3600 a.C. Evento Antichità Malta
Megalithic temples
Ġgantija and Ħaġar Qim are built a millennium before the Egyptian pyramids.
La costruzione europea non è cominciata nel 1950. Questo filo unisce l’eredità antica, la matrice giudaico-cristiana e l’Unione contemporanea.
326 eventi
3600 a.C. Evento Antichità Malta
Ġgantija and Ħaġar Qim are built a millennium before the Egyptian pyramids.
509 a.C. Evento Antichità Italia
Kingship is abolished. Consuls, Senate and assemblies invent the balance of powers that modern constitutions will echo.
508 a.C. Evento Antichità Grecia
Athens entrusts power to the citizens’ assembly: the first documented democracy in history.
387 a.C. Istituzione Antichità Grecia
The West’s first philosophical institution; Aristotle studies there for twenty years before founding the Lyceum.
336 a.C. Evento Antichità Macedonia del Nord
The kingdom of Philip and Alexander carries Hellenism from Egypt to the Indus.
250 a.C. Evento Antichità Grecia
The Hebrew Bible is translated into Greek in Alexandria: a decisive bridge between Judaism and the Hellenistic world.
146 a.C. Evento Antichità Albania
Rome opens the road linking Dyrrachium to Constantinople: a major imperial axis for a thousand years.
52 a.C. Evento Antichità Francia
Vercingetorix surrenders to Caesar. Gaul enters the Roman orbit for five centuries and adopts Latin.
19 a.C. Evento Antichità Spagna
Augustus completes the conquest. Mérida, Tarragona and Italica become leading Roman cities.
9 Evento Antichità Germania
Arminius annihilates three of Varus's legions. Rome abandons the conquest of Germania and fixes its frontier on the Rhine and Danube.
14 Istituzione Antichità Slovenia
The Roman colony, on the site of Ljubljana, guards the road from Italy to the Danube.
45 Evento Cristianizzazione Cipro
The first Christian mission outside Judaea recounted in Acts; the Roman proconsul converts.
60 Catastrofe Cristianizzazione Malta
The Acts of the Apostles recount the Maltese welcome: Christianity takes root at once.
64 Figura Cristianizzazione Città del Vaticano
Tradition places the apostle’s death and tomb at the Vatican; the basilica follows from it.
106 Guerra Antichità Romania
Trajan’s Column immortalises the campaign. Latinisation will give birth to the Romanian language.
122 Evento Antichità Regno Unito
The Empire fixes its northern frontier; the wall remains the island’s greatest Roman relic.
212 Testo Antichità Italia
Roman citizenship is extended to nearly all free men of the Empire: a legal, not ethnic, community.
301 Istituzione Cristianizzazione San Marino
Marinus, a Dalmatian stonecutter, establishes a Christian community on Mount Titano.
305 Evento Antichità Croazia
The emperor builds his retirement residence at Split: the modern city grew inside its walls.
313 Testo Cristianizzazione Italia
Constantine grants freedom of worship to Christians. The Empire turns to Christianity and hands it its administrative frameworks.
325 Religione Cristianizzazione Turchia
The first ecumenical council formulates the creed common to all Christian churches.
330 Istituzione Cristianizzazione Grecia
Constantine moves the imperial capital. A thousand years of Greek-speaking Christian empire begin.
431 Religione Cristianizzazione Cipro
The Council of Ephesus recognises the Cypriot Church’s independence, maintained for fifteen centuries.
432 Religione Cristianizzazione Irlanda
The island is Christianised without ever having been Roman: a unique case in Western Europe.
496 Religione Cristianizzazione Francia
At Reims the Frankish king converts to Nicene Christianity. The alliance of throne and altar shapes the medieval West.
529 Evento Cristianizzazione Italia
At Monte Cassino, Benedict writes the rule that will structure Western monasticism and preserve ancient texts.
537 Evento Cristianizzazione Turchia
Justinian completes a dome that European architecture will take a thousand years to equal.
589 Religione Cristianizzazione Spagna
The Visigothic king Reccared abjures Arianism. Spain joins Nicene Christendom and shapes its liturgy.
590 Evento Cristianizzazione Irlanda
The Irish monk founds Luxeuil then Bobbio and replants monastic life in Gaul and Italy.
597 Religione Cristianizzazione Regno Unito
Sent by Gregory the Great, he founds the see of Canterbury and ties the island to Rome.
681 Evento Medioevo Bulgaria
Byzantium recognises a Bulgarian state south of the Danube: Europe’s oldest still-named Slavic state.
711 Guerra Medioevo Spagna
The Visigothic kingdom collapses. By the tenth century Córdoba is one of the largest cities in the world.
756 Evento Medioevo Città del Vaticano
The Donation of Pepin founds a temporal power that will last eleven centuries.
793 Guerra Medioevo Norvegia
The sack of the English monastery conventionally opens the Viking age.
800 Figura Cristianizzazione Germania Francia
In Rome, Pope Leo III restores the Western Empire for the King of the Franks — the shared political matrix of France and Germany.
