem until 70 before the Roman massacre. 95 A.D. The New Testament is finished. 117 Trajan's death marks the high point of the Roman Empire. 269 Zenobia, queen of the Roman colony of Palmyra, in present-day Syria, seizes control of Egypt, conquers much of Asia Minor, and declares herself independent of Rome. The Roman Emperor Aurelian marches east, beseiges Palmyra. Zenobia is captured and lives the rest of her days on an Italian villa. 300 (circa) Mayan civilization flourishes between 300 and 900; They were comprised of various city-states, used stone tools, built pyramids, and conducted elaborate religious rituals 312 Constantine I, known as the Great, defeats his chief rival, Maxentius, at the battle of the Milvian Bridge; Just before the battle Constantine, who ruled Britain and Gaul for six years while Maxentius ruled the rest of the Western Empire from Rome, saw an outline of a cross superimposed on a cloud, which he took as a sign to have crosses painted on his army's shields; Legalizes Christianity and lends government support to the building of Churches and clergy; He defeated Licinius, Emperor of the East, and ruled the whole Roman Empore; In 330 he moves the capital of the Empire from Rome to Constantinople, built on the village of Byzantium. 325 Council of Nicea - It is determined that Christ is fully God and Man, that Christ is of the same nature as God (cosubstantial), and that there never was a time when Christ did not exist. The Council of Chalcedon in 451 supported the view that Christ is of two natures, divine and human. Egypt and Ethiopia severed their relationships with the Church of Constantinople and Rome, and became leaders of a new group, the Coptic Church of Egypt and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church respectively. 386 A.D. Jerome finishes the Latin Vulgate Bible 400 (circa) Chinese printer named Pi Sheng creates the moveable type from pottery. Woodblocks would be used in the 700s while Europeans would finally get the moveable type, perfected by Gutenberg, over one thousand years later. 415 Hypatia is killed in Alexandria. She was an Egyptian Neoplatonist philosopher and mathematician. The daughter of Theon, also a mathematician and philosopher who was affiliated with the Museum of Alexandria, Hypatia's eloquence, modesty, and beauty, combined with her sharp intellect, attracted a large number of pupils to her. Hypatia symbolized learning and science, which at that time in Western history were largely identified by the early Christians with paganism. As such, she was a focal point in the tension and riots between Christians and non-Christians that more than once racked Alexandria. She was brutally murdered by Nitrian monks, Christian zealots, and a mob of Christian followers, supposedly because of her intimacy with Orestes, the city's pagan prefect. Whatever the precise motivation for the murder, the departure soon afterward of many scholars marked the beginning of the decline of Alexandria as a major centre of ancient learning. 445 Atila, King of the Huns attacks the Roman Empire. Feared by Europeans as "The scourge of God." He is the greates of the 'barbarian' rulers. 476 Fall of the Western Roman Empire - The last Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, is deposed; Marks the beginning of the Dark Ages; Constantinople is the center of the Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Empire. The Fall of the Western Roman Empire may be attributed to a number of causes, including: less disciplined legions on the frontiers, more corruption of Roman governors and administrators in the regions, barbarian attacks from the north (Goths, Visigoths, and Huns), and the mosquito (epidemics broke out in the main cities which then spread to the regions and caused a dramatic decline in food production, and a general over-extension of the empire. 527-565 Justinian I takes the Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, to its height with its center in Constantinople; The Byzantine Empire had its own form of Christianity, preserved as the Eastern Orthodox Church. Justinian's Code, a synthesis of 1000 years of Roman Law, the Byzantine legal tradition, and Eastern Christian Orthodoxy, serves as the model for European law for centuries to come. 622 The Prophet Muhammed flees from Mecca to Medina; Marks the beginning of Islamic calendar. Islam speards like wild fire. It assimilates the philosophy, science, and arts of neighboring societies and traditions. From Persia it learns of Indian culture and adopts Sanskrit numerals (known as the modern "Arabic numerals"), from China it learns paper-making, and from Syria it adopts Aristotelian and Greek philosophy; Arab conquest of Egypt in 639. 