Events, Verisoph

1 December 1640 Portugal restores its independence 0 cit. A revolt in Lisbon throws off Spanish rule and puts the Duke of Braganza on the throne as John IV. Portugal was independent again, but it emerged from the union a lesser power, with much of its Asian empire lost to the Dutch and its wealth now leaning on Brazil. politics / war ●●

1641 Dutch capture of Malacca 0 cit. The VOC took the strategic port of Malacca from Portugal, tightening its grip on trade through the strait. The conquest was part of a broad Dutch effort to displace Portugal across maritime Asia. economy / war ●●

January 1641 The Dutch capture Malacca 0 cit. After a long siege, the VOC takes the port of Malacca from Portugal with the help of the Sultanate of Johor. Control of the strait tightens the Dutch grip on the trade routes between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. economy / war ●●

23 October 1641 The Irish Rebellion of 1641 0 cit. Catholic gentry in Ulster rose against the Protestant settlers and the loss of their lands, and the revolt spread across Ireland. Settler communities were attacked and many killed, while accounts of the death toll were exaggerated in Protestant propaganda of the time. The rising fed English fears and helped set the scene for Cromwell's later reconquest. religion / war ●●

22 August 1642 English Civil War pits king against parliament 0 cit. War breaks out between Charles I, who claims the divine right to rule without parliamentary consent, and forces loyal to parliament. The conflict is fought over who holds ultimate authority in the state, the crown or the elected chamber. politics / war ●●●

25 April 1644 Fall of the Ming Dynasty 0 cit. On 25 April 1644 the last Ming emperor hanged himself as rebel forces entered Beijing. Manchu armies soon took the capital and founded the Qing dynasty, ending Ming rule. politics / war ●●●●●

1644 Fall of Beijing and end of the Ming 0 cit. The rebel Li Zicheng captured Beijing in 1644 and the last Ming emperor took his own life. The collapse opened the way for the Manchu conquest. politics / war ●●●●

1644 Manchu Qing conquest of China 0 cit. The Manchus seized Beijing in 1644 and established the Qing dynasty, the last imperial dynasty of China. Decades of campaigns followed to subdue the rest of the country. politics / war ●●●●●

February 1645 New Model Army Founded 0 cit. Parliament created the New Model Army during the English Civil War as a centrally funded, professionally trained, full-time force, replacing the patchwork of regional militias it had relied on earlier. Soldiers were paid regularly from national taxation rather than raised locally on an ad hoc basis, making it one of the first standing professional armies in early modern Europe. The New Model Army also became a political force in its own right, ultimately backing the execution of Charles I. politics / war ●●

24 October 1648 Peace of Westphalia 0 cit. Twin treaties ending the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire and the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Dutch Republic. They are widely seen as the foundation of the modern system of sovereign states. diplomacy / politics / religion / war ●●●●●

1648 to 1657 The Khmelnytsky Massacres 0 cit. During a Cossack uprising against Polish rule, tens of thousands of Jews in present-day Ukraine were killed. The massacres were among the worst for European Jewry before the 20th century. religion / war ●●

1648 Peace of Westphalia recognizes the Dutch Republic 0 cit. Spain formally recognized the independence of the Dutch Republic, ending the Eighty Years' War. The young state stood as a leading commercial and naval power in Europe. politics / war ●●●

1648 to 1649 The Khmelnytsky massacres devastate Ukrainian Jewry 0 cit. A Cossack uprising led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky against Polish rule turned into mass slaughter of Jews, who were seen as agents of the Polish landlords. Whole communities were wiped out across Ukraine and eastern Poland. Traditional Jewish chronicles put the dead in the hundreds of thousands; modern historians give far lower figures, in the tens of thousands, but agree it was one of the worst catastrophes in Ashkenazi history before the twentieth century. religion / society / war ●●●

August 1649 to 1653 Cromwellian Conquest of Ireland 0 cit. Oliver Cromwell's army crushes Irish Catholic resistance with massacres at Drogheda and Wexford, followed by mass land confiscation. War, famine, and plague kill a large share of Ireland's population. religion / war ●●●

1649 English Commonwealth abolishes the monarchy 0 cit. After executing King Charles I, Parliament declared England a commonwealth ruled without a king or House of Lords. The experiment was short-lived but showed a monarchy could be replaced by a republic. politics / war ●●●●