800 Testo Medioevo Irlanda
A masterpiece of insular illumination, symbol of Ireland’s role in transmitting texts.
863 Religione Cristianizzazione Slovacchia
The two brothers from Thessalonica create the Glagolitic alphabet and the first Slavic liturgy.
864 Religione Cristianizzazione Bulgaria
Bulgaria adopts Byzantine Christianity and welcomes the disciples of Cyril and Methodius.
870 Evento Medioevo Malta
Two centuries of Aghlabid rule give Maltese its Semitic base.
886 Istituzione Cristianizzazione Macedonia del Nord
Clement and Naum train thousands of clerics there and spread Slavic writing.
893 Evento Cristianizzazione Bulgaria
The school of Preslav devises the script that will serve Russian, Serbian and Ukrainian.
907 Evento Medioevo Slovacchia
The first West Slavic state collapses; the territory passes to Hungary for a thousand years.
925 Evento Medioevo Croazia
Tomislav is recognised as king; the country anchors itself in Latin Christendom.
930 Istituzione Medioevo Islanda
At Þingvellir the world’s oldest still-functioning parliament is born.
962 Evento Medioevo Germania
Otto I is crowned in Rome. The Empire claims direct descent from ancient Rome and acts as the secular arm of the Church.
963 Istituzione Medioevo Lussemburgo
Siegfried acquires a rock on the Alzette: the castle will give the country its name.
965 Evento Cristianizzazione Danimarca
Harald Bluetooth proclaims the Christianisation of the Danes: the kingdom’s birth certificate.
966 Religione Cristianizzazione Polonia
Poland chooses Latin Christianity, a decision that durably fixes its cultural place in Europe.
988 Religione Cristianizzazione Ucraina
Vladimir chooses Byzantine Christianity; Eastern Europe swings into Constantinople’s orbit.
996 Evento Medioevo Austria
An imperial charter names for the first time the “eastern realm”, origin of the name Österreich.
1000 Figura Cristianizzazione Ungheria
Pope Sylvester II sends a crown: Hungary enters Latin Christendom.
1000 Religione Cristianizzazione Islanda
The assembly collectively decides to adopt Christianity to preserve civil peace.
1000 Religione Cristianizzazione Svezia
The baptism of Olof Skötkonung anchors the kingdom to Latin Christendom and to writing.
1016 Evento Medioevo Danimarca
The Danish king rules England, Norway and Denmark: a North Sea empire.
1030 Guerra Cristianizzazione Norvegia
The death of Olaf II makes him a saint: the kingdom’s Christianisation is completed.
1066 Guerra Medioevo Regno Unito
William imposes a French-speaking aristocracy; English absorbs thousands of Latin words.
1085 Istituzione Medioevo Spagna
The reconquered city becomes the workshop where the West recovers Greek science via Arabic and Hebrew.
1088 Istituzione Medioevo Italia
Europe’s oldest university is born around the study of the Digest: Roman law becomes a living science again.
1102 Evento Medioevo Croazia Ungheria
An eight-century personal union, Croatia keeping its diet and its ban.
1143 Evento Medioevo Portogallo
The Treaty of Zamora recognises Afonso Henriques as king. Today’s borders begin to take shape.
1163 Evento Medioevo Francia
From Saint-Denis to Chartres, Gothic architecture turns light into theology and spreads across Europe.
1191 Evento Medioevo Cipro
After the crusade, a Frankish dynasty rules the island for three centuries.
1201 Istituzione Cristianizzazione Lettonia
Bishop Albert establishes a mission city that will become the metropolis of the eastern Baltic.
1215 Evento Medioevo Regno Unito
The barons impose written limits on King John: the first milestone of constitutionalism.
1219 Religione Cristianizzazione Serbia
Saint Sava obtains Serbian ecclesiastical independence from Nicaea, a bedrock of national identity.
1219 Istituzione Cristianizzazione Estonia
The Danish crusade establishes a fortress; the town will join the Hanse.
1220 Evento Medioevo Islanda
Snorri Sturluson and his contemporaries commit Norse mythology and settler history to writing.
1222 Evento Medioevo Ungheria
Seven years after Magna Carta, the Hungarian nobility obtains written guarantees against royal arbitrariness.
1240 Guerra Medioevo Ucraina
The Mongol invasion destroys the capital and disperses the political legacy of Rus’.
1243 Evento Medioevo San Marino
Two heads of state elected for six months: the system still operates today.
1253 Figura Medioevo Lituania
Lithuania’s only king is crowned with papal approval; the state enters the European concert.
1262 Trattato Medioevo Islanda Norvegia
Iceland recognises the sovereignty of the king of Norway; the free state ends.
1278 Evento Medioevo Andorra
The feudal act sharing sovereignty is still the country’s constitutional basis.
1278 Evento Medioevo Austria
Rudolf’s victory on the Marchfeld opens six centuries of dynastic rule.
1282 Evento Medioevo Lettonia
Trade in timber, flax and grain links Livonia to Lübeck, Bruges and Novgorod.