711 Moors sweep through Iberian Penninsula. The Muslim world reached from Spain to Afghanistan by 736, and the papacy, although relatively isolated by Muslim control of the Mediterranean, used its new states for political ends, reviving the Roman ideal by crowning its main supporters Holy Roman Emperor. Royal authority in Europe at this time was often precarious, based only on the personal allegiance of a provincial nobility whose power was strengthened by the need to defend the kingdom's frontiers. The rise of Islam transformed the course of European science and philosophy. The Arabs were the heirs to the Hellenic Greeks and acknowledged their role as custodians of that culture. Following the Athenian tradition they founded a number of schools for wide-ranging, unprejudiced and objective study, most important of which was the Academy of Science at Baghdad. A great respect for Greek learning, and particularly for Aristotle, may have held them back from even greater discoveries, but some Arab scientists rejected Aristotle, arguing for a more experimental approach to science. With the spear of the Arab Empire, Arabic became the language of science outside the Far East, absorbing elements of Indian astronomy while benefiting to a lesser extent from achievements in China. Many Arabic texts on astronomy, chemistry, and mathematics retained their influence until modern science began in Europe with the work of Galileo and Newton. 800 Charlemagne, King of the Franks, is coronated at St. Peter's Basilica by Pope Leo III Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire; Marks the end of the Dark Ages; Charlemagne was known as a great patron of the arts and scholarship; Stopped Invasions from the Muslims in Spain, Vikings in the north, and Magyars in the east. 900 Rise of urban Europe begins 920-1050 Golden Age of Ghana 1066 Norman Conquest; Battle of Hastings - William I of Normandy conquers England; Introduction of the feudal system in England; The Conquest rests on agricultural developments in the Middle Ages including the triple rotation of crops, the heavy plow, the use of the horse shoe, and steel tools for greater crops and therefore more food to feed ever-larger cavalries. 1095 Crusades begin with call by Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont to Western leaders that the Holy Land be regained. Four major crusades from 1096 to 1204 take place including the capture of Jerusalem in 1099, the second (a failure) captures Lisbon in 1147 by an English fleet and transfers power to the king of Portugal, Dom Alfonso Henriques, the third in 1189 recaptures Jerusalem, and the fourth in 1204 sacks Constantinople and establishes there a ‘Latin Empire.' 1198 Averroës, an Islamic philosopher from Cordoba, integrated Islamic traditions with ancient Greek thought. He writes Commentaries on Aristotle which influences later Jewish and Christian writers. He dies in Marrakech (in the Almohad empire, modern Morocco). An Arab mathematician named Al-Khowarizmi visited India around 830 and learned about both the zero and the decimal system. He wrote an historic book concerning these and other discoveries Al-jabr wa'l muqabalah, which meant "the bringing together of unknowns to match a known quantity," and from which we derived our word algebra.Five centuries later, in the fourteenth century, Europe was still far-behind in terms of mathematics alone. Awkward Latin numerals were the only counting system available. Just imagine the difficulty involved dividing LXVII by XVI. Christiandom and Islam were also constantly at war. The Arab's new mathematical system was strictly top secret. It took a monk known as Abelard of Bath, who disguised himself as a Muslim and slipped into the University of Cordova, to make this information available to Europeans. Europeans were quick to learn. Using Arabic numerals and the abacus, a Chinese invention, European students were expected to solve problems. Arabic science and philosophy reached its height in the 11th century with the work of such major figures as Avicenna, al-Biruni, and Alhazen in the Middle East and Averroes, in Spain, but soon afterward it declined. It was at this time, in the early 12th century that the influence of Arab science began to show in Europe with the introduction of Arabic numerals. These were used in the already powerful business world of Italy which, unlike China and the Arab lands, was to develop an economy based on money. Other signs of the power Europe was to achieve were rapid growth in the silk and glass industries in the south and the use of coal and the beginnings of cast iron manufacture in the north. This technology owed a heavy debt to Chinese expertise, brought to Europe at this stage via the Arab world but later derived directly from China, which would trade extensively with Italy after the visits of Marco Polo. 1215 Magna Carta (the Great Charter) is drafted by Barons and Church leaders to counter the abuses of power of King John of England. They met at Runnymede, by the River Thames. The king reluctantly appended his seal. This document served as the basis of modern constitutional government with its guarantees of tax collection only by legal means, justice to all men without fear or favor, and no imprisonment without trial. In the 13th century Genghis Khan set up a Mongol Empire in China, swept across Asia and threatened Europe and North Africa, creating the largest empire ever known and bringing a new peace and unity to Asia in his wake. He did not, however, conquer India, where the various Muslim rulers built up their authority in the north. 