September 1649 Cromwell's conquest and the Drogheda and Wexford massacres 0 cit. Oliver Cromwell landed in 1649 to crush the Catholic and royalist forces in Ireland. His storming of Drogheda in September and Wexford in October led to the killing of thousands of defenders and civilians, atrocities Cromwell defended as just punishment. The campaign is remembered in Ireland as one of the most brutal episodes of the whole English conquest. religion / war ●●●

1650 Coldstream Guards founded 0 cit. The regiment that became the Coldstream Guards was raised by General George Monck as part of the New Model Army and later helped restore Charles II to the throne in 1660. It is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. Today it remains part of the Household Division, providing ceremonial guard duties at royal palaces. politics / war ●

1652 to 1654 First Anglo-Dutch War 0 cit. England and the Dutch Republic fought over trade and shipping rights, sparked partly by English navigation laws aimed at Dutch carriers. It was the first of several wars in which England contested Dutch commercial dominance. economy / war ●●●

January 1654 Pereiaslav Agreement 0 cit. The Cossack leader Bohdan Khmelnytsky and the Zaporozhian Host pledged allegiance to the Russian tsar during their revolt against Poland. Russian and Ukrainian historians have long disputed whether the pact was a temporary military alliance or a union of the two lands. politics / war ●●●●

1654 Portugal retakes Recife and its Jews scatter 0 cit. The Portuguese reconquered Recife in 1654, ending the open Jewish community there under threat of the Inquisition. Most Jews sailed back to Amsterdam, while others dispersed to the Caribbean and North America. Their flight carried the Sephardic Atlantic network to new ports. religion / society / war ●●

1654 The loss of Dutch Brazil 0 cit. After years of revolt by Portuguese and local planters, the Dutch surrender Recife and give up their Brazilian colony. Many Sephardic Jews of the colony flee, some reaching New Amsterdam and forming the first Jewish community in North America. society / war ●●

May 1655 Capture of Jamaica from Spain 0 cit. An English expedition seized Jamaica from Spain during Cromwell's Western Design. The island became a major sugar colony and a base for buccaneers preying on Spanish shipping. economy / war ●●●

May 1655 England captures Jamaica 0 cit. An English expedition seized Jamaica from Spain during the Anglo-Spanish War. The island became a major sugar colony worked by enslaved Africans and a base for English privateers in the Caribbean. It remained a British colony until 1962. economy / war ●●

c. 1656 Grenadier Guards trace their formation 0 cit. A regiment of English royalist exiles was formed to guard the future Charles II during his exile, later becoming the Grenadier Guards after 1660 when the king returned to the throne. The regiment earned its name after defeating the French Grenadier Guard at Waterloo in 1815. It remains part of the Household Division that guards the sovereign's palaces today. politics / war ●

1658 Dutch conquest of Ceylon 0 cit. The VOC completed its takeover of Portuguese held coastal Ceylon, gaining control of the cinnamon trade. The company governed the island's coasts and its lucrative spice exports for over a century. economy / war ●●

c. 1658 The Dutch conquest of coastal Ceylon 0 cit. Allied at first with the kingdom of Kandy, the VOC drives the Portuguese from the coast of Ceylon and takes over the cinnamon trade. The company then holds the coast for itself, running a forced-labor system to harvest cinnamon for the European market. economy / war ●●

7 November 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees 0 cit. Peace between France and Spain ending their long war, ceding Roussillon and Artois to France and arranging the marriage of Louis XIV to the Spanish infanta. It marked the shift of European primacy from Spain to France. diplomacy / politics / war ●●●

1659 Khoikhoi-Dutch Wars over land and cattle 0 cit. The first of several armed conflicts broke out between Khoikhoi groups and the Dutch settlers over grazing land and cattle theft, as the VOC settlement expanded beyond its original station. A second Khoikhoi-Dutch War followed in the 1670s. Khoikhoi resistance was ultimately unable to stop colonial expansion, and smallpox epidemics in the following century further devastated their population. war ●●

c. 1661 The permanent standing army becomes a fixture 0 cit. Under Louis XIV and his successors, European states build large permanent professional armies loyal to the crown rather than to nobles or mercenaries. The standing army, paid and controlled by the center, became the backbone of the military and security pillar. pillar / politics / war ●●●