1290 Istituzione Medioevo Portogallo
Founded by King Dinis, it transmits canon and Roman law to the whole Lusophone world.
1291 Trattato Medioevo Svizzera
Three Alpine valleys swear mutual assistance: the founding act of the Confederation.
1297 Evento Medioevo Monaco
Francesco Grimaldi seizes the fortress; the dynasty has reigned ever since.
1302 Guerra Medioevo Belgio
Flemish communal militias crush the French chivalry: an assertion of urban power.
1346 Evento Medioevo Kosovo
The seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church is established in Kosovo, spiritual heart of the kingdom.
1348 Istituzione Medioevo Cechia
Charles IV founds Central Europe’s first university and makes Prague the capital of the Holy Roman Empire.
1349 Evento Medioevo Serbia
The emperor promulgates a code inspired by Byzantine law, among Europe’s oldest.
1354 Evento Medioevo Lussemburgo
Charles IV raises his native county to a duchy of the Holy Roman Empire.
1358 Evento Medioevo Croazia
Dubrovnik becomes an independent merchant republic and a diplomatic model.
1359 Evento Medioevo Romania
Two Orthodox, Romance-speaking states take shape between the Carpathians, Danube and Dniester.
1364 Istituzione Medioevo Polonia
Casimir the Great founds one of Central Europe’s oldest universities; Copernicus will study there.
1377 Evento Medioevo Bosnia ed Erzegovina
Tvrtko I is crowned king; the country reaches its medieval zenith.
1387 Religione Cristianizzazione Lituania
The last country in Europe to convert, Lithuania seals its union with Poland.
1389 Guerra Medioevo Serbia
Defeat by the Ottomans becomes the founding narrative of Serbian memory.
1389 Guerra Medioevo Kosovo
The clash becomes a contested site of memory between Serbian and Albanian narratives.
1396 Guerra Medioevo Bulgaria
The fall of Vidin completes the conquest; five centuries of domination begin.
1397 Trattato Medioevo Danimarca
The three Scandinavian kingdoms are united under a single crown for more than a century.
1397 Trattato Medioevo Norvegia
Norway enters a Scandinavian union dominated by Denmark for four centuries.
1400 – 1550 Evento Rinascimento e Riforme Italia
Brunelleschi, Alberti, Michelangelo: antiquity becomes again an aesthetic norm and an intellectual programme.
1410 Guerra Medioevo Lituania
Poles and Lithuanians break the Teutonic Order and redraw the Baltic.
1415 Evento Medioevo Cechia
Condemned at Constance, the Czech reformer becomes a national martyr and a forerunner of Luther.
1432 Evento Rinascimento e Riforme Belgio
In Ghent Van Eyck completes the altarpiece that inaugurates oil painting and the Northern Renaissance.
1443 Guerra Medioevo Albania
Twenty-five years of resistance to the Ottomans make him a hero of Christendom.
1453 Evento Medioevo Grecia
Byzantine scholars flee to Italy with their manuscripts, feeding the Renaissance directly.
1453 Evento Medioevo Turchia
Mehmed II ends the Eastern Roman Empire; Europe’s commercial and intellectual horizon shifts.
1457 Figura Medioevo Moldavia
Forty-seven years of resistance to the Ottomans and of monastic foundations.
1463 Guerra Medioevo Bosnia ed Erzegovina
Four centuries of rule begin; a large share of the population converts to Islam.
1492 Evento Rinascimento e Riforme Spagna
The fall of Granada, the decree expelling the Jews, Columbus’s departure: three ruptures in a single year.
1498 Scoperta Rinascimento e Riforme Portogallo
The sea route to the spices opens; Europe’s economy shifts from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic.
1499 Guerra Rinascimento e Riforme Svizzera
The Confederation becomes de facto free of the Holy Roman Empire, formally recognised in 1648.
1506 Evento Rinascimento e Riforme Città del Vaticano
Bramante, Michelangelo then Bernini build the largest Christian edifice in the world.
1516 Testo Rinascimento e Riforme Paesi Bassi
The return to biblical sources opens the way to the Reformation and to modern textual criticism.
1516 Evento Rinascimento e Riforme Montenegro
Power passes to the metropolitans of Cetinje: an Orthodox theocracy unique in Europe.
1517 Testo Rinascimento e Riforme Germania
At Wittenberg, Luther challenges indulgences. His German Bible founds the modern language and fractures Western Christendom.
1517 Testo Rinascimento e Riforme Bielorussia
The first book printed in Ruthenian appears in Prague, a year after Erasmus.
1523 Evento Rinascimento e Riforme Svezia
Break with Denmark and with Rome: the birth of the modern Lutheran Swedish state.
1526 Evento Rinascimento e Riforme Ungheria
The Hungarian army is annihilated by Suleiman. The kingdom is partitioned for 150 years.
1534 Evento Rinascimento e Riforme Regno Unito
Henry VIII breaks with Rome and declares himself head of the Church of England.
1536 Religione Rinascimento e Riforme Danimarca
The Church becomes a state Church; universal religious instruction prepares national literacy.
