administration

One of the functions of government by which it implements legislation and policy and operates the governmental system in accordance with a country's constitution and those conventions underlying it. The government of a country is often referred to as an administration; for example the Major or Blair administration in Britain, or the Bush or Clinton administration in the USA.

In countries with a parliamentary system of government, ministers are normally constitutionally responsible or answerable to the legislature. However, in countries such as the USA, which have a constitutional separation of powers, neither heads of executive departments nor the chief executive are constitutionally responsible to the legislature. Heads of executive departments are normally responsible solely to the chief executive (usually the president) and the chief executive is responsible to the people by virtue of his or her election. Nonetheless, the actions of the president of the USA and the various members of his or her administration are subject to considerable scrutiny by Congress, mainly through its committees.

In liberal democracies ministers or their political equivalents are normally almost fully liable for acts beyond their powers, including the actions of the civil servants for whom they are responsible. In a number of countries the administration of policy is also subject to the scrutiny of an ombudsman.

administration - events

3100 BC	Egypt	King Menes advances from his southern capital of Thinis (Abydos) in Egypt and overcomes the Lord of the Delta Land. He creates the so-called 1st dynasty of the combined prehistoric kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt.
2686 BC	Egypt	Egypt's 3rd dynasty is founded by Sanakht and is the start of Egypt's Old Kingdom (2686 BC–2180 BC). Under Zoser (Djoser), its second king, Egypt's southern boundary is established at the Nile's first cataract, and the first, step-sided pyramid is built at the necropolis of Saqqara in the city of Memphis (Cairo), by his minister Imhotep, physician, architect, and author. The oldest monument of hewn stone in the world, it consists of six steps and is 62 m/200 ft high.
2205 BC	China	Chinese civilization traditionally begins with the founding of the Xia dynasty by You the Great, although 1989 BC has been put forward as an alternative date.
c. 2160 BC–c. 2040 BC	Egypt	Egypt's 1st Intermediate Period begins after the death of King Pepi II. It is a time of warring, near anarchy, and a host of local rulers lasting through the 7th to 10th dynasties.
2113 BC	Sumeria	Sumeria revives for the last time under the third and most famous of Ur's dynasties, founded by Ur-nammu. Prosperity lasts for about a century under him and his descendants, Dungi and Ibi-Sin.
2040 BC	Egypt	King Mentuhotep (or Nebhapetre) II of the 11th dynasty, who came to power in 2060, achieves the reunion of Egypt, and establishes Egypt's Middle Kingdom (2040 BC–1786 BC).
1971 BC	Egypt	Amenemhet I makes Senusret (Sesostris) co-regent to ensure continuation of the dynasty. Subsequent rulers continue the practice.
1842 BC	Egypt	King Amenemhet III, the greatest monarch of the Middle Kingdom, comes to the throne in Egypt and reigns for 45 years. He is known as ‘the good god’, who benefits Egypt more than any before him. He restores the outpost garrison at the third cataract of the River Nile.
1792 BC	Babylonian Empire	King Hammurabi the Great establishes the first Babylonian Empire and a golden age of peace, prosperity, and law and order. He extends his empire west to the Mediterranean, east to Elam, defeating Rim-Sin, ling of Elam, who occupied most of Sumeria, and north to the land of the Assyrians, conquering their city of Eshnunna.
1786 BC	Egypt	Egypt's 13th dynasty reigns in the north but is not recognized in Thebes. It begins Egypt's Second Intermediate Period (1786–1567) and consists of a series of short-lived and unimportant kings who rule until the end of the century. The Second Intermediate Period is characterized by a loss of central political control and social upheaval. Power rests in the hands of the vizier, the king's chief advisor.
c. 1570 BC	Egypt	Amose I becomes king and founds Egypt's great 18th dynasty. He finally destroys the Hyksos in their capital of Avaris and pursues what is left of them into Syria. He thus unites Egypt's new kingdom or New Empire (1567 BC–1085 BC). Ahmose I marries his sister, Ahmose-Nofretari.
c. 1525 BC	Egypt	Thutmose I succeeds Amenhotep I as king in Egypt. His is the first tomb to be built in the Valley of the Kings; Egypt's 18th dynasty is now well established, with its capital at Thebes, and experiences a century and a half of greatness.
c. 1503 BC	Egypt	Queen Hatshepsut has herself crowned pharaoh of Egypt. She assumes the double crown of Egypt, dresses as a man, and even wears the king's ritual wooden beard. With the help of her chief favourite, Senenmut, she concentrates on internal progress rather than foreign conquest.
c. 1471 BC	Egypt	Egyptian king Thutmose III reaches the height of his success in his eighth campaign by crossing the upper reaches of the Euphrates River and temporarily defeating the Mitanni of Asia Minor, possibly with Hittite help. This is the farthest point that Egyptian armies will reach for nearly 800 years.
1361 BC	Egypt	The boy king Tutankhaton, son-in-law of Akhenaton (or Aknaton, or Ikhnaton) and younger brother of Smenkhkare, ascends to the Egyptian throne. Two years later he changes his name to Tutankhamen, rejecting the worship of Aton in favour of the worship of Amon-Re, and returns to Thebes. The religious revolution is over and the new capital of Akhetaton is left to crumble.
c. 1300 BC	China	The great city of the Shang dynasty in China – Anyang on the Huan River, north of the Huang He – is founded. This is the last of seven capitals of the Shang dynasty. Archaeological digging has shown that the traditional claim for a great city is justified, and that a brilliant but barbaric culture exists for two and a half centuries.
1276 BC	Assyrian Empire	With the accession of Shalmaneser I to the Assyrian throne, Assyria enters the first of its three periods of power. Shalmaneser strikes north and west, taking Carchemish but leaving Babylon to his successor.
1223 BC	Egypt	The reign of Merneptah is followed by a 20-year period of five relatively unimportant kings and internal unrest. The last of these, and the last of the 19th dynasty, is a woman, Tausert – the only queen of Egypt, besides Hatshepsut to be buried in the Valley of the Kings.
1122 BC	China	China's Shang dynasty declines, although some sources state that it lasts until 1027 BC, and the Zhou dynasty begins, said to have been founded by kings Wën and Wu. The Zhou dynasty makes China stable and prosperous for at least three centuries. For the first time China is knit, though loosely, into one feudal kingdom.
1115 BC	Assyria	King Tiglath-Pileser I comes to the Assyrian throne and consolidates Assyrian power. He strikes northwest into the Taurus Mountains, relieves the pressure of a combination of petty princes on his province of Kummukh (Roman Commegane), and defeats the remnants of the Hittites. He also reaches the Mediterranean coast and extracts tribute from Lebanon, Byblos, and Sidon.
c. 1100 BC	Palestine	In the last third of the century there is a struggle among the Israelites, between those who want to continue as a theocracy and those who want to be like other nations with a king. The latter win.
1085 BC	Egypt	The death of the Egyptian king Ramses XI brings Egypt's New Kingdom, or New Empire, to an end. The country suffers confusion and rebellion during its 21st, 22nd, and 23rd dynasties, with occasional upsurges of interference in the Middle East, where its reputation, though lessened, is still considerable. Egypt loses control of Nubia and its Asiatic Empire during the 21st dynasty.
