Seven Empires

 

Islamic Period

 

Seventh of Seven Heads, Kings, Mountains, Revelation 12:3, 17:9-10
Feet and Toes of Clay and Iron, Daniel 2:36-45
Part 2

 

1609 C.E.  Keppler publishes first two laws of planetary motions.

1610 C.E.  Galileo reveals observations of the heavens made with a telescope.

1611 C.E.  King James authorized English version of the Bible completed. Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden.

1614 C.E.  Frankfurt mob plunders Jewish quarter, drives out Jewish residents, emperor hangs mob leader, Jews return.

1615 C.E.  Jewish residents expelled from France.

1616 C.E.  Death of Shakespeare (b. 1564), Cervantes (b. 1547). Pietro della Valle, Italian, locates ruins of ancient Babylon, discovers cuneiform inscriptions, spurs interest in archaeology among Europeans.

1618 C.E.  "Thirty Years' War" conflict between Protestants and Catholics and ruling houses in Europe, Germany ravaged, Gustavus Adolphus perfects volley fire for effective use of musketry. Keppler publishes third law of planetary motion.

1619 C.E.  First black men arrive in Virginia as slaves, first American parliament meets at Jamestown.

1620 C.E.  Puritan Pilgrims arrive Cape Cod, Massachusetts on Mayflower, New Plymouth founded.

1621 C.E.  Pilgrim colonists and Native Americans celebrate Thanksgiving.

1622 C.E.  Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz founds Jewish community in Jerusalem. Forced conversion of Persian Jews to Islam, continues to 1629, converts secretly practice Judaism. War between Spain and France.

1624 C.E.  Death in India of Ahmed Sirhindi, devised modern orthodox Sufi theology, mystical Sufi movement grows beyond Sunni establishment. Virginia becomes an English Crown colony.

1625 C.E.  Muslim pasha imposes heavy taxes on Jerusalem Jewish community, confiscates property and imprisons Jewish leaders, within 40 years most Jews have fled to Ramleh.

1626 C.E.  New Amsterdam founded by Dutch. Death of Francis Bacon (b. 1561). Hebrew printing press founded in Amsterdam.

1627 C.E.  Annual funds raised by Jewish communities of Holland and Venice for the relief of Jews of the Holy Land.

1628 C.E.  Wm Harvey demonstrates blood circulation of body. French Huguenots surrender to Richelieu.

1630 C.E.  Death of Keppler (b. 1571). Austrian soldiers capture Mantua and pillage Jewish quarter, expel Jewish residents, who soon return by order of the emperor.

1633 C.E.  Roman Catholic Inquisition forces Galileo to recant heliocentric (earth orbits sun) beliefs.

1635 C.E.  France declares war on Spain.

1637 C.E.  Descartes publishes Discourse on Method and Geometry.

1638 C.E.  Ottoman Turks conquer Baghdad. Japanese Christians slaughtered in Shimbara uprising.

1639 C.E.  Turks grant peace treaty to Persian Safavids who recognize Ottoman control of Iraq and Baghdad. Seven Portuguese Jewish merchants and a physician are burned at the stake in Lima, Peru, by Catholic Inquisition.

1640 C.E.  Persians make Isfahan capital, becomes world class city, arts and sciences flourish. Portuguese revolt against Spain. Death of Rubens (b. 1577).

1641 C.E.  Catholic Irish revolt, 30,000 Protestants killed.

1642 C.E.  English civil war, Royalists vs Parliamentarians. Death of Galileo. Sea-wall destroyed in China during revolt, 300,000 drown.

1643 C.E.  France defeats Spain. Louis XIV, king of France. Denmark and Sweden at war.

1645 C.E.  Ottoman Turks at war with Venice over Crete. Cromwell's New Model Army formed.

1648 C.E.  Shi'ite ulama (religious council) of Persia denies divinity of Persian Shahs, divine Twelfth Imam ruled to dwell in religious council, not a single person. Cossack leader Bogdan Chmielnicki rebels in Ukraine, massive pogroms against Jewish population to rid Ukraine of Jews, up to 300 Jewish communities destroyed with up to 100,000 massacred in three years. Treaty of Westphalia ends "Thirty Years' War."

1649 C.E.  Charles I executed, republican rule in England, "The Commonwealth," Oliver Cromwell deals harshly with Catholic revolts in Ireland. Jewish residents expelled from Hamburg. Mexico City Inquisition, 13 of 109 Jews are "restored" to Catholic faith and escape execution, the remainder perish.

1650 C.E.  Mughal Taj Mahal tomb finished in Agra, India. Death of Descartes (b. 1596). Amsterdam Jewish scholar, Manasseh ben Israel, writes book to English Parliament to readmit Jews to England, makes reference to 10 lost tribes being discovered in Ecuador and that Messiah would come when Jews were completely dispersed around the world, including England, book influences English theologians, after 1656 Jewish settlement in England never questioned.

1653 C.E.  Cromwell "Lord Protector" of England.

1655 C.E.  Sweden at war against Poland, later joined by Russia, Denmark and Holy Roman Empire. Jews permitted to settle in New Amsterdam.

1656 C.E.  Turks defeated by Venetians. England and Spain at war. First Jewish doctor settles in America. Jewish philosopher Spinoza excommunicated from Synagogue for heresy. Jewish residents of Isfahan forced to convert to Islam or flee.

1657 C.E.  D. of Katib Chelebi, Ottoman encyclopediest.

1658 C.E.  Death of Oliver Cromwell (b. 1599).

1660 C.E.  Monarchy restored in England with Charles II. Tiberias in the Holy Land laid waste during Bedouin tribal wars, lies in ruins for 80 years.

1661 C.E.  Ottomans and Holy Roman Empire at war. Louis XIV becomes absolute monarch of France.

1662 C.E.  Royal Society in England founded for publication and exchange of science.

1664 C.E.  Treaty between Holy Roman Empire and Ottoman Turks. New Amsterdam's name changed to New York after seizure by English.

1665 C.E.  London ravaged by plague, 70,000 perish. Isaac Newton discovers laws of gravity. English navy defeats Dutch. Robert Hooke describes cellular structure in cork using microscope. Rembrandt paints The Jewish Bride.

1666 C.E.  Great fire of London. Shabbatai Zvi, false messiah, proclaims redemption causing Jewish hysteria, after arrest by Turkish authorities converts to Islam. Royal Academy of Sciences founded in France.

1667 C.E.  Dutch fleet defeats English. France invades Spanish Netherlands. 80,000 killed in earthquake in Caucasia. English poet John Milton writes Paradise Lost.

1668 C.E.  Jews in Barbados forbidden to engage in retail trade.

1669 C.E.  Ottoman Turks gain Crete from Venice. Death of Rembrandt (b. 1606). Jewish residents of Oran in Algiers expelled.

1670 C.E.  Jews expelled from Vienna, property confiscated, Great Synagogue made into a Catholic church.

1672 C.E.  Turks at war with Poland over Ukraine. Third Anglo-Dutch war. France invades Netherlands. Newton's Theory about Light and Color.

1674 C.E.  Holy Roman Empire at war against France in defence of Netherlands. Death of Milton.

1675 C.E.  Royal Observatory established in Greenwich, England. Portuguese synagogue for Amsterdam Sephardic Jews opened, seats 1,200 men and 400 women, largest synagogue in the world.

1676 C.E.  Turks gain Ukraine. Sikh uprisings in India. Imam of Yemen attempts to exile all non-Muslims, destroys synagogues and expels Jewish residents, Jews permitted to return in a few years.

1677 C.E.  Turks at war with Russia.

1679 C.E.  Inquisition suspended in Portugal.

1682 C.E.  Ottoman Turks at war with Austria.

1683 C.E.  Turks unsuccessfully besiege Vienna. Jews expelled from French possessions in America. Three hundred Jewish families in Salonika convert to Islam and join secret Jewish sect of Shabbatai Zvi.

1684 C.E.  Holy League of Venice, Austria and Poland defeat Ottoman Turks.

1685 C.E.  Louis XIV of France prohibits all religions except Catholicism, 50,000 Huguenot Protestants leave.

c.1685 C.E.  Spanish priest Michael Molinos begins Quietist Movement.

1686 C.E.  Philosopher John Locke witnesses Christian-Jewish debate in the Netherlands, later urges civil rights of all in the English Commonwealth, including Jews.

1687 C.E.  Turks defeated at battle of Mohacs. Newton publishes Principia, gravitational laws of motion.

1688 C.E.  William and Mary rule England.

1689 C.E.  League of Augsburg becomes Grand Alliance, Holy Roman Empire, Spain, Sweden, Saxony, Bavaria, Palatinate, England and Netherlands against France. Peter the Great, Tzar of Russia.

1690 C.E.  Turks retake Belgrade. France defeats English-Dutch navies.

1691 C.E.  Muslim Mughal Empire reaches zenith under Aurangzeb.

1692 C.E.  Salem, Massachusetts witch trials.

1693 C.E.  60,000 perish in earthquake in Italy.

1694 C.E.  Ayatollah Muhammad Majlisi overthrows last Safavid Shah, the Ayatollah rules Iran of behalf of the Persian Shi'ite religious council.

1696 C.E.  Mughal city of Calcutta comes under jurisdiction of British East India Company. Russian leader Peter the Great visits Western Europe incognito.

1697 C.E.  Ottoman Turks defeated by Austrians.

1699 C.E.  Treaty of Karlowitz; Turks lose some European lands, Russia controls Holy Places in Jerusalem.

1700 C.E.  Rabbi Judah Hasid of Poland leads 1,300 disciples to settle in Jerusalem, many die en route, Judah dies shortly after arriving, some disciples return to Poland, others convert to Christianity. War between Russia and Sweden.

1703 C.E.  St. Petersburg founded in Russia. Anti-Jewish violence in Jerusalem, Jewish community unable to pay back loans to Arab moneylenders, many Jews flee.

1704 C.E.  Optics published by Isaac Newton. France defeated by Grand Alliance.

1705 C.E.  Edmund Halley predicts periodic return of un-named comet, due in 1758 (Halley's comet).

1706 C.E.  Protestant theologian, Jacques Christian Basnage, publishes seven volume, History and Religion of the Jews from the Time of Jesus Christ to the Present.

1707 C.E.  Mughal Empire in India breaks up at death of Aurangzeb. England and Scotland united in Act of Union. Spain defeats Grand Alliance.

1709 C.E.  Afghan tribes successfully revolt against Persian Shi'ite rule. Russia defeats Sweden. Coking process for smelting invented.

1713 C.E.  Treaty of Utrecht, brings western European agreement.

1714 C.E.  Prussia issues financially oppressive edict to reduce size of Jewish community.

1716 C.E.  Synagogues of Posen sacked, sacred Scrolls of the Law desecrated.

1717 C.E.  Gabriel Fahrenheit proposes standard calibration of thermometers.

1718 C.E.  Quadruple Alliance against Spain.

1720 C.E.  Afghanistan independent, ruled by Asaduallah Khans.

1722 C.E.  Asaduallah Khans invade Persia, overthrow Shi'ite Safavids, Persians under Sunni rule. Judah Monis converts from Judaism to Christianity in Boston, becomes Hebrew instructor at Harvard.

c.1722 C.E.  Pietist Protestant colony, the Moravians, founded by Count von Zinzendorf.

