- 1940 Blitz;
- Evacuation of British forces from Dunkirk
- Fall of France, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark and Norway to Germans
- 1941 Fall of Hong Kong;
- Ethiopia captured by Commonwealth troops;
- Atlantic Charter
- Invasion of USSR;
- Lend Lease;
- Pearl Harbour
- Citizen Kane
- Aerosol can
- 1942
- Fall of Singapore, Malaya and Burma;
- Midway;
- El Alamein
- Fermi builds Nuclear reactor
- 1943 Commonwealth troops invade Italy
- Battle of Kursk
- Aqualung by Cousteau and Gagnan
- 1944 Burma recaptured;
- Education Act
- D - Day
- 1945 Pan-African conference
- Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; End of War;
- United Nations formed
- 1946 North Borneo becomes a colony
- National Health Service started
- Cold War begins
- Development of Computers
- 1947 Indian Independence;
- partition of India and Pakistan
- Marshall plan and Truman Doctrine
- Transistor invented
- 1948 Afrikaner National Party win power in South Africa;
- Ceylon and Burma become Independent;
- Communist insurgency in Malaya;
- Israel created
- Berlin airlift
- LP's invented
- 1949 Ireland leaves the Commonwealth;
- Newfoundland and Labrador join Canada
- Nato created;
- China becomes Communist
- Orwell's 1984

- 1666 Sir Isaac Newton discovered the law of gravitation in .
- 1684 George Handel was born.
- 1695 The Bank of England commenced business on
- 1608 Hans Lippershey invents the first refracting telescope.
- 1620 The earliest human-powered submarine invented.
- 1624 William Oughtred invents a slide ruler.
- 1625 Frenchmen, Jean-Baptiste Denys invents a method for blood transfusion.
- 1629 Giovanni Branca invents a steam turbine.
- 1636 W. Gascoigne invents the micrometer.
- 1642 Frenchmen, Blaise Pascal invents an adding machine.
- 1643 Evangelista Torricelli invents the barometer.
- 1650 Otto von Guericke invents a air pump. 
- 1656 Christian Huygens invents a pendulum clock. 
- 1660 Cuckoo clocks made in Furtwangen, Germany, in the Black Forest region.
- 1663 James Gregory invents the first reflecting telescope.
- 1668 Isaac Newton invents a reflecting telescope. 
- 1670 The first reference to a candy cane is made. Dom Pérignon invents Champagne.
- 1671 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz invents a calculating machine. 
- 1675 Christian Huygens patents the pocket watch.
- 1676 Robert Hooke invents the universal joint.
- 1679 Denis Papin invents the pressure cooker.
- 1698 Englishmen, Thomas Savery invents a steam pump.

- 1700 The first piano is built
- 1704 Newton explains principles of Colour in Optics
- 1707 Abraham Darby uses coal to smelt Iron
- 1708 Jesuit missionaries make first accurate map of China
- Union Pacific 1939
- 1712 Thomas
- 1714 Fahrenheit devises mercury thermometer
- 1723 Workhouses started
- 1725 First Encyclopedia printed in China
- 1728 Danish explorer Bering discovers Straits
- 1730 Octant navigational aid invented
- 1733 First perambulator (pram) designed
- 1734 First fire extinguisher invented Newcomen invents steam powered piston engine
- 1735 Linnaeus develops categorisation system
- 1736 Rubber discovered in Peru
- 1742 Celsius devises centigrade scale
- 1746-1828 Fransisco Goya
- Volavérunt 1999
- Goya's Ghost 2006
- 1748 First blast furnace built
- 1750 James Watt discovered the power of steam.
- 1752 Ben. Franklin discovered the identity of lightening and electricity. Lightening rods were used thereafter.
- 1752 Franklin proposes Theory of Electricity
- 1752 Britain adopts Gregorian calender leading to riots

