Events, Verisoph

c. 1206 to c. 1368 Mongol Invasions and Conquests 0 cit. no story Genghis Khan and his successors conquer the largest contiguous land empire in history, from China to Eastern Europe. The conquests kill tens of millions and reconnect the Eurasian trade routes. war ●●●●●

c. 1206 Genghis Khan unites the Mongols 0 cit. Temujin is proclaimed Genghis Khan, ruler of all the Mongol tribes. His armies go on to build the largest contiguous land empire in history, linking and devastating much of Eurasia. politics / war ●●●●

1206 Founding of the Mongol Empire 0 cit. Genghis Khan united the Mongol tribes and was proclaimed ruler of all the steppe peoples. The Mongols went on to build the largest contiguous land empire in history. politics / war ●●●●●

1209 to 1229 Albigensian Crusade 0 cit. no story A crusade against the Cathar heresy devastates Languedoc over twenty years. It destroys Cathar society and brings southern France under the French crown. religion / war ●●●

1209 to 1229 The Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars 0 cit. Pope Innocent III called a crusade against the Cathars, a dissenting Christian sect in the south of France. Tens of thousands were killed over twenty years, and the massacre at Beziers, where a papal legate is reported to have said to kill all and let God sort them out, became infamous. The war destroyed Cathar society and extended the Inquisition to root out survivors. politics / religion / war ●●●

1211 Mongol invasions of China begin 0 cit. Genghis Khan launched campaigns against the Jin dynasty in 1211. Decades of Mongol warfare followed across northern and central China. war ●●●●

c. 1221 Fall of the Khwarazmian Empire 0 cit. Between 1219 and 1221 the Mongols under Genghis Khan destroyed the Khwarazmian Empire that ruled Central Asia and Persia. Great cities such as Samarkand and Urgench were sacked and their populations slaughtered. politics / war ●●●

31 May 1223 Battle of the Kalka River 0 cit. A Mongol reconnaissance force defeated a combined army of Rus princes and Cumans in the first clash between the Rus and the Mongols. The defeat exposed how divided the Rus principalities were. war ●●●

1239 Frederick II, the wonder of the world, wars with the papacy 0 cit. Emperor Frederick II, a brilliant and unconventional ruler nicknamed stupor mundi, the wonder of the world, was excommunicated more than once as he fought to control Italy. Popes branded him a heretic and even the Antichrist. His long duel with Rome exhausted the empire's grip on the south. politics / religion / war ●●

December 1240 Mongol Sack of Kiev 0 cit. In December 1240 the Mongols captured and destroyed Kiev, the chief city of the Rus. The sack broke the power of Kievan Rus and placed its lands under Mongol overlordship. politics / war ●●●

5 April 1242 Battle on the Ice 0 cit. Prince Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod defeated the Livonian Order on the frozen Lake Peipus, checking crusader expansion from the west. The battle later became a strong symbol in Russian national memory. religion / war ●●●

c. 1250 Mamluk slave soldiers rule Egypt 0 cit. The Mamluks were enslaved soldiers, mostly from the Caucasus and Central Asia, who seized power and ruled Egypt and Syria for centuries. Their rise shows how slavery could take military and political forms far from plantation labour. politics / war ●●

10 February 1258 Mongol sack of Baghdad 0 cit. Hulagu's Mongol army takes Baghdad, kills the caliph, and destroys the city, ending the Abbasid Caliphate. The sack closes the Islamic Golden Age centered on Baghdad and shifts power in the Muslim world. religion / war ●●●●

10 February 1258 Fall of Baghdad and the Abbasid Caliphate 0 cit. On 10 February 1258 the Mongols under Hulagu Khan took Baghdad and soon killed the last Abbasid caliph. The sack ended the caliphate and is often seen as the close of the Islamic Golden Age. politics / religion / war ●●●●●

25 July 1261 The Byzantines retake their capital 0 cit. Forces of the Nicaean successor state under Michael VIII Palaiologos recaptured Constantinople from the Latins and restored the empire. But the state they revived was a shadow of the old power, poor, encircled, and shorn of most of Anatolia. The Palaiologan dynasty would rule a shrinking realm for its final two centuries. politics / war ●●

c. 1265 to c. May 1453 Byzantine-Ottoman Wars 0 cit. no story The rising Ottoman state gradually absorbs Byzantine territory over two centuries, ending with the fall of Constantinople in 1453. The conquest ends the Roman imperial line and establishes Ottoman power in Europe. war ●●●●

c. 1270 Aquinas States the Conditions of Just War 0 cit. In the Summa Theologica, Thomas Aquinas laid out three conditions for a just war: it must be declared by a legitimate sovereign authority, fought for a just cause, and waged with rightful intention. Aquinas explicitly built on Augustine's earlier arguments and gave the just-war tradition its most systematic medieval statement. His formulation remained the standard reference point for Christian and later secular just-war theory. religion / war ●●●