1664 England seizes New Netherland 0 cit. An English force took New Amsterdam without a fight and renamed it New York after the Duke of York. The seizure helped trigger the Second Anglo-Dutch War. politics / war ●●●

28 October 1664 Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot raised 0 cit. England raised twelve hundred soldiers as the Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot, a land force intended to serve aboard ships of the Royal Navy. This regiment is regarded as the founding unit of what became the Royal Marines, making it one of the oldest marine forces in the world. Marines fought alongside sailors and provided shipboard security and boarding parties. war ●●

September 1664 New Amsterdam becomes New York 0 cit. An English fleet arrives and the Dutch surrender New Amsterdam without a fight. The English rename it New York after the Duke of York, ending Dutch rule over the colony that had grown along the Hudson. politics / war ●●●

29 October 1665 Battle of Mbwila and the decline of Kongo 0 cit. Portuguese forces from Angola defeated and killed the Kongo king António I at the Battle of Mbwila, also called Ambuila. The defeat shattered central authority and touched off long civil wars among rival branches of the royal house. The once-unified kingdom fragmented, and its weakening left the wider region more exposed to the slave trade. politics / war ●●

c. 1666 Louis XIV builds France's permanent standing army 0 cit. War minister Louvois, under Louis XIV, built the largest standing army in Europe, introducing uniforms, standardized ranks, state-run supply depots (magasins), and drilled regular training rather than reliance on mercenaries and nobles' private retinues. The army grew to roughly 400,000 men at its peak, funded directly by the crown. It became a model other European states tried to imitate over the following century. politics / war ●●●

c. 1666 Louvois Builds France's Standing Royal Army 0 cit. As Louis XIV's Secretary of War, the Marquis de Louvois reorganized the French army into a large, centrally administered, and permanently maintained force, with standardized ranks, supply, and discipline. France's standing army grew to be the largest in Europe and became the model other monarchies tried to match. The buildup required steadily rising taxation, an early example of the fiscal and military demands of the state growing together. politics / war ●●

1667 Treaty of Breda ends the Second Anglo-Dutch War 0 cit. After a Dutch raid up the Medway humbled the English navy, the two sides made peace. The Dutch kept the nutmeg island of Run and Suriname while conceding New Netherland, trading a colony for a spice monopoly. economy / politics / war ●●

1672 to 1674 Third Anglo-Dutch War and the disaster year 0 cit. England joined France in attacking the Republic in a year the Dutch called the rampjaar, or disaster year. The Republic survived but the wars steadily transferred trade and naval advantage toward England. war ●●

c. 1673 Samuel Pepys reforms the Royal Navy administration 0 cit. As Secretary to the Admiralty, Samuel Pepys overhauled Royal Navy administration, introducing competitive examinations for lieutenants, standardized ship classification, and more rigorous accounting for stores and pay. These reforms professionalized naval officer selection, which had previously depended heavily on patronage. The changes laid groundwork for the Royal Navy's later dominance at sea. politics / war ●●

c. 1673 Samuel Oppenheimer bankrolls the Habsburg wars 0 cit. Samuel Oppenheimer became the chief war financier of the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, supplying and funding the armies that fought the Ottomans and the French. Despite his service he faced mob attacks and official hostility, and after his death in 1703 the imperial treasury defaulted on much of what it owed him, nearly ruining his family. His career shows a financier used by the state, then abandoned by it. economy / war ●●

1674 Founding of the Maratha Empire 0 cit. Shivaji was crowned and established the Maratha Empire in western India. The Marathas grew to challenge Mughal power across much of the subcontinent. politics / war ●●●●

1683 Qing conquest of Taiwan 0 cit. Qing forces defeated the Ming loyalist regime on Taiwan in 1683. The island was incorporated into the empire. war ●●●

12 September 1683 Second Siege of Vienna 0 cit. A second Ottoman attempt to take Vienna collapses when a relief army led by the Polish king Jan Sobieski smashes the besiegers. The defeat is usually treated as the empire's high-water mark in Europe and the start of a long retreat. A Habsburg-led coalition went on the offensive in the wars that followed. politics / war ●●●

1 July 1690 The Battle of the Boyne 0 cit. In the Williamite war the Protestant King William III defeated the Catholic King James II near the River Boyne. The victory secured the Protestant hold on the crown and on Ireland. It remains the central symbol of Ulster's Protestant tradition, commemorated each July, though it was one battle in a wider European war between William and Louis XIV of France. religion / war ●●●