1225 Mongols conquer most of China, Persia and Russia under Genghis Khan. 1241 On Christmas Day the armies of Batu Khan, the founder of the Golden Horde, cross the Danube while the disunited kingdoms of the West come under seige. This marks the final phase of the Mongol invasion of Europe. 1266 St. Thomas Aquinas, the Italian Dominican theologian, emerges as the foremost medieval Scholasticist. He tries to reconcile Aristotle's scientific rationalism with Christian faith and doctrine. He is recognized by the Roman Catholic Church as its most significan Western philosopher and theologian. Aquinas publishes Summa Theologica. 1271-95 Marco Polo visits Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan. 1324 Mansa Musa, King of Mali, was the first Muslim Sudanic leader to make a pilgrimage to Mecca. A European atlas fifty years later described his wealth as such: "So abundant is his gold which is found in his country that he is the richest and most noble king in all the land." The description resulted from Mana Musa's liberal distribution of wealth as he passed through the Sudan, Egypt, and into Mecca. He took with him an estimated entourage of eighty thousand people carrying gold bars and sacks of gold dust. Twelve years later, an Egyptian historian wrote that Egypt's economy had not then recovered from the effects of Mansa Musa's gold. While on his pilgrimage the king persuaded a number of Muslim scholars, jurists, architects, and others to return with him to Mali. The result was a great flowering of African civilization, with a momentous impact far and wide. The great university at Timbuktu, Sankore, attracted students and professors not only from the immediate area but also from northern Africa ad the Middle East. Timbuktu thus emerged as a significant intellectual center of Muslim learning. His brother Abubakar, sent a trans-Atlantic expedition of several hundred ships. Only one ship returned, the others presumed to be lost at sea when the captain reported that one by one they disappeared over the horizon. Abubakar took it upon himself to set sail. He never returned. Could contact have been made riding the North Equatorial Atlantic currents? 1325 Aztecs found Tenochtitlan 1405 (to 1433) Muslim Admiral Zheng He (Cheng Ho) begins his seven voyages accross the Indian Ocean during the Ming Dynasty, reaching as far as the East African coast. His fleet consists of some 350 ships (four decker, 500-person, military and cargo ships). A master of diplomacy, he brings back envoys from over thirty nations to meet the court of China. 1429 Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc) saves Orleans. Joan of Arc lays the ground for final French victory at the end of the Hundred Years War -- the struggle of English claims to the French crown. Charles VII is crowned at Reims with her defeat of the English. Joan, a nineteen year-old peasant heard the voices of St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret guiding her to go to the uncrowned king of France and demand to lead his soldiers, which she did clad in armor. She was captured by the English and their French collaborators and burned at the stake as a heretic. Broadly speaking, Joan of Arc symbolizes the capacity of those driven by a vision to do the impossible. For the French, her achievement was a decisive factor in the awakening of French national consciousness. 1453 Ottoman Turks take over Constantinople and rename it Istanbul. The Ottoman Empire (established in 1301) advanced rapidly until it spread all the way from the Euphrates to the Danube. The Byzantine Empire shrivelled away until it was reduced to a few territories and a small enclave around Constantinople. Unlike the Arabs, who thought the use of firearms dishonorable, the Ottomans became masters of artillery. In 1453 they brought their cannons to the gate of Constantinople and stormed the Christian capital after a siege. The Greek Emperor was killed; the great church of St.Sophia was plundered of its treasure and turned into a mosque. The Fall of Constantinople marks the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of a new epoch in Europe. Many Greek scholars moved to Italy, initiating there the development of European Humanism, while the legal succession of Byzantium and leadership of the Orthodox Church transferred to Tsardom and the '3rd Rome' in Moscow. By losing access to the Black Sea Europe was deprived of the land route to India; the search for a new sea route brought about the oversea discoveries of the New World. Johannes Gutenberg invents the moveable metal type adapted from the wine-press of the day, which prints about 300 pages a day -- helping the spread of knowledge. Gutenberg develops his printing press in Nuremberg, the site of the Nuremberg Trials some 500 years later which put German Nazis on trial -- who had burned millions of people and books. 