1271 Kublai Khan founds the Yuan dynasty 0 cit. Kublai Khan proclaimed the Yuan dynasty in 1271, establishing Mongol rule over China with its capital at Dadu, modern Beijing. It was the first foreign dynasty to rule all of China. politics / war ●●●●●

November 1274 to August 1281 Mongol Invasions of Japan 0 cit. no story Kublai Khan twice sends invasion fleets against Japan, and both are wrecked by storms the Japanese call kamikaze. The failures mark the limit of Mongol expansion in the east. war ●●●

19 March 1279 Fall of the Song Dynasty 0 cit. At the naval Battle of Yamen on 19 March 1279 the Mongols destroyed the last Song fleet, and the boy emperor died. The victory completed the Mongol conquest of China under the Yuan dynasty. politics / war ●●●●

1279 Fall of the Southern Song 0 cit. At the naval Battle of Yamen in 1279, Mongol forces destroyed the last Song resistance. The Yuan now ruled all of China. war ●●●●

March 1282 to 1302 War of the Sicilian Vespers 0 cit. no story A Sicilian uprising against Angevin French rule draws Aragon into a twenty-year Mediterranean war. The peace splits the old Kingdom of Sicily between Naples and Aragonese Sicily. politics / war ●●

May 1291 Fall of Acre and the Crusader Kingdom 0 cit. In May 1291 the Mamluks captured Acre, the last major stronghold of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. Its fall ended nearly two centuries of Crusader states in the Holy Land. politics / religion / war ●●●

18 May 1291 Fall of Acre 0 cit. Mamluk forces captured Acre, the last major Crusader city in the Holy Land. The Templars lost their main base in the East and relocated their headquarters to Cyprus. religion / war ●●●●

May 1291 Fall of Acre ends Crusader rule in the Holy Land 0 cit. The Mamluks captured Acre, the last major Crusader stronghold, ending nearly two centuries of Christian rule in the Holy Land. The Templars lost their original purpose of defending pilgrims and the Crusader states, and relocated their base to Cyprus. religion / war ●●

1296 to 1357 Scottish Wars of Independence 0 cit. no story Scotland fights off English attempts at conquest in two long wars, with Robert the Bruce's victory at Bannockburn the turning point. Scotland preserves its independence for another three and a half centuries. politics / war ●●●

1298 Host desecration charges spark the Rintfleisch massacres 0 cit. A new accusation claimed Jews stole and stabbed the consecrated communion host to torment Christ, a charge that made little sense even in Christian terms since Jews did not accept the doctrine behind it. In 1298 a nobleman known as Rintfleisch led mobs that destroyed scores of Jewish communities across German lands. The host desecration myth, like the blood libel, was invented and then used to justify slaughter. religion / society / war ●●

c. 1298 Host desecration charges fuel new massacres 0 cit. A second false charge accused Jews of stealing and torturing the consecrated communion wafer, which Catholics believe is the body of Christ. In 1298 a mob led by a knight called Rintfleisch used such a rumor to massacre Jews across Franconia, destroying scores of communities. Like the blood libel, the host desecration charge rested on a belief with no possible factual basis. religion / society / war ●●

c. 1299 Founding of the Ottoman Empire 0 cit. Osman I founded a small state in Anatolia that grew into the Ottoman Empire. Over centuries it came to rule southeastern Europe, the Near East, and North Africa. politics / war ●●●●●

c. 1299 Founding of the Ottoman beylik 0 cit. Osman I, leader of a small Turkish frontier principality, breaks with the declining Seljuk order and builds an independent state on the Byzantine border. The dynasty and empire take their name from him. The 1299 date is a traditional marker; the beylik grew over the following decades rather than being founded in a single year. politics / war ●●●

