A shared history

European construction did not begin in 1950. This thread links the ancient inheritance, the Judeo-Christian matrix and the contemporary Union.

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326 events

3600 BC earliest marker

46 countries covered

0 already discussed

Event density

One century per bar before 1500, one decade after: archives are not evenly spread.

Ancient Greece Early Middle Ages Renaissance Enlightenment Concert of Europe European integration Rome High and Late Middle Ages Reformation and wars of religion Age of revolutions World wars Cold War

1600 1764 1929

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63 events

1600 1699

Reformation and wars of religion 12 events

1602 Institution Early modern period Netherlands

First joint-stock company

The East India Company and the Amsterdam Exchange invent financial capitalism.

1607 Event Early modern period Andorra France

Co-principality confirmed

Henry IV rules that the king of France, later the head of state, will be co-prince.

1620 War Early modern period Czechia

Battle of White Mountain

Protestant defeat opens three centuries of Habsburg domination over Bohemia.

1631 Event Early modern period San Marino

Papal recognition

The Holy See formally recognises the republic’s independence.

1632 Institution Early modern period Estonia

University of Tartu

Gustavus Adolphus founds the university that will train the Baltic’s scholarly elite.

1632 Event Early modern period Sweden

Gustavus Adolphus at Lützen

Death of the “Lion of the North”, who had made Sweden the dominant Baltic power.

1648 Treaty Early modern period Germany

Peace of Westphalia

The end of the Thirty Years’ War enshrines state sovereignty and invents modern European diplomacy.

1648 Event Early modern period Netherlands

Independence of the Netherlands recognised

The Peace of Münster confirms the United Provinces as a fully fledged European power.

1670 Event Early modern period Netherlands

Spinoza and tolerance

The Theological-Political Treatise founds historical criticism of the Bible and argues for freedom of thought.

1683 War Early modern period Austria

Siege of Vienna

The Christian coalition breaks the Ottoman offensive: the ebb begins in Central Europe.

1685 Text Early modern period Latvia

Bible in Latvian

Ernst Glück’s translation fixes the written language and spreads reading through the parishes.

1688 Event Early modern period United Kingdom

Glorious Revolution

The Bill of Rights subjects the crown to Parliament: the matrix of parliamentary government.

1700 1799

Enlightenment 7 events

1710 Text Early modern period Ukraine

Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk

The Cossack text separates powers and limits the hetman: one of Europe’s oldest.

1719 Institution Early modern period Liechtenstein

Creation of the principality

Emperor Charles VI raises the two lordships into an imperial principality.

1739 Text Early modern period Estonia

Bible in Estonian

The complete translation fixes the literary language and accelerates rural literacy.

1755 Disaster Early modern period Portugal

Lisbon earthquake

The disaster inspires Voltaire and Kant: the problem of evil becomes central to the Enlightenment.

1766 Text Early modern period Sweden

First freedom of the press act

Sweden adopts the world’s first law guaranteeing public access to official documents.

1789 Text Early modern period France

Declaration of the Rights of Man

The Assembly proclaims universal rights. The political vocabulary of contemporary Europe flows directly from it.

1791 Text Early modern period Poland

Constitution of 3 May

Europe’s first written constitution, adopted shortly before the country’s third partition.

1800 1824

Age of revolutions 8 events

1804 Text Early modern period France

Civil Code

Napoleon commissions a synthesis of Roman and customary law, exported from Spain to Poland.

1806 Event Early modern period Liechtenstein

Sovereignty acquired

The dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire leaves Liechtenstein fully sovereign.

1809 Event Early modern period Finland

Autonomous grand duchy

Attached to Russia, Finland keeps its Swedish laws and develops its institutions.

1812 Event Early modern period Moldova

Annexation of Bessarabia

Russia takes the eastern half of the principality at the Treaty of Bucharest.

1814 Text Early modern period Norway

Eidsvoll Constitution

On 17 May Norway adopts one of the most liberal constitutions of its time.

1814 Event Early modern period Sweden

Beginning of neutrality

Sweden’s last war. Two centuries of non-alignment begin.

1815 Treaty Early modern period Austria

Congress of Vienna

Metternich reorganises post-Napoleonic Europe: the continent’s first collective security system.

1815 Institution Early modern period Luxembourg Netherlands

Creation of the Grand Duchy

The Congress of Vienna makes Luxembourg a sovereign state in personal union with the Netherlands.

1825 1849

Concert of Europe 8 events

1830 Event Early modern period Greece

Greek independence

Backed by European philhellenism, Greece becomes a state again after four Ottoman centuries.

1830 Event Early modern period Belgium

Belgian independence

The Brussels revolution creates a constitutional kingdom, neutral and guaranteed by the powers.

