Days in History that changed the World,
and what they said at the time.
Really Reeling in the Years.
The Battle of Salamis; The Athenian Navy Destroys the Persian Fleet.
'We have forced every sea and land to be the highway of our daring, and everywhere, for good or ill, we have left imperishable monuments behind us'. Pericles on the Athenians.
The Assassination of Julius Caesar; The Death of a Dictator and the End of the Roman Republic.
'A certain star during those days appeared in the north towards evening...the majority ascribed it to Caesar, interpreting it to mean that he had become immortal'. Dio Cassius.
The Crucifixion of Jesus Christ; The Start of the Christian Era.
'In the blood of the matyrs lies the seed of the Church'. Tertullian.
The Dedication of Constantinople; Constantine the Great Establishes his Capital at Byzantium.
'Alone of all the emperors...Constantine was initiated by rebirth in the mysteries of Christ - when ceremonies were complete he put on bright imperial clothes which shone like light'. Eusebius describes Constantine's baptism.
A Confederacy of German Tribes Crosses the Rhine; the Slow Death of Rome's Western Empire.
'...the bright light of all the world was quenced...the Roman Empire had lost its head...the whole universe had perished in one city...' St. Jerome describes the sack of Rome (410ad).
The Death of Muhammad; the Birth of Islam.
'In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Recite! Your Lord is the most Bountiful One, who by his pen taught man what he did not know'. The Koran: Muhammad's first revelation.
The Battle of Tours; Charles Martel Defeats the Moors.
'As regards the people of the Northern Quadrant...such as the Franks - their religious beliefs lack solidity, and this is because of the nature of cold and the lack of warmth'. Al-Mas'udi speculates.
The Coronation of Charlemagne; The Beginning of the European Idea.
'Let peace, concord and unanimity reign among all Christian people...for without peace we cannot please God...'.Charlemagne, The Admonitio (789).
Pope Urban II Preaches the First Crusade; The Franks Declare Holy War.
'Let those who have wearied themselves to the destruction of body and soul now work for the honour of both!' Pope Urban II at Clermont.
The Death of Genghis Khan; The Founder of the Mongol Empire.
'An international team of geneticists has made the astonishing discovery that more than 16million men in Central Asia have the same male Y chromosome as the great Mongol leader'. Robin McKie, the Observer (2003).
The Fall of Constantinople; The Ottoman Challenge to Europe.
'The Spider weaves the curtains in the palace of the Caesars'. A victorious Sultan Mehmed II enters Constantinople's Haghia Sophia and meditates.
Columbus makes Landfall in the Bahamas; The Opening of the Americas.
'I believe that...you will soon convert to our holy faith a multitude of people, acquiring large dominions and great riches for Spain'. Columbus, writing to Ferdinand and Isabella, urges the Christianization of 'natives', October 1492.
Magellan Sets Sail for South America; the First Circumnavigation of the Globe.
'The gums of both the lower and upper teeth of some of our men swelled, so that they could not eat...and therefore died'. Antonio Pigafetta, a survivor.
Luther Defies Charles V at the Diet of Worms. The Spread of Protestantism.
'I despise the fury and favour of Rome...Let them condemn and burn my books...I will condemn and publicly burn the whole papal law, that slough heresies'. Martin Luther.
The Defeat of the Spanish Armada; England retains her Religion and her Queen.
'...it lost us repect and the good reputation among warlike people which we used to have...Almost the entire country went into mourning'. Fray Jeronimo de Sepulveda chronicles (1605) the effect of Spain's defeat.
Tokugawa Ieyasu Wins the Battle of Sekigahara; the Age of the Shoguns.
'There are seven emotions; joy, anger, anxiety, love, grief, fear and hate, and if a man does not give way to these he can be called patient...I have practised patience'. Tokugawa Ieyasu.
The Foundation of Jamestown, Virginia; the First Permanent English Settlement in North America.
'Crafty, timorous, quick of apprehension and very ingenious. Some are of disposition fearful, some bold, most cautious, all savage. Generally covetous of copper, beads and such like trash'. John Smith describes Virginia's natives.
The Defenestration of Prague; The Start of the Thirty Year War.
'This business is like to put all Christendom in combustion'. Dudley Carleton, England's ambassador in the Hague.
Isaac Newton Matriculates at Cambridge University, Modern Science Begins.
'Nature is not simply an organized body like a clock...but it is a living body which has life and perception...' Anne, Lady Conway, a self-taught enthusiast, gets Newton's point.
The Ottomans Abandon the Siege of Vienna; the Tide turns for Turkish Expansion in Europe.
'There are nine kitchens in this Seraglio...feeding 13,400, including more than eight hundred women and about the same number of eunuchs'. The Sultan's personal physician describes Topkapi Palace's domestic arrangements.
The Peace of Utrecht; the end of Louis XIV's Dominance in Europe.
'At our age, Marechal, one is not lucky'. A 68yr old Louis commiserates with Villeroi after his defeat to Marlborough at the battle of Ramillies.
The Endeavour Leaves Plymouth; Captain Cook Explores the Pacific and Discovers New South Wales.
'Look around...observe the magnificence of our metropolis - the extent of our empire - the immensity of our commerce and the opulence of our people'. Charles Fox in English Parliament comments on England's expansion.
The US Declaration of Independence; the American Revolution.
'Divided as they are into a thousand forms of policy and religion...they equally detest the pageanty of a king, and the supercilious hypocrisy of a bishop'. An English pamphleteer describes Americans.
