10.2Ideas & ideology
Copernicus: De revolutionibus
Heliocentric model published — launching the Scientific Revolution and the empirical worldview that the Enlightenment will run with.
Visual timeline · 1543 → present
The whole framework, on one line.
Every event your Regents framework covers — Copernicus to Russia's invasion of Ukraine — color-coded by unit and category. Filter by what you're reviewing, or pin the dates you can't afford to forget.
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Early modern world
to – 17881543 1651 10.2Ideas & ideologyHobbes: Leviathan
Social-contract theory: humans surrender rights to a sovereign in exchange for order. The conservative side of Enlightenment political thought.
1687 10.2Ideas & ideologyNewton: Principia Mathematica
Universal laws of motion and gravity — proof that nature follows discoverable rules, the model Enlightenment thinkers apply to society.
1689 must-know 10.2Ideas & ideologyLocke: Two Treatises of Government
Natural rights to life, liberty, and property; government legitimacy comes from consent of the governed. Directly cited by Jefferson in 1776.
1643–1715 must-know 10.1Ideas & ideologyLouis XIV reigns in France
“L'état, c'est moi.” The textbook example of divine-right absolutism — Versailles, centralized power, religious intolerance after revoking the Edict of Nantes.
c. 1750 must-know 10.1Economy & industryThe world in 1750
Asian-centered global economy (Qing China, Mughal India, Ottoman Empire), Atlantic mercantilism, European absolutism, and the Atlantic slave trade at its peak.
1769 must-know 10.3TechnologyWatt's improved steam engine
Coal → mechanical work at scale. The energy revolution that powers factories, railroads, steamships, and eventually European imperialism.
1776 10.3Ideas & ideologySmith: The Wealth of Nations
Foundational text of capitalism: the “invisible hand” of free markets allocates resources more efficiently than mercantilist controls.
1776 must-know 10.2RevolutionU.S. Declaration of Independence
Locke's natural-rights language goes operational: Jefferson's “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Inspires later revolutionary movements.
Atlantic revolutions & nationalism
1789 – 18491789 must-know 10.2RevolutionFrench Revolution begins
Storming of the Bastille; Declaration of the Rights of Man (echoing Locke). Topples the Ancien Régime and reshapes European politics for a century.
1804 10.2RevolutionHaitian Revolution succeeds
Toussaint L'Ouverture's enslaved-led uprising creates the first Black republic — the only successful slave revolt in modern history.
c. 1800–1850 10.3Economy & industryBritish factory system spreads
Cottage industry → mechanized textile mills. Long hours, child labor, urban slums in Manchester and Birmingham fuel reform movements and Marx's critique.
1815 10.2Treaty / agreementCongress of Vienna
Metternich and the conservative powers restore Europe's monarchies after Napoleon — but cannot put nationalism back in the bottle.
1810–1825 10.2DecolonizationLatin American independence wars
Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín liberate most of Spanish South America. New republics inherit colonial inequalities they don't resolve.
1848 must-know 10.3Ideas & ideologyMarx & Engels: Communist Manifesto
Proletariat vs. bourgeoisie; history as class struggle. Becomes the intellectual blueprint for 20th-century socialist and communist movements.
1848 10.2RevolutionRevolutions of 1848 sweep Europe
Liberal and nationalist uprisings in France, the German states, the Habsburg Empire, and Italy. Most fail short-term, but nationalism is now the dominant political force.
Industrial & imperial age
1850 – 19131857 10.4ImperialismIndian Rebellion (“Sepoy Mutiny”)
Mass uprising against the British East India Company. Crushed — but ends Company rule and brings the British Crown directly in (the Raj).
1839–1860 10.4ImperialismOpium Wars & “Century of Humiliation”
Britain forces China to open to opium trade; unequal treaties cede Hong Kong and extraterritorial rights. Beginning of China's long century of foreign subjugation.
1868 must-know 10.310.4Modernization vs. traditionMeiji Restoration begins
Japan responds to Western pressure by selectively borrowing Western industry, military, and education to AVOID colonization. By 1905 it defeats Russia.