1724 C.E.  Hyderabad, India independent from Mughals.

1726 C.E.  Mongol Uzbeks conquer Afghanistan.

1727 C.E.  Spain wars against Britain and France. Death of Newton. All Jews expelled from Ukraine. First Jewish judge appointed in America. Austria passes Familiant’s Law which permits only the eldest son of Jewish families to marry, till 1848.

1729 C.E.  Mongol Uzbeks conquer Persia. Newton's Principia translated into English. Jewish community of Hebron in the Holy Land ravaged by warring Arab tribes, Jews of Istanbul send financial relief.

1730 C.E.  First synagogue building built in North America. 137,000 die in earthquake in Japan.

1731 C.E.  Hebrew books in Papal states confiscated.

1732 C.E.  Asaduallah Khans retake Afghanistan.

1733 C.E.  War between France and Spain, Austria and Russia. Flying shuttle for weaving invented.

1734 C.E.  American "Great Awakening" through preaching of Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield.

1736 C.E.  Turks at war with Russia and Austria. Mongol-Uzbek leader, Nadir Qajar, becomes Persian Shah, reconquers Afghanistan, invades northern India. John Harrison invents marine chrono-meter, highly accurate on rough seas allowing greatly improved navigation. Rabbi Israel Ben Eliezer (Baal Shem Tov) realizes most Jews did not have the opportunity to become scholars, he seeks to stir greater Jewish devotion in the average Jew, father of the hasidic movement in Judaism.

1737 C.E.  300,000 perish in earthquake in Calcutta, India.

1739 C.E.  Nadir Shah of Persia sacks Delhi, Peacock Throne taken from Mughal Empire to Persia. War between Britain and Spain. John Wesley leads Methodist movement. Jewish residents expelled from little Russia.

1740 C.E.  City of Tiberias in the Holy Land rebuilt by Rabbi Abraham Abulafia. Mystic, Rabbi Moses Hayyim Luzzato, writes popular Jewish ethical treatise in Hebrew, The Path of the Upright. War of Austrian succession.

1741 C.E.  Russia and Sweden at war.

1742 C.E.  All Jewish residents of the Russian Empire expelled.

1743 C.E.  French defeated by English.

1744 C.E.  Jews expelled from Bohemia and Moravia.

1747 C.E.  Nadir Shah assassinated, Ahmed Shah ruler of Afghanistan.

1750 C.E.  Death of composer Bach (b. 1685).

1752 C.E.  Lightning conductor invented by Ben Franklin.

1753 C.E.  Popular anti-Jewish prejudice result in immediate repeal of Jewish naturalization bill ("Jew Bill") by the English Parliament.

1754 C.E.  German Protestant playwright, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, composes The Jew, portrays a Jewish character as a virtuous man.

1755 C.E.  N. American French and Indian war. Earth-quakes kill 40,000 in Persia, 60,000 in Lisbon.

1756 C.E.  Black Hole of Calcutta, 146 British captured and held in small room in Calcutta, most die. "Seven Years' War" between France and Britain.

1757 C.E.  British defeat Nawab of Bengal, rule India.

1758 C.E.  Prussians defeat Russians.

1759 C.E.  British capture Quebec from French. Catholic Cardinal, Lorenzo Ganganelli (later Pope Clement XIX) condemns blood libel accusations against the Jewish people.

1760 C.E.  Death of Rabbi Israel Ben Eliezer (Baal Shem Tov).

1762 C.E.  Britain declares war on Spain. Rousseau publishes The Social Contract.

1763 C.E.  Non-native Jews expelled from Bohemia.

1767 C.E.  Turks at war with Russia. James Cook explores East coast of Australia. U.S. Mason-Dixon line surveyed.

1768 C.E.  Rival gangs of Cossacks and peasants, the Hai damaks, ravage eastern Poland, killing up to 20,000 Poles and Jews. London Jews send money to ransom Jewish slaves in Malta.

1769 C.E.  James Watt patents steam engine.

1770 C.E.  Boston Massacre, British troops kill five civilians. Hargreaves invents spinning jenny.

1771 C.E.  Russia conquers Crimea. Oxygen discovered.

1773 C.E.  Boston Tea Party, cargoes of three British tea ships thrown into Boston Harbor.

1774 C.E.  Warren Hastings, Britain’s first Governor-General of India. First Continental Congress meets in American colonies, suspends trade with Britain unil pre-1763 economic status quo restored. Jews expelled from Prague, Bohemia and Moravia.

1775 C.E.  American War of Independence against British begins at Lexington, colonists face three enemies, British army (including 17,000 mercenaries), native Indians aiding England, and "Loyalist" American settlers who remained faithful to England. War between Marathas of India and Britain. First commercial steam engines.

1776 C.E.  American Declaration of Independence, formulates basic human rights, composed by Thomas Jefferson. Capitalist doctrine defined in The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, becomes guiding force in 19th century.

1777 C.E.  Group of 300 Hasidic Jews leave eastern Europe for the Holy Land.

1778 C.E.  France supports American colonies against Britain, followed by Spain. Death of Voltaire (b. 1694), Rousseau (b. 1712).

1781 C.E.  British surrender to Americans at Yorktown, Virginia. Jewish dress code abolished in Austria.

1783 C.E.  Treaty of Paris, American colonies recognized independent by Britain, Spain received Florida, most important defeat for Britain since the "Hundred Years’ War," about 70,000 American colonists died in the war, "Loyalists" emigrate to Canada. Russia annexes Crimea. First hot-air balloon flown by Montgolfier brothers. Earthquake in Italy claims 30,000 lives.

1784 C.E.  British India Act, controls politics of India. Malleable iron produced by puddling process.

1787 C.E.  Turks and Russia at war. U. S. Constitution signed in Philadelphia. Rice riots in Edo, Japan.

1788 C.E.  British convicts exiled to Australia. Sweden at war with Russia.

1789 C.E.  French Revolution, inspired by American success against Britain, Convocation of Estates General at Versailles demanded vote by head, not estate, establishment of National Assembly, the Bastille prison in Paris symbolising despotism seized by revolutionaries, National Guard established. George Washington, first U.S. President.

c.1790 C.E.  Muhammad Abdul Wahhab of Mecca preaches a return to purity of early Islam.

1791 C.E.  French constitution, French Jews emancipated. D. of Mozart (b. 1756), John Wesley (b. 1703).

1792 C.E.  France declared Republic, war against Austria and Prussia. William Carey founds Protestant missionary society, triggers founding of other missionary societies in Europe.

1793 C.E.  Death of Muhammad Abdul Wahhab, Sunni purist and revivalist. Louis XVI guillotined, followed by wife, Marie Antoinette. France declares war on Britain, Spain and Netherlands. Robespierre and Committee of Public Safety rule France in "Reign of Terror." German Jewish educator, Lazarus Bendavid, calls for abolition of ritual laws of Judaism, believing it the only way to stem the growing wave of Jewish conversion to Christianity.

1794 C.E.  Robespierre executed, end of Reign of Terror. Kajar dynasty founded in Persia, position of Persian Jews deteriorates. Jewish legion participates in unsuccessful national uprising against Russia and Prussia.

1795 C.E.  Third Partition divides Poland between Russia, Austria and Prussia, hundreds of thousands of Polish Jews under Russian rule; for hundreds of years previous no Jews could live in Russian Empire, Russia acquires largest Jewish population in the world.

1796 C.E.  Arab purist Wahhabis capture Mecca, hang their own red drape over Kaaba. Napoleon Bonaparte from Corsica leads French army to conquer Italy. British capture Ceylon from Dutch. Jews of Holland and Bologna emancipated. Censorship of Jewish books in Russia.

1797 C.E.  British fleet defeats French and Spanish. 41,000 perish in earthquake in Quito, Equador.

1798 C.E.  French capture Rome and found Roman republic, invade Switzerland and found Helvetic republic. French capture Cairo, Egypt. British navy defeats French at the Nile. The Jews of Rome remove yellow badges.

1799 C.E.  Rosetta Stone, carved in 203 BCE, found in Egypt, enables translation of hieroglyphics, age of scientific archeology begins. Napoleon invades Syria, French driven out of Italy, civil restrictions reimposed on Jewish residents.

1800 C.E.  French defeat Austrians. First electric battery.

c.1800 C.E.  "Islamic Jihad" organization founded by disciple of al-Wahhab, Shah Wali-Allah of Delhi. World Jewish population about two and a half million.

1801 C.E.  First Jewish U.S. marshall appointed by Thomas Jefferson.

1803 C.E.  Wahhabis in Arabia revolt, found purist Sunni state with capital at Riyadh. British conquer Delhi, Mughal Empire becomes British protectorate. War between Britain and France. U. S. makes "Louisiana Purchase" from France.

1804 C.E.  Napoleon self-proclaimed emperor of the French. Persia and Russia at war. Serbian revolt against Turks. Lewis and Clark begin expedition of Louisiana Purchase. First successful locomotive. Britain, Russia, Austria and Sweden allies against France. Death of Immanuel Kant, philosopher. Russian Jewish advocate of Haskala (Enlightenment) Judah Leib Nevakhovich, writes tracts in Hebrew and Russian calling for Russian sympathy towards Jews and rejection of Christian calls for Jews to convert, in 1809 converts to Protestant Lutheranism, many Jews reject Haskala movement, yet during the 19th century at least 250,000 Jews convert to Christianity, often for social opportunity.

1805 C.E.  Muhammad Ali rules Ottoman Egypt, effectively independent. French defeat Austrians. British navy defeats French-Spanish navies. French defeat Austrio-Russian army. Massacre of hundreds of Jewish residents of Algiers by envious Ottoman soldiers.

1806 C.E.  Turks at war with Russia and Britain. Holy Roman Empire dissolved by Napoleon. French defeat Prussia. Napoleon calls assembly of Jewish leaders in Paris.

1807 C.E.  Disciples of Vilna Gaon, Rabbi Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, settle in Jerusalem. Slave trade abolished in British Empire. French invade Portugal. Robert Fulton's steamboat sails. French Sanhedrin of Jews opens first session.

1808 C.E.  French occupy Spain. Russia and Sweden at war. US bans import of slaves. Napoleon declares Judaism an official religion, but puts controls on Jewish loans and requires special Jewish trade permits.

1809 C.E.  Jean Baptiste de Lamark, in Philosophie Zoologique, believed complex organisms could evolve from simpler ones, denied fixed species, believed in inheritance of acquired traits, "Lamarkianism" (proved wrong by later experiments).

1810 C.E.  Thirty-eight Jewish residents burned in Brandenburg on charge of host desecration. France annexes Holland. Serfdom abolished in Prussia.

1811 C.E.  Egyptian Mameluke ruling family killed by Muhammad Ali in Cairo. First outbreak of riots in England by Luddites against mechanization of textile industry.

1812 C.E.  Britain and U.S. at war. Greatest extent of Napoleonic French Empire, rules 50 million of the 170 million in Europe. Napoleon invades Russia with 600,000 and takes Moscow, forced to retreat with loss of 500,000 troops.

1813 C.E.  Prussian war of liberation begins, France defeated, also driven from Spain.

1814 C.E.  Swiss-German adventurer John Lewis Burckhardt enters Mecca disguised as Sheikh Ibrahim ibn Abdullah. Allied forces enter Paris, Napoleon exiled to Elba.

1815 C.E.  Serbs revolt against Ottoman Turks. Napoleon escapes, raises army and marches against Paris. Napoleon defeated at Waterloo, exiled to island of St. Helena.