1025 BC	Palestine	Saul is made king of Israel and saves his country from the Amalekites (in the Negeb). Agag, king of the Amalekites, is spared by Saul but is assassinated by Samuel, the last of the Judges, as a fitting sacrifice in a holy war.
1003 BC	Palestine	David becomes king of a united Israel and Judah; he defeats the Jebusites and from their city creates his new capital, Jerusalem, the city of David. The Philistines attack him and he wins two battles over them.
c. 1000 BC	Assyria, Palestine	Assyria is quiet until at least the end of the century. The Israelites are therefore able, with the help of the Phoenicians, to develop their brief period of political significance and economic greatness.
1000 BC–961 BC	Palestine	The reign of David, King of Israel and Judah, faces internal dissent. The chief events of his reign (to which exact dates cannot be given) are: David brings the Ark of the Covenant to his new city, Jerusalem. He becomes prosperous and subdues his enemies, including the Edomites, whom he all but exterminates. During the Ammonite War, David has Uriah the Hittite ‘put in the forefront of the battle’ so that he can take Uriah's wife Bathsheba for his own. She bears David two children, of whom the second is the future king Solomon. David's favourite son, Absalom, murders his half-brother for the incestuous rape of his sister and flees the court. He is forgiven by David, but then revolts against him. David in turn has to flee Jerusalem. Absalom is defeated, slain, and ultimately lamented. Further revolts and wars accompanied by pestilence bring David's reign to a close.
945 BC	Egypt	Libyan chieftains, calling themselves chiefs of the Meshwash, take control in Egypt and begin the 22nd dynasty under Sheshonk I. They rule from the Nile delta. Thebes remains a religious centre, although considerable power is still exerted by the priesthood, which is increasingly dependent on the oracle.
931 BC	Palestine	King Solomon dies, and the combined kingdom of Israel and Judah begins to disintegrate. He is succeeded by his son Rehoboam.
925 BC–914 BC	Palestine	King Rehoboam of Israel and Judah, Solomon's son, is faced with discontent from his people as well as many external enemies. This dual pressure results in splitting the territory into two separate kingdoms: Israel (or the Ten Tribes) in the north, under King Jeroboam I, and Judah (hence ‘the Jews’) in the south, under King Rehoboam, with Jerusalem as its capital.
841 BC	China	The oppressive Chinese king Li is dethroned in favour of the Gong He or Public Harmony regency. Authentic chronology in Chinese history now begins; a feudal age follows, until the arrival of the Han dynasty in 206 BC.
771 BC	China, Zhou Kingdom	The original Zhou dynasty of China (also known as the West Zhou period) ends with the deposing of its king, You, and the shifting of the capital city to Luoyang. The Zhou dynasty continues for another five centuries, but as a much looser confederacy of often-warring barons under a head who is little more than a religious symbol, ‘the king of Heaven’.
750 BC	Greece	The city-state, or polis, is on the rise in Greece; it is distinguished by common gods and common law administered from a fixed place. With the political change come different military needs and the hoplite formation, heavily armed infantrymen in close order behind a wall of shields, is developed.
705 BC	Neo-Assyrian Empire	Sennacherib succeeds to the Assyrian throne. Assyria's vassal states and external enemies take the opportunity to stage a general revolt led by the king of Babylon and supported by the pharaoh of Egypt. King Hezekiah of Israel agrees to join the revolt (against the advice of the prophet Isaiah), hoping for Egyptian support.
668 BC	Neo-Assyrian Empire	Ashurbanipal succeeds to the Assyrian throne, the last great king of Assyria. He concludes a treaty with the Phoenician city of Tyre, and the Phoenician coastal cities acknowledge Assyrian sovereignty.
660 BC	Japan	Japan's first emperor, Jimmu, traditionally comes to power. A Mongolian people begin to enter Japan, probably coming through Korea, and oust the indigenous Ainus.
c. 627 BC	Assyria, Neo-Assyrian Empire	The death of King Ashurbanipal of Assyria marks the start of the disintegration of Assyria's last period of greatness as it finds itself overextended and without allies.
604 BC	Neo-Babylonian Empire, Assyria	The people and towns of the old Assyrian Empire acknowledge Nebuchadnezzar, the Chaldean king of Babylon, as their new master. Only the Phoenician town of Askelon, and Jehoiakim, King of Judah, resist. Askelon is destroyed while Jehoiakim relies on the strength of Egypt, against the advice of the prophet Jeremiah.
578 BC	Rome	Servius Tullius becomes king of Rome. He reigns for 43 years and organizes Rome as a soldier state, dividing all citizens into ‘classes’ according to their material worth. Taxation is based on these classes as is a citizen's role in the army.
560 BC	Greece	Pisistratus becomes tyrant of the Greek city-state of Athens.
556 BC	Greece	Pisistratus, the tyrant of the Greek city-state of Athens, is ousted and forced into exile.
550 BC	Rome	Rome's second Etruscan king, Servius Tullius, achieves his greatest political successes in this decade. He begins an alliance with his neighbours in the shape of a Latin League, while at home he is reputed to have given a modicum of power to the assembly of the plebeians, set up in addition to the existing senate of elders which advises the king.
540 BC	Greece	The exiled tyrant Pisistratus returns to the Greek city-state of Athens once more and remains tyrant until his death in 527 BC. His tyranny is remarkable for his respect for law and constitutional procedure, and his encouragement of agriculture and trade.
538 BC	Palestine, Persian Empire	King Cyrus of Persia occupies Jerusalem and allows all the Jews in Babylon who wish to do so to return to their native land.
534 BC	Rome	The last of Rome's kings, Tarquinius Superbus (‘the Proud’ or ‘Arrogant’), traditionally accedes to the throne. He sets the tone of his 24-year reign by putting to death many senators and revoking his predecessor's concessions to the plebeians. Roman territory is extended during his reign.
529 BC	Persia, Persian Empire	Cambyses becomes king of Persia following the death of his father, King Cyrus II the Great of Persia. The Persian Empire has now been firmly established, and this is considered to be its foundation date.
521 BC	Persian Empire, Babylon	After dynastic trouble, Darius I becomes king of Persia. There are revolts in Babylon and other parts of the Persian Empire.
520 BC	Rome	King Tarquinius Superbus makes Rome the undisputed head of the Latin League. He uses a combination of guile, military power, and diplomatic marriage.
486 BC	Persian Empire, Egypt	Xerxes I accedes to the Persian throne following the death of his father, King Darius I the Great of Persia. He is to be a harsher king than his father. His first act is to quell the Egyptian revolt against Persian rule. He never visits Egypt and uses Persian rather than Egyptian administrators.
478 BC	Sicily, Italy	Hieron succeeds his brother Gelon as tyrant of the Greek city of Syracuse in Sicily. He defeats the Etruscans in their efforts to win the Greek city of Cumae in Italy: this may be said to mark the end of Etruscan power.
451 BC	Greece	Athenian politician Pericles introduces pay for men serving on juries, who are drawn by lot from a panel of 600. Pay for public service is a recent principle in Greece, starting with pay for the office of judge, c. 462 BC. It is strongly criticized by the oligarchs, but is a great aid to poor citizens. The following year it is extended to soldiers, sailors, officials, and members of the council.