1326 Capture of Bursa 0 cit. Orhan, Osman's son, takes the Byzantine city of Bursa after a long blockade and makes it the first Ottoman capital. The conquest gives the young state a real administrative center, a mint, and the resources to expand further. politics / war ●●

17 March 1328 Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton 0 cit. Peace treaty in which England recognized Scotland as an independent kingdom and Robert the Bruce as its king. It ended the First War of Scottish Independence. diplomacy / politics / war ●●

May 1337 to October 1453 Hundred Years' War 0 cit. no story England and France fight a dynastic war lasting over a century, spanning Crecy, Agincourt, and Joan of Arc. France finally expels the English and both kingdoms emerge as stronger centralized states. politics / war ●●●●●

c. 1348 Black Death pogroms sweep Jewish communities 0 cit. As plague killed a third of Europe, rumors spread that Jews had poisoned the wells. Mobs massacred Jewish communities across the Rhineland, Spain, and elsewhere, and many towns expelled survivors. The killings had no basis in fact, and even Pope Clement VI condemned them as slander. religion / society / war ●●

c. 1349 Black Death massacres devastate Rhineland Jewry 0 cit. As plague killed a third of Europe, rumors spread that Jews had poisoned the wells. Mobs destroyed the Ashkenazi communities of Strasbourg, Basel, Mainz, Cologne, and hundreds of other towns, burning thousands of people alive. The charge had no basis in fact, and Pope Clement VI condemned it in two bulls. The killings shattered the old Rhineland heartland and speeded the move eastward. religion / society / war ●●●

1351 to 1368 Red Turban Rebellion 0 cit. no story Popular revolts against Mongol Yuan rule spread across China until rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang takes Beijing. The victory founds the Ming dynasty. politics / war ●●●

1354 Ottomans cross into Europe at Gallipoli 0 cit. Ottoman forces seize Gallipoli and establish their first permanent foothold on European soil. From this base they begin a steady advance into the Balkans that would last for centuries. politics / war ●●

1354 The Ottomans cross into Europe 0 cit. The rising Ottoman Turks seized a foothold at Gallipoli and began expanding across the Balkans, encircling the remnants of the Byzantine state. Over the following century they reduced the empire to little more than Constantinople and a few scattered holdings. The city, once the head of a Mediterranean power, became an island in an Ottoman sea. politics / war ●●

8 May 1360 Treaty of Bretigny 0 cit. Treaty between England and France during the Hundred Years' War, giving Edward III large territories in France in return for renouncing his claim to the French crown. It brought nine years of peace before war resumed. diplomacy / politics / war ●●●

1368 Founding of the Ming dynasty 1 cit. The rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang drove out the Mongols and founded the Ming dynasty in 1368. Ruling as the Hongwu Emperor, he restored native Chinese rule and rebuilt central government. politics / war ●●●●●

1370 to 1405 Conquests of Timur 0 cit. no story Timur builds an empire from Delhi to Damascus through campaigns of extraordinary brutality, killing millions. His victories break the Ottoman sultan and the Golden Horde but his empire fragments after his death. war ●●●●

1375 Fall of the Kingdom of Cilicia 0 cit. The Mamluks of Egypt conquer Cilicia and capture its last king, Levon V, ending the final Armenian kingdom of the Middle Ages. With its fall, Armenians are left without a sovereign state of their own. From here on they live as subjects of larger empires until the twentieth century. politics / war ●●

8 September 1380 Battle of Kulikovo 0 cit. Prince Dmitry Donskoy of Moscow led a coalition to victory over a Golden Horde army, the first major Rus win over the Mongols. The battle boosted Moscow's prestige even though Mongol overlordship continued for another century. politics / war ●●●●

c. 1383 Ottoman Janissary corps organized 0 cit. The Ottoman sultans built the Janissary corps as an elite infantry force recruited through the devshirme system, which conscripted Christian boys from the Balkans, converted them to Islam, and trained them as soldiers personally loyal to the sultan. For centuries the Janissaries were the core of Ottoman military power and among the first standing armies in Europe to use firearms extensively. Over time they gained enormous political influence, repeatedly deposing sultans who threatened their privileges. religion / war ●●●

c. 1383 Ottoman Janissary Corps Founded 0 cit. The Ottoman sultans built the Janissary corps, an infantry force recruited chiefly through the devshirme system, which levied Christian boys from the Balkans, converted them to Islam, and trained them from childhood as soldiers directly loyal to the sultan. The Janissaries gave the Ottoman state a standing professional force independent of the feudal nobility, centuries before most of Europe developed comparable armies. They later became a powerful political faction in their own right, at times deposing sultans. politics / war ●●