1536 Evento Rinascimento e Riforme Svizzera
The Institutes of the Christian Religion make Geneva a centre of the European Reformation.
1536 Evento Rinascimento e Riforme Slovacchia
After Mohács, Bratislava becomes capital and coronation city of the Hungarian kingdom.
1539 Istituzione Rinascimento e Riforme Spagna
Francisco de Vitoria founds modern international law by questioning the legitimacy of conquest.
1539 Testo Rinascimento e Riforme Francia
Francis I imposes French in public acts: the vernacular supplants Latin in administration.
1548 Testo Rinascimento e Riforme Finlandia
Mikael Agricola creates written Finnish so that Scripture is accessible to all.
1550 Evento Rinascimento e Riforme Slovenia
Primož Trubar publishes a catechism and a primer: the birth of the written language.
1565 Guerra Rinascimento e Riforme Malta
The Order of Saint John repels the Ottoman army; all Europe follows the siege.
1566 Evento Rinascimento e Riforme Bosnia ed Erzegovina
The architect Mimar Hayruddin completes a work that became the symbol of Bosnian intermixing.
1569 Trattato Rinascimento e Riforme Polonia Lituania
Poland and Lithuania form a joint Commonwealth: elective monarchy and a powerful parliament.
1571 Guerra Rinascimento e Riforme Cipro
The fall of Famagusta shortly precedes Lepanto; a Turkish-speaking community settles.
1573 Evento Rinascimento e Riforme Polonia
The nobility guarantees religious peace while Europe sinks into wars of religion.
1579 Istituzione Rinascimento e Riforme Lituania
A Jesuit foundation, it becomes the intellectual hearth of the grand duchy.
1581 Evento Rinascimento e Riforme Paesi Bassi
The United Provinces depose their sovereign: one of the first texts asserting that power serves the people.
1588 Trattato Rinascimento e Riforme Bielorussia
A code in the Ruthenian language, among the most advanced in Europe of its time.
1600 Trattato Rinascimento e Riforme Romania
A brief union of the three principalities, later the founding symbol of Romanian unity.
1602 Istituzione Età moderna Paesi Bassi
The East India Company and the Amsterdam Exchange invent financial capitalism.
1607 Evento Età moderna Andorra Francia
Henry IV rules that the king of France, later the head of state, will be co-prince.
1620 Guerra Età moderna Cechia
Protestant defeat opens three centuries of Habsburg domination over Bohemia.
1631 Evento Età moderna San Marino
The Holy See formally recognises the republic’s independence.
1632 Istituzione Età moderna Estonia
Gustavus Adolphus founds the university that will train the Baltic’s scholarly elite.
1632 Evento Età moderna Svezia
Death of the “Lion of the North”, who had made Sweden the dominant Baltic power.
1648 Trattato Età moderna Germania
The end of the Thirty Years’ War enshrines state sovereignty and invents modern European diplomacy.
1648 Evento Età moderna Paesi Bassi
The Peace of Münster confirms the United Provinces as a fully fledged European power.
1670 Evento Età moderna Paesi Bassi
The Theological-Political Treatise founds historical criticism of the Bible and argues for freedom of thought.
1683 Guerra Età moderna Austria
The Christian coalition breaks the Ottoman offensive: the ebb begins in Central Europe.
1685 Testo Età moderna Lettonia
Ernst Glück’s translation fixes the written language and spreads reading through the parishes.
1688 Evento Età moderna Regno Unito
The Bill of Rights subjects the crown to Parliament: the matrix of parliamentary government.
1710 Testo Età moderna Ucraina
The Cossack text separates powers and limits the hetman: one of Europe’s oldest.
1719 Istituzione Età moderna Liechtenstein
Emperor Charles VI raises the two lordships into an imperial principality.
1739 Testo Età moderna Estonia
The complete translation fixes the literary language and accelerates rural literacy.
1755 Catastrofe Età moderna Portogallo
The disaster inspires Voltaire and Kant: the problem of evil becomes central to the Enlightenment.
1766 Testo Età moderna Svezia
Sweden adopts the world’s first law guaranteeing public access to official documents.
1789 Testo Età moderna Francia
The Assembly proclaims universal rights. The political vocabulary of contemporary Europe flows directly from it.
1791 Testo Età moderna Polonia
Europe’s first written constitution, adopted shortly before the country’s third partition.
1804 Testo Età moderna Francia
Napoleon commissions a synthesis of Roman and customary law, exported from Spain to Poland.
1806 Evento Età moderna Liechtenstein
The dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire leaves Liechtenstein fully sovereign.
1809 Evento Età moderna Finlandia
Attached to Russia, Finland keeps its Swedish laws and develops its institutions.
1812 Evento Età moderna Moldavia
Russia takes the eastern half of the principality at the Treaty of Bucharest.
1814 Testo Età moderna Norvegia
On 17 May Norway adopts one of the most liberal constitutions of its time.
1814 Evento Età moderna Svezia
Sweden’s last war. Two centuries of non-alignment begin.