442 BC	Greece	The aristocratic Athenian politician Thucydides continues his opposition to the statesman Pericles' abuse of the funds of the Delian League to rebuild the city of Athens and is ostracized (expelled by majority vote) by the people with whom Pericles' policy is very popular. Pericles is now unopposed and governs Athens for a further 15 years.
404 BC	Persian Empire, Egypt	Artaxerxes II, eldest son of King Darius II of Persia, ascends the Persian throne following the death of his father. The Egyptian Amyrtaeus takes the opportunity to mount a successful rebellion against Persian rule, founding Egypt's 28th dynasty 404–399 BC, of which he is the only king.
403 BC	Greece	The former Athenian naval commander Thrasybulus deposes the oligarchic Council of Thirty and restores democracy in the Greek city-state of Athens. The Council is dissolved and its leader, Critias, killed.
400 BC	Greece	The restoration of democracy in the Greek city-state of Athens after the end of the oligarchy of the Council of Thirty is accomplished with remarkable restraint and success. A small change is effected by making members of the Council preside in the Assembly.
380 BC	Egypt	Egypt's 30th dynasty, the last native house to rule Egypt according to the Egyptian historian Manetho, begins with the pharaoh Nectanebo I, an Egyptian general who usurps the throne and who builds many monuments and restores many temples, including a temple to Thoth, god of wisdom and learning, at Hermopolis, Egypt
356 BC	Greece	Philip II of Macedon, regent for Amyntas IV, assumes the full title of king and takes Potidaea and other Athenian strongholds in Thessaly and Chalcidice. He forges a unified professional army with a national spirit from the disparate groups of warring Macedonian tribesmen.
323 BC–322 BC	Egypt	Ptolemy, one of Alexander the Great's generals and possibly his half-brother, has Alexander's body brought to Memphis in Egypt and buried there in a gold sarcophagus. He marries Alexander's mistress, Thaïs, and claims the position of satrap of Egypt, thereby founding the Ptolemaic dynasty.
322 BC	Persia, Babylon	The struggle to succeed Alexander the Great develops in Babylon. A compromise is reached whereby Roxana's son, Alexander Aegus, and the dead king's young half-brother, Arrhidaeus, are to be considered rulers. Perdiccas, Alexander's head general, is appointed regent of the empire, and tries to keep effective control. Antipater, Alexander's regent in Macedon, is confirmed in his position.
321 BC	Egypt	Perdiccas, regent of the late Alexander the Great's empire, invades Egypt but is murdered by his own mutinous army, led by the Macedonian general Seleucus. A truce is arranged, leaving Ptolemy, one of Alexander's generals and possibly his half-brother, in power in Egypt and Seleucus in Babylon. Antipater, the regent in Macedon, is made regent of the whole empire.
320 BC	Egypt, Babylon, Syria, Greece, Asia Minor, Seleucid Kingdom	Alexander the Great's empire begins to disintegrate in the major power struggle to succeed him between his former generals, the Diadochi. This struggle dominates the scene for the next two decades. The main protagonists are Ptolemy (Egypt), Seleucus (Babylon and Syria), Antipater and his son Cassander (Macedon and Greece), Antigonus (Phrygia and other parts of Asia Minor), Lysimachus (Thrace and Pergamum), and Eumenes (the Pontus area).
313 BC	Greece	Cassander, the ruler of Macedon, largely loses his grip on central Greece, and Antigonus, the ruler of Asia Minor, declares the ‘freedom’ of the Greek cities.
297 BC	India, Mauryan Empire	Indian emperor Chandragupta Maurya abdicates in favour of his son Bindusara who extends the Mauryan Empire as far south as Mysore in India. Bindusara is known to the Greeks as Amitrochates, perhaps from the Sanskrit for ‘the Destroyer of Foes’, and continues cultural contact with the Seleucids.
283 BC–282 BC	Egypt, Ptolemaic Kingdom, Macedonia	King Ptolemy I, Macedonian ruler of Egypt (323–285 BC), and founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty, dies in Egypt during the winter of 282 BC (c. 81), having already abdicated in favour of his son, Ptolemy II.
270 BC	Carthage	The north African city of Carthage is ruled by an oligarchy of merchants under two suffetes or chief magistrates. It produces good military commanders but relies on mercenary soldiers. By this time, Carthage controls Sardinia as well as southern Spain and its own Numidian neighbours, and has naval control of the western Mediterranean. In Sicily, since the departure of King Pyrrhus of Epirus, it has reoccupied most of the island, excluding, however, the Greek city of Syracuse.
246 BC	China	The short-lived Qin dynasty is set up in China with the accession of King Zheng, who changes his name to Shi Huangdi.
232 BC	India, Mauryan Empire	Asoka, last major emperor of the Mauryan dynasty of India (c. 265–232 BC), who encouraged the expansion of Buddhism in his empire, dies. His death marks the beginning of the rapid decline of the Mauryan Empire in India, which is to disappear completely over the next 50 years.
231 BC	Illyria	The queen mother Teuta comes to power in Illyria as regent. She extends Illyrian influence to Epirus and Acarnania to the south, and increases the sea raiding that Illyria has always practised further into the Ionian Sea, and even to the coast of Italy.
206 BC	China, Qin Empire, Former Han Empire	Chinese emperor Ershi Huang-ti is deposed after a reign of only four years, and China's Han dynasty is formed by Liu Bang, a populist monarch.
197 BC	Rome, Spain	Spain is organized as two Roman provinces, Nearer Spain and Further Spain, and the number of praetors is increased from four to six to govern them.
May 180 BC	Egypt, Ptolemaic Kingdom	Following the death of King Ptolemy V of Egypt after a reign of 25 years in which the Egyptian monarchy greatly declined, little is left of the Egyptian empire except Cyprus and Cyrenaica. Ptolemy VI Philometor, a child, succeeds Ptolemy V, with his mother as regent.
177 BC	Rome	Tiberius Gracchus senior subdues Sardinia, enslaving some of the population.
173 BC	Rome	For the first time, both consuls in Rome are plebeians (members of the ordinary people rather than the privileged class of patricians).
157 BC	Palestine, Syria, Seleucid Kingdom	Jonathan Maccabaeus, the leader against Syrian rule in Judaea, is recognized by the Seleucids as a minor king within the Syrian dominions.
146 BC	Greece, Rome	After the Greek city-state of Corinth has suffered similar treatment to that meted out to Carthage, all semblance of Greek liberty vanishes. The country, though not yet made a province, is placed under the close surveillance of the Roman governor of Macedonia.
140 BC	China, Former Han Empire	China's greatest Han emperor, Wudi (the ‘Martial Emperor’), comes to the throne and accelerates the expansion of China.
133 BC	Rome	Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, the elder of the two Gracchi brothers, is elected tribune (magistrate) of the plebeians (the common people) in Rome. He institutes drastic and highly controversial agrarian reforms and embarks on a radical programme aimed at alleviating the worst poverty. When King Attalus III of Pergamum leaves his kingdom to Rome, Tiberius Gracchus attempts to use the legacy to pay for reforms, an unprecedented interference in foreign policy, which was previously dictated by the Senate.
133 BC	Rome	The issues raised by Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus concerning land distribution and the power of the tribunate are far from settled with Tiberius' death. They lead to a period of unrest and may have contributed to the Social War. Clashes between the Senate and the tribunate are a feature of Roman politics until the end of the Republic.