3 October 1691 The Treaty of Limerick 0 cit. The Treaty of Limerick ended the Williamite war and let thousands of Jacobite soldiers leave for France in what became known as the Flight of the Wild Geese. It promised limited protections for Catholics, but these were soon broken by the Protestant-controlled Irish Parliament. Catholics later called Limerick the city of the broken treaty. diplomacy / war ●

1694 Bank of England Founded to Finance War Debt 0 cit. The English government chartered the Bank of England specifically to raise loans to fund war against France, creating a permanent institution for financing military spending through public debt. The arrangement let England sustain far larger and longer wars than tax revenue alone could support, and historians treat it as a central pillar of what they call the "fiscal-military state." The link between war finance and state institution-building is a core example in Charles Tilly's account of how war built modern states. economy / war ●●

1698 Omani Arabs capture Fort Jesus 5 cit. After a siege that lasted nearly three years, forces of the Sultanate of Oman took Fort Jesus, breaking Portuguese power north of Mozambique. The victory brought the Swahili coast under Omani influence, exercised through local Mazrui and other governors. It set the stage for later Omani and Zanzibari rule over Kenya's coastal towns. politics / war ●●

1698 Oman Drives the Portuguese from the Coast 0 cit. After a long siege, Omani Arab forces captured Fort Jesus in Mombasa in 1698, ending nearly two centuries of Portuguese control of the Swahili coast. The shore now fell under the Sultanate of Oman. politics / war ●●

26 January 1699 Treaty of Karlowitz 0 cit. Peace between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy League, ceding most of Hungary to the Habsburgs. It marked the start of the Ottoman retreat from central Europe. diplomacy / politics / war ●●●

8 July 1709 Battle of Poltava 0 cit. Peter the Great crushed the invading Swedish army of Charles XII, a turning point in the Great Northern War. The victory established Russia as a major European power and broke Sweden's dominance in the north. politics / war ●●●●

11 April 1713 Peace of Utrecht 0 cit. Series of treaties ending the War of the Spanish Succession, recognizing Philip V in Spain while barring union of the French and Spanish crowns, and transferring Gibraltar and large American territories to Britain. It established the balance of power as a principle of European order. diplomacy / politics / war ●●●●

1713 Peace of Utrecht and Bourbon Spain 0 cit. The settlement ending the War of the Spanish Succession confirmed the French Bourbon dynasty on the Spanish throne while stripping Spain of its European possessions. Britain gained Gibraltar and a slice of the slave trade to Spanish America. politics / war ●●●

1713 Prussia's Soldier King builds a mass conscript army 0 cit. King Frederick William I of Prussia introduced a cantonal conscription system requiring each district to supply and train a quota of recruits, while pouring a disproportionate share of state revenue into the army. By his death Prussia, a state with a small population, had built the fourth-largest army in Europe. This militarized administrative culture shaped the Prussian state his son Frederick the Great inherited. politics / war ●●

c. 1713 Frederick William I Builds Prussia's Army-State 0 cit. King Frederick William I, known as the "Soldier King," directed a huge share of Prussia's revenue toward building and drilling its army, which grew to be disproportionately large for the kingdom's size and wealth. He built the bureaucracy and tax system largely around the needs of the military, making Prussia an early and extreme example of a state organized around its armed forces. The arrangement is often cited as a precursor to later German and Prussian militarism. politics / war ●●

10 September 1721 Treaty of Nystad 0 cit. Peace ending the Great Northern War between Russia and Sweden, ceding Estonia, Livonia, and Ingria to Russia. It confirmed Russia as the new great power of the Baltic. diplomacy / politics / war ●●●

23 October 1722 Fall of the Safavid Empire 0 cit. On 23 October 1722, after a long siege, the Safavid shah surrendered his capital Isfahan to invading Afghan forces. The collapse ended effective Safavid rule over Persia. politics / war ●●●

c. 1732 Military lodges begin traveling with British Army regiments 0 cit. Grand Lodges in Britain and Ireland began issuing 'traveling warrants' letting army and navy regiments hold their own Masonic lodges wherever they were posted. These military lodges carried Freemasonry to garrisons across the empire, from North America to India, Africa, and the Caribbean, and often initiated local civilians and colonial officials along the way. They were one of the most effective vehicles for spreading Masonry outside Britain. society / war ●●