15 June 1389 Battle of Kosovo 0 cit. Ottoman and Serbian-led armies fight to mutual devastation; Sultan Murad I is killed, but the battle breaks Serbian power and opens the Balkans to Ottoman control. The event became a central myth in later Serbian national identity. politics / war ●●●

1391 The massacres of 1391 and mass forced conversion 0 cit. Riots that began in Seville, stirred by the preaching of Ferrand Martinez, spread across Castile and Aragon and killed thousands of Jews. To survive, tens of thousands accepted baptism. This wave of forced conversion created a large new class of Christians of Jewish origin, the conversos, and reshaped the whole Sephardic world. religion / society / war ●●●

1396 Fall of the Second Bulgarian Empire 0 cit. By 1396 the Ottomans had conquered the remaining Bulgarian lands after taking the capital Tarnovo. The Second Bulgarian Empire ended, and Bulgaria remained under Ottoman rule for centuries. politics / war ●●

25 September 1396 Battle of Nicopolis 0 cit. Sultan Bayezid I destroys a large crusader army drawn from across Latin Christendom. The defeat ends the last major western effort to roll back the Ottoman advance in the Balkans for generations. religion / war ●●

20 July 1402 to 1413 Battle of Ankara and the Ottoman Interregnum 0 cit. Timur (Tamerlane) crushes the Ottoman army and captures Sultan Bayezid I, who dies in captivity. The empire nearly collapses into an eleven-year civil war among Bayezid's sons before Mehmed I reunites it. The near-death of the state shows how fragile the early empire still was. politics / war ●●

21 August 1415 Portuguese capture of Ceuta 0 cit. Portugal seized the Muslim port of Ceuta on the North African coast, its first overseas conquest. Historians treat this as the opening act of European overseas expansion. It gave Portugal a foothold for further exploration down the African coast. politics / war ●●

21 August 1415 The capture of Ceuta 0 cit. A Portuguese fleet storms the Muslim port of Ceuta on the North African coast, giving Portugal its first foothold overseas. The prize was a terminus of the Saharan gold and slave trades, and the raid set the crown looking south for a way to reach that wealth by sea. economy / politics / war ●●

1419 to 1434 Hussite Wars 0 cit. no story Followers of the executed reformer Jan Hus defeat five crusades sent against Bohemia, pioneering war-wagon tactics and handheld firearms. The wars foreshadow the Reformation a century later. religion / war ●●●

21 May 1420 Treaty of Troyes 0 cit. Treaty making Henry V of England heir and regent of France, disinheriting the Dauphin, and sealing the deal with Henry's marriage to Catherine of Valois. Its collapse fueled the final phase of the Hundred Years' War. diplomacy / politics / war ●●●

1428 Founding of the Aztec Empire 0 cit. The Triple Alliance of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan formed the Aztec Empire. It came to dominate central Mexico through conquest and tribute. politics / war ●●●●●

c. 1438 Pachacuti and the imperial expansion legendary 0 cit. After turning back a Chanca attack on Cusco, the ruler Pachacuti launches the conquests that turn the Inca kingdom into an empire. He and his successors, Tupac Inca Yupanqui and Huayna Capac, extend Inca rule along the Andes over roughly the next century. Pachacuti is also credited by tradition with rebuilding Cusco and beginning Machu Picchu. politics / war ●●

c. 1450 Ming rebuilding of the Great Wall 0 cit. The Ming rebuilt the Great Wall in brick and stone to guard against Mongol raids. Most of the wall standing today dates from this period. technology / war ●●●●

c. 1450 Swiss Mercenary Pikemen Dominate European Warfare 0 cit. Swiss cantons hired out disciplined pike infantry to European rulers, and Swiss mercenaries became the most sought-after soldiers on Renaissance battlefields, fighting for whichever prince paid them. Their success helped make mercenary armies the dominant model of Renaissance warfare, especially in Italy, where city-states relied on hired captains called condottieri. This reliance on paid outsiders rather than citizen soldiers drew sharp criticism from contemporaries who saw it as corrosive to the state. economy / war ●●

c. 1450 The devshirme and the Janissary corps 0 cit. Through the devshirme, the state periodically levied Christian boys from the Balkans, converted them to Islam, and trained them for army and government service. The most famous were the Janissaries, an elite standing infantry loyal to the sultan. The system produced skilled administrators and soldiers, but the Janissaries later grew into a powerful faction that resisted reform. politics / society / war ●●

