Turning points

Turning Points (or Paradigm Shifts)

Objectives:

to evaluate change and its causes and effects
to comprehend and compare time, change, and causality
to evaluate why change does not occur (stability v. change)
to comprehend that different things take place at different places and times across history (Contingency)

Note:

this page can be used alternatively with timelines, or be used to generate timelines

Major Turning Points in World History

Prehistory

Paleolithic Age

Early Hominids
- fire
- tools
domestication of dogs
Cro-Magnum man:
- >> link to early modern humans page

[Ice Age]

settlement of the Americas

{End of Ice Age] (Holocene Era)

Natufian society
settlement
rise of the oceans

Neolithic Age

semi-permanent or permanent settlement
- domestication of plants
- domestication of herd animals

Rise of Civilization

metal working
- Copper Age
- Bronze Age
domestication of horses for transportation
domestication of camels for transportation
rise of cities and complex social structures

Civilization

writing

oral traditions made permanent with writing
written law (Hammuarabi's Code)

technologies

Iron Age
- mass
astronomy & mathematics
- navigation
- architecture
- warfare

empires

Akkadian empire (first empire)
Qin Dynasty
Persian empire
Roman empire

Classical period

Hellenistic Age
Athens
Rome

key events and years 4000 BC to 1 AD

1177 BC

Bronze Age Collapse

1 AD

birth of Christ

key events and years 1 AD to modern period

313

Edict of Milan: officially tolerates Christians across Roman Empire

325 Constantine the Great unifies Roman empire

476

Collapse of western Roman empire

632 Mohammad dies

732

Battle of Tours

1206 Genghis Kahn

1215

Magna Carta

1453

Fall of Byzantium to Ottomans

1455

Gutenburg invents moveable type press

1488

Portuguese reach Indian Ocean via Africa Bartolomeu Dias

1492

Columbus discover of America
other
- Machiaveli

1517

Luther's 95 Theses
sparks Protestant Reformation

1588 English defeat of Spanish Armada

rise of Britain
decline of Spain

1648

Treat of Westphaia ends 30 Years War
ruinous religious war ends w/ German states able to choose religion (protestant v. Catholic

1688

British Glorious Revolution
- ended British divine rule and affirmed Parliament's power

1740

Federick the Great of Prussia
Catherine the Great of Russia
balance of power shifts away from Austria

1776

1789

US Constitution affirmed and election / inauguration of Washington as 1st president
French Revolution

1815

Congress of Vienna restores monarchies after fall of Napoleon

1848

popular & radical revolts in Europe fail

1870

unification of Germany

1914-18 WWI

1929

Stock Market crash

1939-45

WWII

1989

collapse of Soviet Union

Modern technologies

Franklin Stove
lightning rod
Thomas Crapper
electricity
automobile
medicine
modern Air Conditioner 1902 by Willis Carrier
first home air conditioner, 1914
installation of air conditioners in motive theaters: 1925
common use of air conditioners in homes: 1950s
- sources:
  - History of Air Conditioning