1456 A.D. Gutenberg Bible published. The first book ever printed from moveable type. 1492 Reconquista of Spain by King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castille with the fall of Granada; Expulsion of Jews and Moors tied to radical Catholic ideological purity; Columbus stumbles upon the New World thinking he has landed in China (he even sends a delegation to meet the great Khan of China when he lands). This date marks the beginning of 400 years of European colonial activity in the Americas. Disease, more than outright murder, decimate the indigenous populations. The Aztec in Mexico and the Inca in Peru (who welcome the Spaniards as gods) will be destroyed within several generations by the colonizers who are primarily seeking gold and other riches of the new lands (and only secondarily seeking to convert the natives to Christianity). A new grouping of people emerge through the prolonged and near systematic rape of women in the Carribean, Central and South America: Mestizos (mixed indigenous and European people). 1514 Dominican monk Bartolome de las Casas begins to criticize the Spanish encomienda system in the Carribean which he initially helped to establish. Beginning in the 1530s, with sugar cultivation and African slavery having been established in the New World, all struggles for dominance within Europe would take on a global character. From this point on, too, events in one part of the globe would have repercussions in other parts. In the 1520s sugar cultivation begins in the Brazilian northeast, and after 1530 African slaves started to arrive in the new colony. The spice trade came to link Lisbon with Asia; sugar connected the Portuguese capital with America; and the slave trade forged a chain across the southern Atlantic. From this time on, all struggles for dominance within Europe would take on a global character, as the European states sought to control the oceans and to oust their competitors from points of vantage gained in Asia, America, or Africa. From then on, too, events in one part of the globe would have repercussions in other parts. 1517 Martin Luther posts his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg launching the Reformation. Luther launches the Protestant Reformation, dividing Europe and challenging the sole authority of the Catholic Church. This sets the stage for the Scientific Revolution, which is then followed by the Enlightenment. Over the centuries, the church, particularly in the office of the papacy, had become deeply involved in the political life of Western Europe. The resulting intrigues and political manipulations, combined with the church's increasing power and wealth, contributed to the bankrupting of the church as a spiritual force. Abuses, such as the sale of indulgences (or spiritual privileges) and relics and the corruption of the clergy, exploited the pious and further undermined the church's spiritual authority. 1533 Francisco Pizzaro takes control of Peru; Spanish systematically destroy Incan culture and society which had developed since the 1400s. 1543 Nicolas Copernicus publishes On the Revolutions of the Celestial Orbs the year of his death. 1571 The Battle of Lepanto was a battle over control of the Mediterranean between the Ottoman Empire and Christian Europe. It marks the end of "the Turkish threat" to Europe from the sea. In the year prior, Ottoman Turks invaded the island of Cyprus, then owned by Venice. The Venetians, weakened by years of fighting the Turks, appealed for help. Possession of Cyprus would allow the Turks to dominate the Mediterranean. Pope Pius V assembled a fleet of 208 galleys and six galleasses (huge oar-driven ships with 44 guns), from the navies of Venice, Spain, and the Papal States under the command of Don John of Austria. This fleet met 230 Turkish galleys off Lepanto, Greece, where fighting lasted three hours. All but 40 of the Turkish ships were lost while the Christians (The Holy League) only 12 ships. 30,000 people died in the battle. Those who oared the galleys included men who were enslaved, convicts, and some volunteers. 1598 Edict of Nantes grants liberty of worship to the Hugenots. 1600 Giordano Bruno is burned at the stake. 1619 First twenty African slaves are taken to Jamestown, VA 1620 Sir Francis Bacon publishes Novum Organum, where theories are drawn from hypotheses and tested by observation. 1633 Galileo Galilei renounces his heliocentric theory based on observation of the stars with the telescope, which Copernicus first discussed; This pushes scientific developments out of Italy into northern Europe. (In 1993 the Roman Catholic Church formally recognizes Galileo's work) 1642 Sir Issac Newton is born the year Galileo dies. 1669 Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz enters the convent at Geronimo. 