- 1756 Amadeus Mozart of Germany was born. He lived 36 years.
- 1757 Sextant invented by John Campbell
- 1764 First public restaurant opens in France
- 1764 Voltaire's Dictionnaire Philosophique
- 1764 James Watt develops Steam engine
- 1766 Cavendish isolates Hydrogen 1767
- 1770-1827 Beethoven
- Beethoven's Great Love 1936
- 1770 Beethoven was born. He lived 57 years, primarily in Vienna.
- 1771 First edition of Encyclopedia Britannica
- 1772 Nitrogen discovered
- 1773 First Iron bridge built at Coalbrookdale
- 1774 Priestly discovers Oxygen
- 1775 Thomas Crapper invents WC
- 1777 Lavoister shows that Oxygen and Nitrogen are the main components of air
- 1779 Riots against machinery
- 1781 Herschel discovers Uranus
- 1782 Watt patents rotary steam engine
- 1784 Bifocal spectacles developed
- 1784 The first mail delivered by coaches left London for Bristol, August
- 1786 Coal gas used to make light
- 1790 Guillotine put to the test
- 1791 Metric system formulated in France
- 1791 James Hargreaves invents the Spinning Jenny
- 1792 Cotton Gin invented by Eli Whitney
- 1795 Hydraulic Press
- 1796 Jenner succeeds in developing a smallpox vaccine
- 1798 Lithography invented
- 1799 Income Tax introduced
- 1701 Jethro Tull invents the seed drill.
- 1711 Englishmen, John Shore invents the tuning fork.
- 1712 Thomas Newcomen patents the atmospheric steam engine
- 1717 Edmond Halley invents the diving bell.
- 1722 French C. Hopffer patents the fire extinguisher
- 1724 Gabriel Fahrenheit invents the first mercury thermometer.
- 1733 John Kay invents the flying shuttle.
- 1745 E.G. von Kleist invents the leyden jar, the first electrical capacitor.
- 1752 Benjamin Franklin invents the lightening rod.
- 1755 Samuel Johnson publishes the first English language dictionary on April 15th after nine years of writing. In the preface Samuel Johnson wrote, "I am not so lost in lexicography as to forget that words are the daughters of earth, and that things are the sons of heaven."
- 1757 John Campbell invents the sextant. 
- 1758 Dolland invents a chromatic lens.
- 1761 Englishmen, John Harrison invents the navigational clock or marine chronometer for measuring longitude.
- 1764 James Hargreaves invents the spinning jenny.
- 1767 Joseph Priestley invents carbonated water - soda water.
- 1768 Richard Arkwright patents the spinning frame
- 1769 James Watt invents an improved steam engine
- 1774- Georges Louis Lesage patents the electric telegraph.
- 1775 Alexander Cummings invents the flush toilet.Jacques Perrier invents a steamship.
- 1776 David Bushnell invents a submarine.
- 1779 Samuel Crompton invents the spinning mule.
- 1780 Benjamin Franklin invents bi-focal eyeglasses.Gervinus invents the circular saw.
- 1783 Louis Sebastien demonstrates the first parachute.Benjamin Hanks patents the self-winding clock.Joseph Michel Montgolfier and Jacques Etienne Montgolfier invent the hot-air balloon.Englishmen, Henry Cort invents the steel roller for steel production.
- 1784 Andrew Meikle invents the threshing machine.Joseph Bramah invents the safety lock.
- 1785 Edmund Cartwright invents the power loom.Claude Berthollet invents chemical bleaching Charles Augustus Coulomb invents the torsion balance.Blanchard invents a working parachute.
- 1786 John Fitch invents a steamboat.
- 1789 The guillotine is invented.
- 1790 The United States issued its first patent to William Pollard of Philadelphia for a machine that roves and spins cotton. 
- 1791 John Barber invents the gas turbine.Early bicycles invented in Scotland.
- 1792 William Murdoch invents gas lighting.The first ambulance.
- 1794 Eli Whitney patents the cotton gin.Welshmen, Philip Vaughan invents ball bearings.
- 1795 Francois Appert invents the preserving jar for food.
- 1796 Edward Jenner creates a smallpox vaccination.
- 1797 Wittemore patents a carding machine.A British inventor, Henry Maudslay invents the first metal or precision lathe.
- 1798 The first soft drink invented.Aloys Senefelder invents lithography.
- 1799 Alessandro Volta invents the battery. Louis Robert invents the Fourdrinier Machine for sheet paper making.

