War & Conflict
The American Civil War, 1850-1865
How disputes over slavery pushed the United States into civil war, how the Union won it, and how it ended slavery. Covers the road to secession, the major campaigns and emancipation.
- Road to Secession
- Campaigns and Battles
- Emancipation and Reconstruction
by Samuel Whitfield
The Cold War, 1947 to 1991
The long standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union and their allies, fought through crises, proxy wars and a nuclear arms race. It ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991.
- Crises and Diplomacy
- Proxy Wars
- Arms Race and Soviet Collapse
by Miguel Santos
Feudal Japan and the Samurai, 1185-1877
How a warrior class rose to rule Japan under successive shogunates, and how the Meiji government dismantled the samurai's privileges in the 1870s.
- Kamakura and Muromachi
- Warring States to Tokugawa
- Bakumatsu and Meiji
by Aiko Tanaka
The Mongol Empire, from Genghis Khan to the Yuan's Fall
How Genghis Khan united the Mongol tribes, how his successors built the largest contiguous empire in history, and how it split into four states before the Yuan dynasty fell in 1368.
- Genghis Khan
- Conquests Abroad
- Succession and Fragmentation
by Aiko Tanaka
Napoleon Bonaparte, 1769-1821
The life of the Corsican officer who rose through the French Revolution to rule France, redrew Europe by conquest, and died in exile on Saint Helena.
- Rise to Power
- Empire and War
- Fall, Exile and Legacy
by Elena Petrova
The Punic Wars: Rome vs Carthage
Between 264 and 146 BCE Rome and Carthage fought three wars for control of the western Mediterranean. This timeline includes Hannibal's invasion of Italy and the destruction of Carthage.
- First Punic War
- Hannibal and the Second Punic War
- Third Punic War
by Daniel Okafor
World War II
Major events of the World War 2.
by Rupin Chheda
The Crusades, 1095 to the Fall of Acre
A series of religious wars launched by Latin Christendom, beginning with the call at Clermont in 1095 and ending on the mainland with the loss of Acre in 1291. Crusading against Ottoman and other enemies continued afterwards.
- Campaigns and Battles
- Crusader States and Orders
- Popes, Rulers and Diplomacy
by Hannah Lindqvist
World War II, 1939 to 1945
The global war that began with Germany's invasion of Poland and ended with Japan's surrender. It also saw the Holocaust, the systematic murder of European Jews.
- Europe and the Road to War
- Asia and the Pacific
- The Holocaust and Persecution
by Miguel Santos