1900 to present
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1924 A.D...
Death of Lenin; Stalin wins power struggle, rules as Soviet dictator until death in 1953. Italian Fascists murder Socialist leader Giacomo Matteotti. Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall and
oilmen Harry Sinclair and Edward L. Doheny are charged with conspiracy and bribery in the Teapot Dome scandal, involving fraudulent leases of naval oil reserves. In 1931, Fall is sentenced
to year in prison; Doheny and Sinclair acquitted of bribery. Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb convicted in "thrill killing" of Bobby Franks in Chicago; defended by Clarence Darrow; sentenced
to life imprisonment. (Loeb killed by fellow convict in 1936; Leopold paroled in 1958, dies in 1971.) Robert Frost wins first of four Pulitzers. (Courtesy of Infoplease.com)
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Week 18
1914 A.D...
World War I begins: Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand and wife Sophie are assassinated; Austria declares war on Serbia, Germany on Russia and France, Britain on
Germany. (For detailed chronology see, World War I.) Panama Canal officially opened. Congress sets up Federal Trade Commission, passes Clayton Antitrust Act. U.S.
Marines occupy Veracruz, Mexico, intervening in civil war to protect American interests. (Courtesy of Infoplease.com)
Week 19
1915 A.D...
Lusitania sunk by German submarine. Second Battle of Ypres. U.S. banks lend $500 million to France and Britain. Genocide of estimated 600,000 to 1 million
Armenians by Turkish soldiers. D. W. Griffith's film Birth of a Nation. Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. (Courtesy of Infoplease.com)
Week 20
1916 A.D...
Congress expands armed forces. Battle of Verdun. Battle of the Somme. Tom Mooney arrested for San Francisco bombing (pardoned in 1939). Pershing fails in raid into
Mexico in quest of rebel Pancho Villa. U.S. buys Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25 million. President Wilson re-elected with "he kept us out of war" slogan.
"Black Tom" explosion at munitions dock in Jersey City, N.J., $40,000,000 damages; traced to German saboteurs. Margaret Sanger opens first birth control clinic.
Easter Rebellion in Ireland put down by British troops. Jeannette Rankin becomes first woman elected to Congress. (Courtesy of Infoplease.com)
Week 21
1917 A.D...
First U.S. combat troops in France as U.S. declares war on Germany (April 6). Third Battle of Ypres. Russian Revolution of 1917-climax of long unrest under czars.
February Revolution-Nicholas II forced to abdicate, liberal government created. Kerensky becomes prime minister and forms provisional government (July). In October
Revolution, Bolsheviks seize power in armed coup d'état led by Lenin and Trotsky. Kerensky flees. Balfour Declaration promises Jewish homeland in Palestine. U.S.
declares war on Austria-Hungary (Dec. 7). Armistice between new Russian Bolshevik government and Germans (Dec. 15). Sigmund Freud's Introduction to Psychoanalysis. (Courtesy of Infoplease.com)
Week 22
1918 A.D...
Russian revolutionaries execute the former czar and his family. Russian Civil War between Reds (Bolsheviks) and Whites (anti-Bolsheviks); Reds win in 1920. Allied
troops (U.S., British, French) intervene (March); leave in 1919. Second Battle of the Marne (July-Aug.) German Kaiser abdicates (Nov.); hostilities cease on the
Western Front. Japanese hold Vladivostok until 1922. Worldwide influenza epidemic strikes; by 1920, nearly 20 million are dead. In U.S. alone, 500,000 perish. (Courtesy of Infoplease.com)
Week 23
1919 A.D...
Third International (Comintern) establishes Soviet control over international Communist movements. Paris peace conference. Versailles Treaty, incorporating Woodrow
Wilson's draft Covenant of League of Nations, signed by Allies and Germany; rejected by U.S. Senate. Congress formally ends war in 1921. 18th (Prohibition) Amendment
adopted. Alcock and Brown make first trans-Atlantic nonstop flight. Mahatma Gandhi initiates satyagraha ("truth force") campaigns, beginning his nonviolent resistance
movement against British rule in India. (Courtesy of Infoplease.com)
Week 24
1920 A.D...
League of Nations holds first meeting at Geneva, Switzerland. U.S. Dept. of Justice "red hunt" nets thousands of radicals; aliens deported. Women's suffrage (19th) amendment ratified.
