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Industrial Age

1800 AD–1945 AD · 271 events

Science

Volta Invents Electric Battery (1800 AD)
Steam Locomotive Invented (1804 AD)
First Steamboat Voyage (1807 AD)
Stethoscope Invented (1816 AD)
Antarctica Discovered (1820 AD)
First Public Railway Opens (1825 AD)
Ohm's Law Published (1827 AD)
Faraday Discovers Electromagnetic Induction (1831 AD)
Telegraph Invented (1837 AD)
Photography Invented (1839 AD)
Neptune Discovered (1846 AD)
Chloroform Anesthesia Used (1847 AD)
Singer Sewing Machine (1851 AD)
Bessemer Steel Process (1856 AD)
Darwin's Origin of Species (1859 AD)
First Oil Well Drilled (1859 AD)
Pasteur Develops Germ Theory (1864 AD)
Transatlantic Telegraph Cable Laid (1866 AD)
Dynamite Invented (1866 AD)
Periodic Table Published (1869 AD)
Four-Stroke Engine Invented (1876 AD)
Phonograph Invented (1877 AD)
Electric Light Bulb Invented (1879 AD)
First Electric Power Station (1882 AD)
Automobile Invented (1885 AD)
Nikola Tesla's AC Motor (1888 AD)
X-Rays Discovered (1895 AD)
Radio Invented (1895 AD)
Radioactivity Discovered (1896 AD)
Marie Curie Discovers Radium (1898 AD)
Quantum Theory Proposed (1900 AD)
First Airplane Flight (1903 AD)
Einstein's Relativity (1905 AD)
San Francisco Earthquake (1906 AD)
Plastic Invented (1907 AD)
Ford Model T Production (1908 AD)
Rutherford Discovers Atomic Nucleus (1911 AD)
Continental Drift proposed (1912 AD)
Assembly Line Manufacturing (1913 AD)
Panama Canal Opens (1914 AD)
General Theory of Relativity (1915 AD)
Discovery of Australopithecus (1925 AD)
Television Invented (1926 AD)
Penicillin Discovered (1928 AD)
Big Bang Theory Proposed (1929 AD)
Alan Turing's Computing Theory (1936 AD)
Nuclear Fission Discovered (1938 AD)
Colossus Computer Built (1943 AD)
Trinity Nuclear Test (1945 AD)

Religion

Cane Ridge Revival (1801 AD)
Usman dan Fodio Begins Jihad (1804 AD)
African Methodist Episcopal Church Founded (1816 AD)
Latter-day Saint Church Founded (1830 AD)
The Bab Declares His Mission (1844 AD)
Christian Science Church Founded (1879 AD)
Azusa Street Revival (1906 AD)
Kimbanguism Emerges in the Congo (1913 AD)
Rastafari Movement Looks to Ethiopia (1930 AD)

Politics

Louisiana Purchase (1803 AD)
Haiti Declares Independence (1804 AD)
British Abolish Slave Trade (1807 AD)
Argentine Revolution (1810 AD)
Venezuelan Independence Declared (1811 AD)
Argentine Independence (1816 AD)
Chilean Independence (1818 AD)
Gran Colombia Founded (1819 AD)
Singapore Founded (1819 AD)
Mexican Independence (1821 AD)
Peruvian Independence (1821 AD)
Brazilian Independence (1822 AD)
Monroe Doctrine (1823 AD)
Anglo-Dutch Treaty (1824 AD)
Bolivia Founded (1825 AD)
Gran Colombia Dissolves (1830 AD)
Texas Declares Independence (1836 AD)
Ottoman Tanzimat Reforms (1856 AD)
British Raj Established (1858 AD)
Slavery Abolished in USA (1865 AD)
German Unification (1871 AD)
Congress of Berlin (1878 AD)
Berlin Conference Divides Africa (1884 AD)
Indian National Congress Founded (1885 AD)
Brazil Abolishes Slavery (1888 AD)
Philippines Transferred to USA (1898 AD)
Panama Separates from Colombia (1903 AD)
Partition of Bengal (1905 AD)
Russian Revolution of 1905 (1905 AD)
Muslim League Founded (1906 AD)
Young Turk Revolution (1908 AD)
Chinese Revolution (1911 AD)
Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916 AD)
Russian Revolution (1917 AD)
Balfour Declaration (1917 AD)
Wilson 14 Points (1917 AD)
Treaty of Versailles (1919 AD)
Weimar Republic Founded (1919 AD)
Paris Peace Conference (1919 AD)
Treaty of Sèvres (1920 AD)
Gandhi Launches Non-Cooperation (1920 AD)
League of Nations Founded (1920 AD)
Women's Vote in US (1920 AD)
Chinese Communist Party Founded (1921 AD)
Soviet Union Formally Created (1922 AD)
Egyptian Independence (1922 AD)
Mussolini Marches on Rome (1922 AD)
Republic of Turkey Founded (1923 AD)
Lenin Dies (1924 AD)
Geneva Declaration (1924 AD)
Salt March (1930 AD)
Hitler Becomes Chancellor (1933 AD)
Nuremberg Laws Enacted (1935 AD)
Munich Agreement (1938 AD)
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (1939 AD)
Quit India Movement (1942 AD)
Indonesia Declares Independence (1945 AD)
Yalta Conference (1945 AD)
United Nations Founded (1945 AD)