- 1800 Volta makes first battery
- 1802 Zeppelin invents his airship
- 1802 First Steamship
- 1803 Dalton's Atomic theory
- 1803 The first passenger steamboat, The Clermont, performed its maiden voyage on the Seine River.
- 1804 first steam rail locomotive
- 1807 Gaslight was introduced in London
- 1808 Nobel invented dynamite.
- 1809 Samuel Sommering's electric telegraph
- 1810-49 Fred Chopin
- Chopin: Desire for Love 2000
- 1811 Luddites smash spinning and weaving machinery
- 1813-83 Richard Wagner
- Wagner 1982
- 1816 Stethoscope invented
- 1822 Rosetta stone deciphered by Champollion
- 1822 First Iron Steamship sails
- 1823 Rubberized cotton developed by Macintosh
- 1825 The first railway opened in England on September
- 1827 photographs produced on a metal plate
- 1828 Dutch manufacturer Houten develops the chocolate bar
- 1829 Braille invented
- 1832 Morse invents code
- 1835 Railway Boom
- 1837 Electric Telegraph
- 1838 First Canadian railway starts operating
- 1838 Screw propellor invented
- 1839 Daguerre took first photograph.
- 1839 Faraday's theory of electromagnetism
- 1842 First use of Anaesthetic in an operation
- 1845 Galvanised corrugated Iron invented,
- 1845 Pneumatic tyre invented
- 1849 Safety Pin patented;
- 1849 Speed of Light accurately measured by Fizeau
- 1850 Kelvin's Law of conservation of energy
- 1853 Hypodermic syringe invented
- 1855 Mendel's discovery
- 1856 First refrigerator ship,
- 1856 synthetic colours invented
- 1857 Trollope's Barchester TowersTrans Atlantic cable completed
- 1858 The first Atlantic cable
- 1859 Oil pumped in Pennsylvania
- 1860 Bessemer's mass production of Steel
- 1861 First Transcontinental Telegrah
- Western Union 1941
- 1863 Maxwell's theory of electro magnetism
- 1866 First successfully laid cable
- 1867 Diamonds discovered in South Africa
- 1869 The Suez Canal opened in November.
- 1869 First
- 1871 Pullman introduces the Sleeper car
- 1872 Secret ballot introduced
- 1872 air brakes, typewriter and colour photography
- 1873 Royal Canadian Mounted Police formed
- 1875 Bell patents telephone Transcontinetnal railroad
- 1877 The microphone. the telephone. Edison invented the phonograph.
- 1878 Lighting by electricity began to be used.
- 1879 First Tramways in Berlin
- 1882 First hydro electric station in US
- 1883 Hot air balloon
- 1885 Gottleb Daimer invented the internal combustion engine. Karl Benz pioneered the engine for automobiles.
- 1885 Canadian Pacific railway completed
- 1885 Daimler and Benz build automobile
- unique quality of fingerprints established
- 1889 Eiffel Tower completed of laws of heredity
- 1819 Macadamized roads developed
- The Savannah is the first steamship to cross the Atlantic
- 1821 Faraday invents electric motor
- 1840 first postage stamps
- 1840 First bicycle
- 1861 Germ Theory of disease
- 1866 Nobel invents dynamite;
- 1866 Mendel published his research into Genetics
- 1868 First Traffic signal in London
- 1868 Helium discovered
- 1869 Suez Canal opened
- 1870 Cable links Australia and London
- elementary education act
- Periodic table developed by Mendelev
- 1880 First electric street light in New York
- 1887 Radio waves discovered by Hertz
- 1895 Cinema, safety razors, wireless telegraphy and X-rays all invented
- 1896 Olympic games started
- 1896 Radioactivity of Uranium discovered
- 1897 Thomson discovers electrons;
- aspirin marketed
- diesel engines invented