Treaty of Sèvres dissolves Ottoman Empire. First Agatha Christie mystery. Sinclair Lewis's Main Street. (Courtesy of Infoplease.com)
Week 25
1921 A.D...
Reparations Commission fixes German liability at 132 billion gold marks. German inflation begins. Major treaties signed at Washington Disarmament Conference limit naval tonnage and pledge to
respect territorial integrity of China. In U.S., Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Italian-born anarchists, convicted of armed robbery murder; case stirs worldwide protests; they are
executed in 1927. (Courtesy of Infoplease.com)
Week 26
1922 A.D...
Mussolini marches on Rome; forms Fascist government. Irish Free State, a self-governing dominion of British Empire, officially proclaimed. Kemal Atatürk, founder of modern Turkey, overthrows
last sultan. James Joyce's Ulysses. (Courtesy of Infoplease.com)
Week 27
1923 A.D...
Adolf Hitler's "Beer Hall Putsch" in Munich fails; in 1924 he is sentenced to five years in prison where he writes Mein Kampf; released after eight months. Occupation of Ruhr by French and
Belgian troops to enforce reparations payments. Widespread Ku Klux Klan violence in U.S. Earthquake destroys third of Tokyo. George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Bessie Smith, known as
"the Empress of the Blues," makes her first record. Irish poet William Butler Yeats wins Nobel Prize in Literature. (Courtesy of Infoplease.com)
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1899 to antiquity
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550 to 599 A.D...
Beginnings of European silk industry after Justinian's missionaries smuggle silkworms out of China (553). Mohammed, founder of Islam (570-632). Buddhism in Japan
(c. 560). St. Augustine of Canterbury brings Christianity to Britain (597). After killing about half the population, plague in Europe subsides (594). (Courtesy of Infoplease.com)
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Week 18
50 to 99 A.D...
Claudius poisoned (A.D. 54), succeeded by Nero (commits suicide, A.D. 68). Missionary journeys of Paul the Apostle (A.D. 34-60). Jews revolt against Rome; Jerusalem
destroyed (A.D. 70). Roman persecutions of Christians begin (A.D. 64). Colosseum built in Rome (A.D. 71-80). Trajan (rules A.D. 98-116); Roman empire extends to
Mesopotamia, Arabia, Balkans. First Gospels of St. Mark, St. John, St. Matthew. (Courtesy of Infoplease.com)
Week 19
100 to 149 A.D...
Hadrian rules Rome (A.D. 117-138); codifies Roman law, rebuilds Pantheon, establishes postal system, builds wall between England and Scotland. Jews revolt under Bar
Kokhba (A.D. 122-135); final Diaspora (dispersion) of Jews begins. (Courtesy of Infoplease.com)
Week 20
150 to 199 A.D...
Marcus Aurelius rules Rome (A.D. 161-180). Oldest Mayan temples in Central America (c. A.D. 200). (Courtesy of Infoplease.com)
Week 21
200 to 249 A.D...
Goths invade Asia Minor (c. A.D. 220). Roman persecutions of Christians increase. Persian (Sassanid) empire re-established. End of Chinese Han dynasty. (Courtesy of Infoplease.com)
Week 22
250 to 299 A.D...
Increasing invasions of the Roman empire by Franks and Goths. Buddhism spreads in China. Classic period of Mayan civilization (A.D. 250-900); develop hieroglyphic
writing, advances in art, architecture, science. (Courtesy of Infoplease.com)
Week 23
300 to 349 A.D...
Constantine the Great (rules A.D. 312-337) reunites eastern and western Roman empires, with new capital (Constantinople) on site of Byzantium (A.D. 330); issues Edict of
Milan legalizing Christianity (A.D. 313); becomes a Christian on his deathbed (A.D. 337). Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) defines orthodox Christian doctrine. First Gupta
dynasty in India (c. A.D. 320). (Courtesy of Infoplease.com)
Week 24
350 to 399 A.D...
Huns (Mongols) invade Europe (c. A.D. 360). Theodosius the Great (rules A.D. 392-395)-last emperor of a united Roman empire. Roman empire permanently divided in A.D.
395: western empire ruled from Rome; eastern empire ruled from Constantinople. (Courtesy of Infoplease.com)
Week 25
400 to 449 A.D...
Western Roman empire disintegrates under weak emperors. Alaric, king of the Visigoths, sacks Rome (A.D. 410). Attila, Hun chieftain, attacks Roman provinces (A.D. 433).
St. Patrick returns to Ireland (A.D. 432) and brings Christianity to the island. St. Augustine's City of God (A.D. 411). (Courtesy of Infoplease.com)
Week 26
450 to 499 A.D...
Vandals destroy Rome (A.D. 455). Western Roman empire ends as Odoacer, German chieftain, overthrows last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus, and becomes king of Italy
(A.D. 476). Ostrogothic kingdom of Italy established by Theodoric the Great (A.D. 493). Clovis, ruler of the Franks, is converted to Christianity (A.D. 496). First
schism between western and eastern churches (A.D. 484). (Courtesy of Infoplease.com)
Week 27
500 to 549 A.D...
Eastern and western churches reconciled (519). Justinian I, the Great (483-565), becomes Byzantine emperor (527), issues his first code of civil laws (529), conquers
North Africa, Italy, and part of Spain. Plague spreads through Europe (542 et seq.). Arthur, semi-legendary king of the Britons (killed, c. 537). Boëthius, Roman scholar
(executed, 524). (Courtesy of Infoplease.com)
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