29 May 1453 Fall of Constantinople 0 cit. Ottoman forces under Mehmed II storm Constantinople, ending the Byzantine Empire after more than a thousand years. The conquest secures Ottoman power, pushes Greek scholars west, and spurs Europe to seek new sea routes to Asia. politics / war ●●●●●

1453 The fall of Constantinople scatters Greek learning west 0 cit. When the Ottomans take Constantinople, Byzantine scholars flee to Italy carrying Greek manuscripts of Plato, Aristotle, and the ancients. The influx of long-lost texts helped ignite the Renaissance revival of classical knowledge. culture / war ●●●●

29 May 1453 Fall of Constantinople and the end of the Byzantine Empire 1 cit. Mehmed II takes Constantinople after a seven-week siege, using massive cannon to breach the ancient walls. The last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI, dies in the fighting, ending the Roman imperial line that had lasted since antiquity. The city becomes the Ottoman capital and Mehmed takes the title of conqueror. politics / religion / war ●●●

29 May 1453 The fall of Constantinople ends the Roman Empire 0 cit. After a siege of some seven weeks the army of the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II, aided by massive cannon, breached the ancient walls, and the last emperor, Constantine XI, died in the fighting. The fall ended the Roman Empire after about fifteen hundred years and turned the Hagia Sophia into a mosque. Mehmed made the city his capital, and it became the seat of Ottoman power for centuries. politics / religion / war ●●●

9 April 1454 Treaty of Lodi 0 cit. Peace between Milan, Venice, and Florence that established a balance of power among the Italian states. It brought four decades of relative stability to Renaissance Italy. diplomacy / politics / war ●●●

1454 to 1466 Thirteen Years' War 0 cit. no story Poland and the rebellious Prussian cities defeat the Teutonic Order in a thirteen-year war. The peace gives Poland access to the Baltic and reduces the Order to a Polish vassal. war ●●

19 October 1466 Second Peace of Thorn 0 cit. Treaty ending the Thirteen Years' War between Poland and the Teutonic Knights. The Order ceded western Prussia including Danzig to Poland and became a Polish vassal. diplomacy / politics / war ●●

1467 to 1477 Onin War 0 cit. no story A succession dispute among Japan's great lords destroys Kyoto and shatters central authority. The war opens the century-long Sengoku era of warring states. politics / war ●●●

c. 1480 Great Stand on the Ugra River 0 cit. A standoff between the forces of Ivan III of Moscow and the Great Horde ended without a major battle and is traditionally seen as the end of Mongol overlordship over the Rus. Moscow was now an independent power. politics / war ●●●●

2 January 1492 Fall of Granada 0 cit. On 2 January 1492 the Nasrid ruler Boabdil surrendered Granada to the Catholic Monarchs of Spain. The fall of the last Muslim state in Iberia completed the Reconquista. politics / religion / war ●●●●

2 January 1492 Fall of Granada and completion of the Reconquista 0 cit. The Emirate of Granada surrendered to the Catholic Monarchs Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon, ending nearly eight centuries of Muslim rule in Iberia. The victory freed Castilian resources and ambition for overseas expansion. politics / religion / war ●●●●

January 1492 The fall of Granada completes the Reconquista 0 cit. In January 1492 Ferdinand and Isabella took Granada, the last Muslim kingdom in Iberia, ending centuries of Christian reconquest. With the peninsula unified under Catholic rule, the monarchs turned to enforcing a single faith. The expulsion decree for the Jews came only weeks later. Historians tie the timing to a drive to complete a one-faith realm, with the unresolved converso question at its center. politics / religion / war ●●●

1494 to 1559 Italian Wars 0 cit. no story France and Habsburg Spain fight a series of wars for dominance in Italy over six decades. Spain emerges as the leading power in Italy and Europe. politics / war ●●●●

