IMPORTANT HISTORICAL DATES AND EVENTS
1066
1215
1605
Battle of Hastings
The Battle of Hastings occurred on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French
army of Duke William II of Normandy and the English army under King Harold II.
It was a decisive Norman Victory, with King Harold killed in the battle and the
victor, William becoming the first Norman ruler as King William I (William the
Conqueror).
Sealing of the Magna
Carta
The Great Charter of the Liberties of England (Magna Carta) was sealed by King
John at Runnymede in 1215 and became part of the historical process that lead to
the rule of constitutional law throughout the English speaking world.
Gunpowder Plot
A plot to blow up the House of Lords and kill King James I of England and V of
Scotland on 5th November 1605 was discovered. The failed plot is commemorated
annually as Guy Fawkes (Bonfire) Night.
Charles Stuart (Charles I) was beheaded on 30th January 1649, the only reigning
King of England to have been executed.
From 1642, Charles fought the armies of the English and Scottish parliaments in the
English Civil War. After his defeat in 1645, he surrendered to a Scottish force that
eventually handed him over to the English Parliament. By the end of 1648 Oliver
Cromwell's New Model Army had consolidated its control over England and
Charles was tried, convicted, and executed for high treason in January 1649.
1649
The monarchy was abolished and a republic called the Commonwealth of England
was declared. In 1660, the monarchy was restored to Charles's son, Charles II.
Execution of Charles I
The great fire started at a bakery in Pudding Lane on 2nd September 1666. The fire
gutted the medieval City of London.
Over the course of the 3 days during which the fire burned, it consumed 13,200
houses, 87 parish churches, St. Paul's Cathedral and most of the buildings of the
City authorities. It is estimated to have destroyed the homes of 70,000 of the City's
80,000 inhabitants.
1666
Great Fire of London
1687
Theory of Universal
Gravitation and the
three laws of motion
In 1687, Sir Isaac Newton published his Principia, demonstrating his theories of
universal gravitation and the three laws of motion
1796
Smallpox vaccine
discoved
Edward Jenner developed and publicised the process of vaccination against
smallpox, which would ultimately lead to the eradication of the disease.
IMPORTANT HISTORICAL DATES AND EVENTS
The Battle of Trafalgar was fought by the British Royal Navy, under the control of
Adminal Lord Nelson aboard HMS Victory, against the combined forces of the
French and Spanish Navy and resulted in a decisive victory for the British.
1805
The Battle of Trafalgar
Nelson was mortally wounded during the battle and after his death from his
wounds became one of Britain's greatest war heroes.
1815
Battle of Waterloo
On 18 June 1815 Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated at The Battle of Waterloo by an
Anglo Allied army under the command of the Duke of Wellington.
1838
Queen Victoria
crowned
Queen Victoria succeeded her uncle, William IV and reigned for 63 years until her
death in 1901.
1859
On the Origin of
Species published
In 1859, Charles Darwin published his book, On the Origin of Species, in which he
presented his theories on the evolution of man.
1862
Pasteurisation
discovered
Louis Pasteur invented a process in which liquids such as milk were heated to kill
most bacteria and moulds. This process later became known as pasteurisation.
1876
Telephone patented
In 1876 Alexander Graham Bell patented the first practical telephone
1879
First patent of
practical electric bulb
In 1879, Thomas Alva Edison patented the first practical, commercial electric
lightbulb
1901
First transatlantic
wireless message
On 12th December 1901, Guglielmo Marconi received the first transatlantic
wireless radio message at Signal Hill in Newfoundland.
1903
The first powered
human flight
The Wright Brothers made the first manned, powered flight in December 1903.
1905
Theory of Relativity
In 1905, Albert Einstein published his'Theory of Relativity' as a result of which he
later became known as the 'Father of modern Physics'. The theory introduced the
most famous equation ever - E = mc2 (Energy = mass times the speed of light
squared)
1911
Structure of the atom
discovered
Ernest Rutherford announces his analysis on the structure of the atom
1911
First men reach the
South Pole
In December 1911, a group of Norweigan men, headed by Roald Amundsen,
reached the South Pole.
1912
Titanic sinks
On 15th April 1912, RMS Titanic sank on its maiden voyage from Southampton to
New York.
IMPORTANT HISTORICAL DATES AND EVENTS
1914
World War I begins
The First World War or Great War started on 28th July 1914.
1917
The Russian
Revolution
The revolution ended the reign of the last Tzar of Russia, Nicholas II and
eventually brought the Bolsheviks (Communist Party), led by Vladamir Lenin, to
power.
1918
Women get the vote in
the UK
In 1918, women were allowed to vote for the first time in the United Kingdom
1918
End of World War I
The First World War ended on 11th November 1918, Armistice Day
1919
First nonstop flight
across the Atlantic
British aviators Alcock and Brown made the first transatlantic flight in June 1919
1926
First live
demonstration of a
working television
system
The first live demonstration of a working television system was given by John
Logie Baird, a Scottish inventor at his laboratory in London.