1815 Trattato Età moderna Austria
Metternich reorganises post-Napoleonic Europe: the continent’s first collective security system.
1815 Istituzione Età moderna Lussemburgo Paesi Bassi
The Congress of Vienna makes Luxembourg a sovereign state in personal union with the Netherlands.
1830 Evento Età moderna Belgio
The Brussels revolution creates a constitutional kingdom, neutral and guaranteed by the powers.
1830 Evento Età moderna Grecia
Backed by European philhellenism, Greece becomes a state again after four Ottoman centuries.
1835 Testo Età moderna Finlandia
Lönnrot compiles the national epic, the foundation of the Finnish cultural awakening.
1843 Evento Età moderna Slovacchia
Ľudovít Štúr fixes the literary standard, a precondition of modern nationhood.
1845 Catastrofe Età moderna Irlanda
A million dead, two million exiled: the island’s population has never recovered.
1848 Testo Età moderna Svizzera
After a brief civil war, Switzerland becomes a federal state with direct democracy.
1848 Evento Età moderna Slovenia
The springtime of peoples sees the first national political claim formulated.
1849 Testo Età moderna Danimarca
Absolutism ends; Denmark becomes a constitutional monarchy.
1859 Evento Età moderna Romania
Cuza is elected in both Iași and Bucharest: modern Romania appears on the map.
1861 Evento Età moderna Italia
The Risorgimento produces the Kingdom of Italy; Rome joins in 1870, ending the Papal States.
1861 Trattato Età moderna Monaco
Monaco cedes Menton and Roquebrune and sees its independence recognised.
1863 Istituzione Età moderna Svizzera
Henry Dunant creates in Geneva the institution that will give birth to humanitarian law.
1863 Evento Età moderna Monaco
The Société des bains de mer turns a poor rock into a European destination.
1864 Evento Età moderna Lituania
Forty years of book smuggling keep the language alive.
1867 Trattato Età moderna Ungheria
Budapest becomes the second capital of an empire of fifty million people.
1867 Trattato Età moderna Lussemburgo
The fortress is dismantled and the country’s neutrality guaranteed by the powers.
1871 Evento Età moderna Germania
At Versailles, Bismarck completes unification. A first-rank industrial power arises at the centre of the continent.
1873 Evento Età moderna Lettonia
Dozens of choirs gather in Riga: song becomes the nation’s political expression.
1878 Trattato Età moderna Bulgaria
An autonomous Bulgarian principality is reborn after the Russo-Turkish war.
1878 Evento Età moderna Serbia
The Congress of Berlin confirms Serbian sovereignty after four Ottoman centuries.
1878 Evento Età moderna Montenegro
The Congress of Berlin confirms a state the Ottomans had never fully subdued.
1878 Evento Età moderna Bosnia ed Erzegovina
The Congress of Berlin entrusts Bosnia to Vienna, which annexes it in 1908.
1900 Evento Età moderna Austria
Freud, Klimt, Mahler, Wittgenstein: the capital becomes the laboratory of European modernity.
1903 Guerra Età moderna Macedonia del Nord
The revolt against the Ottomans becomes the founding reference of the Macedonian state.
1905 Evento Età moderna Norvegia Svezia
The union with Sweden is peacefully dissolved after a massive referendum.
1906 Evento Età moderna Finlandia
Finland is the first country in Europe to grant women both the vote and eligibility for office.
1910 Evento Età moderna Portogallo
The monarchy falls; the instability that follows will open the way to the Estado Novo.
1912 Evento Età moderna Albania
Proclaimed at Vlora on 28 November, at the end of the Balkan wars.
1914 Guerra Età contemporanea Serbia
The killing of the archduke sets off the chain reaction of the First World War.
1914 Evento Età contemporanea Belgio
The German invasion brings the United Kingdom into the war and freezes the Yser front.
1916 Guerra Età contemporanea Irlanda
The Dublin revolt, at first isolated, sets the independence process in motion.
1917 Evento Età contemporanea Finlandia
On 6 December Finland separates from revolutionary Russia.
1918 Evento Età moderna Romania
Union with Transylvania and Bessarabia doubles the territory and population.
1918 Evento Età moderna Cechia
Masaryk founds a parliamentary democracy that will remain unique in Central Europe.
1918 Evento Età moderna Lettonia
On 18 November the Republic of Latvia is proclaimed in Riga.
1918 Evento Età moderna Estonia
Proclaimed on 24 February, it is successfully defended in the war of liberation.
1918 Evento Età moderna Slovenia
The fall of Austria-Hungary brings Slovenia into the kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
1918 Evento Età moderna Montenegro
Montenegro is absorbed into the kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
1918 Evento Età moderna Moldavia Romania
The Sfatul Țării votes for union, annulled by the USSR in 1940.
1920 Trattato Età moderna Ungheria
Hungary loses two-thirds of its territory; three million Magyars become minorities.
1923 Istituzione Età contemporanea Turchia
Mustafa Kemal launches rapid Westernisation: Latin alphabet, Swiss civil code, secularism.