132 BC	Rome	On his return from Spain, the Roman censor Scipio Aemilianus (Scipio Africanus the Younger) finds himself in opposition to the policies put in place by the Roman tribune (magistrate) Tiberius Gracchus, his brother-in-law. He champions Rome's Italian allies (many of whom he has led in battle) against the intended redistribution of land, which, he claims, will be to their disadvantage.
104 BC	Rome	The reforms of the Roman consul Gaius Marius make the Roman army more professional and democratic. He increases the legion from about 5,000 to 6,000; changes the 120-strong maniple to the 600-strong cohort; abolishes dependence upon class for recruitment to various ranks of the army; and converts the cavalry to an auxiliary arm. He gives the legions names and numbers and introduces the eagle as a standard for each.
c. 100 BC	Egypt, Syria, Rome, Parthia, Pontus, Armenia, Ptolemaic Kingdom, Seleucid Kingdom	The two main lines of successors to Alexander the Great's empire, the Ptolemaic in Egypt and the Seleucid in Syria, continue to decline amidst a confusion of petty and complicated intrigue, both to end in Roman absorption (the former by the emperor Augustus, the latter by the soldier Pompey the Great). Parthia, Pontus, and Armenia all gain in strength during this period.
83 BC	Rome	Returning from his victory over King Mithridates VI the Great of Pontus, the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla lands at Brundisium in southern Italy, recruits many soldiers who had followed the late Gaius Marius to his side, and advances northwards towards Rome. He is assisted by the young Roman soldier Pompey the Great (Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus).
82 BC	Rome	Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla enters Rome as victor and institutes his ‘Proscription’ lists – lists of enemies who are to be murdered and have their property confiscated. He includes Julius Caesar's name in this list after he refuses to divorce his wife, Cornelia, the daughter of the rebel Roman politician Cinna, but is persuaded to delete it. He is appointed dictator under a law of the interrex Lucius Valerius Flaccus.
81 BC	Rome	Lucius Cornelius Sulla has himself made dictator of Rome for an indefinite period of time, using a bodyguard of slaves left over from the victims of his proscription (murder of his enemies and confiscation of their property). He adds 300 new (conservative) members to the Senate and makes the popular Assembly wholly subservient to it.
73 BC	China, Former Han Empire, Central Asia	Chinese emperor, Zhaodi, dies and is succeeded by Xuandi, who enlarges the Han Empire to an extent never known before. He makes alliances with all the enemies of the Huns, then penetrates into their territory, conquering parts of it. This causes a civil war among the Huns, and one claimant asks for Xuandi's aid. Xuandi helps him to become ruler of Mongolia, and he marries a Chinese princess.
70 BC	Rome	Roman commanders Pompey the Great and Marcus Crassus become consuls in Rome and repeal part of the reactionary legislation of the former dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla.
63 BC	Rome	While the Roman orator and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero is consul in Rome he exposes Catiline's conspiracy to obtain power to the Senate, who grant him authority to protect the state. Cicero orders the arrest of the conspirators, who are executed. Cicero's fellow consul is the Roman statesman and general Mark Antony's uncle, C Antonius Hybrida; Marcus Porcius Cato the Younger is tribune (magistrate) of the plebeians and supports Cicero in this role.
60 BC	Rome	Roman politician Julius Caesar returns from a successful campaign in Further Spain but is refused dispensation by the Senate either to hold a triumph (victory procession) or to run for consulship. Caesar and the Roman military commanders Pompey the Great and Marcus Crassus form the First Triumvirate, a political alliance to acquire and divide power by mutual cooperation.
50 BC	Rome	There is much manoeuvring for power in Rome between the Senate, with Pompey the Great as consul, and the supporters of the proconsul Julius Caesar. Mark Antony as tribune (magistrate) acts on Caesar's behalf, but there are arguments over the consulship Caesar was promised at the end of his Gallic command and the demand that he should disband his army. Caesar is declared an enemy of the people by the Senate.
47 BC	Egypt, Rome, Ptolemaic Kingdom	Roman dictator Julius Caesar settles affairs in Egypt, restoring Cleopatra VII to her throne and defeating her brother, Ptolemy XIII.
47 BC	Rome, Asia Minor, Pontus	Roman dictator Julius Caesar marches rapidly through Syria and Asia Minor and defeats King Pharnaces of Pontus at the Battle of Zela, where he boasts: Veni, vidi, vici! (‘I came, I saw, I conquered’).
46 BC	Rome	Roman statesman and general Julius Caesar returns to Rome and is made consul and dictator for ten years. He is also given a new office, Prefect of Morals, equivalent to the office of Censo but with vastly extended powers. He declares an amnesty for those who have borne arms against him. The defeated Celtic prince Vercingetorix graces Caesar's four-day triumph (victory procession) and is then put to death. Caesar gives cash bounties to his troops and money to all the poorest citizens of Rome. Marcus Lepidus is consul with Caesar.
45 BC	Rome	Roman dictator and consul Julius Caesar increases the Senate to 900 and widens its recruitment. He reduces the free corn ration but encourages colonization for Roman citizens, especially in Africa, Spain, and the East. He also settles many of his veterans in colonies, mainly in Gallia Narbonensis, Sicily, and Africa. He begins the rebuilding and repopulation of both Carthage and Corinth. He issues sumptuary laws against luxury, appoints a commission to simplify the laws, and begins the task of putting Rome's finances in order. On 1 January he also introduces the Julian calendar, which has become the calendar of the Western world.
44 BC	Rome	Roman dictator Julius Caesar's great-nephew, Octavian, returns to Rome from Illyria, learns of his adoption into the Gens Julia, and claims the right to succeed his adoptive father, Julius Caesar, because of their common ancestry. Rivalry over the succession breaks out between him and the triumvir Mark Antony, as well as other minor contenders.
43 BC	Rome, Gaul	Roman consul Mark Antony gets a law passed allotting him the provinces of Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul for five years instead of Macedonia, when his consulship ends. He moves to take up command, but the senator to whom they had originally been allotted, Decimus Junius Brutus, refuses to evacuate the area, and Mark Antony besieges him in Mutina, northern Italy.
43 BC	Rome	With the support of the Senate (persuaded by the orator and politician Marcus Tullius Cicero that Mark Antony is aiming at dictatorship), Octavian and the consuls march to defeat Mark Antony, and lift the siege of Mutina in northern Italy. A reconciliation is achieved, and Octavian, Mark Antony, and Marcus Lepidus meet at Bononia (modern Bologna). Between the three of them they have more than 33 legions at their command. They form the Second Triumvirate and agree to divide power between them. Octavian becomes consul for 42 BC.
43 BC	Rome	The newly-appointed Triumvirate (power-sharing alliance between the Roman leaders Octavian, Mark Antony, and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus) divide the Roman world between them: Africa, Sicily, and Sardinia to Octavian; the East and Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul go to Mark Antony; and Spain and the remainder of Gaul go to Lepidus. Lepidus is to be consul in 42 BC while Antony and Octavian go east to attack the armies led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus.
36 BC–31 BC	Rome	Roman triumvir Octavian cements his power: in 36 BC he is granted the traditional tribunician rights of sacrosanctity as a mark of honour; in 32 BC he makes his adherents and troops swear an oath of personal loyalty; and in 31 BC he is granted the first of nine successive consulships.