c. 1741 Omani rule and the Mazrui governors of Mombasa 5 cit. After Omani forces took Fort Jesus from the Portuguese, Oman appointed governors over the coast, and at Mombasa the Mazrui family turned their post into a near-independent dynasty that resisted control from Muscat. Through the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries the Mazrui ruled Mombasa and fought to hold their autonomy. Their independence ended when the Busaidi sultans of Oman, moving their seat to Zanzibar, brought the coast under closer control. politics / war ●●

c. 1748 Trooping the Colour formalized as the sovereign's official birthday parade 0 cit. Trooping the Colour, a military parade combining the ceremony of trooping a regiment's colours with a celebration of the monarch's official birthday, became an annual fixture under George II. It visibly displays the sovereign's constitutional position as head of the armed forces. The exact year the birthday parade and colour ceremony merged is not precisely fixed in the historical record, so it is treated here as approximate. culture / war ●

c. 1750 The Abagusii migrate into the southwestern highlands 0 cit. Oral tradition and linguistics trace the Abagusii from a homeland near the Lake, where they once lived among related Bantu, up into the cooler, defensible Gusii highlands. Pressure from expanding Luo settlement and Maasai cattle-raiders is remembered as the force that pushed them to their present hills, a staged movement over generations rather than a single trek. There they built dense farming settlements set apart from the plains. society / war ●●●

c. 1750 The Nandi and Kipsigis cattle economy and raiding 4 cit. The Nandi and their southern cousins the Kipsigis built their wealth and pride on cattle, herding on the highland grasslands and measuring standing in stock. Warriors raided neighbors, above all the Luo, Luhya, and the Maasai, to seize herds and win reputation. Success at raiding fed a fierce military tradition that later made the Nandi one of the hardest peoples for the British to subdue. economy / war ●●

3 April 1755 Royal Marines given their permanent name 0 cit. The British Admiralty took direct administrative control of the marine companies and organized them as fifty independent companies, laying the groundwork for the modern Royal Marines. The corps was granted the title 'Royal' in 1802 for its service during the French Revolutionary Wars. Royal Marines went on to serve in nearly every major British naval and amphibious operation since. war ●

1756 to 1763 The Seven Years War 0 cit. Britain and France fought a global conflict across Europe, North America, India, and the seas. Britain's victory made it the dominant colonial and naval power in the world. politics / war ●●●●●

23 June 1757 The Battle of Plassey 0 cit. Robert Clive's East India Company force defeated the Nawab of Bengal with the help of local defectors. The victory gave the company control of Bengal's revenues and began British territorial rule in India. economy / war ●●●●●

23 June 1757 Battle of Plassey gives Britain control of Bengal 0 cit. The British East India Company, led by Robert Clive, defeated the Nawab of Bengal with the help of a bribed commander who withheld his troops from the fight. The victory gave the Company control of Bengal, one of the richest regions in India, and its revenues. It marked the turning point from Company trading post to territorial ruler in India. politics / war ●●●

23 June 1757 The East India Company wins at Plassey and takes Bengal 0 cit. At the Battle of Plassey, Robert Clive's East India Company forces defeated the Nawab of Bengal after bribing his commander to defect. The victory turned a trading company into the dominant military and political power in one of the richest regions of India. From here the company built a private army that would grow to several hundred thousand troops, larger than most national armies of the day. politics / war ●●●

1757 The Militia Act reorganises England's county militia 0 cit. Facing war with France, Parliament rebuilt the county militia as a part-time home force raised by ballot from the local population. Men served near home and could be called out in an emergency rather than sent abroad. The reformed militia set the pattern for later volunteer and reserve forces meant to defend the home ground. politics / war ●

13 September 1759 The Fall of Quebec 0 cit. British forces under General Wolfe defeated the French on the Plains of Abraham. The battle sealed the conquest of Canada and ended French power in North America. war ●●●●

c. 1760 Qing territorial peak and the Ten Great Campaigns 0 cit. Through a series of military campaigns, the Qing brought Xinjiang, Tibet, and Mongolia under its control. The empire reached its greatest extent in the later eighteenth century. politics / war ●●●●

10 February 1763 Treaty of Paris (1763) 0 cit. Peace ending the Seven Years' War, with France ceding Canada and lands east of the Mississippi to Britain and Florida passing from Spain to Britain. It made Britain the leading colonial power in North America and India. diplomacy / politics / war ●●●●