- 1506 Julius commenced building St. Peter's Cathedral at Rome.
- 1515 Protestantism- (Reformers) Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvi
- 1517 Luther, a Catholic priest in Germany, broke from the Roman Catholic Church, and posted his " 95 thesis" on the church door. Luther decreed salvation by faith alone. He stated that theological rules couldn't save. He nullified church sacraments. Luther put the Bible above both church and Pope as highest authority on earth. He decreed the right of individual interpretation of scripture. He rejected the Greek Old Testament and declared its books invalid.
- 1521 Luther went to the Diet at Worms
- 1529 The Lutheran Protest was drawn up and Protestant churches were born.
- 1545-1563 The Catholic Council of Trent tried to reform the Roman Catholic Church and quell the protest, but to no avail. This Vatican Council decreed faith necessary, but retained church sacraments as essential components of the Christian religion.
- 1551 Robert Stephens sectioned the Bible into verses.
- 1563 Fierce religious wars were waged between all the burgeoning new faiths spread throughout Europe. Those seeking freedom from the European religious turmoil speeded up colonization of America. Democracy (An ancient Greek form of rule by the people) was rediscovered.

- 1694 - 1778 Voltaire
- Voltaire 1933
- 1700 Freemasony- Albert Mackey, Albert Pike
- 1753 Jewish naturalization laws
- 1755 Mayan calander enters new era
- 1760 Swedenborgism - Emmanuel Swedenborg
- 1784 Shakers - Mother Ann Lee
- 1767 Father Junipero Serra founds first California missions
- Seven Cities of Gold 1955
- 1781 Kant's Critique of pure reason

- 1817 Joseph Smith introduced the Book of Mormon.
- 1828 The Hindu BrahmoSamaj sect established in India
- 1830 Mormonism – Joseph Smith
- 1830 Joseph Smith founded The Mormon Church in Fayette, N.Y.
- 1830 Cambellites-Alexander & Thomas Cambell, Barton Stone
- 1838 Tenrikyo- Miki Maegawa Nakayama
- 1840-45 Millerites 2nd day Adventists –William Miller then became 7th Day Adventists
- 1844 Protestants of various fellowships experienced the "Great Disappointment." They expected the Second Coming of Christ to occur.
- 1844 Christadelphians
- 1844 Bahai- Baha'u'llah (Abul Baha)-
- 1845-1870 7th Day Adventists-E.G. White
- 1848 Spiritualism - Kate and Margaret Fox John Thomas
- 1859 Darwin's Origin of Species
- 1863 Salvation Army started
- 1870 Jehovah's Witnesses- Charles Taze Russell
- 1875 Theosophical Society- H.P. Blavatsky, Henry Olcott
- 1879 Christian Science-Mary Baker Eddy
- 1889-1924 Unity School of Christianity- Myrtle Fillmore