1817 C.E.  Benjamin Disraeli joins Anglican Church by baptism. In Ferrara, Italy, five year old Jewish girl forcibly taken from parents with Catholic Church approval because nurse privately baptized the girl as a two month old baby.

1818 C.E.  Afghan tribe rebels against British supported Afghan King, country divided and weakened. Chile independent. Zulu Empire under Chaka. First Reform synagogue opens, Hamburg, Germany.

1819 C.E.  Sikhs conquer Kashmir. Spain gives up Florida to US. Colombia secures independence under Simon Bolivar. Singapore founded by British. "Hep! Hep!" (Hurray!) Anti-Jewish riots erupt in Germany and Denmark, Christians charge emancipation of Jews leads to economic exploitation; the cry, "Hep," of Crusader origin, Hierosolyma est perdita = Jerusalem is lost

1820 C.E.  Egyptian conquest of Sudan. British make agreement with Gulf Arabs against Ottoman Turks. Missouri compromise on slavery in U.S.

1821 C.E.  Ottomans and Persia at war. Greek war of independence against Ottomans, five hundred Greek Jews massacred by Greek rebels. Mexico and Peru proclaim independence. The Rabbi of Hamburg, Isaac Bernays, opponent of Reform Movement in Judaism, founds "Modern Orthodoxy."

1822 C.E.  Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador independent. West African colony of Liberia founded for freed American slaves. Earthquake claims 22,000 lives in Aleppo, Asia Minor. Rothchild financiers make enormous loan to Russia to rebuild after Napoleonic wars.

1823 C.E.  Persecution of Jewish community of Velizh, Russia, after blood libel accusation, trial drawn out for years, refutes accusation.

1824 C.E.  Britain begins to annex Burma.

1825 C.E.  Egyptians invade Greece. Bolivia independent.

1826 C.E.  Persia and Russia at war. Ottoman Turks take Missolonghi from Greece. Last "Auto-de-Fe" of Roman Catholic Spanish Inquisition on record occurs in Valencia, Spain; from 1481 to 1826 there were more than 2,000 "Autos-de-Fe" with 30,000 executions

1827 C.E.  Sir Moses Montefiore’s first visit to Jerusalem to assist Jewish population. Russia, Britain and France back Greek independence, defeat Egyptian fleet. Death of Beethoven (b. 1770). Georg Ohm discovers laws of electrical circuits.

1828 C.E.  War between Ottoman Turks and Russia. Earthquake kills 30,000 in Japan.

1830 C.E.  First passenger railroad in England. French begin conquest of Algeria. Revolutions in Europe.

c.1830 C.E.  Sir Richard Burton, explorer-writer, visits Mecca disguised as Persian holy man, Mirza Abdullah.

1831 C.E.  French Jews given rights equal to Catholics and Protestants. Dynamo invented by Faraday.

1832 C.E.  Egypt and Ottomans at war, Turks defeated at Koniah. Canadian Jews receive equal rights.

1833 C.E.  Mohammed Ali of Egypt gains Syria from Ottomans. Factory Act in Britain; Children under nine forbidden factory employment. Slavery abolished in British colonies.

1834 C.E.  McCormick reaper invented. "Analytical engine" primitive computer built by Charles Babbage. The House of Rothchild appointed fiscal agent of the US.

1835 C.E.  Henry Rawlinson deciphers and translates cuniform text on monument in Persia, the Behistun Inscription, completed and published in 1847, tells of Persian ruler Darius the Great 522-486 BCE, unlocks study of ancient Akkadian language found on clay tablets in Mesopotamia.

1836 C.E.  Texas independent from Mexico. Czar Nicholas I closes nearly all Jewish printing presses, many Jewish books burned.

1837 C.E.  "Victorian Era" begins with popular British Queen Victoria.

1838 C.E.  First regular British Consulate in Jerusalem. Previous privileges revoked from Swedish Jews.

1839 C.E.  In London Sir Moses Montefiore proposes a Jewish State in the Holy Land. Turks invade, are defeated in Syria. British occupy Aden. Afghanistan defended from Persian invasion by Britain. Jewish community of Meshad, Persia, forced to convert to Islam, secretly practice Judaism.

1840 C.E.  Limits of Egyptian expansion set by Britain, Russia, Prussia and Austria. British ships bombard Beirut. New Zealand becomes British Crown Colony. Upper and Lower Canada united. Jews throughout the world anticipate arrival of Messiah, based on Jewish year 5600 (=1840) and passages in the Talmud. Blood libel against Damascus Jewish community, protested by US Jews, and US President, Jewish delegation led by Sir Moses Montefiore secures release of Jewish captives.

1841 C.E.  Muhammad Ali made hereditary ruler of Egypt.

1842 C.E.  British withdraw from Kabul, Afghanistan. Hong Kong ceded to Britain. Mayer states First Law of Thermodynamics that total energy of the universe is constant but changes form.

1844 C.E.  Population of Jerusalem, 7,120 Jews, 5,000 Muslims, 3,390 Christians. Baha'i sect founded in Persia. Telegraph communication invented by Morse.

1845 C.E.  Texas joins the U.S. Britain annexes Punjab. Reform Jewish Rabbinical Council held in Frankfurt, Germany.

1846 C.E.  Potato famine in Ireland, one million perish, another million emigrate. Sewing machine invented. US at war with Mexico. Jewish community of San’a, Yemen, ordered to clean city’s sewers, edict remains in effect until 1950.

1847 C.E.  Benjamin Disraeli composes Tancred, a novel which favors restoration of independence to the Jewish nation, includes description of Jerusalem which he had visited 15 years earlier.

1848 C.E.  U.S. receives California and New Mexico, California gold rush. The Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels published. Revolutions spread through France, Germany, Prussia, Austria, Italy and Hungary, with liberal, nationalist and socialist struggles failing, leading to pessimism of noble ideas over brutal reality. Jews of Sardinia and Prussia emancipated, citizens of Rome remove gates of Jewish ghetto. Reuter’s News Agency established in Germany by Paul Reuter, four years after his cover to Christianity from Judaism.

c.1850 C.E.  World population reaches a billion.

1852 C.E.  Louis Napoleon becomes Napoleon III, emperor of the French.

1853 C.E.  Dispute over Holy Places in Palestine leads Ottoman Turks to declare war on Russia.

1854 C.E.  Crimean War, Britain, France, Ottoman Turks against Russia. English archaeologist discovers cylinder inscriptions in Mesopotamia stating King Nabonides of Babylon, 556-539 BCE, had rebuilt a ziggurat (massive tower). Matthew Perry's naval force concludes Japanese trade agreement with the U.S. Papal bull defines the immaculate conception by the parents of the Virgin Mary.

1855 C.E.  Florence Nightingale begins nursing reform in Crimean war. David Livingstone discovers Victoria Falls in Africa. Committee of Russian theologians and Orientalists issues report that there is no evidence to indicate the Jewish people use Christian blood or commit ritual murder.

1856 C.E.  Persia captures Herat, Afghanistan, war breaks out with British. Bessemer process of making steel.

1857 C.E.  Indian Mutiny of soldiers (Sepoy Rebellion) in Bengal Army.

1858 C.E.  Government of India put under British Crown from East India Company. Bologna, Italy, police seize six-year-old Jewish boy, Edgardo Mortara, from his family, on the basis of testimony of Christian servant that she had baptized him as a baby, the boy is taken to a monastery and raised a Catholic.

1859 C.E.  Darwin's Origin of the Species ties together antisupernatural ideas on the origin of life on earth, popularizes current thought on evolution, makes tremendous impact. Jewish child in New York secretly baptized by nurse, seized by Catholic authorities, returned to family by court order.

1860 C.E.  British and French occupy Peking. South Carolina secedes from the U.S. First Rabbi to deliver invocation in U.S. Congress.

1861 C.E.  Jewish settlers build first suburb of Jerusalem. Italy united except for Venice and Rome. Abraham Lincoln, U.S. President. 11 states form the Confederate States of America. U.S. civil war. Abolition of serfdom in Russia. Pasteur's germ theory published. Lebanon becomes independent state under French protection.

1863 C.E.  Abolition of slavery in U.S. proclaimed by Lincoln. French occupy Mexico city.

1864 C.E.  First Socialist International. Storm kills 70,000 in India. Roman Catholic Syllabus of Errors published.

1865 C.E.  U.S. civil war ends, Lincoln assassinated at "Ford’s Theater" Washington. Senate Judiciary Committee tables proposed amendment to US Constitution that Christianity be adopted as state religion of US.

1866 C.E.  Swiss Jews granted civic equality. Transatlantic cable for instant American-European telegraph communication, revolution in financial world. Dynamite invented.

1867 C.E.  "Seward's Folly," Russia sells Alaska to U.S. France withdraws from Mexico. Jewish residents of Austria and Hungary emancipated.

1868 C.E.  Ancient Moabite Stone monument discovered, inscription confirms portion of biblical narrative between 900-600 BCE. Telegraph and postal connections established in the Holy Land. Cuba seeks independence from Spain in "Ten Years' War." Earthquakes kill 40,000 in Peru and Ecuador. Benjamin Disraeli, prime minister of Great Britain, again in 1874. Jewish store owner and black clerk murdered by Ku Klux Klan in Franklin, Tennessee, one year after formal organization of the Klan in Nashville.

1869 C.E.  Road from coastal city of Jaffa to Jerusalem completed. Suez Canal opened.

1870 C.E.  Franco-Prussian War, Napoleon III captured. Italy annexes Papal States, Rome capital of Italy, Jews granted equality, ghetto of Rome abolished. Jews of Algeria emancipated. Pope declared infallible when speaking ex cathedra (officially teaching doctrines).

1871 C.E.  Jewish residents of German Empire emancipated. Stanley meets Livingstone in Africa.

1874 C.E.  Impressionist movement in art founded by Camille Pissarro, first major Jewish painter.

c.1874 C.E.  Final phase of collapse of Ottoman Empire.

1875 C.E.  Ottoman Empire declares public bankruptcy, Sultans ignore an imposed constitution. Revolt of Yugoslavia against Ottoman Turks. Earthquake kills 16,000 in Venezuela and Colombia.

1876 C.E.  Battle of the Little Big Horn. Serbia and Montenegro declare war on Ottoman Turks, are defeated. Thousands killed in Bulgarian revolt against Turkey. Jews of Ottoman Empire granted civil equality. Britain and France take control of Egyptian finances. Telephone invented by Bell, made practical for long-distance use by US Jewish inventor Emile Berliner.

1877 C.E.  Ottoman Turks and Russians at war over Balkans.

1878 C.E.  Petach Tikvah, an agricultural settlement, founded in the Holy Land by Jews from Jerusalem.

1879 C.E.  Britain and France control Egypt. War between Zulus and British. Albert Einstein born. Rumanian Jews granted political equality. Term "anti-Semite" coined by German, William Marr, with the founding of the League of Anti-Semites.

1880 C.E.  Death of Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, leader of effective Islamic fundamentalist movement in Egypt. Hebrew inscription from the days of King Hezekiah of Judah discovered in Jerusalem tunnel of spring of Siloam (Shiloah) of 2 Kings 20:20, Nehemiah 3:15 and John 9:7. Boer revolt against British in South Africa. Religious novel Ben Hur written.

1881 C.E.  Assassination of Czar Alexander II of Russia, pogroms against Jews break out. Tunis made protectorate of France.

