| 1863 | Slavery abolished in America |
| 1869 | Suez Canal opened for traffic |
| 1885 | General Gordon captured and slain at Khartoum |
| 1899 | Beginning of the Boer War |
| 1904 | Outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War |
| 1905 | Battle of the sea of Japan; Japan inflicted a crushing naval defeat on Russia; a wave of nationalism spread in Asia |
| 1911 | Chinese Republican Revolution; Amundsen reached South Pole (Dec. 14) |
| 1914 | Outbreak of World War I (July 28) |
| 1916 | Battle of Jutland (Naval Battle). The British Grand Fleet under Admiral Jellico defeated the German Fleet under Admiral Scheer |
| 1917 | March / Feb. Revolution in Russia : the Czar abdicated and later assassinated; reformist Mensheviks came into power (Prince Lvov, Kerensky) Nov./Oct. Revolution in Russia: Revolutionary Bolsheviks came into power (Lenin) |
| 1918 | End of World War I (Nov. 11) |
| 1919 | The Paris Conference; the Treaty of Versailles |
| 1920 | Foundation of the League of Nations (Jan. 10) |
| 1921 | The Irish Free State established with the status of a Dominion like Canada (Dec. 6) |
| 1923 | Turkish Republic proclaimed with Kemal Atatutk as its First President |
| 1924 | Lenin died, and power passed into the hands of Stalin in Russia |
| 1925 | Treaty of Locarno (between Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Belgium) |
| 1928 | Kellogg Pact (signed in Paris by the principal powers of the world for the prevention of war; it had no effect) |
| 1933 | Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany |
| 1935 | War between Italy and Abyssinia (Ethiopia); Italy annexed Abyssinia (Ethrapia); Plebiscite in Saar |
| 1939 | Germany invaded Poland : Outbreak of World War II (Sep. 1) |
| 1940 | Fall of France after German invasion (June 5); Italy entered World War II |
| 1941 | Hitler invades Russia (June 22); II (Dec) |