Exploration

Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804 AD)
Burckhardt Reaches Petra (1812 AD)
Darwin Sails on HMS Beagle (1831 AD)
Livingstone Explores Africa (1841 AD)
Franklin Expedition Lost (1845 AD)
Layard Excavates Nineveh (1845 AD)
Livingstone reaches Lake Ngami (1849 AD)
Lake Tanganyika Reached (1858 AD)
Source of the Nile Identified (1862 AD)
Nain Singh Surveys Tibet (1865 AD)
First Ascent of the Matterhorn (1865 AD)
Stanley Finds Livingstone (1871 AD)
Challenger Expedition (1872 AD)
Nordenskiold Navigates the Northeast Passage (1878 AD)
Nansen Crosses Greenland (1888 AD)
Sven Hedin Crosses the Taklamakan Desert (1895 AD)
Andree's Balloon Flight to the North Pole (1897 AD)
Amundsen Traverses Northwest Passage (1903 AD)
Aurel Stein Reaches the Dunhuang Caves (1907 AD)
Peary Claims North Pole (1909 AD)
Amundsen reaches South Pole (1911 AD)
Scott Reaches South Pole (1912 AD)
Shackleton's Endurance Expedition (1914 AD)
Taung Child Discovered (1924 AD)
Byrd North Pole Flight (1926 AD)
Airship Norge Flies Over the North Pole (1926 AD)
Piccard Balloon Reaches the Stratosphere (1931 AD)
Thomas Crosses the Empty Quarter (1932 AD)

War

Napoleon Invades Spain (1808 AD)
Mexican War of Independence Begins (1810 AD)
Battle of Waterloo (1815 AD)
Greek War of Independence (1821 AD)
Battle of Ayacucho (1824 AD)
Algeria Colonized by France (1830 AD)
Mexican-American War (1846 AD)
Indian Rebellion (1857 AD)
France Colonizes Vietnam (1858 AD)
Paraguayan War Begins (1864 AD)
US Civil War Ends (1865 AD)
Mexico Defeats French Intervention (1867 AD)
Satsuma Rebellion (1877 AD)
Anglo-Zulu War (1879 AD)
War of the Pacific (1879 AD)
Battle of Isandlwana (1879 AD)
Philippines Revolution (1896 AD)
Spanish-American War (1898 AD)
Boxer Rebellion in China (1900 AD)
Russo-Japanese War (1904 AD)
Mexican Revolution Begins (1910 AD)
World War I Begins (1914 AD)
Assassination of Franz Ferdinand (1914 AD)
Gallipoli Campaign (1915 AD)
Armenian Genocide (1915 AD)
Arab Revolt Begins (1916 AD)
Battle of the Somme (1916 AD)
Battle of Verdun (1916 AD)
USA Enters World War I (1917 AD)
Passchendaele (1917 AD)
Amritsar Massacre (1919 AD)
Chinese Civil War Begins (1927 AD)
Japan Invades Manchuria (1931 AD)
Chaco War (1932 AD)
Mao's Long March (1934 AD)
Spanish Civil War Begins (1936 AD)
Nanjing Massacre (1937 AD)
Kristallnacht (1938 AD)
World War II Begins (1939 AD)
Fall of France (1940 AD)
Battle of Britain (1940 AD)
Operation Barbarossa (1941 AD)
Pearl Harbor Attack (1941 AD)
Battle of Stalingrad Begins (1942 AD)
Battle of Midway (1942 AD)
Holocaust at Peak (1943 AD)
D-Day Normandy Landings (1944 AD)
Liberation of Paris (1944 AD)
Atomic Bomb Dropped (1945 AD)
Germany Surrenders (1945 AD)
World War Two Ends (1945 AD)