34 BC	Egypt, Ptolemaic Kingdom, Rome	Roman triumvir Mark Antony lapses into the life of an Eastern potentate with Queen Cleopatra of Egypt, his wife since 37 BC, when he celebrates his triumph over the Armenian king Artavasdes in the style of Alexandria. In an episode known as the Donations of Alexandria, Mark Antony stages a pageant at which he and Cleopatra, dressed as the Egyptian gods Osiris and Isis, sit on golden thrones together with their children and Cleopatra's son Caesarion whom they declare to be the legitimate son of the Roman dictator Julius Caesar. They proclaim him king of kings, joint ruler of Egypt and Cyprus along with Cleopatra. Antony and Cleopatra's children are also named as future rulers of parts of the empire yet to be conquered. The declaration enrages the Roman triumvir Octavian, for he sees it as transferring Roman property into Greek hands.
2 September 31 BC	Rome, Greece, Egypt, Ptolemaic Kingdom	The Roman leader Octavian's fleet of 400 ships under the general Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa blockade the Roman general Mark Antony's Egyptian fleet at Actium in western Greece. In the ensuing Battle of Actium Agrippa defeats Antony and his wife Queen Cleopatra of Egypt and they flee back to Alexandria, Egypt. Octavian follows them and Antony's troops desert him.
30 August 30 BC	Egypt, Rome	The joint suicide of Cleopatra VII of Egypt and the Roman triumvir Mark Anthony, following their defeat by the triumvir Octavian at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, brings to an end the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt. Egypt is subsequently annexed by Rome.
16 January 27 BC	Roman Empire, Spain, Gaul, Syria, Egypt, Roman Empire	The Roman Senate, in gratitude, bestows on the Roman consul Octavian the name of Augustus. Augustus remains Imperator (‘emperor’, or head of the army), and invents for himself the new title of Princeps (‘first citizen’). His authority as an elder statesman gradually hardens into imperial power. The Senate also gives him provincial imperium for ten years over a large province consisting of Spain, Gaul, Syria, and Egypt. The other provinces are given back to the Senate for administration.
23 BC	Roman Empire	Roman emperor Augustus gives up the consulship, which he has held annually since 31 BC. Instead, the Senate gives him a special power over all provincial governors, and the powers of the tribunate, which together give him effective power over all aspects of government.
16 BC	Roman Empire	Tiberius, the son of Livia and stepson of the Roman emperor Augustus, is made praetor, and his brother Drusus, quaestor, and their period of responsible and successful military command begins. Augustus leaves Rome again to quell trouble on the northern frontiers of the empire.
13 BC	Roman Empire	Roman emperor Augustus returns to Rome after three years of campaigning in the northern parts of the Empire. He refuses to accept any other honour than the building of an Altar of Peace from the Senate, although they press him to allow them to grant him further honours. His imperium is again extended for five years.
9 BC	Arabia	Under its king Aretas IV, who comes to the throne this year, the kingdom of Nabataean Arabia reaches a peak of wealth and culture and prospers until the Roman emperor Trajan makes it a Roman province in the 2nd century AD. Its capital, Petra, on the caravan route from Aqaba to Gaza, is a Hellenistic city though its written language is a form of Aramaic.
4 BC	Palestine, Roman Empire	A Roman legion keeps order in Jerusalem in Judaea, and the policy of the Roman emperor Augustus of weakening the kingdom of Herod the Great is continued. The kingdom is divided between Herod's three surviving sons; Herod Antipas succeeds to the tetrarchy of Galilee and Peraea, which he holds until AD 39; Archelaus gets Judaea and Idumaea; and Philip receives the outlying parts in the northeast, which he rules for 37 years.
14	Roman Empire	The Roman emperor Tiberius, continuing Augustus' policy of cooperation with the Senate, makes the Senate the sole electoral body, leaving the people without any direct voice.
17	Syria-Roman, Armenia	Germanicus, adopted son and heir of the Roman emperor Tiberius, is given special powers over all the governors of the eastern Roman provinces and installs Artaxias as sovereign of Armenia. Tiberius appoints Gnaeus Piso governor of Syria as a counterbalance to Germanicus.
25	China	In China's civil war, one of the Han claimants to the throne is proclaimed Emperor Guang Wudi, founding the later Han Dynasty. He finally brings an end to the peasant revolts in 27.
77	UK	Iulius Agricola is made Roman governor of Britain. He completes the conquest of what is now Wales and consolidates the subjugation of the Brigantes.
85	UK	Julius Agricola, the Roman governor of Britain, is recalled. The Roman occupation of Hibernia (modern Scotland), at least as far north as modern Perthshire, endures for about 15 years.
98	Roman Empire	Trajan arrives in Rome to take up his emperorship, entering the city humbly on foot.
118	Roman Empire, Armenia, Assyria, Mesopotamia, Parthia, Persia	Hadrian, the new Roman emperor, halts the expansionist policy of his predecessor, Trajan: like the former emperor Augustus, he accepts the River Euphrates as the Roman frontier. This policy is not popular with his generals, nor does he achieve popularity at home, in spite of liberal gestures. Hadrian withdraws the legions from Armenia, Assyria, Mesopotamia, and Parthia, and makes Armenia a client kingdom instead of a province.
141	Roman Empire	During the reign of Antoninus Pius the Roman Empire enters upon what is generally recognized as its most prosperous, settled, and peaceful period.
181	Roman Empire	Commodus, the new Roman emperor, returns to Rome and gives himself up to dissipation. He is a skilled huntsman, swordsman, and bowman, and takes part in the gladiatorial shows. He reputedly keeps a harem of some 300 women and an equal number of boys. In the ensuing decade of his reign there is virtually no trouble from the barbarians of the north whom his father, Marcus Aurelius, had fought. Rome is at the apex of its power, but the marks of decay are apparent and in future the initiative will largely be taken by the barbarians.
197	Roman Empire, UK	Sections of Hadrian's Wall in Britain, denuded of Roman troops and with the Antonine Wall already abandoned, are destroyed by the Lowlanders, the Maeatae, who reach southwards as far as Roman Eboracum (modern York, North Yorkshire). A new governor, Virius Lupus, is sent to Britain and restores order. He begins the considerable task of rebuilding Hadrian's Wall.
280	China	Wudi, the emperor of the northern Chinese kingdom of Wei, occupies most of the southern kingdom of Wu, uniting China once more under one rule. Wudi's capital is the old and prosperous city of Luoyang. It is a thriving centre of commerce, and ambassadors from throughout the world arrive there.
285	Gaul, Roman Empire	The Roman emperor Diocletian makes Maximian, a fellow soldier from the Danubian provinces (Thrace and Moesia), his second in command as Caesar, and sends him to pacify Gaul. Here the Bagaudae, bands of peasants, have revolted and set up two emperors of their own. Maximian deals with Gaul rapidly and mercifully.