1882 C.E.  First Aliyah of Jews from Russia to Holy Land. British bombard Alexandria and capture Cairo, direct British rule in Egypt. Mohammed Ahmed, the Mahdi (divinely guided Islamic leader), begins Muslim revolt of Sudan against British controlled Egypt. Disappearance of 14 year old Christian girl leads to blood libel charge against Jews of Tiszaeszlar, Hungary; during trial Catholic professor of Prague University discredited in his testimony that Jews practice ritual murder by Protestant theologians, including Franz Delitzsch, translator of the New Testament into Hebrew, Jewish defendants acquitted.

1883 C.E.  36,000 die after cataclysmic eruption of Krakatau volcanic island in Indonesia. Most drown from shock-generated 120 foot high sea-wave in the bays of 295 coastal towns in Java and Sumatra. Sound of eruption heard more than 3,000 miles away, ash cloud reaches height of 50 miles. Estimated that a cubic mile of material was blown to a height of 17 miles, which circled the globe several times. Dust falls on ships in quantity three days later at distance of 1,600 miles. Dust causes complete darkness for fifty-seven hours at 50 miles from volcano, twenty-two hours at 130 miles. High altitude dust layer allowed only 87% of sunlight to reach the earth causing world-wide drop in temperatures and spectacularly colored sunrises and sunsets.

1884 C.E.  European powers determine spheres of influence in Africa at Berlin Conference. British forces sent into Sudan to rescue Egyptian forces, besieged at Khartoum by Sudanese.

1885 C.E.  Khartoum falls to Sudanese, British General Gordon killed by Mohammed Ahmed. Louis Pasteur gives first rabies vaccination.

1886 C.E.  Ancient Egyptian Amarna Letters discovered at Tel el-Amarna, south of Cairo, which speak of the condition of land of Canaan in the 14th century BCE. Gold discovered in South Africa.

1887 C.E.  War between Italy and Ethiopia. 900,000 perish in flooding in China.

1888 C.E.  Pro-European secularist, Kemal Ataturk, becomes leader of "Young Turks." Suez Canal declared open to international maritime traffic by European powers at convention in Istanbul.

1891 C.E.  About 30,000 Jews expelled from Moscow, 110 thousand Jews leave Russia. Blood libel accusation against Jewish residents of Greek island of Corfu, many Jews leave the island.

1892 C.E.  Mathematical and scientific terms established in revived Hebrew language in the Holy Land, in ten years Hebrew becomes the principal language of Jewish settlers. Railway to Jerusalem inaugurated. Jewish inventor, David Schwarz, of Austria, designs aluminum framed airship, sells design to Count Zeppelin.

1894 C.E.  Dreyfus Affair; French officer who is Jewish, Alfred Dreyfus, convicted of treason and deported. Jewish reporter covering the trial, Theodor Herzl, becomes convinced the only solution for Jews against anti-Semitism is an independent Jewish state. War between China and Japan.

1895 C.E.  War between Italy and Ethiopia. Wireless telegraphy by Marconi. X-rays discovered by Roentgen.

1896 C.E.  Population of Jerusalem, 28,112 Jews, 8,560 Muslims, 8,748 Christians. British and Egyptians begin reconquest of Sudan. 27,000 killed in earthquake and sea-wave in Japan.

1897 C.E.  Theodor Herzl organizes "First Zionist Congress" in Basle, Switzerland, which seeks to create an independent Jewish state. War between Greece and Ottoman Turks over Crete. Stone monument discovered in Persia inscribed with the Code of Hammurabi, ancient Babylonian ruler, 1728 BCE. German government finances test flights of dirigible designed by David Schwartz and developed by Count Zeppelin.

1898 C.E.  Theodor Herzl meets Kaiser Wilhelm II in Jerusalem. U.S. and Spain at war over Cuba. British-Egyptian forces, lead by British General Kitchener defeat Sudanese and occupy Sudan.

1899 C.E.  First Hague Peace Conference to settle international conflict through peaceful means. Boer Wars in South Africa. Blood libel trial leads to outbreak of anti-Jewish riots in Bohemia and Moravia. Charles Steinmetz, German Jewish electrical engineer, arrives in US, becomes chief consulting engineer to the General Electric Co., studies and theories on alternating current lead to practical use of electricity.

1900 C.E.  Boxer Rebellion in China. American archaeologists excavate Nippur, ancient Sumerian city. Blood libel charge in West Prussia sparks anti-Jewish riots, Jewish defendants acquitted. Jewish defendant in Vilna acquitted of blood libel, charged with wounding servant, a re-trial in 1902 shows servants wounds were self-inflicted.

c.1900 C.E.  "Islamic Jihad" movement founded in northern India (modern Pakistan) by disciples of Wali-Allah.

1901 C.E.  Wahhabi purist, Muhammad ibn Sa'ud, supported by British captures Masmak, Ottoman fort, and rules area around Riyadh, Arabia despite Ottoman claim. Terrorist activities increase in Russia. Persian business document in Hebrew script discovered in Sinkiang, China, proving Jewish visits there as early as 718 C.E.

1902 C.E.  Martinique volcano, Mt. Pelee, erupts, 40,000 perish by superheated low-altitude ash cloud.

1903 C.E.  Wright brothers fly first powered aircraft. Zionism suppressed in Russia, pogroms against Jewish residents of Bessarabia and Gomel. Elephantine Papyri discovered in Egypt, written in Aramaic, describe a Jewish military colony in Egypt during the Persian Empire, the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, c. 450 BCE. Jewish residents of Taza, Morocco, flee after massacre by sultan’s troops.

1904 C.E.  Russia and Japan at war, 43 anti-Jewish pogroms occur in Russia during the year.

1905 C.E.  Russians defeated by Japanese. General strike and revolt in Russia, Tzar grants some reforms. More than a dozen Jewish residents of Zhitomir, Russia, killed in pogrom, Jewish self-defense efforts prevent greater toll, later, government encited pogroms sweep 660 Jewish communities and in one week about 1,000 murdered. Second Jewish Aliyah to Holy Land from Russia. First Russian public edition of anti-Semitic forgery, Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Einstein publishes General Theory of Relativity.

1906 C.E.  French officer Dreyfus declared innocent of treason in retrial, reinstated into the French Army, made Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. Shah Nasir ud-Din of Persia allows constitution. British launch first modern battleship, HMS Dreadnought. San Francisco earthquake. Magnetic North fixed by Amundsen, a Norwegian. Muslim League formed in Delhi. Russian pogrom against Jewish residents of Bialystok leaves more than 200 dead, later about 30 killed in Siedlce. Russian Jew, who will become first prime minister of Israel, David Ben Gurion, settles in the Holy Land. Archaeological excavation in Boghaz-Keui in Turkey discovers clay tablets describing empire of biblical Hittites. Azuza Street Christian revival begins in Los Angeles sparking the "Spirit of Pentecost" Pentecostal Christian movement. 20,000 die in earthquake in Valparaiso, Chile.

1907 C.E.  Triple Entente; Britain, France and Russia in opposition to Triple Alliance; Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. Protestant Social Gospel defined in Christianity and the Social Crisis by Walter Raushenbusch.

1908 C.E.  Young Turk movement leads revolution in Turkey against Sultan Abdul Hamid II. Muhammad V new Sultan, promises to support reforms of Young Turks. Crete declares union with Greece, Bulgaria declares independence. 150,000 die in earthquake in Italy and Sicily. Colossal airborne explosion of staggering magnitude over Tunguska, Siberia, equal to 30 megatons or 1,500 Hiroshima A-bombs, blast was registered in Moscow, Germany, England and even Washington D.C., explosion was heard at 500 miles, clothing was scorched at 40 miles, 1200 square miles of forest destroyed (cause still undetermined).

1909 C.E.  Sultan Abdul Hamid II of Turkey deposed. Henry Ford produces assembly-line built, inexpensive cars. Admiral Robert Peary reaches North Pole. Deganyah, first kibbutz established in Holy Land, city of Tel Aviv founded by Jewish immigrants as suburb of Jaffa. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) founded in the U.S.

1910 C.E.  First airplane takeoff from ship. Japan annexes Korea. Jewish residents of Kiev, Russia, expelled. Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, "father of modern Hebrew," begins publication of 17 volume Complete Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Hebrew, completed in 1959.

1911 C.E.  Sun Yat-sen overthrows Manchu dynasty, Chinese republic formed. Italy at war with Turkey over Libya, first use of airplane in offensive combat. 100,000 perish in flooding in China. Arab nationalist, anti-Zionist organization, Al-Fetah, founded in Paris.

1912 C.E.  French protectorate in Morocco. Italy gains Tripoli from Turkey. British liner Titanic, largest ever and reputedly unsinkable, strikes iceberg on maiden voyage and sinks, 1513 lives lost. First Balkan war against Turkey. Quantum Theory by Max Planck. "Vitamin" discovered which prevents beriberi disease.

1913 C.E.  Young Turks found dictatorship in Turkey. Albania created in Balkans. Greece takes Crete. Second Balkan war against Bulgaria, which is defeated.

1914 C.E.  Archduke Ferdinand of Austria assassinated, sparks WWI. Allies; Britain, France, Russia, Italy and later the US against Central Powers; Germany, Austrio-Hungary, Turkey, Bulgaria. Trench warfare until the end of the war. Panama Canal opened.

1915 C.E.  British naval blockade of Germany, German submarine blockade of Britain. Poison gas used by Germans. More than 600,000 Armenians massacred by Turks. British liner Lusitania sunk by German U-boat. Jews forbidden from praying at Western Wall in Jerusalem because prayers include plea for reestablishment of Jewish State. German Zeppelins carry out first air raid on Britain. 30,000 perish in earthquake in Italy.

1916 C.E.  Battle of Verdun. Easter uprising in Ireland. Battle of Jutland. Battle of Somme, more than one million killed, British use tanks. Arab revolt against Turks begins in Hejaz. Turks in Mecca surrender, Hussein, Sharif of Mecca, proclaimed king of Arabs.

1917 C.E.  British capture Baghdad from Turkey. Russian revolution, as many as 60,000 Jews killed in pogroms. U.S. declaration of war on Germany. T.E. Lawrence takes command of Arab revolt against Turkey. Third battle of Ypres. Bolsheviks led by Lenin seize power in Russia. Balfour declaration of British support for Jewish homeland in Palestine. British capture Jerusalem from Turks.

1918 C.E.  Treaty between Russia and Germany, Russia withdraws from war. Women over thirty can vote in Britain. Second battle of the Marne. Revolution in Germany, republic declared. Defeated Germany signs Armistice ending WWI. About forty million lives lost during the war. World-wide flu epidemic claims 20 million lives. Karl Barth's commentary of the biblical book of Romans shakes modern Christian theology.

1919 C.E.  Peace conference in Paris founding the League of Nations. Treaty of Versailles signed by Germany. Mohandas Mahatma Gandi leads passive Indian rebellion against British. Third Jewish Aliyah from Russia, Poland and Galicia to Holy Land.

1920 C.E.  Russia and Poland at war. League of Nations meets. Homeland to be established for Jews in Palestine by British. Prohibition of alcohol in the U.S. Earthquake in China kills 100,000.

1921 C.E.  Turkey attacks Greece. Egypt a sovereign nation under British style constitutional Monarch, King Farouk, Islamic shariah (orthodox Koranic laws) demanded by traditionalists and modernists. Emir Faisal made king of Iraq. Afghanistan granted independence from Britain.

