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

1850 1904 1959

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51 events

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 Event Early modern period Italy

Italian unification

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

1861 Treaty Early modern period Monaco

Franco-Monegasque treaty

Monaco cedes Menton and Roquebrune and sees its independence recognised.

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 Event Early modern period Serbia

Independence of Serbia recognised

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

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 Bosnia and Herzegovina

Austro-Hungarian administration

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

1900 1924

Concert of Europe 20 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.

1914 War Contemporary period Serbia

Sarajevo assassination

The killing of the archduke sets off the chain reaction of the First World War.

1914 Event Contemporary period Belgium

Violation of neutrality

The German invasion brings the United Kingdom into the war and freezes the Yser front.

1916 War Contemporary period Ireland

Easter Rising

The Dublin revolt, at first isolated, sets the independence process in motion.

1917 Event Contemporary period Finland

Independence of Finland

On 6 December Finland separates from revolutionary Russia.

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 Estonia

Independence of Estonia

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

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 Romania

Greater Romania

Union with Transylvania and Bessarabia doubles the territory and population.

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.

1923 Institution Contemporary period Türkiye

Founding of the Republic

Mustafa Kemal launches rapid Westernisation: Latin alphabet, Swiss civil code, secularism.

1923 Event Contemporary period Liechtenstein Switzerland

Customs union with Switzerland

The Swiss franc becomes official currency; Bern represents the principality abroad.

1925 1949

World wars 14 events

1929 Event Contemporary period Vatican City

Lateran Accords

Vatican City State is created; the Roman question is closed.

1932 Disaster Contemporary period Ukraine

Holodomor

The famine engineered by Stalin kills millions; several states recognise it as genocide.

1939 War Contemporary period Poland

Invasion and occupation

Invaded by Germany then the USSR, Poland loses nearly a fifth of its population.

1939 War Contemporary period Finland

Winter War

Facing Soviet invasion, Finnish resistance saves independence at the cost of Karelia.

1941 War Contemporary period Belarus

Occupation and destruction

A quarter of the population perishes; hundreds of villages are razed.

1942 Event Contemporary period Malta

George Cross

King George VI decorates the entire island for its endurance under bombardment.

1943 Event Contemporary period Bulgaria

Rescue of the Bulgarian Jews

Under pressure from the Orthodox Church and parliamentarians, deportation is cancelled.

1943 Event Contemporary period Denmark

Rescue of the Danish Jews

In a few nights, more than 7,000 Jews are evacuated to neutral Sweden.

1944 Event Contemporary period Iceland

Proclamation of the Republic in Iceland

On 17 June, at Þingvellir, Iceland breaks the link with the Danish crown.

1944 Event Contemporary period San Marino

Sheltering refugees

The neutral republic houses more than 100,000 people, ten times its population.

1944 Event Contemporary period Netherlands

Benelux customs union

Signed in London by the governments in exile, it prefigures the common market.

1944 War Contemporary period Slovakia

Slovak National Uprising

One of the largest armed revolts against the Axis in occupied Europe.

1949 Text Contemporary period Germany

Bonn Basic Law

“Human dignity shall be inviolable”: Article 1 places the person — a Christian and humanist legacy — at the summit of the legal order.

1949 Institution European construction

Council of Europe

Ten states found in London the first European political organisation, matrix of the Convention on Human Rights.

1950 1974

European integration 3 events

1950 Text European construction

Schuman Declaration

On 9 May France proposes placing coal and steel under a common authority. Community Europe is born of a material pooling.

1951 Treaty European construction

Treaty of Paris — ECSC

Six states create the European Coal and Steel Community, the continent’s first supranational institution.

1952 War European construction Luxembourg

Seat of the High Authority

Europe’s first supranational institution settles in Luxembourg.