15 Key Dates in World

HistoryThat you need to know to be a

functioning member of this planet.

Visigoths move west and sack Rome

-- first in a series of invasions by Germanic tribes-- beginning of the end of Roman Empire

406 AD

Battle of Hastings

-- Norman conquest of England-- William the Conqueror becomes first Norman King of England

1066

Signing of the Magna Carta

-- King John of England signs -- first real limits of the power of monarchy-- influences the New England settlers in the 1600s

1215

Christopher Columbus first of four trips to the Americas

-- Italian; sails for Spain after securing funding-- looking for an westward passage to Asia-- calls where he lands San Salvador (The Bahamas & Hispaniola)

1492

American colonies declare independence from Britain

-- Fighting starts at Lexington & Concord in April, 1775-- Declaration signed in Philadelphia-- “If we don’t hang together, we will surely hang separately.” -- Ben Franklin

1776

French Revolution – Storming of the Bastille

-- Overthrowing Louis XVI-- Ten year reign of violence-- Rise of Napoleon

1789

End of the American Civil

War

750,000 soldiers dead 10% of all Northern males 20-

45 30% of all Southern white

males 18-40 Can American democracy

survive?

1865

Bolshevik

Revolution

Vladimir Lenin leads Communist revolution

Beginning of Soviet Union (lasts into early 90s)

Begins the international paradigm for the next 70 years.

1917

Germany invades

Poland Start of WW II Effort by Nazi

Germany to establish European hegemony

1939

Bombing of Pearl Harbor

Japanese forces attack US Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Next day, US enters WW II for allies http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv1niwxQgoY

1941

US drops Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima, Japan

End of WW II Ushers in the “nuclear age” Was this just? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF4LQaWJRDg

1945

Mao Zedong takes control of China

Communist China established Great Leap Forward; Cultural Revolution http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUCEeC4f6ts

1949

America lands a man on the moon

Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin Goal laid out by JFK in 1961 Space Race vs. Soviets http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMINSD7MmT4

1969

Fall of the Berlin Wall

Ending of the Cold War Cold War: Decades long

struggle between USSR v. USA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snsdDb7KDkg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9HjvHZfCUI

1989

Terrorist Attacks on US on

Sept. 11

Largest attack on US soil War on Terror begins US invades Afghanistan and Iraq

2001