1922 C.E.  League of Nations entrusts Britain with Palestinian Mandate, which includes establishment of Jewish national home, Arab pressure leads to first British "White Paper" to limit Jewish immigration. Mussolini prime minister of Italy. Egypt independent from British and French control. U.S.S.R. established. Sultan of Turkey overthrown by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Sir Leonard Woolley excavates ancient Ur in Mesopotamia, reputed birth place of patriarch Abraham.

1923 C.E.  Turkey becomes a republic under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Hitler imprisoned after "Beer Hall Putsch," an attempt to overthrow Bavarian government. Earthquake in Japan, 200,000 perish.

1924 C.E.  Fourth Jewish Aliyah from Poland to Holy Land. Joseph Stalin succeeds Lenin as Soviet leader after his death.

1925 C.E.  Arab revolts in Morocco put down by France and Spain. Sunni Muslim Reza Shah Pahlavi comes to power in Shi'ite Persia. Primitive television transmission by John Logie Baird. Excavations begin at ancient city of Nuzi, 150 miles north of Baghdad, reveal ancient settlements of the Hurrians = biblical Horites, confirms biblical patriarchal customs of Genesis, c.2000-1800 BCE.

1927 C.E.  Chiang Kai-shek sets up Chinese government in Nanking. Charles Lindberg makes first solo transatlantic flight. 200,000 perish in earthquake in China.

1928 C.E.  Muslim Brotherhood formed in Egypt. Stalin begins brutal Soviet collectivisation of agriculture and the first "Five Year Plan," two to three million killed. Penicillin discovered by Fleming.

1929 C.E.  U.S. stock market crash, worldwide depression. Jewish-Arab riots in Palestine, British issue second "White Paper" to further limit Jewish immigration. Richard Byrd flies over South Pole. Excavations begin at mound of Ras Shamra in Syria, reveal well known ancient city of Ugarit of the 15th-14th centuries BCE, as well as the vile nature of the gods of the biblical Canaanites.

1930 C.E.  Iraq recognized independent from Britain.

c.1930 C.E.  More than fifteen million Jews in the world.

1931 C.E.  National command of Haganah, underground defense force for Jewish settlers in Palestine established. 3,700,000 perish in flooding in China.

1932 C.E.  Wahhabi Sa'ud clan declare themselves rulers of new kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Earthquake kills 70,000 in China.

1933 C.E.  Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany. Nazi party eliminates all opposition in Germany. U.S.S.R. Communist Party brutally purged by Stalin. Fifth Jewish Aliyah from Europe to Holy Land. Afghanistan adopts constitution limiting power of king, Koranic shariah made the country's basic laws. Excavations begin in ancient city of Mari in Syria, royal palace, Temple of Ishtar and vast library eventually discovered, shed more light on biblical patriarchal era. U.S. receives first concession to explore and develop oil resources in Saudi Arabia.

1934 C.E.  Hitler becomes Fuhrer after President Hindenburg dies. Earthquake kills 10,700 in India.

1935 C.E.  Hitler renounces Versailles Treaty, begins rearmament of Germany, Jews suffer government persecution through Nuremburg Laws. Persian ruler Reza Pahlavi, admirer of Hitler, renames country Iran, (land of the Aryans). 50,000 killed in earthquake in India.

1936 C.E.  Jewish villages in Palestine attacked by Arab gangs directed by Jerusalem Muslim Mufti, moderate Arabs also attacked. Germany reoccupies the Rhineland. Spanish Civil war. German-Italian "Axis" Pact. Stalin begins "Great Purge" elimination of "Old Bolsheviks" of U.S.S.R., up to eight million arrested in two years, five to six million in Siberian and Russian camps, from 1940-42 the numbers are doubled.

1937 C.E.  Japanese invade China, begin brutal occupation. British Peel Commission recommends partition of Palestine west of Jordan into Jewish and Arab states with British enclave. Amelia Earhart lost in the Pacific on round-the-world flight.

1938 C.E.  Germany annexes Austria. Munich Pact gives Germany Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia. "Kristallnacht" Nazi pogrom against German and Austrian Jews, thirty-six killed, 30,000 men sent to concentration camps. U.S. discovers oil at Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

1939 C.E.  British issue third "White Paper" restricting Jewish immigration to Palestine to 10,000 a year. Germany annexes Czechoslovakia. Spanish Civil war ends. Italy invades Albania. Germany invades Poland, WWII begins. Britain and France declare war on Germany. Russia invades Poland. Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact signed. Finland defeated by U.S.S.R. 30,000 killed in Turkey, and 28,000 killed in Chile in earthquakes. 200,000 die in flooding in China.

1940 C.E.  Germany invades Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg. Japan joins Axis powers. Germany invades France. Dunkirk evacuation of British troops from France to England. France surrenders. Air Battle of Britain. Italy invades Greece. Muslim League declares intent of establishing Pakistan as homeland for Indian Muslims after the war.

1941 C.E.  Herman Goring orders full implementation of the "Final Solution" (genocide) of all Jews in Nazi territory, other nationalities also suffer. Germany invades Russia. Italy and Germany invade Egypt. Manhattan Project (atomic weapons) begins in the U.S. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi succeeds father as Shah of Iran, pro-Nazi. Japan launches surprise attack on U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. U.S. declares war on the Axis powers.

1942 C.E.  Japan captures Manila, Singapore, Rangoon, Mandalay and the Philippines. Germans defeated at Stalingrad and El Alamein, German retreat from North Africa. As many as a million Jews slaughtered by Nazis. Storm kills 40,000 in India. Nuclear chain reaction in the U.S. by Enrico Fermi.

1943 C.E.  German forces surrender at Stalingrad. U.S. begins recapture of Pacific islands from Japanese. Stubborn Jewish revolt in Warsaw ghetto put down by Nazis, ghetto liquidated.

1944 C.E.  Allies enter Rome. Allies land at Normandy, France. Japanese navy defeated at battle of Leyte Gulf. In forty-five days Nazis murder 400,000 Hungarian Jews in death camps.

1945 C.E.  Warsaw captured by U.S.S.R. Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin discuss postwar arrangements at Yalta. Allies invade Germany. Mussolini assassinated. Hitler commits suicide. Germany surrenders. United Nations charter signed. Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrenders. End of WWII. During the war about six million Jews murdered, termed Holocaust, nine to ten million Slavs and Gypsies murdered. Total casualties of the war, fifty million dead, thirty-four million wounded. Potsdam conference determines peace terms. Independent Sunni Republic of Kurdistan declared, crushed by forces from Iran, Iraq and Turkey. Arab League founded.

1946 C.E.  League of Nations ends. First U.N. General Assembly meeting. Nuremburg trials for Nazi war criminals. Jordan (Transjordan) recognized as Monarchy under King Abdullah, a Hashemite (direct descendant of Muhammad), Jordanian army formed. British continue to turn Jewish survivors of European Holocaust away from Palestine. Civil war begins in Vietnam.

1947 C.E.  U.N. agrees to partition Palestine into Arab and Jewish states with Jerusalem as an international city, Jews agree to plan Arabs reject it. Transistor invented. Arab Bedouin shepherd discovers cave in Palestine with many scroll fragments, to be known as The Dead Sea Scrolls. Many fragments dated to a century BCE - century CE, oldest biblical texts. Marshall Plan introduced to rebuild Europe. India gains independence from British, India and Pakistan created, tens of thousands die in Muslim - Hindu riots and population transfer. Burma gains independence.

1948 C.E.  State of Israel declared by David Ben Gurion, war between Israel and surrounding Arab nations. Muslim Brotherhood assassinates Egyptian Prime Minister after Egyptians defeated by Israel. Gandhi assassinated by Hindu extremist. U.S.S.R. blockades West Berlin, allied relief airlift begins. Civil war in China. Division of North and South Korea. World Council of Churches founded.

1949 C.E.  South Africa adopts Apartheid as government policy. N.A.T.O. formed. Mao Tse-tung establishes brutal communist rule in China. Germany divided into East and West Germany. Communist organization Comecon founded. Jerusalem partitioned at Arab-Israel armistice, declared capital of Israel. Large-scale Aliyah immigration of Jews to Israel begins from many nations, including Arab nations.

1950 C.E.  Papal dogma of the Assumption of Mary decreed. Korean war begins. British and Egyptian dispute over Suez Canal and Sudan. Earthquake in India, more than 20,000 perish.

c.1950 C.E.  World population 2.5 billion.

1951 C.E.  Egypt withdraws from agreements on Suez canal, British occupy canal zone. British and French make King Idris the Sunni ruler of Libya. King Abdullah of Jordan assassinated at the entrance to the Al Aksa mosque in Jerusalem by pro-Nasser fundamentalists because of his assistance in the creation of the state of Israel. Peace treaty signed in San Francisco by Japan and opponents of WWII. Site of Qumran in the Holy Land excavated, reveals Jewish sect of the first century.

1952 C.E.  Yasser Arafat joins Muslim Brotherhood while a student at Cairo University. Hussein king of Jordan. Chinese Communists forcibly collectivize the country, several million die.

1953 C.E.  Muslim Brotherhood plays major role in overthrow of British-backed King Farouk of Egypt. Egyptian Arab Republic established. U.S. CIA assists Shah in overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister. Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norkay climb Mount Everest. Stalin dies, Malenkov Soviet leader. Korean War ends. Watson and Crick discover double helical molecular structure of DNA.

1954 C.E.  Gamel Abdul Nasser becomes President of Egypt, expels British and German military advisors. After assassination attempt Nasser hangs six leaders of Muslim Brotherhood and drives hundreds into exile in Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Algerian National Liberation Front declares war on French. French defeated in North Vietnam. S.E.A.T.O. formed to check spread of communism in South East Asia. Polio vaccinations by Jonas Salk.

1955 C.E.  Communist Warsaw Pact formed. Juan Peron of Argentina goes into exile after revolt. Baghdad Pact formed between Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Britain.

1956 C.E.  Egyptian President Nasser nationalizes Suez canal, Israel invades Egypt, British and French forces occupy canal zone. U.N. arranges cease-fire. Morocco and Tunis independent from France. Sudan independent. Pakistan declared world's first Islamic Republic. Uprising in Hungary crushed by Soviet troops.

1957 C.E.  European Common Market agreement signed. Suez canal open to all shipping. First satellite Sputnik launched into orbit by U.S.S.R.

1958 C.E.  Egypt and Syria form the United Arab Republic, Yemen also joins. Revolt in Iraq, King Faisal II assassinated, republic declared. U.S. launches its first satellite, Explorer, space race begins.

1959 C.E.  Communist Fidel Castro overthrows government in Cuba. Tibet rebels against Chinese rule.

1960 C.E.  Seventeen European colonies in Africa given independence. U.S. reconnaissance plane shot down over U.S.S.R. John Kennedy becomes President of the U.S. Moroccan earthquake, sea-wave kills 10,000. Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) founded. Coup in Turkey, Prime Minister Menderes, "Friend of God," hanged, secular state reaffirmed.

c.1960 C.E.  Yasser Arafat recruits Palestinians willing to take up arms against Israel in al-Fetah organization.

1961 C.E.  Adolf Eichmann found guilty in trial in Jerusalem of Nazi war crimes against Jews in WWII Holocaust, subsequently hanged. Berlin Wall built between democratic W. Berlin and communist E. Berlin. Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, first man in space. U.S. backed "Bay of Pigs" invasion of Cuba fails. U.S.S.R. explodes 50 megaton hydrogen bomb, largest ever.

