History Quick Facts Cheat Sheet
Famous People & Animals
Richard III Reputed to be a hunchback but this wasn't the case.
Julius Caesar Murdered by Cassius.
David Stirling Founder of the SAS 1941.
Michaelangelo Designer of Swiss Guard uniform.
Napoleon Designer of the Italian Flag.
Marengo Horse of Napoleon.
Copenhagen Horse of Wellington.
Incitatus Horse of Caligula.
Black Bess Dick Turpins horse.
Bucephalus Horse of Alexander the Great.
Diamond Dog of Isaac Newton.
Socks Bill Clinton's cat.
Humphrey Cat at 10 Downing Street.
Years
55 BC Recon. invasion of Britain by the Romans (non conquest).
31 BC Battle of Actium.
43 AD Full Roman invasion of Great Britain.
434 Attila the Hun becomes ruler of the Huns.
532 Nike Riots - Political factors in Byzantium against Emperor Justidium.
565 St. Columba founds a Monestary on Scottish Island of Iona.
597 Augustin arrives in Kent and begins a conversion of England.
664 Sinod of Whitby is held to settle differences between Roman and Celtic clergy.
731 Bede finishes his ecclesiastical history of the English poeple.
757 Offa begins King of Mercia.
899 Alfred the Great succeeded by his son Edward the Eldar.
1016 3 Kings of England (Ethelred II, Edmund II and Canute).
1040 Macbeth beats Duncan I of Scotland and makes himself King.
1066 3 kings Edward the Confessor, Harold and William the Conqueror (the Bastard). Battle of Hastings. Battle of Stamford Bridge.
1086 Domesday Book - Census of England introduced by William the Conquerer.
1119 Battle of Bremule (Henry I beats Louis VI of France).
1139 Matilda lands at Arundel to claim English throne.
1154 Henry II acceeds to the throne (first Plantageanate King)
1170 Murder of Thomas A Beckett by order of Henry II.
1204 Sacking of Constantinople.
1206 Genghis Khan becomes leader of the Mongol Empire.
1215 Seal of the Magna Carta by King John at Runnymede.
1237 Treaty of York - determined the Anglo-Scottish border.
1259 Treaty of Paris - settles future of English posessions in France.
1265 Simon De Montfort's parliament is summoned.
1295 Edward I summons his model parliament.
1297 Battle of Sterling Bridge.
1305 Scottish rebel William Wallace executed by the English.
1314 Battle of Bannockburn. Robert the Bruce victory against the English (Edward II).
1315-22 Millions die in great European Famine.
1320 Declaration of Arbroath.
1327 Edward II murdered.
1346 Battle of Crecy.
1348 Black Death enters Britain.
1356 Battle of Poitiers.
1381 Peasants Revolt - led by Wat Tyler against imposition of Poll Tax.
1387 Chaucers Canterbury Tales appear.
1400-09 Owain Glyn Dwr leads the Welsh revolt against the English.