April 1498 Vasco da Gama reaches Malindi and the Portuguese arrive 5 cit. In 1498 the Portuguese fleet of Vasco da Gama reached Malindi, whose ruler gave him a pilot to guide the crossing to India. Portugal soon fought for control of the coast, sacking Mombasa more than once and building Fort Jesus there in 1593. Their arrival broke the independence of the Swahili city-states and opened the coast's colonial era. politics / war ●●●

c. 1500 The Papal States as a temporal monarchy 0 cit. By the Renaissance the popes ruled a large state across central Italy, raising taxes, minting coins and waging war like other princes. Popes such as Julius II personally led armies in the field, and the government of these lands consumed much of the papacy's energy until Italian unification. politics / religion / war ●●●

c. 1500 Nilotic communities move into the Rift Valley and lake region 0 cit. Nilotic-speaking peoples expanded into the region in waves, the Luo settling around Lake Victoria as farmers and fishers, the Kalenjin across the western highlands, and the pastoralist Maasai spreading through the Rift Valley grasslands. Their movements reshaped land use and sparked both trade and conflict with Bantu and Cushitic neighbors. Because the record is oral and archaeological, the timing is approximate. society / war ●●

c. 1502 The cartaz pass system controls the Indian Ocean 0 cit. Portugal forces Asian merchant ships to buy a cartaz, a naval pass, and to call at Portuguese ports and pay duties. Vessels caught without one were seized or sunk. On his second voyage Vasco da Gama burned the pilgrim ship Miri with hundreds of Muslims aboard, including women and children, a warning of the violence that backed the system. economy / politics / war ●●●

April 1506 The Lisbon massacre of New Christians 0 cit. During a drought and plague, a crowd in Lisbon turned on the New Christians, accusing them of insincere faith. Over several days a mob killed roughly 2,000 people of converso background. The killing showed that baptism had not made the converts safe, and it pushed many to plan escape. religion / society / war ●●

22 January 1506 The Papal Swiss Guard and the mercenary tradition 0 cit. Pope Julius II hired a permanent corps of Swiss soldiers, formalising a trade that had already made Swiss mercenaries the most sought-after infantry in Europe. For generations, hiring out fighting men to foreign kings and popes was one of the poor cantons' main exports. This mercenary culture, not principled pacifism, was the Confederation's first relationship with Europe's wars. religion / war ●●

c. 1507 The Portuguese fortify the Island of Mozambique 0 cit. Portugal builds a fort on the Island of Mozambique on the Swahili coast, a way station on the route to India and a base for reaching the gold trade of the Zambezi interior. The settlement grew into the seed of the colony of Mozambique, which Portugal would hold until 1975. economy / war ●●

3 February 1509 The Battle of Diu breaks the Muslim fleets 0 cit. A Portuguese fleet under Francisco de Almeida destroys a combined force of Mamluk Egypt, Gujarat, and Calicut, backed by Venice and the Ottomans. The victory gave Portugal command of the Indian Ocean sea lanes and cleared the way for a seaborne empire built on naval force. politics / war ●●●

25 November 1510 Portuguese capture Goa 0 cit. Afonso de Albuquerque seized Goa on the west coast of India, making it the capital of Portugal's eastern empire. It anchored a chain of fortified trading posts across the Indian Ocean. economy / war ●●●

25 November 1510 Afonso de Albuquerque seizes Goa 0 cit. Afonso de Albuquerque takes Goa from the Sultanate of Bijapur and makes it the capital of Portuguese Asia. The conquest was brutal; Portuguese accounts record the slaughter of much of the Muslim population of the city. Goa would remain the seat of the Estado da India for over four centuries. politics / war ●●●

24 August 1511 Portuguese capture Malacca 0 cit. Albuquerque took the wealthy port of Malacca, a chokepoint of the spice trade between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. Portugal gained a base to reach the Moluccas and China. economy / war ●●●

August 1511 The conquest of Malacca 0 cit. Albuquerque storms Malacca, the great trading city that controlled the strait between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. Holding it gave Portugal a chokepoint on the route to the Spice Islands and the markets of China and Japan. economy / war ●●●

1513 The Requerimiento and the conquest of the Americas 0 cit. Spanish conquerors read out a document ordering indigenous peoples to accept Christian and Spanish rule or face war and enslavement. It tied the Church's mission to the violent conquest of the Americas. politics / religion / war ●●●

1513 Machiavelli Condemns Mercenary Armies 0 cit. In The Prince, Niccolò Machiavelli argued that mercenary soldiers were unreliable and dangerous, since they fought for pay rather than loyalty and would abandon or even turn on the ruler who hired them. He held up citizen militias, armed and committed to their own state, as the only sound basis for military power. The argument was a direct response to Italy's reliance on condottieri and became a founding text of the case against mercenary armies. politics / war ●●●