293	Roman Empire	Diocletian, the Roman emperor of the East, further develops his plan for ruling the Empire: it is to be ruled jointly by two Augusti (Diocletian for the East and Maximian for the West), each of whom is to have a Caesar to help him. Diocletian chooses the soldier Galerius as his Caesar and Maximian appoints his Praetorian prefect Constantius Chlorus. The Tetrarchy, known as the Quattuor Principes Mundi (‘Four Rulers of the World’), has genuine power: all laws and edicts are to be issued in the names of all four rulers and are to be equally valid; no sanction from the Roman Senate is required. Each Caesar will marry into the Augustus' family and then succeed him after 20 years. So Galerius gives up his wife to marry Diocletian's daughter Valeria, and Constantius gives up his wife Helena, mother of the future emperor Constantine I the Great, to marry Maximian's daughter Theodora.
341–351	India, Gupta Empire	During this decade Samudra Gupta, ruler of the Gupta dynasty, extends his kingdom or his influence over most of India. A pillar found at Allahabad, northeast India, sings his praises.
357–359	Gaul	The Roman emperor Constantius appoints Julian, the governor of Gaul, supreme commander over the troops in Gaul. The following year Julian wins an important victory at Strasbourg, and then in a series of brilliant campaigns he drives the barbarians out of Gaul, regaining first the Upper Rhine and then the Lower Rhine for Rome. He goes on to free the Roman hostages taken by the barbarians, and refortifies the frontier. He also builds a fleet to secure the corn supply from Britain for the garrisons of the Rhine and passes several measures which help to restore Gaul's prosperity.
396	Western Roman Empire, Greece	The Roman general Flavius Stilicho controls the young emperor Honorius as his regent and becomes virtual ruler of the West. The Goths under Alaric rampage through Greece when Stilicho ceases to employ or subsidize them, creating a kingdom for themselves. Alaric destroys the temple of Eleusis, and harries the Peloponnese. Stilicho advances, makes peace with the Goths, and allows them to settle in Epirus.
440	Italy, Western Roman Empire	St Leo I, known as Leo the Great, becomes pope.
605–647	India	During his reign of over 40 years, King Harsha of Kanauj, on the River Ganges, brings most of northern India under his control. He is the last Indian king to rule a more than purely regional state until the 13th century.
605–649	Tibet	During his 44-year reign, King Srong-btsan-Gyam-po unites the Tibetans in a powerful kingdom, annexes the area of modern Nepal, and builds himself a capital at Lhasa. For the next 200 years Tibet is the major power of central Asia.
August 634	Arab Caliphate	Umar succeeds Abu Bakr as the second caliph (civic and religious leader of Islam) and adopts the title ‘commander of the faithful’. A stern but just ruler, Umar sees the Arab caliphate become the dominant power of the Middle East during his ten-year reign.
July 661	Arab Caliphate, Syria	On the death of caliph Ali, Muawiya becomes the fifth caliph of Islam, founding the Umayyad dynasty. He realizes that Medina (in modern Saudi Arabia) is too remote from the new centres of Arab power in Syria, Iraq, and Egypt, and moves the capital of the Arab caliphate to Damascus, Syria.
795	Italy, Carolingian Empire	On the death of Hadrian I, Leo III becomes pope. He immediately recognizes Charlemagne, King of the Franks, as ‘patrician of the Romans’.
824	Carolingian Empire, Italy	The Frankish emperor, Louis I the Pious, sends his son, the co-emperor Lothair I, to Rome to order the affairs of the papacy. The Constitutio Romana (‘Roman Constitution’) defines an imperial role in papal elections and requires popes to swear allegiance to the Frankish emperors.
833	China, Tang Empire	The Chinese Tang dynasty emperor, Wenzong, attempts to reduce the influence of the palace eunuchs. His plot misfires and the eunuchs massacre his chief ministers in ‘the Sweet Dew Incident’, greatly enhancing their power as a result.
836–890	India	After the disasters of Ramabhadra's reign, his son, King Bhoja I, restores the Gurjara kingdom as the leading power of northern India.
855	Italy, Carolingian Empire	On the death of Pope Leo IV a succession dispute breaks out. The clergy and people of Rome elect Benedict III, but the Frankish emperor, Louis II, installs Anastasius as pope, by force. When the popular antipathy to Anastasius becomes apparent, Louis gives way and allows Benedict's appointment; his authority suffers a setback as a consequence.
22 September 855	Carolingian Empire	Worn out by illness, the Frankish emperor Lothair I retires to the monastery of Prüm (in present-day Germany) and partitions his lands among his three sons. The emperor Louis II receives Italy, Lothair II receives the area from Frisia to the Alps, called Lotharii regnum (‘Reign of Lothair’, Lotharingia or Lorraine), and Charles receives the kingdom of Provence. Lothair I dies six days later (28 September).
865	Bulgaria	Prince Boris of the Bulgar Khanate converts to Christianity. After a short delay he accepts the jurisdiction of Constantinople rather than Rome.
874	China, Tang Empire	Following a terrible drought, a peasant rising led by Huang Chao and Wang Xianzhi takes control of Henan in eastern China.
876	England, Denmark	Halfdan founds the Danish kingdom of York (which survives until 954). The Danes are now beginning to settle on the lands they have won in eastern England.
886	Wessex, Denmark	King Alfred the Great of Wessex, England, expels the Danes from London and, in a treaty with the Danish king Guthrum, defines the frontier of the ‘Danelaw’, the area of eastern England which is to be ruled by the Danes.
7 July 897	Italy	Pope Stephen VI's treatment of the late Pope Formosus's corpse causes a popular rebellion in Rome: Stephen is deposed, jailed, and shortly afterwards strangled. The papacy now falls prey to bitter faction fighting – six Popes rule in the next six years.
916	Central Asia	Apaochi, chief of the Qitan (or Khitan Mongol) nomads, proclaims himself emperor of the Qitan and establishes the state of Liao in imitation of Chinese methods of government. Liao survives until 1125. The Qitan are also known as Kitai from which the medieval European name for China, ‘Cathay’, is derived.
5 May 928	Italy	Pope John X is deposed and murdered. He is succeeded by Leo VI, who dies before the year is out and is replaced by another puppet pope, Stephen VII, who is completely dominated by the aristocracy of Rome.
4 December 963	Italy, Holy Roman Empire	The Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I of Germany, deposes Pope John XII for corruption and appoints Leo VIII as his successor.
14 May 964	Italy, Holy Roman Empire	The deposed pope John XII dies after a stroke, allegedly suffered while in bed with a married woman. He was still only in his mid-twenties. The Romans elect Benedict V the Grammarian as John's successor.
3 May 996	Italy, Holy Roman Empire	Bruno of Carinthia becomes the first German pope when he is crowned as Gregory V.
10 August 1002	Spain, Umayyad Caliphate	Following the death of the Umayyad regent Abu 'Amir al-Mansur (Almanzor), vizier of Córdoba, after his defeat at Calatañazor by the kings of León and Navarre, he is succeeded by his son, al-Muzaffar.
20 April 1013	Spain, Umayyad Caliphate	Hisham II, Caliph of Córdoba in Spain, disappears following the capture of the city by Suleiman, who resumes his rule. Civil war between Moors and Arabs is now endemic in the Umayyad Caliphate.
1016	Spain, Umayyad Caliphate	Suleiman, the Umayyad caliph of Córdoba in Spain, is deposed by the general Ali ibn-Hammud, who founds the Hammudid dynasty.