1962 C.E.  Algeria gains independence from France. Cuban Missile crisis between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. Satellite Telstar put in orbit. World Muslim League established. Pope John XXIII opens Second Vatican Council, liberalizes Roman Catholic liturgy. Earthquake kills 12,230 in Iran.

1963 C.E.  U.S. President Kennedy assassinated, Vice President Lyndon Johnson becomes President. Storm in East Pakistan kills 20,000.

1964 C.E.  PLO founded as umbrella for Palestinian refugee relief and guerilla groups, sponsored by President Nasser of Egypt. War between Greeks and Turks in Cyprus, U.N. troops sent to maintain peace. U.S. increases involvement in Vietnam conflict. Civil Rights Act becomes law in the U.S. Strongest North American earthquake hits Alaska, 117 killed, Pacific sea-wave generated by the shock reaches 50 feet in height and travels 8,445 miles at 450 miles per hour.

1965 C.E.  Spain grants legal status to Jewish community. War between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, U.N. calls for cease-fire. U.S. bombs North Vietnam, Marines sent to South Vietnam. Death of Sir Winston Churchill. 47,000 killed in East Pakistan, 10,000 killed in Pakistan in separate storms. General Suharto comes to power in Indonesian coup. Suharto supported by Muslim shariah jurists, over a period of years 500,000 Communists will be executed. Mutual excommunication between Eastern and Roman Churches of 1054 repealed.

c.1965 C.E.  Special Creation vs. Evolution, modern creation movement has begun; One-hundred years after Darwin's book Origin, scientists who believe recent creation explains scientific evidence of life on earth successfully challenge scientists who hold to evolution during debates on college campuses in the U.S.

1966 C.E.  Military coup in Syria, leader of strongest Alawite clan appointed President, Hafez al-Assad. Cultural Revolution in China. 12,000 killed in earthquake in Iran.

1967 C.E.  Six Day War between Israel and Arabs. Israel captures territories and east Jerusalem, declares unification of Jerusalem. Arab leaders formulate the "three noes" concerning Israel in Kartoum, Sudan; no peace, no negotiations, no recognition. U.N. arranges cease-fire with resolution 242. Population of Jerusalem, 195,000 Jews, 54,960 Muslims, 10,800 Christians. Muammar Qaddafi overthrows pro-British King Idris, establishes unique "divinely guided" Islamic dictatorship. Communist government in Albania closes mosques and churches.

c.1967 C.E.  Modern "Messianic Movement" is underway; Jews who believe Yeshua (Jesus) is risen from the dead and is Israel's Messiah maintain Jewish identity by forming Messianic synagogues and congregations and choose not to assimilate in Christian churches.

1968 C.E.  Black U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King assassinated. Robert Kennedy, brother of President John Kennedy, assassinated. Soviet troops crush uprising in Czechoslovakia. Tet Offensive in Vietnam.

1969 C.E.  War of Attrition launched by Arabs against Israel. Sudan introduces traditional Koranic laws, shariah. Al Aksa mosque on Temple Mount in Jerusalem burned by Australian Protestant Christian who seeks to hasten the return of Christ, ignites riots throughout the Muslim world against Israel. Saudi Arabia founds Secretariat of the World Muslim League to finance Muslim causes with oil wealth and assert leadership of Sunni Islamic nations. Yearly Islamic Conference established. American astronauts land on the moon.

1970 C.E.  Civil war in Jordan between Palestinian exiles directed by the PLO against Jordanian government forces. 67,000 dead from earthquake in Peru, 10,000 perish in earthquake in China. 200,000 drown in storm in East Pakistan.

c.1970 C.E.  Hajj research center opens in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia. World Jewish population about fourteen million.

1971 C.E.  Pakistan defeated in war against India over Kashmir. East Pakistan become independent secular Bangladesh. Bahrain gains independence from Britain. 10,000 killed in storm in India.

1972 C.E.  Islamic constitution adopted in Morocco. Ceylon becomes republic Sri Lanka. U.S. President Nixon visits Communist China. 5,000 killed in Iran, 6,000 killed in Nicaragua by earthquakes. Eleven Israeli athletes killed at Olympics in Munich by Arab terror group, five terrorists and one policeman also killed.

1973 C.E.  Yom Kippur War; Egypt and Syria invade on Israel's holiest day. Israel recovers from initial severe losses and pursues Egypt and Syria, cease-fire after five weeks of fighting. U.N. resolution 338 adopted. Arab OPEC cartel raises price of oil four times previous level. Arabic added to the five original working languages of the U.N. General Assembly. Republic declared in Afghanistan. U.S. legalizes abortion, withdraws troops from Vietnam.

1974 C.E.  Yasser Arafat addresses the U.N. General Assembly speaking as a "head of state." President Nixon resigns after Watergate scandal.

1975 C.E.  King Faisal of Saudi Arabia assassinated. North Vietnam defeats South Vietnam, war ends. Khmer Rouge slaughter more than a million people in the "Killing Fields" of Cambodia.

1976 C.E.  Israeli commandos free 103 hostages in Entebbe, Uganda. 242,000 killed in China, 23,000 killed in Guatemala, 8,000 killed in the Philippines, 4,000 killed in Turkey by earthquakes. Premier philosopher of science Karl Popper says Darwinianism (evolution - natural selection) has value for science as a metaphysical research program, but that it is not a scientific theory, these remarks disturb the secular scientific community.

1977 C.E.  Sadat of Egypt and Begin of Israel visit each other's country, begin peace negotiations. More than 1.6 million Muslims make Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. Coup in Pakistan brings General Zia ul-Haq to power, implements full Koranic laws of shariah and begins Islamisation campaign. Coup in Bangladesh brings military to power with new constitution which abolishes secularism and establishes foundation of Koranic shariah. Muammar Qaddafi declares "third universal theory" which includes theoretical abolition of Libyan state, "The People are the Caliph." Coup in Afghanistan brings Marxist to power, opposing tribes declare Jihad, and are loosely bound together as Mujahideen, Islamic warriors. Djibouti granted independence from France. Soviet Jewish Refusnik Anatoly Scharansky arrested in Moscow. 7,000 dead from storm in India.

1978 C.E.  President Daoud of Afghanistan overthrown by pro-Soviet party. 25,000 perish in earthquake in Iran. Israel invades Lebanon. Pope Paul VI dies, new Pope, John Paul, dies after thirty-four days in office, replaced by Pope John Paul II of Poland. Muslim world produces 45% of world's oil, holds 65% of world's proven oil reserves. 913 commit suicide in Jim Jones' People's Temple cult in Jonestown, Guyana.

1979 C.E.  Camp David peace accords between Egypt and Israel signed in U.S. Shah of Iran toppled from government, flees Iran. Exiled Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Iran and forms Islamic Republic, claims title of Guardian of Religious Law, becomes most powerful international Shi'ite leader (compare entry for 1694). Sunni Islamic "Mahdi" and more than 200 armed followers seize Sacred Mosque and Kaaba in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, 255 die in ensuing battle, Saudi troops capture 73 rebels who are executed according to shariah by beheading in public. U.S.S.R. invades Afghanistan, reportedly some Muslim soldiers in Soviet Army desert to the Afghans.

1980 C.E.  War between Iraq and Iran. Border of Israel and Egypt opened. Israel proclaims Jerusalem eternal capital, Saudi Arabia renews call for Jihad (Holy War) against Israel. Population of Jerusalem 275,000 Jews, 92,000 Muslims, 12,000 Christians. Military coup in Turkey. Mauritania declared an Islamic Republic. Egyptian Muslim group, Al-Jihad, plants bombs in Coptic Christian churches in Cairo. U.S. breaks ties with Iran. 4,500 perish in Algeria, 4,800 killed in Italy in earthquakes.

1981 C.E.  President Sadat of Egypt assassinated during anniversary celebration of Yom Kippur invasion of Israel in 1973 by a faction of the Muslim Brotherhood who oppose peace with Israel and seek to establish an Islamic State. Egypt expelled from the Arab League because of the treaty with Israel. Assassination attempts on U.S. President Reagan and Pope John Paul II fail. Pope encourages greater Roman Catholic devotion to the Virgin Mary since he credits her with saving his life. Israel makes pre-emptive air strike on nuclear reactor in Iraq. U.S. launches the first space shuttle. Plot uncovered to overthrow government of Bahrain and install an Islamic Republic. Francis Crick, of DNA fame (1953) states belief in "Directed Panspermia," that chemical conditions on earth appear to have made it impossible for the first living cell to evolve and that life came to earth from some other planet. Mathematician and astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle, concludes the astounding complexity and amazing degree of order in the Universe demands pre-existing intelligence, even to the limit of God.

1982 C.E.  More than 380 Islamic leaders from over twenty nations meet in Teheran, Iran for conference on ideal Islamic government. Israel invades Lebanon to crush PLO power. Bashir Gemayel, president elect of Lebanon, assassinated by explosion. Hundreds of Palestinians killed in West Beirut Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps by Lebanese Christian Phalangist loyalists of Gemayel. Islamic fundamentalist riots in all Algerian towns leads to fall of President Boumedienne, new President Chadli begins limited Islamisation of government and laws. President Assad of Syria crushes uprising inspired by Muslim Brotherhood in city of Hama, upwards of 20,000 killed. Islamic riots in Egypt put down by the army. New Jewish immigrant to Israel wearing Israel Army uniform opens fire on Jerusalem's Temple Mount killing one, wounding others, had history of schizophrenia before moving to Israel. Arabic added to the five original working languages of the U.N. Security Council. War between Britain and Argentina over the Falkland Islands.

1983 C.E.  Pope John Paul II signs new Roman Catholic code. Coup in Bangladesh brings General Ershad to Presidency. In a period of only five weeks Iran announces 300 public executions for crimes against Koranic shariah laws. President Nimeiri of Sudan announces the full implementation of Koranic shariah laws in Sudan. Motherland Party wins Turkish elections. U.S. Embassy in West Beirut blown up by "Islamic Jihad" Shi'ite suicide driver, 63 die. Palestinians expelled from Lebanon by Israel. 241 U.S. servicemen die in "Islamic Jihad" Shi'ite terrorist explosion in Beirut, separate attack on French Paratroopers leaves 58 dead. U.S. Embassy in Kuwait attacked by Shi'ite suicide car bomb, "Islamic Jihad" claims responsibility. International Geological Correction Project sets a reference point in geologic column between layers of rock with no fossils (pre-Cambrian) and the first layers which contain nearly all major forms of life (known as the "Cambrian Explosion"). S. Korean 747 downed by U.S.S.R. after tracking it for two hours, 269 perish.

1984 C.E.  Indira Ghandi assassinated by bodyguards. Saudi Arabia begins $16 billion expansion of the "Prophet's Mosque" in Medina, to accommodate additional 250,000 worshipers. U.S. Embassy in East Beirut bombed, 14 die. Italy and Vatican agree to end Roman Catholicism as state religion. Toxic gas leak in Bhopal, India kills 2,000, injures 150,000. Drought and famine in Mauritania, Niger, Mali, Chad, Sudan and Ethiopia. Islamic fundamentalist riots in Indonesia against secularizing policies. France and Libya at brink of war over Chadian civil war. Israel discovers Jewish conspiracies to blow up the Muslim mosques on Jerusalem's Temple Mount.