1414 Council of Constance - addresses a deep schism in the papacy.
1415 Southampton plot against Henry V is revealed.
1419 First defenestration of Prague.
1431 Joan of Arc burned at the Stake.
1450 Jack Cade leads rebellion against War Taxation.
1455 Battle of St. Albans - first battle of the Wars of the Roses.
1461 Battle of Towton - Lancastrians are defeated and Edward IV becomes King.
1477 William Caxton publishes the first printed book in England.
1485 Battle of Bosworth Field.
1496 Magnus Intercursus Trade Treaty with the Netherlands.
1509 Henry VII succeeded by Henry VIII.
1515 Thomas Wolsey becomes Lord Chancellor.
1521 Defender of the Faith - Pope grants Henry VIII title.
1521 Henry VIII meets Francis I at the Field of the Cloth of Gold.
1534 Act of Supremacy (first)
1535 Thomas More tried for high treason and beheaded (he was canonized in 1935).
1554 Thomas Wyatt leads rebellion against Mary.
1556 Thomas Cramner burned for Heresy.
1558 Mary dies, Elizabeth I ecceeds to the throne.
1560 Treaty of Endinburgh signed by England and France.
1569 Forfeiture of O'Neill lands opens way for English colonization of Ulster.
1570 Ivan the Terrible slaughters thousands in the city of Novgorod.
1571 Battle of Lepanto (Naval battle - Turks v The Holy League - Spanish, Italian and Austrian forces).
1571 Elizabeth I opens Royal Exchange.
1580 Francis Drake lands at Plymouth after circumnavigating the globe.
1587 Mary Queen of Scots executed at Fotheringay Castle.
1588 English defeat Spanish Armada.
1601 Robert Devereux (Earl of Essex) attempts to seize London.
1603 Elizabeth I dies, James I acceeds to the Throne.
1605 Gun Powder Plot.
1609 Plantation of Ulster - Protestants move into confiscated Irish land.
1611 King James Bible published.
1616 William Shakespeare dies.
1618 Second defenestration of Prague.
1618-48 Thirty Years War (series of religious wars in Europe).
1620 Pilgrim Fathers sail for America (in the Mayflower Captained by Miles Standish).
1625 James I dies and Charles I accedes the Throne.
1629 Parliament dissolved - Charles I begins 11 years of personal rule.
1639-40 Bishops War - English/Scottish religious war.
1640 Short Parliament.
1645 New Model Army - established by Parliament.
1649 Drogheda - Cromwell's troops slaughter the garrison of the Irish town.
1649 Charles I beheaded.
1653 Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord protector of England.
1658 Cromwell dies and is succeeded by his son Richard.
1660 Restoration of the Monarchy in England.
1660 Samuel Peepys starts his diary.
1665 Great Plague of London begins.
1666 Great Fire of London - only 6 people die but 2/3rds of the city are destroyed.
1672 Royal African Company - established to regulate Afdrican Slave Trade.
1673 Test Act - excludes Catholics from Public Office.
1678 Popish Plot - to murder Charles II is revealed.
1685 Charles II dies, James II accedes the throne. Battle of Sedgemoor.
1688 William of Orange lands at Torbay.
1689 William and Mary formally accede to the Throne.
1689 Bill of Rights - confirmed by Act of Parliament.
1690 Battle of the Boyne - William III of Orange's decisive victory over the Catholic King James II. (named after river)
1692 Glencoe Massacre.
1694 Bank of England established
1701

Act of Settlement - places House of Hanover in line for the English Throne.
1702 William III dies and Anne accedes to the throne.
1703 Death of the Man in the Iron Mask (identity remained a mystery).
1704 Battle of Blenheim - John Churchill (Duke of Marlborough) defeats the French.
1707 Act of Union - England and Scotland are joined.
1713 Treaty of Utrecht - ends a decade of war in Europe.
1714 Anne dies, George I accedes to the throne.
1715 First major Jacobite Rising.
1718 First British convict transportation begins.
1720 South Sea Bubble - bursts and triggers financial panic.
1721 First Prime Minister - Sir Robert Walpole takes office.
1727 George I dies and is succeeded by George II.
1736 Portous Riots - Followed the execution of two convicted smugglers in Endinburgh
1739 Methodist Preachers begin their mission to the poor.
1739 Dick Turpin (John Palmer) hanged in York.
1739-48 War of Jenkins Ear (Spain V Britain).
1743 Battle of Dettingen - George II becomes last British Monarch to lead his army into battle.
1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie lands in Scotland to claim the British Throne.