23 August 1514 Battle of Chaldiran 0 cit. Selim I defeats the Safavid Shah Ismail, whose forces lacked the Ottomans' firearms and artillery. The victory secures eastern Anatolia and checks the spread of Safavid Shia influence, hardening a Sunni-Shia rivalry between the two empires that would shape the region for centuries. religion / war ●●

1515 The capture of Hormuz 0 cit. Portugal takes the island of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, a hub of the trade between Persia, Arabia, and India. With Goa, Malacca, and Hormuz in hand, Portugal held the main gateways of the Indian Ocean and could tax the flow of goods through them. economy / war ●●

13 September 1515 Defeat at the Battle of Marignano 0 cit. French and Venetian forces under Francis I crushed the Swiss pikemen in two days of fighting near Milan, killing thousands. The loss ended the Confederation's ambitions to expand into northern Italy. Historians commonly mark it as the turning point that pushed the cantons away from foreign conquest and toward staying out of the great powers' wars. war ●●●

1516 to 1517 Conquest of the Mamluks and the Arab lands 0 cit. Selim I destroys the Mamluk Sultanate and absorbs Syria, Egypt, and the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. The Ottomans become guardians of Islam's holiest sites, and the sultans later claim the title of caliph, leader of the wider Muslim community. The conquest doubles the empire's size and wealth. politics / religion / war ●●●

c. 1518 The fort at Colombo and the hold on Ceylon 0 cit. The Portuguese build a fort at Colombo and press into Ceylon, drawn by its cinnamon, then the finest in the world. Over the following decades they extended control through alliances and force, and the island's spice was funneled into the crown trade. economy / war ●●

1519 to August 1521 Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire 0 cit. Hernan Cortes, with native allies and the help of epidemic disease, destroys the Aztec Empire and takes Tenochtitlan. The conquest opens the Americas to Spanish colonization and causes catastrophic indigenous population collapse. exploration / war ●●●●

c. 1519 to c. 1530 Mughal Conquests of Babur 0 cit. no story Babur invades India from Kabul and destroys the Delhi Sultanate's army at Panipat in 1526. His victories found the Mughal Empire, which dominates India for two centuries. war ●●●●

13 August 1521 Fall of Tenochtitlan 0 cit. Hernan Cortes, with indigenous allies and after a devastating smallpox epidemic, captures the Aztec capital. The conquest opens the Americas to Spanish colonial rule and centuries of European domination. politics / war ●●●●

13 August 1521 Fall of Tenochtitlan and conquest of the Aztecs 0 cit. After a long siege, forces under Hernan Cortes and Indigenous allies captured the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan and toppled the empire of the Mexica. Warfare and introduced disease devastated the population, and the site became Mexico City. politics / war ●●●●●

20 May 1521 Ignatius of Loyola Wounded at Pamplona 0 cit. A cannonball shattered the leg of the soldier Inigo Lopez de Loyola during the siege of Pamplona. His long recovery and religious reading led to a conversion that shaped the future Society of Jesus. religion / war ●●●

13 August 1521 Fall of Tenochtitlan to Cortés 0 cit. Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, with thousands of Indigenous allies hostile to Aztec rule and aided by a smallpox epidemic, captured the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan. The Aztec Empire collapsed and Spain built colonial Mexico City on its ruins. The conquest opened Mesoamerica to Spanish rule, forced conversion, and resource extraction. politics / war ●●●

1521 Machiavelli's The Art of War Argues for Citizen Militia 0 cit. Machiavelli's The Art of War expanded his case against mercenaries, arguing in detail for a citizen militia modeled on the armies of the Roman Republic. He tied military reform to political renewal, contending that a state's strength rested on its own armed citizens rather than hired soldiers. The book influenced later republican and revolutionary thinking about who should bear arms for the state. politics / war ●●

6 June 1523 Independence of Sweden 0 cit. no story Gustav Vasa is elected King of Sweden, ending the Kalmar Union with Denmark and founding the modern Swedish state. politics / war ●●●

1524 to 1525 German Peasants' War 0 cit. no story Hundreds of thousands of peasants revolt across Germany, inspired partly by Reformation ideas. The princes crush the rising, killing perhaps 100,000, in Europe's largest popular revolt before the French Revolution. religion / society / war ●●●