12 August 1765 East India Company takes the Diwani of Bengal 0 cit. After winning at Buxar, the English East India Company obtained the Diwani, the right to collect taxes across Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa, from the Mughal emperor. A trading firm now held the revenue and administration of one of the richest regions on earth. From this point the Company governed millions of people as a business enterprise backed by its own private army. economy / politics / war ●●●

April 1767 Fall of the Ayutthaya Kingdom 0 cit. In April 1767 a Burmese army captured and burned the Siamese capital Ayutthaya after a long siege. The centuries-old kingdom fell, though a new Siamese state soon rose under Taksin. politics / war ●●●

1769 Joseph Warren appointed Provincial Grand Master of Massachusetts 0 cit. Joseph Warren, master of St. Andrew's Lodge, was appointed Provincial Grand Master over Scottish Freemasonry in the colonies. He was killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775, becoming an early martyr of the Revolution. society / war ●●

1772 to 1795 Partitions of Poland 0 cit. Between 1772 and 1795 Russia, Prussia, and Austria divided the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth among themselves in three partitions. By 1795 Poland had vanished from the map for over a century. politics / war ●●●●

c. 1773 to c. 1775 Pugachev's Rebellion 0 cit. Yemelyan Pugachev led a huge revolt of Cossacks, serfs, and non-Russian peoples that briefly threatened Catherine the Great's rule. The rising was crushed and led to tighter control over the frontier and the serfs. society / war ●●●

21 July 1774 Treaty of Kucuk Kaynarca 0 cit. Peace ending the Russo-Turkish War of 1768 to 1774, giving Russia territory on the Black Sea, navigation rights, and a claimed protective role over Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire. It opened a century of Russian pressure on the Ottomans. diplomacy / politics / religion / war ●●●

14 June 1775 Founding of the Continental Army 0 cit. The Second Continental Congress votes to raise a unified colonial army and the next day names George Washington its commander. It is the direct ancestor of the United States Army, the country's oldest armed service. politics / war ●●●●

13 October 1775 Founding of the Continental Navy 0 cit. The Continental Congress authorizes the purchase of armed vessels to raid British supply ships, creating the first American navy. The force is disbanded after the Revolution but the date is still celebrated as the Navy's birthday. war ●●●

10 November 1775 Founding of the Marine Corps 0 cit. The Continental Congress resolves to raise two battalions of Continental Marines to fight at sea and ashore. The Marine Corps traces its founding to this resolution and recruiting tradition places its start at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia. war ●●●

c. 1775 to c. 1783 Freemasons in the American Revolution 0 cit. Many leaders of the American Revolution, including George Washington and several signers of the Declaration of Independence, were documented Freemasons. Historians see this as reflecting shared Enlightenment networks rather than a masonic plot. politics / religion / war ●●●

19 April 1775 to 1783 The American War of Independence 0 cit. The thirteen American colonies rebelled against British rule and, with French help, won their independence. The war cost Britain the most populous part of its first empire. politics / war ●●●●●

1775 American Continental currency 0 cit. The Continental Congress printed paper money to fund the American Revolution. Rapid overissue caused the notes to lose almost all value, giving rise to the phrase not worth a Continental. economy / politics / war ●●●

10 November 1775 Continental Marines established 0 cit. The Continental Congress passed a resolution creating two battalions of Continental Marines to serve as landing forces for the fledgling Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War. This date is celebrated annually as the birthday of the United States Marine Corps. The original force was disbanded after the war and not permanently reestablished until 1798. war ●●●

19 April 1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord 0 cit. Colonial militia and Minutemen exchanged fire with British regulars at Lexington and Concord, opening the Revolutionary War. The engagement became the founding legend of the American citizen-soldier ideal, a part-time militia able to muster quickly for defense of home and colony. Militia units, not a standing army, carried the bulk of early Revolutionary fighting. politics / war ●●●

6 February 1778 Treaty of Alliance (1778) 0 cit. Military alliance between France and the fledgling United States against Britain during the American Revolution. French intervention proved decisive for American independence. diplomacy / politics / war ●●●

1780 to 1784 Fourth Anglo-Dutch War breaks Dutch trade 0 cit. Britain attacked over Dutch support for American independence and neutral trade, and the Republic suffered heavy losses to British sea power. The war exposed Dutch decline and hastened the shift of financial leadership to London. economy / war ●●●