1835 Text Early modern period Finland

Publication of the Kalevala

Lönnrot compiles the national epic, the foundation of the Finnish cultural awakening.

1843 Event Early modern period Slovakia

Codification of Slovak

Ľudovít Štúr fixes the literary standard, a precondition of modern nationhood.

1845 Disaster Early modern period Ireland

The Great Famine

A million dead, two million exiled: the island’s population has never recovered.

1848 Text Early modern period Switzerland

Federal Constitution

After a brief civil war, Switzerland becomes a federal state with direct democracy.

1848 Event Early modern period Slovenia

United Slovenia programme

The springtime of peoples sees the first national political claim formulated.

1849 Text Early modern period Denmark

Liberal constitution

Absolutism ends; Denmark becomes a constitutional monarchy.

1850 1874

Concert of Europe 10 events

1859 Event Early modern period Romania

Union of the principalities

Cuza is elected in both Iași and Bucharest: modern Romania appears on the map.

1861 Treaty Early modern period Monaco

Franco-Monegasque treaty

Monaco cedes Menton and Roquebrune and sees its independence recognised.

1861 Event Early modern period Italy

Italian unification

The Risorgimento produces the Kingdom of Italy; Rome joins in 1870, ending the Papal States.

1863 Institution Early modern period Switzerland

Founding of the Red Cross

Henry Dunant creates in Geneva the institution that will give birth to humanitarian law.

1863 Event Early modern period Monaco

Monte-Carlo Casino

The Société des bains de mer turns a poor rock into a European destination.

1864 Event Early modern period Lithuania

Ban on the Lithuanian press

Forty years of book smuggling keep the language alive.

1867 Treaty Early modern period Hungary

Austro-Hungarian Compromise

Budapest becomes the second capital of an empire of fifty million people.

1867 Treaty Early modern period Luxembourg

Treaty of London

The fortress is dismantled and the country’s neutrality guaranteed by the powers.

1871 Event Early modern period Germany

Proclamation of the German Empire

At Versailles, Bismarck completes unification. A first-rank industrial power arises at the centre of the continent.

1873 Event Early modern period Latvia

First song festival

Dozens of choirs gather in Riga: song becomes the nation’s political expression.

1875 1899

Concert of Europe 4 events

1878 Event Early modern period Montenegro

Independence of Montenegro recognised

The Congress of Berlin confirms a state the Ottomans had never fully subdued.

1878 Treaty Early modern period Bulgaria

Treaty of Berlin

An autonomous Bulgarian principality is reborn after the Russo-Turkish war.

1878 Event Early modern period Serbia

Independence of Serbia recognised

The Congress of Berlin confirms Serbian sovereignty after four Ottoman centuries.

1878 Event Early modern period Bosnia and Herzegovina

Austro-Hungarian administration

The Congress of Berlin entrusts Bosnia to Vienna, which annexes it in 1908.

1900 1924

Concert of Europe 14 events

1900 Event Early modern period Austria

Vienna 1900

Freud, Klimt, Mahler, Wittgenstein: the capital becomes the laboratory of European modernity.

1903 War Early modern period North Macedonia

Ilinden Uprising

The revolt against the Ottomans becomes the founding reference of the Macedonian state.

1905 Event Early modern period Norway Sweden

Independence of Norway

The union with Sweden is peacefully dissolved after a massive referendum.

1906 Event Early modern period Finland

Universal suffrage

Finland is the first country in Europe to grant women both the vote and eligibility for office.

1910 Event Early modern period Portugal

Proclamation of the Republic in Portugal

The monarchy falls; the instability that follows will open the way to the Estado Novo.

1912 Event Early modern period Albania

Independence of Albania

Proclaimed at Vlora on 28 November, at the end of the Balkan wars.

1918 Event Early modern period Czechia

Birth of Czechoslovakia

Masaryk founds a parliamentary democracy that will remain unique in Central Europe.

1918 Event Early modern period Romania

Greater Romania

Union with Transylvania and Bessarabia doubles the territory and population.

1918 Event Early modern period Latvia

Proclamation of independence

On 18 November the Republic of Latvia is proclaimed in Riga.

1918 Event Early modern period Estonia

Independence of Estonia

Proclaimed on 24 February, it is successfully defended in the war of liberation.

1918 Event Early modern period Montenegro

End of the kingdom

Montenegro is absorbed into the kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

1918 Event Early modern period Moldova Romania

Union with Romania

The Sfatul Țării votes for union, annulled by the USSR in 1940.

1918 Event Early modern period Slovenia

Entry into Yugoslavia

The fall of Austria-Hungary brings Slovenia into the kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

1920 Treaty Early modern period Hungary

Treaty of Trianon

Hungary loses two-thirds of its territory; three million Magyars become minorities.