Disaster

Mount Tambora Eruption (1815 AD)
Year Without a Summer (1816 AD)
Irish Potato Famine Begins (1845 AD)
Great Chicago Fire (1871 AD)
Yellow River Flood (1877 AD)
Krakatoa Eruption (1883 AD)
Rinderpest Epidemic Sweeps Africa (1887 AD)
Johnstown Flood (1889 AD)
Galveston Hurricane (1900 AD)
Mount Pelee Eruption (1902 AD)
Messina Earthquake (1908 AD)
Titanic Sinks (1912 AD)
Great Famine of Mount Lebanon (1915 AD)
Halifax Explosion (1917 AD)
Spanish Flu Pandemic (1918 AD)
Great Kanto Earthquake (1923 AD)
Jericho Earthquake (1927 AD)
China Floods (1931 AD)
Erzincan Earthquake (1939 AD)
Bengal Famine (1943 AD)

Economy

German Customs Union Formed (1834 AD)
Treaty of Balta Liman Opens Ottoman Trade (1838 AD)
Rochdale Pioneers Found Cooperative (1844 AD)
California Gold Rush (1848 AD)
Meiji Restoration (1868 AD)
Suez Canal Opens (1869 AD)
Long Depression Begins (1873 AD)
Ottoman Government Defaults on Its Debt (1875 AD)
Palm Oil Becomes a Global Commodity (1880 AD)
Witwatersrand Gold Rush (1886 AD)
De Beers Consolidated Mines founded (1888 AD)
D'Arcy Oil Concession in Persia (1901 AD)
First Crayola Crayons (1903 AD)
Panic of 1907 (1907 AD)
Oil Struck in Persia (1908 AD)
Standard Oil Broken Up (1911 AD)
Federal Reserve Created (1913 AD)
German Hyperinflation (1923 AD)
Wall Street Crash (1929 AD)
Great Depression Begins (1929 AD)
Oil Discovered in Bahrain (1932 AD)
Oil Discovered in Saudi Arabia (1938 AD)
Bretton Woods Conference (1944 AD)
D-Day Economic Impact (1944 AD)

Culture

First Kindergarten (1837 AD)
Coca-Cola Invented (1886 AD)
Jack the Ripper Murders (1888 AD)
Eiffel Tower Opens (1889 AD)
Lumiere Brothers Show First Film (1895 AD)
First Montessori School (1907 AD)
Boy Scouts Founded (1908 AD)
First Blues Recording (1910 AD)
Rite of Spring (1913 AD)
Jazz Age (1920 AD)
Tutankhamun's Tomb found (1922 AD)
Mickey Mouse Debuts (1928 AD)
Snow White Film (1937 AD)

Sports

Football Association Founded (1863 AD)
First Intercollegiate Football Game (1869 AD)
First Professional Baseball Team (1869 AD)
First Wimbledon Championship (1877 AD)
Ashes Cricket Begins (1882 AD)
Kano Jigoro Founds Judo (1882 AD)
Basketball Invented (1891 AD)
Modern Olympics Revived (1896 AD)
First Davis Cup Tennis (1900 AD)
Backgammon Boards in the Coffeehouse (1900 AD)
Tour de France First Race (1903 AD)
Galatasaray Football Club Founded (1905 AD)
Far Eastern Championship Games (1913 AD)
International Olympic Committee Reforms (1920 AD)
Le Mans 24 Hours (1923 AD)
First Football World Cup (1930 AD)
Egypt Plays at the World Cup (1934 AD)
Jesse Owens at Berlin Olympics (1936 AD)

Further reading

The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman
King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild
Empire of Cotton by Sven Beckert

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Other eras

Ancient World (3200 BCE – 500 BCE)
Classical Era (500 BCE – 500 AD)
Medieval (500 AD – 1450 AD)
Early Modern (1450 AD – 1800 AD)
Modern (1945 AD – 2025 AD)

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