European Hist
This 1648 pair of peace treaties signed in Münster and Osnabrück effectively ended the Thirty Years' War and established the concept of state sovereignty.
Led by Hong Xiuquan—who claimed to be the younger brother of Jesus Christ—this 19th-century civil war in China resulted in an estimated 20–30 million deaths.
Taiping Rebellion
This 431–404 BCE conflict between the Delian League led by Athens and the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta reshaped the ancient Greek world.
Peloponnesian War
This major 19th-century conflict (1853–1856) pitted the Russian Empire against an alliance of Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire, and Sardinia.
Crimean War
Written primarily by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the pseudonym "Publius," these 85 essays urged ratification of the US Constitution.
Federalist Papers
Following the Defeat of Napoleon, this 1814–1815 conference reorganized Europe under a balance of power system led by Klemens von Metternich.
Congress of Vienna
Founded in 1526 by Babur after his victory at the Battle of Panipat, this empire ruled large parts of the Indian subcontinent for over three centuries.
Mughal Empire
Discovered in 1799 by French soldiers, this artifact proved to be the key to deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Rosetta Stone
Spanning from West Africa to China, this 14th-century Moroccan scholar and explorer traveled over 73,000 miles across the Islamic world.
Ibn Battuta
This 1803 Supreme Court case established the principle of judicial review in the United States.
Marbury v Madison
This 1346 battle during the Hundred Years' War saw English longbowmen decisively defeat a much larger French force of knights and Genoese crossbowmen.
Battle of Crecy
This 1600 battle in central Japan established the hegemony of the Tokugawa Shogunate over unified Japan.
Battle of Sekigahara
Carthaginian general Hannibal famously led his army—including war elephants—across the Alps to inflict a crushing defeat on Rome at this 216 BCE battle.
Battle of Cannae
This 1884–1885 European conference regulated European colonization and trade in Africa during the "Scramble for Africa" period.
Berlin Conference
Fought on September 17, 1862, in Maryland, this single day remains the bloodiest in American military history.
Battle of Antietam
Passed by Henry IV of France in 1598, this decree granted Calvinist Protestants (Huguenots) substantial rights, before being revoked by Louis XIV in 1685.
This ancient Indian emperor converted to Buddhism following the massive bloodshed of his conquest of Kalinga around 261 BCE.
Ashoka the Great
Written around 1750 BCE, this Babylonian legal code features 282 laws operating largely under the principle of an eye for an eye.
Code of Hammurabi
Between 1864 and 1870, Paraguay lost over half its population fighting against an alliance of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay in this devastating war.
This 18th-century religious revival movement swept through the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s, championed by figures like George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards.
The Great Awakening
During the Russian Revolution, this secret police organization was created in December 1917 by Felix Dzerzhinsky to combat counter-revolution and sabotage.
Cheka
Signed in 1854 under pressure from Commodore Matthew Perry, this treaty opened the Japanese ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade.
This Neo-Assyrian king, who ruled in the 7th century BCE, assembled a famous royal library in Nineveh containing thousands of cuneiform tablets.
Ashurbanipal
This 1529 agreement between Spain and Portugal defined the antimeridian of the line of demarcation drawn in the earlier Treaty of Tordesillas.
Treaty of Zaragoza
Passed by Congress in 1914 during the Wilson administration, this law strengthened antitrust regulation by prohibiting specific anti-competitive business practices.
Clayton Antitrust Act