1923 Evento Età contemporanea Liechtenstein Svizzera
The Swiss franc becomes official currency; Bern represents the principality abroad.
1929 Evento Età contemporanea Città del Vaticano
Vatican City State is created; the Roman question is closed.
1932 Catastrofe Età contemporanea Ucraina
The famine engineered by Stalin kills millions; several states recognise it as genocide.
1939 Guerra Età contemporanea Polonia
Invaded by Germany then the USSR, Poland loses nearly a fifth of its population.
1939 Guerra Età contemporanea Finlandia
Facing Soviet invasion, Finnish resistance saves independence at the cost of Karelia.
1941 Guerra Età contemporanea Bielorussia
A quarter of the population perishes; hundreds of villages are razed.
1942 Evento Età contemporanea Malta
King George VI decorates the entire island for its endurance under bombardment.
1943 Evento Età contemporanea Bulgaria
Under pressure from the Orthodox Church and parliamentarians, deportation is cancelled.
1943 Evento Età contemporanea Danimarca
In a few nights, more than 7,000 Jews are evacuated to neutral Sweden.
1944 Evento Età contemporanea Islanda
On 17 June, at Þingvellir, Iceland breaks the link with the Danish crown.
1944 Evento Età contemporanea San Marino
The neutral republic houses more than 100,000 people, ten times its population.
1944 Evento Età contemporanea Paesi Bassi
Signed in London by the governments in exile, it prefigures the common market.
1944 Guerra Età contemporanea Slovacchia
One of the largest armed revolts against the Axis in occupied Europe.
1949 Testo Età contemporanea Germania
“Human dignity shall be inviolable”: Article 1 places the person — a Christian and humanist legacy — at the summit of the legal order.
1949 Istituzione Costruzione europea
Ten states found in London the first European political organisation, matrix of the Convention on Human Rights.
1950 Testo Costruzione europea
On 9 May France proposes placing coal and steel under a common authority. Community Europe is born of a material pooling.
1951 Trattato Costruzione europea
Six states create the European Coal and Steel Community, the continent’s first supranational institution.
1952 Guerra Costruzione europea Lussemburgo
Europe’s first supranational institution settles in Luxembourg.
1955 Trattato Età contemporanea Austria
The four powers withdraw; Austria proclaims perpetual neutrality.
1956 Guerra Età contemporanea Ungheria
The revolt is crushed by the Red Army; 200,000 Hungarians go into exile.
1957 Evento Costruzione europea
The EEC and Euratom are established; the common market and the four freedoms are laid down.
1957 Testo Costruzione europea Belgio
Belgian Paul-Henri Spaak drafts the preparatory text of the Treaties of Rome.
1960 Evento Età contemporanea Cipro
The Republic of Cyprus is born of a compromise between Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
1962 Religione Età contemporanea Città del Vaticano
The Church reforms its liturgy and redefines its relations with the modern world and Judaism.
1963 Trattato Costruzione europea Francia
De Gaulle and Adenauer seal Franco-German reconciliation, the institutional engine of integration.
1963 Trattato Costruzione europea Turchia
Association with the EEC explicitly envisages an accession perspective.
1963 Testo Costruzione europea
The Court of Justice asserts direct effect: Community law creates rights for citizens themselves.
1964 Evento Età contemporanea Malta
Malta leaves the British Empire and becomes a republic ten years later.
1967 Evento Età contemporanea Albania
Albania proclaims itself the world’s first atheist state; churches and mosques are closed.
1968 Evento Età contemporanea Cechia
“Socialism with a human face” is crushed by Warsaw Pact tanks in August.
1968 Evento Costruzione europea
Internal tariffs disappear eighteen months ahead of schedule.
1969 Scoperta Età contemporanea Norvegia
North Sea oil transforms the economy and founds the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund.
1973 Evento Costruzione europea Danimarca
The first Nordic member, Denmark enters alongside the United Kingdom and Ireland.
1973 Evento Costruzione europea Irlanda
Ireland joins with the United Kingdom and begins its economic transformation.
1973 Evento Costruzione europea Regno Unito
After two French vetoes, the United Kingdom enters the EEC with Denmark and Ireland.
1973 Evento Costruzione europea
Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom join the Communities, which grow from six to nine.
1974 Evento Età contemporanea Portogallo
On 25 April an almost bloodless military coup restores democracy.
1974 Evento Età contemporanea Cipro
The coup and Turkish intervention cut Cyprus in two; the Green Line crosses Nicosia.
1974 Evento Età contemporanea Kosovo
The Yugoslav constitution grants Kosovo near-republican attributes.
1975 Trattato Costruzione europea Finlandia
Thirty-five states sign a text placing human rights at the heart of détente.
1978 Testo Età contemporanea Spagna
Three years after Franco, Spain adopts a parliamentary monarchy and a state of autonomies.
1979 Evento Costruzione europea
For the first time citizens directly elect their MEPs; Simone Veil chairs the assembly.
1980 Evento Età contemporanea Polonia
At the Gdańsk shipyards the Soviet bloc’s first free trade union is born. Communism loses its workers’ legitimacy.