- Inherit the Wind (Trial on evolution) 1960
- Freud 1962
- 1900 Freud publishes his interpretations of Dreams
- 1900 Rosicrucian Fellowship-Max Heindel
- 1902 Anthroposophical Society –Rudolf Steiner
- 1905 Jung's Psychology of Unconscious
- 1906 The Pentecostal Assemblies of the World
- 1914 Iglesia ni Cristo- Felix Manalo
- 1914 Oneness Pentecostalism- Frank Ewart, G.T.Haywood, Glenn Cook
- 1917 True Jesus Church. Founders Paul Wei, Lingsheng Chang and Barnabas Chang
- 1930 Black Muslims (Nation of Islam) –Wallace D. Fard
- 1927 Mind Science- Ernest Holmes
- 1934 World Wide Church of God- Herbert W. Armstrong
- 1935 Self Realization Fellowship- Paramahansa Yogananda
- 1944 AD.- Silva Mind Control –Jose Silva
- 1945 The Way -Victor P.Wierwille
- 1945 United Pentecostal International- Howard Goss, W.T. Witherspoon (can be traced back to 1914)
- 1948 Latter Rain –Franklin Hall, George Warnock.
- 1950 AD.-Urantia Book- Dr. Bill Sadler
- 1950 AD.-Lafayette Ronald Hubbard published his book Dianetics-SCIENTOLOGY
- 1954 Unification Church- Sun Myung Moon
- 1954 Atherius Society (UFO’s)- Dr. George King
- 1955 Scientology- L. Ron Hubbard
- 1964 Eckankar The Ancient Science of Soul Travel (Eck).  Founded by Paul Twitchell
- 1968 Hare Krishna (US)- Swami Prabhupada
- 1968 Children of God- David (Moses) Berg
- 1958 Institute of Divine Metaphysical Research- Henry Kinley
- 1958-1970 Church Universal and Triumphant –Mark and E.C. Prophet
- 1958 Henry Kinley begins (IDMR) the Institute of Divine Metaphysical Research
- 1959 Unitariarian Universalist
- 1960 Transcendental meditation- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
- 1960 Enkankar- Paul Twitchell
- 1961 Unitarian Universalism was officially formed.
- 1965 Assembly of Yahweh-Jacob Meyer
- 1966 Church of Satan –Anton LaVey
- 1970 Findhorn Community –Peter and Eileen Caddy –David Spangler
- 1970 Divine light Mission- Guru Maharaj Ji
- 1973 CARP was established in the United States.  [The Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles] to introduce the teachings of un Myung Moon.
- 1974 Assemblies of Yahweh-Sam Suratt
- 1979 Church of Christ International - Kip McKean
- 1980 -1982 Tara Center-Benjamen Crème
- 1980 House of Yahweh (Abilene) Jacob Hawkins
-1999 Mayan Calendar enters new era

- 1491-1556 Ignatius of Loyola, founder of Jesuits
- Loyola: Soldier Saint 1948
-1452-1519 Leonardo da Vinci
- The Life of Leonardo Da Vinci 1972

- 1593-1610 Caravaggio; proto-Baroque
- Caravaggio 1986

- 1701 - 1713 War of the Spanish succession
- 1704 Marlborough wins the battle of Blenheim
- Gibralter captured

- 1830 France takes Algeria
- 1831 Greek Independence
- 1855 Austria invades Italy
- Senso 1968
- 1959 Cyprus joins Commonwealth
- 1870 The Italian Army

- 1910 Portugese revolution
- 1910 Palace of Knossos excavated
- 1910 Spanish Civil War
- Land and Freedom 1995
- 1920 Italian unification
- Leopard 1936
- 1932 Union of Fascists formed
- Benito: The Rise and Fall of Mussolini 1993
- 1936 - 39 Spanish Civil War

- 1515-1547 Francios I France's 1st Renassaince Monarch
- The Sword and the Rose 1953
- 1553 Jane Grey is Queen for 9 days
- Lady Jane 1986

- 1547-1559 King Henry II
- Diane 1956 
- 1553-1615 Queen Margot
- Queen Margot 1994
- 1756 Martin Guerre
- Le Retour de Martin Guerre (The Return of Martin Guerre) 1982 

Literature

1519: Hernan Cortes, First Letter from Mexico to the Spanish Crown
1542: Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, The Relation of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (New URL)1550 Tales of  La Llorona (the Weeping Woman), an important cultural figure and legend, begin to be told in Mexico City. 
1552: Casas, The Very Brief Relation of the Devastation of the Indies, a protest against the treatment of 
1568: Bernal Diaz del Castillo writes The True History of the Conquest of New Spain (1632) 
1588: Thomas Harriot, A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia
1589: Arthur Barlow, The First Voyage Made to the Coasts of America
- 1502 The Portuguese settled in India.
- 1530 The spinning wheel was invented at Brunswick.
- 1551 Sir Edward Coke, Attorney General, who wrote The Oracle of English Law, was born.
- 1556 Akbar, the greatest prince of India began his 49-year reign.
- 1561 Sir Francis Bacon of England was born. He lived 65 years.
- 1568 Bishop's Bible was created.