4 November 1780 to 1781 Tupac Amaru II rebellion 0 cit. A descendant of the Inca led a massive indigenous and mestizo uprising against Spanish taxes and the mita in the Andes. Spain crushed it and executed him brutally, but it inspired later Andean resistance. society / war ●●

4 November 1780 Tupac Amaru II's rebellion in the Andes 0 cit. Jose Gabriel Condorcanqui, taking the name Tupac Amaru II after his Inca ancestor, led a mass uprising of Indigenous and mixed people against Spanish colonial abuses. It was the largest revolt in colonial Spanish America before the independence wars. He was captured and brutally executed in 1781, but the rising foreshadowed the struggles to come. society / war ●●

November 1780 The rebellion of Tupac Amaru II 0 cit. Jose Gabriel Condorcanqui, taking the name Tupac Amaru II in memory of the last Inca, leads a massive indigenous and mestizo uprising against Spanish taxes, the mita, and colonial abuses. The revolt spreads across the southern Andes before being crushed, and in 1781 the Spanish execute him and his family in Cusco with deliberate brutality. It stands as the largest indigenous rebellion of the colonial era and a later touchstone for Andean identity. society / war ●●

7 January 1782 Founding of the Bank of North America 0 cit. Chartered by the Continental Congress at Robert Morris's urging, the Bank of North America opens in Philadelphia as the first bank in the United States. It helps finance the final stage of the Revolutionary War. economy / war ●●●

3 September 1783 Treaty of Paris (1783) 0 cit. Peace treaty in which Britain recognized the independence of the United States and its boundaries to the Mississippi River. It ended the American Revolutionary War. diplomacy / politics / war ●●●●

April 1783 Russian Annexation of Crimea 0 cit. Catherine the Great annexed the Crimean Khanate, ending Ottoman influence there and opening the northern Black Sea to Russian settlement. The port of Sevastopol was founded soon after as a naval base. politics / war ●●●

c. 1788 to c. 1934 Australian frontier wars 0 cit. Aboriginal peoples resisted the taking of their land in a long series of frontier conflicts, raids and massacres. Colonists, disease and violence caused a catastrophic collapse of the Aboriginal population. society / war ●●●

7 August 1789 Founding of the War Department 0 cit. Congress establishes the Department of War under Secretary Henry Knox to run the tiny postwar army. It manages the nation's land forces for 158 years until it is folded into the new defense establishment in 1947. politics / war ●●●●

4 August 1790 Founding of the Revenue-Marine, Origin of the Coast Guard 0 cit. At Hamilton's urging, Congress funds ten armed cutters to enforce customs laws, creating the Revenue-Marine, later the Revenue Cutter Service. In 1915 it merges with the Life-Saving Service to form the United States Coast Guard. economy / war ●●●

22 August 1791 to 1804 Haitian Revolution overthrows slavery 0 cit. Enslaved people in the French colony of Saint-Domingue rose up, defeated their enslavers and colonial armies, and founded Haiti in 1804. It was the first nation born of a successful slave revolt and a landmark blow against slavery. society / war ●●●

August 1791 The Haitian Revolution begins 0 cit. In August 1791 enslaved people in the French colony of Saint-Domingue rose in a massive revolt. It grew into the only slave uprising to found an independent state and shook slaveholders across the Americas. society / war ●●●●●

22 August 1791 Start of the Haitian Revolution 0 cit. Enslaved people in the French colony of Saint-Domingue rose in a mass revolt against slavery and colonial rule. The uprising grew into a full revolution, eventually led by Toussaint Louverture. It became the only slave revolt in history to found an independent state. society / war ●●●

20 April 1792 French Revolutionary Wars Begin 0 cit. On 20 April 1792 the French Legislative Assembly declared war on Austria, opening more than two decades of conflict between revolutionary France and the monarchies of Europe. politics / war ●●●●●

1792 to 1797 War of the First Coalition 0 cit. From 1792 to 1797 the first alliance of European powers fought revolutionary France, a war that ended with French victory and the rise of Napoleon. politics / war ●●●●

21 September 1792 First French Republic proclaimed 0 cit. Revolutionaries abolished the French monarchy and declared a republic based on popular sovereignty. It opened a long and turbulent struggle over what republican government in France would mean. politics / war ●●●●●