1980 Evento Età contemporanea Islanda
Iceland elects the world’s first woman head of state by direct universal suffrage.
1981 Evento Costruzione europea Grecia
As the tenth member, Greece anchors its restored democracy in Community Europe.
1984 Evento Età contemporanea Liechtenstein
The last country in Europe to grant it, by a male-only referendum.
1985 Trattato Costruzione europea
Five states sign on the Moselle an agreement progressively abolishing internal border controls.
1986 Evento Costruzione europea Spagna
With Portugal, Spain joins the EEC: southern enlargement consecrates democratisation.
1986 Evento Costruzione europea Portogallo
Portugal joins the EEC on the same day as Spain and begins rapid economic catch-up.
1986 Catastrofe Età contemporanea Bielorussia
Nearly 70 % of the radioactive fallout lands on Belarusian territory.
1986 Trattato Costruzione europea
The internal market is scheduled for 1993 and qualified majority voting extended.
1988 Evento Età contemporanea Estonia
Three hundred thousand Estonians sing banned anthems together: dissent becomes massive.
1989 Evento Età contemporanea Romania
The only violent fall of a European communist regime; Ceaușescu is executed on 25 December.
1989 Evento Età contemporanea Cechia
In a few weeks and without violence the regime falls; Václav Havel becomes president.
1989 Evento Costruzione europea Ungheria
On 19 August Hungary opens its border with Austria: the first breach in the Iron Curtain.
1989 Evento Età contemporanea Lituania
Two million people form a human chain from Tallinn to Vilnius.
1989 Evento Costruzione europea
9 November opens German reunification and, in time, that of the continent.
1990 Evento Età contemporanea Germania
A year after the Wall fell, the five eastern Länder join the Federal Republic and the European Community.
1990 Evento Età contemporanea Lituania
On 11 March Lithuania is the first republic to leave the USSR.
1991 Evento Età contemporanea Croazia
The declaration of 25 June opens four years of war on Croatian territory.
1991 Guerra Età contemporanea Slovenia
Slovenia leaves Yugoslavia after the shortest of the decade’s conflicts.
1991 Evento Età contemporanea Lettonia
After the Singing Revolution, Latvia regains its sovereignty.
1991 Evento Età contemporanea Estonia
On 20 August Estonia again proclaims its sovereignty.
1991 Evento Età contemporanea Ucraina
More than 90 % of voters approve leaving the USSR on 1 December.
1991 Evento Età contemporanea Albania
After forty-seven years of isolation, pluralism is restored.
1991 Evento Età contemporanea Macedonia del Nord
The only Yugoslav republic to separate without war.
1991 Evento Età contemporanea Moldavia
The republic proclaims sovereignty on 27 August, days after the Moscow putsch.
1991 Evento Età contemporanea Bielorussia
The Belavezha Accords, signed in Belarus, formalise the dissolution of the USSR.
1992 Guerra Età contemporanea Bosnia ed Erzegovina
The siege of Sarajevo lasts 1,425 days; Srebrenica is recognised as genocide.
1992 Trattato Costruzione europea
The European Union is created, with European citizenship and the timetable for the single currency.
1992 Evento Costruzione europea Svizzera
The people reject the European Economic Area; the bilateral path prevails.
1992 Evento Età contemporanea Moldavia
A ceasefire freezes a de facto secession that has lasted more than thirty years.
1993 Testo Età contemporanea Andorra
Andorra becomes a sovereign state under the rule of law and joins the UN the same year.
1993 Evento Età contemporanea Slovacchia
On 1 January the Slovak Republic is born of a negotiated, peaceful separation.
1993 Evento Età contemporanea Belgio
The fourth state reform enshrines in the Constitution a federal state of communities and regions.
1993 Evento Età contemporanea Cechia Slovacchia
Czechia and Slovakia separate peacefully on 1 January, a rare case in Europe.
1994 Evento Costruzione europea Norvegia
52.2 % of Norwegians reject Union entry; the EEA takes over.
1995 Evento Età contemporanea Bosnia ed Erzegovina
Peace establishes a two-entity state whose architecture still governs the country.
1995 Evento Costruzione europea Svezia
With Austria and Finland, Sweden joins the EU; it will reject the euro by referendum in 2003.
1995 Evento Costruzione europea Liechtenstein
The principality joins the European internal market without entering the Union.
1995 Evento Costruzione europea Austria
Austria joins the EU by referendum and becomes a pivot towards Central Europe.
1995 Evento Costruzione europea
Austria, Finland and Sweden bring the Union to fifteen members.
1998 Trattato Età contemporanea Irlanda
Thirty years of conflict end; the Irish border becomes invisible.
1999 Guerra Età contemporanea Kosovo
After months of conflict, the territory passes under United Nations administration.
1999 Trattato Costruzione europea Turchia
The Helsinki European Council recognises Türkiye as a candidate country.
1999 Evento Costruzione europea
Eleven currencies are irrevocably fixed; the European Central Bank takes up its functions.