1746 Battle of Colloden - Jacobites defeated (last battle on British soil).
1750 Highland clearances - Scottish landlords start evicting tennants.
1756 Seven Years War (Britain and France).
1757 Battle of Plassey - Bengal passes into British control.
1760 George III succeeds grandfather George II.
1765 Riots erupt in American Colonies after Parliament stamp levy taxes.
1768 Captain James Cook - 1st expidition to Pacific.
1770 Lord North becomes Prime Minister.
1771 Britains first Cotton Mill opens.
1772 Slavery is effectively outlawed in Britain.
1773 Boston Tea Party.
1776 US Declaration of Indepndence.
1780 Gordon Riots - Anti Catholic riots.
1781 Battle of Yorktown - American defeat British.
1787 First convicts sent to Australia.
1789 French Revolution.
1798 Society of United Irishmen rebel against British rule.
1799 Trade Unions outlawed.
1801 Present day Union Jack instituted.
1801 Act of Union creates United Kingdom.
1801 Britain holds its first Census.
1805 Battle of Trafalgar (no British ships lost).
1811 Luddites - attack industrial machinery.
1812 Napoleons invasion of Russia marks turning point after his army was badly damaged in the campaign.
1812 War of 1812 Britain V USA (British Troops burn down the Whitehouse in 1814).
1815 Battle of Waterloo - decisive battle in the Napoleonic Wars.
1815 Corn Laws - introduced to protect British agriculture.
1819 Peterloo Massacre (Manchester - 11 die).
1820 Cato Street conspiracy - attempt to murder the British Cabinet.
1820 George III dies and is succeeded by George IV.
1825 World's first steam locomotive passenger service begins.
1829 Peel sets up metropolitan police.
1830 George IV dies and is succeeded by William IV.
1832 Great Reform Act -
1833 Factory Act - restricts working hours for women and children.
1834 Tolpuddle Martyrs - sentenced to transportation to Australia for alleged Union activity.
1836 Battle of the Alamo (US v Mexicans).
1837 Victoria succeeds to the throne after the death of Willam IV.
1840 Penny Post
1842 Income Tax (first time in use during peace).
1845 Irish Potato Famine begins.
1846 Corn Laws repealed.
1848 Known as the year of revolutions in Europe. At least 3 separate revolutions occurred.
1849 Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood established.
1854 Crimean War.
1876 Victoria declared Empress of India.
1876 Battle of Little Bighorn.
1878 Congress of Berlin.
1879 Tay Bridge disaster.
1880 Ned Kelly Hanged.
1888 Jack the Ripper murders (Whitechapel London).
1890 Battle of Wounded Knee last battle of the American-Indian Wars.
1897 Marconi awarded patent for radio communication.
1900 Boxer Rebellion - Group known as Boxers murdered thousand of foreigners in an attempt to rid China of foreign influence.
1901 Victoria dies, Edward VII accedes the throne.
1902 Treaty of Vereeniging - ending Second Boer War.
1903 First powered flight by the Wright brothers.
1904 Entente Cordiale - signed by Britain and France.
1908 Asquith becomes Prime Minister.
1909 Peoples Budget - introduced by David Lloyd George.
1910 Edward VII dies and is succeeded by George V.
1910 Doctor Crippen - First criminal arrested with the aid of radio.
1912 Sinking of the Titanic on it's maiden voyage.
1912 The first parachute jump from an airplane was made by Captain Berry at St. Louis, Missouri.
1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassinated in Sarajevo.
1915 Sinking of the Lucitania by German Forces.
1916 Easter Rising
1916 Battle of the Somme (First use of the tank)
1917 October Revolution - Overthrow of Russian government by Bolshviks.
1917 Battle of Ypres.
1918 RAF is formed.
1919-33 Prohibition in the USA
1921-23 Teapot Dome Scandal - Alleged corruption involving government oilfields during the presidency of Warren Harding.
1922 Irish Free state formed.
1924 Ramsey MacDonald becomes first Labour Prime Minister.
1926 Television - Public demo by John Logie Baird.
1926 General Strike.
1927 BBC formed
1927 The Jazz Singer - First talking film.
1928 Voting rights - all women over 21.
1928 Penicillin discovered by Alexander Flemming.
1929 Wall Street Crash.
1931 Al Capone arrested on Tax Evasion charge
1931 John Dillinger decalred public enemy number 1 by the FBI.
1932 Oswald Mosley - founds British Union of fascists.
1933 Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany.