1985 C.E.  Convicted Israeli plotters of Temple Mount bombings receive sympathy and support from many fellow Israelis. 2.1 million Muslims from 119 nations gather at Hajj in Mecca, in groups of 100,000 they shout, "Oh Allah, return Jerusalem to Islam." Shi'ite Muslims hijack TWA airliner, American serviceman killed, 39 Americans taken hostage in Beirut, Lebanon, hostage release later secured by Syria and Iran. PLO terrorists hijack cruise liner Achille Lauro, American Jewish passenger murdered. Israel withdraws most forces from Lebanon. 25,000 die in Mexico City earthquake. Mud slides kill 25,000 in Colombia. Cyclone kills 10,000 in Bangladesh. Terrorists kill 19 in Rome and Vienna airports.

1986 C.E.  Space shuttle Challenger blows up after launch, crew of five men, two women killed. Algeria adopts charter to guide "Islamic Socialism." Martial law lifted in Pakistan. Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster, radiation spread as far as Scandinavia and Western Europe. AIDS virus discovered. U.S. bombs Libya, three U.S. hostages in Lebanon slain in retaliation. U.S. intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard found guilty as spy for Israel. Volcano gas from lake bottom kills 1,500 in Cameroon. Iran-Contra affair revealed in U.S.

1987 C.E.  U.S. bans Austrian president Kurt Waldheim from country due to Nazi past. Iraq apologizes for attacking and killing 37 sailors on the U.S. frigate Stark in the Persian Gulf. Lebanon's Prime Minister, Rashid Karami, assassinated. Hundreds killed in Shi'ite inspired violence at Mecca, Saudi Arabia breaks contacts with Iran. 4,000 killed in Ecuador by earthquake. Palestinian resistance against Israeli rule in territories escalates, termed "Intifada."

c.1987 C.E.  World population five billion.

1988 C.E.  U.S. Navy shoots down Iranian airliner over Persian Gulf by mistake, 290 killed. Pakistani President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq killed in plane crash, suspect in-flight bomb explosion. End of Iraq-Iran war, more than a million casualties. Yasser Arafat proclaims independent Palestinian State. Saudi Arabia initiates $1.6 billion expansion project of the Holy Mosque in Mecca to accommodate an additional 150,000 worshipers. Massive desert locust plague covers North Africa, as far east as Saudi Arabia and Iran. Some swarms of locusts fly 3,000 miles to a dozen Caribbean islands, some reach Rome and southern England. Earthquake kills 55,000 in Armenia. Terrorist bomb blows up Pan Am 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland, 270 killed. Benazir Bhutto wins election in Pakistan, maintains Islamic Republic based on Koranic laws. Rioting between Muslims and Christians in Soviet Armenia. Muslim riots in Soviet Tadjikstan after earthquake victims buried in mass grave without Islamic funeral rites.

1989 C.E.  U.S. fighters shoot down Libyan fighters over international water of Mediterranean Sea. U.S.S.R. opens the door for massive Jewish immigration to Israel. Soviets troops withdraw from Kabul, Afghanistan. Iran's Hojatoleslam Hashemi-Rafsanjani sentences Salman Rushdie to death for writing The Satanic Verses. Muslim-Christian riots in Yugoslavia on 600th anniversary of Battle of the Field of Blackbirds which established Ottoman Turkish rule. Saudi Arabia beheads 16 pro-Iranian Kuwaitis after attempt to bomb the Great Mosque in Mecca during the Hajj. Tens of thousands of Chinese students demonstrate for greater democracy, weeks later crushed by government forces. Ayatollah Khomeini dies, hysterical mourners overturn casket during funeral procession. Berlin wall is opened, eastern European countries begin anti-communist demonstrations. Rene Moawad, Lebanese President, assassinated after 17 days in office.

1990 C.E.  Eight Israeli tourists murdered in Egypt by Palestinian extremists. Seven Palestinian day workers murdered in Israel by Israeli gunman, sparks widespread Palestinian unrest. Islamic leader assassinated in Kashmir, police kill 30 of 100,000 angry mourners. PLO launches speedboat attack against Israeli beaches, four terrorists killed. Islamic party wins large victory in Algeria. Stampeding masses of pilgrims in Mecca trample to death 1,426. Iraq invades Kuwait to recover oil fields and end "colonial" invention of border. U.N. imposes world embargo on Iraq, U.S. led defense coalition builds up in Saudi Arabia. A week after the invasion Sadaam Hussein claims it was in support of the Palestinian cause. Yasser Arafat in Baghdad supports Sadaam Hussein. Arab League votes to send troops to defend Saudi Arabia. Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and others join U.S. led coalition against Iraq. Government of Pakistan overthrown on charges of corruption. W. and E. Germany reunited. Arab League moves headquarters back to Cairo from Tunis. Britain and Iran resume ties. Israeli Jewish group, "The Temple Mount Faithful," seeks to lay the foundation stone for the third Jewish Temple, Muslim rioters react by throwing stones and metal objects down on Jewish worshipers at Western Wall from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Israeli police kill 18 Muslim Arabs in subsequent clash. Earthquake in Iran kills 50,000.

1991 C.E.  United Nation Allies begin massive round-the-clock air strikes against Iraqi positions in Kuwait and Iraq. Iraq launches conventionally tipped Scud missiles against Saudi Arabia and Israel (later determined that some were unconventional). U.S. sends anti-missile Patriot batteries to Israel manned with U.S. personnel to keep Israel from the conflict. Iraqi warplanes flown to Iran. Allied armored invasion crushes Iraqi forces, fleeing Iraqis torch hundreds of Kuwaiti oil wells. Estimated more than 100,000 Iraqi soldiers killed in just about a month of war. (A year later the casualty figures reduced greatly to as low as 8,000.) Allies liberate Kuwait. Iraq accepts cease-fire which calls for the destruction of all Iraqi unconventional weapons and allows U.N. investigators to check for compliance. Severe embargo sanctions continued against Iraq. Kurds of northern Iraq revolt, then flee to the mountains. Shi'ites in southeastern Iraq revolt, are crushed by surviving Iraqi forces. U.S. forces enter northern Iraq to construct safe-haven camps for Kurds. Storms in Bangladesh kill 125,000. Iraq refuses U.N. investigators access to certain laboratories raising the threat of renewed warfare, eventually allowed access. In two days more than 15,000 Ethiopian Jews from war-torn Ethiopia are airlifted to Israel. Three Baltic republics of the U.S.S.R. demand independence, Soviet crackdown follows. Political conflict between republics of Yugoslavia eventually lead to full scale civil war. Israel renews call for direct negotiations for peace with her Arab neighbors. President Gorbachev arrested in coup attempt by hardliners in the U.S.S.R. Russian President Yeltsin courageously defies the coup, which then fails. Baltic republics granted independence. Iran pressures Shi'ites in Lebanon to begin release of western hostages. Israel releases Arab prisoners. Israeli and Arab delegates begin peace talks in Madrid, second phase of talks take place in Washington. Republics of Russia, Byelorussia and Ukraine declare independence from the U.S.S.R., form Commonwealth of Independent States, Central Asia Muslim republics also seek membership. Eleven former Soviet republics sign Commonwealth charter in Kazakstan. On Christmas day Gorbachev resigns as President of the U.S.S.R., which no longer exists, control of Soviet nuclear arsenal turned over to Yeltsin. Algerian Islamic fundamentalist party with ambition of a government similar to Iran's wins landslide victory in first multi-party elections. U.N. repeals 1975 "Zionism is racism" resolution.

1992 C.E.  Arab-Israeli peace talks continue in Washington. Israel and ten Arab nations attend talks in Moscow. Yugoslav fighter shoots down unarmed helicopter. Algerian President Chadli Benjedid resigns after landslide Islamic victory in elections, army dominated Ruling Council annuls election, president of Ruling Council later assassinated. In south Lebanon Israeli forces kill Sheik Abbas al Musawi, leader of Hizbollah, wife, son and four body guards also killed. Bomb destroys Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, 32 killed, 250 wounded, Islamic Jihad claims responsibility saying it was in response to the killing of Sheik Musawi. U.N. again confronts Iraq on destruction of non-conventional weapons. U.N. pressures Libya to extradite two suspects in bombings of airliners over Scotland and Niger, sanctions imposed when Libya refuses. U.N. "Earth Summit" of 178 countries in Rio de Janeiro, makes resolutions on global warming and protection of forests. Fighting continues in former Yugoslavia with reports of "ethnic cleansing" genocide being carried out, U.N. sanctions imposed. Muslim factions enter capital, take control of Afghanistan. Panama's Noriega convicted in U.S. of drug trafficking. 53 killed in Los Angeles riots after jury acquits four policemen of excessive force during arrest of black motorist, soldiers, Marines and National Guard called in to restore order. Rabin becomes prime minister after left-wing Labor party defeats right-wing Likud in Israel's elections, U.S. President Bush announces agreement to $10 billion loan guarantees to Israel. U.S. - Russian agreement to reduce nuclear warheads by about two-thirds. Shi'ites free last western hostages in Lebanon, two Germans. Allies impose "no-fly zone" on Iraq. Arkansas Governor Clinton defeats President Bush and independent Perot in U.S. elections. Roman Catholic Church adopts new Catechism after six year study of previous 400 year old text, the new document declares, "Jews were not collectively responsible for the death of Jesus ... All sinners were responsible for Christ's Passion." U.S. led U.N. forces bring relief to famine struck Somalia. Islamic "Hamas" party seeking an Islamic Palestinian state kills six Israeli soldiers in separate incidents prompting expulsion of 415 Hamas activists into south Lebanon, camp erected in no-man's land when Lebanon refuses to accept them. 4,000 killed in earthquake in Turkey. Hindus in India destroy a Muslim mosque, 1,210 killed and thousands wounded in subsequent riots.