2002 Evento Costruzione europea
Three hundred million Europeans change currency on 1 January.
2002 Evento Costruzione europea Montenegro
Without being in the euro area, the country makes the euro its official currency.
2002 Trattato Età contemporanea Monaco Francia
The text modernises the bilateral relationship and secures dynastic succession.
2004 Evento Costruzione europea
Ten states, eight of them formerly communist, join the Union: the continent’s division ends.
2004 Evento Costruzione europea Polonia
With nine other states, Poland joins the EU: the political reunification of the continent.
2004 Evento Costruzione europea Slovenia
The only former Yugoslav republic in the great enlargement of 2004.
2004 Evento Costruzione europea Cipro
Cyprus joins the EU; the acquis remains suspended in the northern part of the island.
2004 Evento Costruzione europea Malta
The smallest member state joins the EU and adopts the euro four years later.
2005 Scoperta Età contemporanea Estonia
Estonia becomes the first country in the world to hold elections over the internet.
2006 Evento Età contemporanea Montenegro
55.5 % of voters choose separation from Serbia.
2007 Evento Costruzione europea Romania
With Bulgaria, Romania joins the EU and becomes its eastern frontier on the Black Sea.
2007 Evento Costruzione europea Slovenia
The first of the 2004 new member states to join the single currency.
2008 Testo Età contemporanea Kosovo
On 17 February Pristina proclaims independence; recognition remains partial.
2008 Catastrofe Età contemporanea Islanda
The three big banks fail; the crisis leads to an EU application, withdrawn in 2015.
2008 Evento Costruzione europea Svizzera
Without Union membership, Switzerland abolishes its border controls.
2009 Trattato Costruzione europea
The Charter of Fundamental Rights becomes binding; Parliament becomes a full co-legislator.
2009 Evento Costruzione europea Slovacchia
The first Visegrád economy to join the euro area.
2010 Catastrofe Costruzione europea
The euro area urgently creates unprecedented financial solidarity mechanisms.
2011 Trattato Costruzione europea Andorra
The principality is authorised to mint its own euro coins.
2012 Trattato Costruzione europea Serbia
Serbia becomes a Union candidate; negotiations open in 2014.
2013 Evento Età contemporanea Ucraina
The refusal to sign the EU association agreement triggers months of protest.
2013 Evento Costruzione europea Croazia
As the twenty-eighth member state, Croatia is the first Western Balkan country to enter.
2014 Evento Costruzione europea Lettonia
The lats gives way to the euro five years after one of Europe’s severest financial crises.
2015 Catastrofe Costruzione europea
More than a million asylum seekers arrive in a single year; Schengen is put to the test.
2016 Evento Costruzione europea
51.9 % of voters choose to leave the Union: a first in the history of European construction.
2017 Evento Età contemporanea Montenegro
The country joins the Alliance despite strong internal opposition.
2018 Trattato Costruzione europea Macedonia del Nord Grecia
The compromise with Greece over the name unlocks thirty years of diplomatic deadlock.
2020 Evento Costruzione europea Regno Unito
On 31 January the United Kingdom becomes the first state to leave the European Union.
2020 Evento Età contemporanea Bielorussia
Contestation of the presidential election is repressed; the EU does not recognise the result.
2020 Evento Costruzione europea
Facing the pandemic, the Union borrows 750 billion jointly: a major break in its budgetary workings.
2020 Evento Età contemporanea Macedonia del Nord
The country becomes the 30th member of the Atlantic Alliance.
2022 Trattato Costruzione europea Ucraina
Four months after the Russian invasion began, the European Council grants candidate status.
2022 Guerra Costruzione europea
The Russian invasion brings sanctions, the reception of millions of refugees and candidacies from Ukraine and Moldova.
2022 Trattato Costruzione europea Moldavia
On 23 June Moldova becomes a Union candidate at the same time as Ukraine.
2022 Evento Costruzione europea Albania
Union accession talks open, jointly with North Macedonia.
2023 Evento Età contemporanea Finlandia
On 4 April Finland doubles the Alliance’s land border with Russia.
2023 Evento Costruzione europea Croazia
On 1 January Croatia joins the single currency and the free movement area on the same day.
2024 Evento Età contemporanea Svezia
On 7 March Sweden becomes the 32nd ally, ending two centuries of neutrality.
2024 Evento Costruzione europea
720 members are elected in 27 states; the right and sovereignist groups gain ground.
2025 Evento Costruzione europea Romania
Land border controls are lifted on 1 January, thirteen years after the first application.
2025 Evento Costruzione europea
The area has twenty-nine members: twenty-five Union states and four EFTA neighbours. Two member states remain outside — Ireland, by choice, and Cyprus, which has yet to join.
2026 Evento Costruzione europea Bulgaria
On 1 January the lev gives way to the euro: Bulgaria becomes the area’s 21st member.
2026 Evento Costruzione europea
Twenty-one of the twenty-seven member states now share the currency. Of the six outside, only Denmark holds an opt-out: the other five are legally bound to join, with no deadline.