1869 10.4TechnologySuez Canal opens
Cuts the Britain–India sea route in half. Strategic chokepoint that pulls Britain deeper into Egyptian and Middle Eastern affairs.
1859–1871 10.2Ideas & ideologyItalian & German unification
Cavour & Garibaldi forge Italy; Bismarck unites Germany after defeating France in 1870–71. Reshapes the European balance of power and sets up WWI.
1884–1885 must-know 10.4ImperialismBerlin Conference partitions Africa
Bismarck convenes European powers to set rules for African colonization. No African leaders are present. Formalizes the Scramble for Africa.
1885–1908 10.410.10Atrocity / genocideLeopold II's Congo Free State
Private colonial regime built on forced rubber labor; an estimated 10 million Congolese die. A foundational case study in abuse of power.
1900 10.4ImperialismBoxer Rebellion
Anti-foreign uprising in Qing China is crushed by an eight-nation alliance. Accelerates the fall of the Qing dynasty (1911).
World wars & totalitarianism
1914 – 19451914–1918 must-know 10.5War & conflictWorld War I
Triggered by Franz Ferdinand's assassination in Sarajevo; explained by MAIN — Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, Nationalism. 20+ million dead.
1915 must-know 10.510.10Atrocity / genocideArmenian Genocide begins
Ottoman government deports and kills roughly 1.5 million Armenians. The first of the four canonical genocides on the Regents framework.
1917 must-know 10.5RevolutionRussian Revolution
Lenin's Bolsheviks seize power on “Peace, Land, Bread.” Withdraw from WWI (Brest-Litovsk). First Marxist state — model and threat to the West.
1919 must-know 10.5Treaty / agreementTreaty of Versailles
War Guilt Clause + crushing reparations on Germany. Wrecks the Weimar economy and creates conditions Hitler will exploit a decade later.
1920 10.5Treaty / agreementLeague of Nations founded
Wilson's collective-security body — fatally weakened by U.S. non-participation. Fails to stop Japanese (1931), Italian (1935), or German (1938) aggression.
1923 10.8Modernization vs. traditionAtatürk founds modern Turkey
Abolishes the Ottoman caliphate; imposes Western legal codes, the Latin alphabet, and women's suffrage. Top-down secular modernization.
1929 10.5Economy & industryGreat Depression begins
U.S. stock market collapses; global trade contracts. Mass unemployment in Europe creates the political space for fascism and Nazism.
1929–1953 10.5Ideas & ideologyStalin's USSR
Five-Year Plans, forced collectivization, the Ukrainian Holodomor (1932–33), Great Purge (1936–38). Totalitarianism as industrialization-by-terror.
1930 must-know 10.7DecolonizationGandhi's Salt March
240-mile march to the sea to make salt in defiance of the British monopoly. Satyagraha — non-violent civil disobedience — goes global.
1935 10.510.10Human rightsNuremberg Laws
Nazi Germany strips Jews of citizenship and bans intermarriage — the legal scaffolding that will lead to Kristallnacht (1938) and the Holocaust.
1939–1945 must-know 10.5War & conflictWorld War II
Germany invades Poland; Axis vs. Allies; Pearl Harbor brings the U.S. in (Dec 1941). 70+ million dead — the deadliest conflict in human history.
1933–1945 must-know 10.510.10Atrocity / genocideThe Holocaust
Wannsee Conference (1942) formalizes the “Final Solution.” Six million Jews and millions of Roma, Slavs, disabled, and LGBTQ+ people murdered.
1945 must-know 10.510.6War & conflictAtomic bombs on Hiroshima & Nagasaki
Aug 6 and Aug 9, 1945 — the first and only wartime use of nuclear weapons. Ends WWII in the Pacific and opens the nuclear age.
1945 10.610.10Human rightsUnited Nations founded
San Francisco Conference creates the UN — successor to the League, with Security Council teeth (and vetoes). Charter cites human rights from the start.
1945 10.6Treaty / agreementYalta & Potsdam conferences
FDR/Churchill/Stalin (Yalta, Feb 1945) and Truman/Attlee/Stalin (Potsdam, Jul 1945) divide postwar Europe. Seeds the Cold War split.