1035	Spain	Following the death of Sancho III Garcés, king of Navarre, he is succeeded in Navarre by his son García III, while another son Ramiro I is established in the newly-created kingdom of Aragon. Vermudo III of León is able to recover his capital León.
10 January 1045	Italy, Holy Roman Empire	After several months of faction fighting between the great families of Rome, Italy, following the deposition of Benedict IX, Sylvester III, a nominee of the Crescentii, is elected as pope.
10 March 1045	Holy Roman Empire, Italy	Pope Benedict IX returns from exile to Rome, Italy, and deposes Sylvester III.
24 December 1046	Holy Roman Empire	Benedict IX is formally deposed from the papacy by Emperor Henry III and Bishop Suidger of Bamberg, is elected as Pope Clement II. Together Henry and Clement begin the reform of the papacy.
25 December 1047	Holy Roman Empire, Italy	Bishop Poppo of Brixen is nominated to succeed Pope Clement II by Emperor Henry III but he cannot be consecrated because the deposed pope Benedict IX has occupied Rome, Italy.
11 January 1055	Byzantine Empire	When the Byzantine emperor Constantine IX dies, his sister-in-law, the empress Theodora, becomes sole ruler.
7 February 1055	Kiev	Jaroslav I, Great Prince of Kiev, dies. In his will, Jaroslav divides his lands among his five sons who immediately fall out over their inheritance and civil war follows. Kiev and Novgorod are inherited by Jaroslav's eldest son Iziaslav, who is theoretically superior in status to his brother princes.
13 April 1055	Holy Roman Empire	After hesitating for almost a year before accepting the office, Gebhard of Eichstatt is elected as Pope Victor II.
17 June 1056	England, Wales	Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, King of Wales, defeats and kills Bishop Leofgar of Hereford at Cleobury. Later in the year he is defeated by Earl Harold of Wessex and Earl Leofric of Mercia, and so compelled to recognize the lordship of King Edward the Confessor, who cedes to him English lands west of the River Dee.
2 August 1057	Holy Roman Empire	Following the death earlier in the year of Pope Victor II, Frederick of Lorraine, the abbot of Monte Cassino, is elected as Pope Stephen IX. The weak regency of the infant Henry IV of Germany is unable to interfere with the election, which begins the process of freeing the papacy from secular control.
31 August 1057	Byzantine Empire	The Byzantine emperor Michael VI the Aged abdicates in favour of the general Isaac Comnenus, whose troops have already proclaimed him as emperor.
5 April 1058	Holy Roman Empire, Italy	Following the death of Pope Stephen IX (29 March), Cardinal John Mincius is elected as Pope Benedict X by Roman nobles who had seized control of Rome, Italy.
12 December 1058	Holy Roman Empire, Italy	Bishop Gerard of Florence is elected as Pope Nicholas II at Siena, Italy, by the reforming party of cardinals under the protection of Godfrey, Duke of Lorraine.
4 August 1060	France	Following the death of Henry I, king of France, he is succeeded by his eight-year-old son, Philip I, already crowned as co-king, with Baldwin V, count of Flanders, as his guardian.
30 September 1061	Holy Roman Empire, Italy	Following the death of Pope Nicholas II (22 July), Anselm of Baggio, bishop of Lucca is elected as Pope Alexander II, the first pope elected according to the election decree of Nicholas II.
28 October 1061	Holy Roman Empire	Cadalus, bishop of Parma, Italy, an opponent of the papal reform movement, is crowned as antipope Honorius II in Basel, in the presence of King Henry IV of Germany.
27 October 1062	Holy Roman Empire	Alexander II is declared to be the true Pope in a synod held at Augsburg, defeating his challenger Honorius II.
6 January 1066	England	Following the death of King Edward the Confessor of England on the previous day, Harold Godwinson, earl of Wessex, is elected as his successor.
25 December 1066	England	Duke William I of Normandy is crowned king of England.
21 May 1067	Byzantine Empire	The Byzantine emperor Constantine X dies. He is succeeded by his widow Eudocia Macrembolitissa.
1 January 1068	Byzantine Empire	Romanus IV Diogenes, who has married the empress Eudocia Macrembolitissa, is crowned as Byzantine emperor.
24 October 1071	Byzantine Empire	Michael VII, the son of Constantine X, is proclaimed Byzantine emperor, and Romanus IV is deposed, imprisoned, and murdered. Michael unsuccesfully appeals to Western Europe for assistance against the Seljuk Turks.
25 November 1072	Seljuk Sultanate	The Seljuk sultan, Alp Arslan, is murdered while campaigning in Transoxiana. He is succeeded by his son, Malik Shah.
22 April 1073	Rome	Following the death of Alexander II, Deacon Hildebrand, a radical church reformer, is elected by popular acclaim as Pope Gregory VII.
June 1075	Holy Roman Empire	In defiance of Pope Gregory VII's decree against lay investiture, King Henry IV of Germany appoints his court chaplain to the archbishopric of Milan, so beginning the dispute between the papacy and the German monarchy known as the ‘Investiture Contest’.
24 January 1076	Holy Roman Empire	King Henry IV of Germany responds to a letter from Pope Gregory VII threatening excommunication by holding a council at Worms where the German bishops renounce their allegiance to Gregory and declare him deposed. Gregory shortly afterwards excommunicates Henry and absolves his subjects of their oaths of loyalty.
25 December 1076	Poland	Boleslaw II is crowned as king of Poland with a crown sent by Pope Gregory VII to reward his zeal in restoring the church in Poland, under the direction of papal legates, and for supporting the Pope against King Henry IV of Germany. Also in this year, Boleslaw campaigns against Bohemia with Russian assistance, and moves the Polish capital from Gniezno to Kraków.
1077	Seljuk Sultanate of Rum	The conquest of Byzantine Anatolia (modern Turkey) completed, Suleiman ibn-Qutlamish establishes the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum (‘Rome’ in Turkish spelling), with his capital at Nicaea.
31 March 1078	Byzantine Empire	After a revolt in Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey), the Byzantine emperor Michael VII abdicates and is succeeded by the general Nicephorus III Botaneiates, who has already been proclaimed emperor by the rebels.
7 March 1080	Germany	Pope Gregory VII again prohibits lay investiture, declares Henry IV to be deposed as king of Germany, and recognizes the ‘antiking’ Rudolph of Swabia in his place.
25 June 1080	Holy Roman Empire	King Henry IV of Germany holds a council of bishops at Brixen which declares Pope Gregory VII to be deposed and elects Guibert, archbishop of Ravenna, as Pope Clement III.
3 March 1081	Byzantine Empire	The Byzantine emperor Nicephorus III Botaneiates is deposed in favour of Alexius I Comnenus, founder of the Comnenian dynasty.
24 March 1084	Papal States	King Henry IV of Germany's antipope Clement III assumes the papacy in Rome.
1086	Seljuk Sultanate of Rum	Suleiman, Sultan of Rum, is defeated and killed by Tutush, the semi-independent Seljuk governor of Syria and Palestine, while attempting to take Aleppo. He is succeeded by his son, Kilij Arslan.
24 May 1086	Papal States, Italy	Abbot Desiderius of Monte Cassino is elected, against his will, as Pope Victor III to succeed Gregory VII. Rioting forces him to leave Rome before he can consecrated and he resumes his duties as abbot.