1936 TV Demonstrated by John Logie Baird
1936 George V dies and is succeeded by Edward VIII, ultimately succeeded by George VI.
1936 Jarrow March - against poverty and unemployment.
1938 Munich Agreement - cedes the Sudetenand to Germany.
1938 Anschluss - Germany annexes Austria.
1939 World War II
1940 Winston Churchill becomes Proime Minister.
1940 Battle of Britain.
1941 Pearl Harbor - Surprise Japanese attack on US Naval base in Hawaii.
1942 El Alamein - British defeat Rommel.
1942 Battle of Midway.
1942 Battle of Stalingrad - disasterous bloody defeat for the Nazi's.
1943 Battle of Kursk - largest ever land battle.
1944 Battle of the Bulge - Last German offensive of the War.
1950-54 Korean War.
1956 Suez Crisis
1961 Bay of Pigs
1962 Cuban Missile Crisis
1963 Assassination of President Kennedy in Dallas.
1967-70 Republic of Biafra
1969 Stonewall riots - Violence erupts between New York's gay community and the police.
1973 Britain joins common market (along with Ireland and Denmark).
1975 Balcombe Street Siege
1976 Soweto riots - Black students against the teaching of Afrikaans in school.
1977 Charlie Chaplin, Elvis Presley and Bing Crosby die.
1980 Mount St.Helens volcano erupts.
1981 John Hinckley attempts to assassinate Ronald Reagan.
Assassinations
338 B.C Artaxerxes III Poisoned by his favourite Eunuch, Bagoas
44 B.C Assassination of Julius Caesar Brutus, Casca and other conspirators.
54 A.D Claudius I Believed t have been poisoned by wife Agrippina with Mushrooms so as to ensure the succession of her son Nero as Emperor.
251 St. Agatha Tortured by having breasts renoved and possibly killed by being rolled over burning coals.
929 Wenceslas Murdered by his pagan brother Boleslaw on his way to mass.
946 Edmund I Killed by an outlawed robber at Pucklechurch in Gloustershire.
1058 Lulach (The Fool) Weak King of Scotland assassinated a few months into his reign.
1327 Edward II Murdered in Berkeley Castle
1400 Richard II Believed to have been murdered in Pontefract Castle after being deposed by Parliament in favour of Henry Duke of Lancaster.
1471 Henry VI Murdered in Tower of London most probably at the hands of Edward IV.
1483 Edward V Placed in the Tower of London with Prince Rupert and believed to have been murdered at the hands of Richard III.
1567 Lord Darnley His house was blown up most probably at the request of Lord Bothwell (New lover of Mary Queen of Scots)
1589 Henri III (France) Assassinated by a catholic priest.
1762 Peter III Strangled whilst in captivity. Taken captive by Catherine and her lover Count Orlov
1764 Ivan VI Replaced when he was just 8 weeks old after a coup, a rescue was attempted to get him back into power upon which he was immediately mordered by his captors.
1792 Gustav III (Sweden) Shot by a former army officer.
1812 Spencer Perceval Only British prime-minister to be assassinated. Killed by John Bellingham.
1830 Pope Pius VIII Poisoned possibly due to his views on catholic marriage.
1831 Count Giovanni Capo d'Istria Assassinated in a church at Nauplia.
1865 Abraham Lincoln Killed by John Wilkes Booth whilst at Ford's Theatre watching 'Our American Cousin'.
1881 James Garfield Shot by Charles Guiteau. Garfield survived for 11 weeks after but was probably killed by infection from poor medical practice and care carried out on him after the incident.A bullet remained inside his body which doctors couldn't locate.
1901 William McKinley Killed at the Temple of Music in Buffalo.He was shot twice by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist. Initially McKinley appeared to be recovering from the attack but took a turn for the worse and died 6 days after the attack.
1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carried out by Gavrilo Princip.
1916 Rasputin  
1940 Trotsky Carried out with an Ice Pick by Ramon Mercader
1948 Mahatma Gandhi Killed by Nathuram Godse.
1963 John F. Kennedy Lee Harvey Oswald (not proven)
1965 Malcolm X  
1968 Martin Luther King Killed by James Earl Ray
1978 Aldo Moro Murdered by the Red Brigade.
1979 Earl Mountbatten  
1979 Airey Neave  
1980 John Lennon  
History Cheat Sheet