1993 C.E.  European Community investigation finds that up to 20,000 Musim women and girls had been raped by Bosnian Serbs in the continuing Yugoslavian civil war. Estimates of global AIDS epidemic thought to be at 2.5 million (four times higher than reported cases) with more than 13 million infected with the HIV, the virus which develops into AIDS after 7-10 years. Allied air attack on Iraqi antiaircraft missile and radar instalations, U.S. fighter downs Iraqi fighter. Israel legalizes contacts with the PLO. Terrorist bomb in the World Trade Center, New York City, leaves 6 dead, causes 200 foot wide crater several stories deep in the underground parking garage, Muslim disciples of Sheikh Rahman arrested. Four officers killed in shootout with armed cult in Waco, Texas, weeks later, after failed negotiations compound is stormed, fiery explosions within erupt killing at least 72 cult members. 1000 killed in Zaire after clash between President and Premier over new fiscal policies. U.S. air drops supplies to Muslim areas of Bosinia and Herzegovina. Abortion doctor shot dead by anti-abortionist in Pensacola, Florida. U.N. force replaces most U.S. troops in Somalia. N. Korea withdraws from nuclear non-proliferation treaty raising suspicions of arms development. More than a dozen bombs kill 300 in Bombay and Calcutta, India, reportedly a Muslim family in Bombay was responsible for the Bombay attacks. U.S. declares support of exiled president of Haiti. 200 perish in U.S. east coast storm. $28 billion in aid pledged to Russia by G-7 nations. U.S. planes bomb Iraqi antiaircraft positions. Up to 281,000 infected with parasite in Milwaukee water supply, 6 deaths attributed to the disease. President of Sri Lanka assassinated by suicide bomber, 24 killed in attack. Archbishop of Guadalajara, Mexico mistakenly shot to death in shoot out between 2 drug cartels at Guadalajara's international airport. Mafia believed responsible for bombing that kills 5 in Florence, Italy. U.S. attacks Iraq in response to discovery of plot to assassinate President Bush. U.N. imposes oil ban on Haiti. Dozens killed as fighting escalates in Somalia between U.N. troops and Somali warlord Aidid. Massive flood devastates U.S. Midwest causing 50 deaths, $12 billion in damage. Israeli bombardment of 70 villages in southern Lebanon reportedly kills 130, in response to terrorist attacks on Israeli soldiers in security zone which killed 7 Israeli soldiers. Israel Supreme Court overturns conviction and death sentence of Nazi death-camp guard, John Demjanjuk. Cuba's deputy health minister states that symptoms of illness that affected 46,000 Cubans point to a new disease. Sheik Rahman indicted in New York City on conspiracy charges, including the bombing of the World Trade Center. About 400 Palestinians of the Islamic Hamas party returned home from their expulsion into southern Lebanon after accepting terms set forth by Israel. Israeli and PLO leaders meet in Oslo Norway. U.S. labels Sudan a supporter of international terrorism, concluding it had trained Islamic terrorists and given them a "safe harbor." Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat sign peace accord between Israel and the PLO in Washington. Pope John Paul II visits the U.S., conducts mass for 400,000 people near Denver, Colorado. Ground controllers lost contact with the $980 million Mars Observer spacecraft as it approached Mars to begin its mission. U.S. to close 130 military bases and scale down another 45. U.N. peace plan rejected by Bosnian Muslims, unless ceded more land from Croats and Serbs. Power struggle in Russia between Yeltsin and the Russian Parliament, Yeltsin crushes opposition, declares state of emergency in Moscow, 187 die in fighting, 437 wounded in battle. China conducts underground nuclear test. Benazir Bhutto re-elected in new Pakistani elections. Israel frees 600 Palestinians held in Israeli jails. Treaty of union between the 12 European Community members was ratified. International Atomic Energy Agency told the U.N. that N. Korea denied inspectors to carry out proper monitoring procedures at various sites. Space shuttle crew repairs "Hubble" space telescope while in orbit. Columbian police and soldiers kill drug boss, Pablo Escobar. "Framework for a lasting peace" was set forth by Prime Ministers Major of Great Britain and Reynolds of Ireland in a bid to end the long and bloody civil war in N. Ireland.

1994 C.E.  Mexican peasants rebel in bloody armed attacks leaving more than 100 people dead. NATO develops "partnership for peace" program, enabling eastern European nations of the former Soviet bloc limited association with the organization. U.S. President Clinton tours eastern Europe, signs treaty with Yeltsin of Russia and Kravchuk of Ukraine for sweeping nuclear weapons reductions. Bosnian Serbs pull back from attack on Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, after NATO threatens to attack. U.S. born Israeli physician massacres 29 Muslim worshipers and injures some 150 in the cave of the tomb of Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in a bid to derail the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, triggers widespread violence among Palestinians. Bosnian Muslims and Croats form federation under pressure from the U.S., U.N., and Russia. Bosnian Serbs permit civilians to cross siege lines of Sarajevo for the first time in two years of war. N. Korea threatens to pull out of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty after the U.N. demands access to 7 restricted sites. South Africa in state of emergency after widespread clashes preceding free elections. Mexican presidential candidate slain after delivering a speech in Tijuana. Last U.S. troops leave Somalia. Amid controversy, the Anglican Church ordains 32 women priests, the first in the 460 year history of the English Church. Bosnian Serbs, who had killed about 1,000 in their attack on predominantly Muslim city of Gorazde, retreat after being bombed by NATO aircraft. Presidents of both Burundi and Rwanda were killed together as their plane crashed after being hit by rocket fire, subsequent ethnic clashes in Rwanda kill as many as 500,000 civilians, hundreds of thousands flee to neighboring countries. Separate Islamic suicide bombers kill 12 in Afula and Hadera bus stations in Israel. PLO negotiators work out details of transfer of authority with Israel. Israel agrees to release about 5,000 Palestinian prisoners. S. Africa holds first "all-racial" elections with heavy turn-out, Nelson Mandela elected president with a majority of black representatives in parliament. A 70 foot tall fresco by Michelangelo and other artists, "The Last Judgement," was unveiled in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel by Pope John Paul II after a four year restoration. DNA "fingerprinting" used to convict U.S. prisoner of murder, subsequently executed. PLO and Israel sign "self-rule" accord in Cairo, Egypt. The 31 mile Channel Tunnel between Britain and France was opened for high speed trains. International community slaps sanctions on Haiti's government, authorizes U.S. invasion to reinstate Haitian President Aristide. Russia joins "partnership" program of NATO. On British T.V. Prince Charles of England admits to committing adultery. Yasser Arafat returns to Gaza for the first time in 27 years. Israel and Jordan end state of war. N. Korea's President since 1948, Kim Il Sung, dies, son named as successor. A car bomb explodes in Buenos Aires Jewish neighborhood, killing 100, another bomb exploded at the Israeli embassy in London injuring a dozen people, Muslims extremists claim responsibility. 21 fragments of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet strike Jupiter, one fragment hitting with the force of 250 million Megatons. U.S. jets under NATO command strike Bosnian Serbs, 90% of Serbs rejected the international peace plan for former Yugoslavia. International terrorist "Carlos" captured in Sudan, extradited to France. Irish Republican Army announces cease fire against Britain, Irish Prime Minister and IRA leader meet. Ulster Protestant paramilitary forces announce cease-fire. Haiti's military junta steps down in the face of an imminent U.S. invasion to reinstate Aristide. International conference on population control held in Cairo, Egypt, 179 delegates endorsed the draft plan with reservations expressed by the Vatican and other delegates, especially over the issue of abortion. U.S. troops in Persian Gulf area alerted in response to Iraqi military buildup on Kuwaiti border, Iraqis withdraw. Islamic suicide bomber blows up bus in down-town Tel Aviv, killing 24. In Israeli controlled territories near Jerusalem Islamic captors kill abducted Israeli soldier during failed rescue attempt. Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat awared the Nobel Peace Prize. Israel and Jordan sign peace treaty, President Clinton attends signing ceremony. 53 religious cultists of the Order of the Solar Temple are found dead, victims of suicide and murder. Republicans win majority in both houses of U.S. Congress for first time in more than 40 years. UN Security Council unanimously approves withdrawal of peacekeeping troops from Somalia by March 1995. Palestinian suicide bomber on bicycle kills three Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip. The World Bank and 22 donor nations agree to grant more than $200 million to the Palestinian Authority. Angola signs peace treaty with rebels to end 19 years of civil war that claimed more than 500,000 lives. British and Irish Republican Army representatives meet to discuss ending 25 years of conflict. Bosnian Serbs release 55 Canadians peacekeeping troops, then free 187 French, Russian and Ukrainian peacekeeping troops, then sign four month truce with other warring parties. Predominantly Muslim Republic of Chechenya rebels against Russia, Russian troops invade killing many civilians.

1995 C.E.  Cease fire in Bosnia begins to unravel. Chechenyan forces keep Russian invading army at bay at heavy cost in capital city of Grozny. Financial donors, led by the U.S. with $20 billion, stave off Mexican economic collapse, total of $49.5 billion given by donors. North Korea and U.S. take steps toward normalizing relations, including easing the U.S. embargo imposed after the Korean War. Two Palestinian Islamic Jihad suicide bombers kill 18 Israel soldiers and one civilian near Netanyah in Israel, Israel temporarily closes borders to Palestinians. UN sends 6,000 peacekeeping troops to replace U.S. troops in Haiti. Muslim rebels explode car bomb in Algiers killing 42 and wounding nearly 300. Earthquake in Kobe, Japan kills 5,000. Siddig Ibrahim Siddig Ali pleads guilty in U.S. federal court to a conspiracy plot to bomb the UN building with other accomplices. Middle East summit in Cairo leads to joint condemnation of violence by leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Israel and the PLO. Chechenyan president flees capital Grozny, most civilians had already left, as many as 24,000 civilians were killed in two months of conflict with Russia. UN Security Council votes to send 7,000 peacekeeping troops to Angola. Serb leaders reject five-nation proposal of Bosnian peace plan. Prime ministers of Great Britain and Ireland present proposal to end conflict over Northern Ireland. Russia goes ahead with plans to construct a nuclear power plant for Iran despite U.S. protests. U.S. dollar falls against Yen and Mark to post WWII lows. The UN pulls 2,400 peacekeepers out of Somalia. Russian troops take last two cities held by Chechnyan rebels. Bosnia-Herzegovinian army offensive breaks truce, Serbs counterattack, including against UN "safe areas." Religious sect releases nerve gas in Tokyo subway, kills twelve, 5,000 injured, news reports say chemicals stockpiled by the sect could produce enough deadly gas to kill 4.2 million people. UN forces replace U.S. forces in Haiti. Former U.S. Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara says Vietnam war was a mistake. Oklahoma City terrorist bomb explosion kills 169, U.S. Army veteran, Timothy McVeigh arrested. Two suicide bombers kill 7 Israeli soldiers and a U.S. citizen in the Gaza Strip. Rwandan soldiers kill some 2,000 Hutu refugees who attempted to resist them. U.S. announces suspension of all trade with Iran because of continued terrorist funding and plans to obtain nuclear weapons. Fighting rages in Bosnia, many killed, UN peace keepers captured by Serbs and used as human shields against NATO targets. Summit between Clinton and Yeltsin produces few results, Clinton attends service at Babi Yar where 100,000 Jews and Russians were murdered by Nazi soldiers during WWII. Israel suspends plan to appropriate Arab owned land of East Jerusalem. Ebola virus reappears in Zaire, 244 of 315 known victims died. U.S. space shuttle Atlantis docks with Russian space station Mir. U.S. F-16 pilot, downed in Bosnia by surface to air missile, rescued by U.S. Marines, Serbs release UN hostages. Leader of Cali drug cartel arrested by Colombian police. Chechen rebels capture Russian town, take 2,000 patients and hospital workers hostage, Russian attempts to take hospital fail, though about 50 hostages are freed, rebels release 150 more, about 140 Russian soldiers, rebels and hostages perished before agreement for cease fire arranged. Assassination attempt, presumably by Islamic terrorists, on Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak fails. U.S. heat wave claims 800 lives. Israel and PLO reach agreement in next phase of peace plan, Palestinian suicide bomber kills 5 others in bus in Tel Aviv. Iraq frees two Americans who were arrested after crossing Kuwaiti border into Iraq. Truce ends fighting in Chechnya, about 1,800 Russian soldiers, with 20,000 Russian and Chechnyan civilians, killed during the rebellion, future status of Chechnya not determined. Two sons-in-law of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, along with other officials, defect, one of them the head of the non-conventional weapons program, the other head of presidential security. Warring parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina agree to U.S. brokered peace plan. World-wide protests of French underground nuclear test. Civil war in Liberia ends with acceptance of peace treaty by warring militias, 150,000 lives lost in six year war. Muslim terror plot in the U.S. leads to conviction of ten conspirators. Israel frees 900 Palestinians from detention as part of peace plan with PLO.

 

The Past
The Future

 

Hanoch Ben Keshet

© 1993, revised 1995
Prepared for the Internet, 2000
Revised 2005
All Rights Reserved