Cold War & decolonization
1946 – 19901945–1946 must-know 10.10Human rightsNuremberg Trials
Allied tribunals try Nazi leaders for “crimes against humanity.” Establishes that individuals — not just states — can be held criminally responsible for atrocity.
1947 must-know 10.7DecolonizationPartition of India
Britain leaves India; Mountbatten and Radcliffe draw borders in weeks along religious lines. ~15 million displaced, ~1 million dead. Kashmir still contested.
1948–1949 10.6War & conflictBerlin Airlift
Stalin blockades West Berlin; the U.S. and UK fly in 2.3 million tons of supplies for 11 months. First major Cold War confrontation — the West wins without firing a shot.
1948 10.10Human rightsGenocide Convention
Defines genocide narrowly — intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group in whole or in part. Sets the legal bar for the four canonical genocides.
1948 must-know 10.7DecolonizationIsrael declares independence
Follows the UN Partition Plan (1947). Arab states invade the next day; the war creates Israel and the Palestinian refugee crisis (Nakba).
1948 10.6Economy & industryMarshall Plan
$13B in U.S. aid rebuilds Western Europe and inoculates it against communism — the economic arm of containment.
1948 must-know 10.10Human rightsUniversal Declaration of Human Rights
UN General Assembly adopts the UDHR on Dec 10, 1948 — one day after the Genocide Convention. The aspirational charter of modern human-rights law.
1949 must-know 10.610.8RevolutionMao founds the People's Republic of China
Communists win the Chinese Civil War; KMT retreats to Taiwan. The world's most populous country joins the communist bloc.
1949 10.6Treaty / agreementNATO founded
12-nation collective-defense pact; Article 5 — an attack on one is an attack on all. Formalizes the Western Cold War alliance.
1950–1953 10.6War & conflictKorean War
First hot proxy of the Cold War. UN forces (mostly U.S.) vs. North Korea + China. Ends in armistice — Korea still divided at the 38th parallel.
1955 10.7DecolonizationBandung Conference
29 Asian and African states meet in Indonesia, founding the Non-Aligned Movement — a “third way” between U.S. capitalism and Soviet communism.
1956 10.7DecolonizationSuez Crisis
Nasser nationalizes the canal; Britain, France, and Israel invade. U.S. and USSR force them out — the symbolic end of European great-power dominance.
1958–1962 10.610.810.10Atrocity / genocideMao's Great Leap Forward
Forced collectivization and backyard steel furnaces cause one of the deadliest famines in history — an estimated 30+ million dead.
1962 must-know 10.6War & conflictCuban Missile Crisis
13-day standoff over Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. Closest the Cold War comes to nuclear war. Hotline + Limited Test Ban Treaty follow.
1968 10.6War & conflictPrague Spring crushed
Czechoslovak reforms under Dubček invite a Warsaw Pact invasion. Brezhnev Doctrine: no Eastern bloc state may leave the Soviet sphere.
1955–1975 10.6War & conflictVietnam War
U.S. backs South Vietnam against communist North; loses on cost and credibility. Fall of Saigon, 1975. Domino theory discredited.
1978 10.8Economy & industryDeng Xiaoping's reforms in China
“Reform and Opening Up.” Market reforms, special economic zones (Shenzhen), and one-child policy — economic liberalization without political liberalization.
1975–1979 must-know 10.10Atrocity / genocideCambodian Genocide (Khmer Rouge)
Pol Pot's agrarian-utopian regime kills ~1.7 million Cambodians (~25% of the population). Third of the four canonical genocides.
1979 must-know 10.710.8Modernization vs. traditionIranian Revolution
Khomeini overthrows the Shah's top-down Western modernization (the White Revolution). Founds the Islamic Republic — modernization rejected on religious grounds.
1989 must-know 10.6Ideas & ideologyFall of the Berlin Wall
Nov 9, 1989 — East Germans cross into West Berlin. Glasnost + perestroika unintentionally unravel the Eastern bloc within months.