- 1609-76 Gerard Winstanley
- Winstanley 1975
- 1616-1648 Thirty years war
- The Last Valley 1971

- 1650's Kossacks against the Poles
- Ogniem i mieczem (With Fire and Sword) 1961

- 1702 Queen Anne
- 1707 Act of Union between England and Scotland
- 1714 King George I starts Georgian line of monarchy
- Saraband for Dead Lovers 1948
- 1714 French take Mauritius
- 1715-74 King Louis XV
- Madame du Barry 1934
- 1733 - 38 War of Polish succession
- 1740 Frederick II king of Prussia; War of Austrian succession
- 1746 Charles Edward Stuart defeated
- The Battle of Culloden 1964
- 1748 Pompeii excavated
- 1751 China invades Tibet
- 1753 French occupy Ohio valley in North America

- 1760-1801 King George III
- The Madness of King George III 1994
- 1768 Lousie the VI
- Madame du Barry 1934

- 1788 First convict ships arrive at Botany Bay
- Against the Wind 1978 TV mini-series

- 1792 French Republic proclaimed
- 1793 Britain declares war against France
- 1794 Scottish martyrs transported to NSW
- 1796 French campaign in Italy, Bonaparte the victor
- 1798 Irish rebellion suppressed
- 1738 WM. Herschel was born in Hanover, Germany.

- 1801 Irish act of Union
- 1801-05 Frist Barbary war at Tripoli
- Tripoli 1950
- 1803 Suppression of rebellion in Ireland
- 1804 Napoleon Bonaparte became Emperor of France.
- 1804-81 Ben Disraeli
- Disraeli 1929
- 1807 Prohibition of shipment of slaves in British ships or to British colonies
- 1812 War of 1812
- The Buccaneer 1938
- Buccaneer's Girl 1950
- 1813 English East India company loses monopoly
- 1815 British East India Company take Ceylon from the Dutch
- 1815 Waterloo
- 1815 Napoleon was banished from England after the Battle of Waterloo.
- 1821 Famine in Ireland
- 1833 Abolition of slavery throughout Empire

- 1837-98 Elisabeth of Bavaria
- Sissi 1955
- 1845-48 Irish potato famine

- 1858 East India Company dissolved
- 1871-1919 Rosa Luxemburg, German labour reformer
- Rosa Luxemburg 1986

- 1881 Irish land and coercion acts
- 1888 French Indo-China formed
- French take Madacasgar
- 1889 Austrian Crown Prince Rudolph marries a commoner
- Mayerling 1936 1969 1889
- 1891 Germany develops first pension scheme
- 1896 The Olympic games reappeared in the world. They had been absent since the Roman emperor, Theodosus, canceled them and closed their associated pagan temples in 396 A.D.

- 1905 Norway breaks from Sweden
- 1914 Imperial troops assembled for war
- 1914 Egypt becomes British Protectorate
- 1914 Cyprus annexed
- 1916 US enters war

- 1918 Treaty of Versaille
- 1920 - 33 Prohibition
- 1920 Nazis formed by Hitler

- 1922 BBC founded
- 1922 USSR formed
- 1926 Imperial conference gives Dominion status to settler colonies
- 1927 Stalin comes to power
- 1929 Secretary of State for Dominions instituted
- 1930 - 32 First Round Table conference between Britain and Indian parties
- Coward's Private lives Jet engine
- 1931 Statute of Westminster gives Dominions control over own parliaments
- 1931 Great Depression
- 1932 Saudi Arabia and Iraqi Independence