- 3500 BCE: Invention of writing in Sumer
- 2700 BCE: Construction of the Great Pyramids in Egypt
- 1750 BCE: Code of Hammurabi, one of the earliest known legal codes
- 1500 BCE: The Mycenaean civilization flourishes in Greece
- 500 BCE: The Rise of the Persian Empire
- 323 BCE: Death of Alexander the Great and breakup of his empire
- 200 BCE: The rise of the Roman Republic
- 100 BCE: The Social War in Rome
- 44 BCE: Julius Caesar is assassinated
- 31 BCE: Octavian defeats Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium, becoming the first Roman emperor
Middle Ages
- 476 CE: Fall of the Western Roman Empire
- 570 CE: The birth of the Prophet Muhammad
- 632 CE: The Rashidun Caliphate is established
- 732 CE: The Battle of Tours, where the Franks defeat the Muslims and halt their advance into Europe
- 1066 CE: The Battle of Hastings, where the Normans conquer England
- 1095 CE: The First Crusade is launched
- 1204 CE: The Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire is weakened
- 1347-1351 CE: The Black Death, a pandemic that kills millions
- 1453 CE: The Ottoman Turks capture Constantinople, marking the end of the Byzantine Empire
Modern History
- 1492 CE: Christopher Columbus reaches the Americas
- 1517 CE: Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses, sparking the Protestant Reformation
- 1648 CE: The Treaty of Westphalia ends the Thirty Years' War and establishes the modern state system
- 1776 CE: The United States Declaration of Independence
- 1789 CE: The French Revolution begins
- 1804 CE: Napoleon Bonaparte becomes emperor of France
- 1815 CE: The Battle of Waterloo, where the British and Prussian forces defeat Napoleon
- 1861-1865 CE: The American Civil War
- 1914-1918 CE: World War I
- 1939-1945 CE: World War II
- 1969 CE: The first humans land on the moon
- 1989 CE: The Berlin Wall falls, marking the end of the Cold War
- 2001 CE: The September 11 attacks on the United States