1928
The discovery of
Penicillin
Penicillin was discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928
1929
Wall Street Crash
The Wall street crash in America led to the Great Depression, which lasted for
more than 10 years
World War II begins
The British declared war on Germany on 3rd September 1939, with the then Prime
Minister, Neville Chamberlain, announcing that the country was at war by way of
radio broadcast.
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain took place between German and British Air Forces during the
summer and autumn of 1940, prompting the famous speech by Winston Churchill '
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few'
1939
1940
1941
Japan bombs Pearl
Harbour
The attack by Japan on the American Fleet in Pearl Harbour, Hawaii on 7th
December 1941 led to America entering War World II, with President Franklin D.
Roosevelt declaring war on Japan the following day, 8th December 1941
1944
D-Day landings
The D-Day (or Normandy) landings commenced on 6th June 1944.
1945
End of World War II
Germany signs a declaration of unconditional surrender on 7th May 1945, VE Day
(Victory in Europe) with VJ Day (Victory in Japan) following in August 1945
Formation of the
United Nations
The United Nations came into existence on 24 October 1945 after the end of World
War II to promote international cooperation. The Headquarters of the United
Nations is located in New York and it’s eighth and current Secretary General is Ban
Ki-Moon.
1945
IMPORTANT HISTORICAL DATES AND EVENTS
1952
Elizabeth II becomes
Queen
Elizabeth II became Queen after her father, George VI died. She is currently the
second longest reigning monarch (after Queen Victoria at 63 years) having reigned
by February 2014 for 62 years.
1953
Discovery of the
molecular structure of
DNA
The molecular structure of DNA was discoved by James D. Watson and Francis
Crick along with Maurice Wilkins for which they were all awarded the Nobel Prize
in Physiology or Medicine 9 years later in 1962.
1953
The summit of Mount
Everest reached
On 29th May 1953, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing
Norgay became the first men to reach the summit of Mount Everest
1957
The first artificial
Earth satellite
launched
The first artifical Earth Satellite, named Sputnik, was launched by the Soviet Union
on 4th October 1957
1961
First man in space
On April 12th 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gargarin became the first man in
space aboard his spacecraft, Vostok 1
1963
President Kennedy is
assassinated
John F Kennedy was assassiated on 22nd November 1963 in Dallas, USA
1968
Martin Luther King
assassinated
On 4th April 1968, Martin Luther King, leader of the African American Civil Rights
Movement, was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
Man lands on the
moon
As part of the Apollo 11 space mission, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on
the moon on the evening of 20th July 1969, while third crew member, Michael
Collins, remained in lunar orbit in the Command Module. Armstrong took man's
first steps on the moon several hours later on 21st July 1969
Fall of communism in
Eastern Europe
The Berlin Wall was a barrier that completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from
surrounding East Germany and East Berlin. In response to radical political
changes in the Eastern Block, the wall was dismantled in 1989, laying the grounds
for German reunification and the eventual fall of communism in Eastern Europe.
1969
1989
1989
2001
Invention of the
World Wide Web
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, a British computer scientist is widely acknowledged as the
inventor of the World Wide Web. He made a proposal for an information
management system in March 1989 and then implemented the first successful
communication between a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) client and server
via the Internet during November 1989.
Attack on the Twin
Towers in New York
On 11 September 2001 the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda, headed by Osama bin
Laden, launched a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks on the United States
in New York City and Washington, D.C, resulting in the eventual collapse of both
towers of the World Trade Centre in New York.
Following the terrorist attacks of September 11th, NATO and allied forces
intervened in the Afghan politic struggle to dismantle the al-Qaeda network in
Afghanistan and remove power from the Taliban government.
The United States and the United Kingdom launched operation Enduring Freedom
on 7th October 2001 later joined by Germany and other Western Allies along with
NATO, who formed the International Security Assistance Force, composed of
troops from 43 NATO countries.
2001
Start of the war in
Afghanistan
After 13 years of war, the vast majority of NATO and allied troops will be
withdrawn from Afghanistan during the course of 2014.
2009
First African
American President of
the United States
In 2009, Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States and the first
African American to hold the office.
Nelson Mandela, born on 18 July 1918, was a South African anti-apartheid
revolutionary, politician, and philanthropist.
Working as a lawyer, he was repeatedly arrested and in 1962, he was convicted of
conspiracy to overthrow the state and sentenced to life imprisonment. Mandela
served over 27 years in prison. An international campaign lobbied for his freedom
and he was released from prison in 1990.
He became President of South Africa in 1994 and was South Africa's first black
chief executive, and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election.
His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid through tackling
racism, poverty and inequality, and fostering racial reconciliation.
2013
Nelson Mandela dies
Mandela gained international acclaim for his activism, having received more than
250 honours, including the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize. He is held in deep respect
within South Africa, where he is often referred to as "the father of the nation".