Dates of Epoch-Making Events explained

Dates of Epoch-Making Events
Label1:	Author
Label2:	Type
Label3:	Contained in
Data3:	The Nuttall Encyclopaedia
Label4:	Release Date
Data4:	1900

"Dates of Epoch-Making Events" is an entry in The Nuttall Encyclopaedia for its listing of the most important turning points in history, particularly western history. The work's list illustrates western culture's turning points and James Wood's views from the early 20th century. The events are listed as in the original listing, with modern footnotes.

Historical events

The events chosen, with few errors,^[1] are:

	Age of PericlesFile:Gerard van Honthorst 001.jpg	Birth of Jesus
	Clovis I at the Battle of Tolbiac.File:Aachen Cathedral top floor.jpg	Charlemagne Coronations
	Voyages of ColumbusFile:United States Declaration of Independence.jpg	Declaration of Independence
	Darwin's On the Origin of SpeciesFile:Berliner kongress.jpg	Anton von Werner. Congress of Berlin.

Event listing

• The Ascendency in Athens of Pericles (445 BC)
• The Fall of the Persian Empire^[2] (330 BC)
• The Death of Alexander the Great (323 BC)
• The Reduction of Greece to a Roman province,^[3] and the Ruin of Carthage (146 BC)
• The Battle of Actium (31 BC)
• Birth of Christ, 14th year of Augustus^[4]
• Commencement of the Middle Ages (395)
• Ruin of the Roman Empire by the Barbarians^[5] (476)
• Clovis, ruler of Gaul (509)
• The Flight of Mahomet^[6] (622)
• Charlemagne, Emperor of the West (800)
• Treaty of Verdun (843)
• The Crusades (1096–1291)
• Employment of Cannon at Crécy (1346)
• Invention of Printing (1436)^[7]
• Taking of Constantinople by Mehmed II (1453)
• Discovery of America by Columbus^[8] (1492)
• Copernican System published (c. 1500)^[9]
• Accession of Leo X as Pope (1513)
• The Reformation of Luther (1517)
• Publication of Bacon's Novum Organon^[10] (1620)
• Publication of Descartes's Discourse on Method (1637)
• The Peace of Westphalia (1648)
• Reign of Louis XIV at its Height, and Peace of Nimeguen^[11] (1678)
• Publication of Newton's Theory of Gravitation (1682)^[12]
• Watt's Invention of the Steam-Engine (1769)^[13]
• Independence of the United States (1776)
• Coup d'état of 10 Brumaire^[14] (1799)
• Waterloo, and Congress of Vienna (1815)
• Introduction of Railroads into England (1830)^[15]
• First Attempt at Electric Telegraphy in France (1837)^[16]
• Africa traversed by Livingstone (1852–1854)
• Publication of Darwin's Origin of Species (1859)
• Opening of the Suez Canal (1869)
• Proclamation of the German Empire (1871)
• Congress of Berlin (1878)

References

General

• • Wood, James. The Nuttall Encyclopaedia: Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge. London: F.Warne, 1920. "Dates of Epoch-Making Events".

Footnotes

Notes and References

1. Apparent errors, corrections, and explanations are identified in footnotes; the existent errors are possibly due to transcription errors.
2. Specifically the Achaemenid dynasty.
3. The province is the Macedonia province.
4. Most historians consider that Jesus was born around 4 BCE or slightly earlier, See E. P. Sanders, The Historical Figure of Jesus, Penguin Books, 1993, pp. 10–11. For historians and Biblical scholars who place the birth Jesus within the range 7 – 2 BCE include D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris. See An Introduction to the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992, 54, 56 Michael Grant, Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels, Scribner's, 1977, p. 71; John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew, Doubleday, 1991–, vol. 1:214;, and Ben Witherington III, "Primary Sources," Christian History 17 (1998) No. 3:12–20.
5. The barbarians, a band of foederati, were led by Odoacer.
6. Mahomet is an archaism used in relation to Mohammad. See Medieval Christian view of Muhammad for more information.
7. Developments, such as China's's 2nd century BC innovations of paper and Korea's 13th century AD development of woodblock printing, predated Johann Gutenberg's press; Gutenberg independent innovation of the printing press around 1439 included a method of mass-producing movable type, the use of oil-based ink, and the use of a wooden screw press for the machine.
8. The discovery of the Americas has variously been attributed to others, depending on context and definition. For example, the Vikings (c. 1000) had previously established a settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland. However, the information regarding other events did not advance the exploration of the Americas by Europe as a whole. See Discovery of the Americas for other "Americas discovery".
9. [Nicolaus Copernicus]
10. [Anglicize]
11. [Anglicize]
12. [De motu corporum in gyrum]
13. The steam engine was progressively developed; The Watt steam engine was developed sporadically from 1763 to 1775. The great step in the development of the steam engine that Watt added was the condensing chamber, a key refinement. Also, this design offered a dramatic increase in fuel efficiency.
14. The Coup d'état of the 18 Brumaire (often simply 18 Brumaire) involved General Napoleon Bonaparte overthrowing the French Directory, replacing it with the French Consulate. This occurred on 9 November 1799, which was 18 Brumaire, Year VIII under the French Republican Calendar.
15. Though rail transport had been introduced earlier, this is the date for the world's first inter-city passenger railway in which all the trains were timetabled and were hauled for most of the distance solely by steam locomotives. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway was a large success in the newly industrialized area.
16. [Samuel Morse]