The Fall of the Bastille; the Start of the French Revolution.
'When the last King is hanged with the bowels of the last priest, the human race can hope for happiness'. A popular 18th century phrase re-expressed in a Parisian revolutionary journal.
The Battle of Waterloo; the End of Napoleon's Empire.
'My power proceeds from my reputation, and my reputation from the victories I have won...Conquest has made me what I am, only conquest can maintain me' Napoleon Bonaparte (1802).
Simon Bolivar Named President of Gran Colombia; the Liberation of Latin America.
'This country will inexorably fall into the hands of uncontrollable multitudes, thereafter to pass under...tyrants of all colours and races'. Simon Bolivar (1830).
Opening of the Liverpool-Manchester Railway; Dawn of the Railway Age.
'I stood up, and with my bonnet off "drank the air before me". When I closed my eyes this sensation of flying was quite delightful and strange...' Fanny Kemble, Novice train traveller.
Parliament Passes the Emancipation Act; The Abolition of Slavery.
'Am I Not a Man and a Brother?' Motto of the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade.
'They are not my men and bretheren, these strange people...' W.M. Thackeray.
Commodore Perry Anchors in Tokyo Bay; Japan opens up to the Modern World.
'The military and warlike strength of the Japanese had long been to Europe like a ghost village churchyard, a bugbear and a terror...Our nation has unclothed the ghost...'
An American sailor (1853).
Robert E. Lee Surrenders at Appomattox; the End of the American Civil War.
'I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved...It will become all one thing, or all the other'. Abraham Lincoln (16 June 1858).
The Battle of Sedan; Germany becomes Europe's Greatest Power.
'...it is not by means of speeches and majority resolutions that the great issues of the day will be decided...but by iron and blood'. Otto von Bismarck.
Alexander Graham Bell Develops the Telephone; US Patent number 174,465 is issued.
'No skilled operator is required; direct conversation may be had by speech without the intervention of a third person. It is unsurpassed for economy and simplicity'. Salesman from the Bell Telephone Company (1877).
The Boxer Rebellion; China Turns Against the West
'In fifty years time there will be millions of Boxers in serried ranks and war's panoply at the call of the Chinese government'. Sir Robert Harris anticipates the wave of Maoist chauvism.
E = mc2: The Special Theory of Relativity; Einstein Revolutionizes Physics.
'God is subtle but he is not malicious'. The world according to Einstein - mysterious but still intelligible.
The Assassination of Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo; A Serb Terrorist Triggers the First World War.
'Germany...is a power magazine. All her neighbours are in terror for fear she will explode, and sooner or later, explode she must'. Henry Adams, American historian, writing from St. Petersburg (1901).
The First Day on the Somme; The Carnage of Trench Warfare.
'No Man's Land under snow is...chaotic, crater-ridden, uninhabitable, awful, the abode of madness' Wilfred Owen, poet.
The Storming of the Winter Palace; The Bolshevik Revolution.
'Seizure of power is the point of the uprising; its political task will be clarified after the seizure'. V.I Lenin shows that power comes first and ideology after (6 Nov 1917).
Operation Barbarossa; Hitler Invades Russia.
'We have only to kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down'. Adolf Hitler, Summer 1941.
The Japanese Attack Pearl Harbor; World War II in the Pacific.
'We must be the great arsenal of democracy'. Roosevelt prepares America for the war.
The Bombing of Hiroshima; Weapons of Mass Destruction.
'I am become death, the shatterer or worlds'. Oppenheimer quotes from the Bhagavad Gita after first atomic bomb test.
The Treaties of Rome, The Birth of a New Europe
'There is no future for the people of Europe other than in union' Jean Monnet.
Krushchev Agrees to Remove Missiles from Cuba, The Superpowers Step back from Armageddon.
'We're eyeball to eyeball, and I think the other fellow just blinked'. Dean Rusk US Secretary of State.
'I Have A Dream', Martin Luther King speaks at the Lincoln Memorial.
'...his violent end...reflects the hostility of mankind to those who annoy it by trying hard to pull it one more painful step up the ladder from ape to angel'. I.F Stone (1968).
'The Eagle has Landed', The first Men on the Moon.
'Human knowledge and human power meet in one'. Francis Bacon (1561-1626) argued that planned science programmes benefit mankind, space exploration was justified in the same manner.
The Last US Troops Leave Vietnam, America Suffer a Rare Defeat.
'The conventional army loses if it does not want to win. The guerrilla wins if he does not lose'. Dr. Henry Kissinger, Presidential adviser (Jan 1969).
OPEC Raises the Price of Oil; Recession hits the West.
'This was the first time that major industrial states had to bow to the pressure from pre-industrial ones'. Strategic Survey 1973.
The Rise to Power of William Henry Gates III; The Impact of Microsoft.
'There is no such thing as a global village. Most media are rooted in their national and local cultures' Rupert Murdoch (1989).
The Breaching of the Berlin Wall; The End of Soviet Communism.
'Mr. Gorbachev, open the gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!' Ronald Regan at the wall in 1987.
Nelson Mandela is Released From Prison; The End of Apartheid
'Out of the experience of an extraordinary human disaster...must be born a society of which all of humanity will be proud.' Nelson Mandela, inaugural address 1994.
Nine Eleven; The Destruction of the World Trade Center
'We do not let fear make our decisions for us. We choose to live in freedom.' Rudolph Giuliani, Major of New York, United Nations General Assembly.