1688 Glorious Revolution One of the most important cultural changes of the whole of history came about when people ceased to distrust the spread of knowledge. Here lay the greatest success of the Enlightenment... by the end of the 18th century it was coming to be commonly accepted that more knowledge was good for society. ( J.M. Roberts - A Short History of the World, p.311) The problem of evil was still there, but surely, it, too, could be solved? Even men and women could be made much better, given good rational government, some began to think. (p.312) 1776 Declaration of Independence 1787 U.S. Constitution is written 1791 U.S. Bill of Rights (first ten ammendments) ratified 1792 Mary Wollstonecraft writes A Vindication of the Rights of Women 1804 Haiti becomes the first black republic in the New World 1821 Mexico and Peru become independent; Simon Bolivar; Latin American independence movements. 1823 Monroe Doctrine 1848-9 Reaction overcomes revolutionary insurrections in Europe. Three demands: Easter European peasants rose in revolt to demand the abolition of labor dues and feudal rights of landlords (bond labor could from this time only be found in Russian and the Americas); middle-class liberals, intellectuals, and professionals wanted more constitutional and representative government and more public jobs at the expense of old aristocracies; and ‘the spingtime of the nations,' where revolutionaries were in the name of peoples seeking to govern themselves instead of being governed by others – Hungarians and Italians tried to shake off the rule of Austrian officials. The peasants were more successful than the liberals. 1860 Abraham Lincoln is elected President of the United States. South Carolina secedes from the U.S.; The USA Civil War begins a year later and ends in 1865 1870 15th Ammendment to U.S. Constitution gives voting right to all adult males 1884 Treaty of Berlin divided Africa amond 14 European countries. This stops the European scramble of Africa, for a while – that is, until 1914. 1890 Wounded Knee -- On a cold winter day, U.S. army soldiers attack a Sioux/Cheyenne camp at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, killing three hundred men, women, and children --ending the Ghost Dance War. 1900 Jim Crow and the legal disfranchisement of African-Americans; The century opens with the U.S. engaged in a war to suppress the movement for independence in the Philippines in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War, which launched America as an imperialist power – first of many U.S. interventions in what will be called the Third World; Boxer Rebellion - Chinese nationalist revolt against European economic control. Rebellion is crushed by invading armies. 1914 As Christmas approached in 1914, British and German soldiers along both sides of a section of the Western Front in Flanders began detecting a mutual interest in the goings-on in the other side's trench. A camaraderie soon developed as opposing soldiers hollered greetings to one another and food was lobbed over the no-man's-land that separated the trenches. The atmosphere of goodwill culminated on Christmas Day when soldiers from both sides clamored wearily out of their trenches and shook hands, exchanged cigarettes and souvenirs, and simply behaved like ordinary strangers meeting for the first time. In some places the friendly spirit lasted for a few days before generals ordered the soldiers back into war mode and put a stop to the unplanned truce. It was never to be repeated. 1917 Bolshevik Revolution led by Vladimir I. Lenin 1919 Treaty of Versailles (to 1920) punishes Germany for war, divests its colonies ... 1920 Women get the right to vote nationally in the United States. 1929 Stock market crash of Wall Streets sets of an international depression. 1934 Hitler becomes Fuhrer of Germany (until 1945); Mao Tse-tung's Long March (to 1935) 1939 Hitler invades Poland 1941 U.S. enters World War II after Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor 1945 End of World War II; Atomic bombs are dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; Opening of Nuremberg trials 1947 India gains its independence from Britain 1949 Mao rules China 1959 Cuban Revolution -- Fulgencio Batista is overthrown by guerilla army led by Fidel Castro;Tibet uprising against Chinese is crushed. The Dalai Lama flees to India; Anti-European revolts in Leopoldville, Zaire (Belgian Congo); Ghana gains its independence 1960 Seventeen colonies in Africa gain their independence; Sit-ins in Greensboro, NC/SNCC; Birth control pill. 1971 USA Voting age is lowered to 18 – 26th Amendment to the Constitution 1973 Roe v. Wade is passed, guaranteeing USA women the right to have abortions on demand. 1975 End of war on Vietnam (which began in 1957)- Southern Vietnam surrenders to Northern Vietnam 1979 The Shah is expelled from Iran; Russian forces move into Afghanistan; Nicaraguan Revolution 1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall; U.S. invasion of Panama, forcing General Noriega from power. The disintegration of the USSR. 1990 U.S. bombs Iraq in operation Desert Storm after Iraq invades Kuwait. 2001 (9/11) Al Qaeda terrorists destroy twin towers of World Trade Center in New York by means of suicide bombers in passenger jets 2002 USA invades Afghanistan and ousts the Taliban government 2003 USA invades Iraq