1979–1989 10.6War & conflictSoviet–Afghan War
USSR invades to prop up a communist government; U.S.-backed mujahideen bog them down for a decade. “The Soviet Union's Vietnam.”
1989 10.8Human rightsTiananmen Square crackdown
Beijing crushes pro-democracy protests; “Tank Man” image goes global. Confirms Deng's bargain: economic opening, political closure.
Globalization & after
1991 – present1991 must-know 10.6Ideas & ideologyUSSR dissolves
Dec 25, 1991 — Gorbachev resigns; the Soviet flag is lowered over the Kremlin. 15 successor states. End of the bipolar world order.
1993 10.9Treaty / agreementEuropean Union founded (Maastricht)
Maastricht Treaty creates the EU and the path to the euro (1999/2002). Deep economic integration as a peace project for a continent twice torn apart.
1994 must-know 10.710.10Human rightsEnd of apartheid; Mandela elected
Nelson Mandela becomes South Africa's first Black president after 27 years in prison. Truth and Reconciliation Commission follows.
1994 must-know 10.10Atrocity / genocideRwandan Genocide
In ~100 days, Hutu Power militias kill ~800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. UN and international community fail to intervene. Fourth canonical genocide.
c. 1995 10.9TechnologyInternet goes mainstream
Commercial web browsers (Netscape) bring the internet to households. Communication, commerce, and protest movements globalize within a decade.
1995 10.10Atrocity / genocideSrebrenica massacre
Bosnian Serb forces murder ~8,000 Muslim men and boys in a UN “safe area.” Later ruled a genocide by the ICTY.
1995 10.9Economy & industryWorld Trade Organization founded
Successor to GATT. Institutionalizes the post-Cold War liberal trade order; China joins in 2001.
1997 10.9Treaty / agreementKyoto Protocol
First binding international climate agreement — developed countries pledge emissions cuts. Limited by U.S. non-ratification.
2001 must-know 10.9War & conflictSeptember 11 attacks
Al-Qaeda hijackers strike the World Trade Center and Pentagon, killing ~3,000. Launches the U.S. “War on Terror,” Afghanistan invasion, and Iraq War (2003).
2002 must-know 10.10Human rightsInternational Criminal Court begins
Rome Statute (1998) takes effect 2002. Permanent court to try genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity — but several major powers refuse to join.
2005 10.10Human rightsResponsibility to Protect (R2P)
UN World Summit endorses R2P — states have a duty to protect populations from atrocity, and the international community must act when they don't.
2008 10.9Economy & industryGlobal Financial Crisis
Subprime collapse cascades into a worldwide recession. Triggers austerity in Europe, populist backlash, and the slow-burning Eurozone crisis.
2011 10.710.9RevolutionArab Spring
Pro-democracy uprisings sweep Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen. Most regress; Tunisia briefly democratizes; Syria descends into civil war.
2011–present 10.910.10Atrocity / genocideSyrian Civil War & Assad's atrocities
500,000+ dead, 13M+ displaced. Chemical weapons use; Russian intervention. Contemporary R2P failure cited in Regents prep.
2015 10.9Treaty / agreementParis Climate Agreement
Nearly all countries pledge to limit warming to “well below 2°C.” Non-binding but near-universal — the framework for global climate action.
2017 10.10Atrocity / genocideRohingya crisis
Myanmar military forces ~750,000 Rohingya Muslims into Bangladesh; ICJ later opens a genocide case. Contemporary atrocity case.
2017–present 10.810.10Atrocity / genocideUyghur detentions in Xinjiang
Chinese state interns an estimated 1M+ Uyghur Muslims in “re-education” camps. U.S. and several governments formally label it a genocide.
2020–2022 10.9War & conflictCOVID-19 pandemic
First true global pandemic of the interconnected era. 6M+ confirmed deaths; mass lockdowns, supply-chain shocks, vaccine nationalism, and democratic backsliding.
2022 must-know 10.910.10War & conflictRussia invades Ukraine
Largest European land war since 1945. NATO unity revived; Sweden and Finland apply to join. ICC issues an arrest warrant for Putin (2023).