9 September 1087	England, Normandy	Following the death of William I the Conqueror, king of England and duke of Normandy, of wounds received suppressing a revolt in the county of Maine, he is succeeded in Normandy by his eldest son, Robert Curthose, who immediately faces a baronial rebellion he is never able to suppress completely. William is succeeded in England by a younger son, William II Rufus.
12 March 1088	Holy Roman Empire	Cardinal Otto of Chatillon is elected as Pope Urban II at Terracina, near Gaeta, Naples, Rome being under the control of the Emperor Henry IV's antipope, Clement III.
29 December 1094	Fatimid Caliphate	With the death of Caliph al-Munstansir the Fatimid caliphate goes into rapid decline, as the caliphate is held by a succession of powerless nonentities, several of whom are murdered.
13 August 1099	Papal States, Italy	Cardinal Rainer is elected as Pope Paschal II.
1100–1532	South America	The Inca empire dominates the Andes region of South America. Its population numbers as many as 12 million. Incan society is based on a strict hierarchy, with an emperor who rules with absolute power. Their religion is based on sun-worship, and they are skilled builders who create a system of roads and irrigation.
18 July 1100	Kingdom of Jerusalem	Godfrey of Bouillon, Defender of the Holy Sepulchre, dies. He is succeeded by his brother, Baldwin I, who takes the title king of Jerusalem.
5 August 1100	England	William II Rufus' brother Henry is crowned king of England; he issues a charter of liberties and recalls Anselm as archbishop of Canterbury.
9 September 1100	Papal States, Italy	The antipope Clement III dies; a Roman faction takes advantage of the absence of the legitimate pope Paschal II, currently in southern Italy, to crown Theodoric as Clement's successor, but he is expelled later in the year.
2 February 1102	Papal States, Italy	Albert is elected as pope by the supporters of the former antipope Clement III. However, he is deposed in a matter of days following popular rioting.
1105	Denmark	After an interregnum, Niels succeeds his brother, the late Erik I the Good, as king of Denmark.
9 September 1106	Almoravid Emirate, Spain	Yusuf ibn-Tashfin, the Almoravid emir of Morocco and Muslim Spain, dies; he is succeeded by his son `Ali.
30 June 1109	Castile, León, Aragon, Navarre, Spain	King Alfonso VI of Castile and León dies; he is succeeded by his daughter Urracca, the wife of King Alfonso I of Aragon and Navarre, who begins to style himself ‘Emperor of the Spains’.
1110	Germany, Poland, Holy Roman Empire	Emperor Henry V of Germany invades Poland on behalf of the exiled Polish Duke Zbigniew and is defeated near Wroclaw by Duke Boleslaw III of Poland. Zbigniew is subsequently permitted to return from exile and Boleslaw has him killed.
1114	Hungary	King Coloman of Hungary, who has made his kingdom the dominant power in the Balkans by conquering Dalmatia, Croatia, and Herzegovina, dies. He is succeeded by his son, Stephen II.
1118	Byzantine Empire	The Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus establishes a form of feudalism in the Byzantine Empire by granting estates conditional upon military service (known as pronoia).
24 January 1118	Papal States, Italy	John of Gaeta is elected as Pope Gelasius II following the death of Pope Paschal II.
7 April 1118	Holy Roman Empire	Pope Gelasius II, in exile in Capua, Italy, excommunicates Emperor Henry V of Germany.
2 February 1119	Italy	Guy, archbishop of Vienne, is elected as Pope Calixtus II following the death of Pope Gelasius II.
15 December 1124	Italy	Cardinal Teobaldo is elected Pope Celestine II, but before he can be ordained armed members of the Frangipani family storm the assembly and proclaim Cardinal Lamberto of Ostia as Pope Honorius II. Celestine is injured in the affray and resigns.
1125	Georgia	King David III of Georgia dies, having established his kingdom as the major power in Caucasia and Armenia and ended its theoretical subjection to the Byzantine Empire. He is succeeded by his son, Demetrius I.
30 August 1125	Holy Roman Empire, Germany	Lothair of Supplinburg, Duke of Saxony, is elected ‘king of the Romans’ (king of Germany) as Lothair III by the German nobles.
13 February 1130	Papal States, Italy	Following the death of Pope Honorius II, both Gregory Papareschi (as Innocent II) and Peter Pierleoni (as Anacletus II) are elected pope by different factions among the cardinals; Innocent is forced to leave Rome.
21 August 1131	Kingdom of Jerusalem	King Baldwin II of Jerusalem dies; he is succeeded by his son-in-law Fulk V le juene of Anjou.
4 June 1133	Holy Roman Empire	King Lothair III of Germany is crowned Emperor by Pope Innocent II in Rome. As the supporters of the antipope Anacletus II hold St Peter's, the coronation takes place in the Lateran palace.
7 September 1134	Aragon, Navarre, Castile, León, Spain	King Alfonso I of Aragon and Navarre dies. He is succeeded in Aragon by his brother, Ramiro II, while Navarre recovers its independence under García IV Ramirez, and Alfonso VII of Castile and León takes possession of Zaragoza.
26 May 1135	Castile, León, Spain	King Alfonso VII of Castile and León is acclaimed as emperor of Spain.
14 December 1135	Norway	King Harold IV of Norway is murdered by his brother Sigurd; he is succeeded by his sons, Sigurd II and Inge I.
26 December 1135	England	Stephen of Blois, nephew of the late king Henry I of England and grandson of William the Conqueror, is crowned as king of England.
1 August 1137	France	King Louis VI the Fat of France dies; he is succeeded by his son, Louis VII.
18 September 1137	Denmark	King Erik II Emude of Denmark is murdered; he is succeeded by Erik III, grandson of Erik I, who faces renewed civil war.
1138	Poland	Boleslaw III, Duke of Poland, dies following a defeat in Russia, ending a period of Polish expansion. His lands are partitioned by his sons, civil war follows, and Poland ceases to be a unified state for two centuries. The eldest son, Wladyslaw II, becomes the first grand prince of Poland, with Kraków as his capital; he possesses Silesia and Pomerania and is, in theory, hereditary suzerain in all Polish lands.
1139	Kiev	On the death of Prince Jaropolk II of Kiev, Vsevolod II seizes power. The surviving political unity of the Russian federation now finally collapses with the rivalry of princes for leadership and the provincial separatism of their subjects.
20 October 1139	Bavaria, Saxony, Germany, Holy Roman Empire	Henry the Proud, former Duke of Bavaria and Saxony, dies; his son Henry the Lion claims to succeed, but the king of the Germans, Conrad III Hohenstaufen, has granted Bavaria to Leopold IV of Austria and Saxony to Albert I the Bear of Brandenburg.
5 May 1142	Germany, Saxony, Bavaria, Holy Roman Empire	The civil war in Germany is brought to an end by a diet (legislative assembly) in Frankfurt; Conrad III Hohenstaufen, king of the Germans, grants Saxony to Henry the Lion and Bavaria to Henry Jasomirgott, brother of Leopold IV of Austria.
26 September 1143	Italy	Pope Celestine II is elected following the death of Pope Innocent II.
12 March 1144	Papal States, Italy	Pope Lucius II is elected following the death of Pope Celestine II.
15 February 1145	Italy	Bernard of Pisa is elected Pope Eugenius III following the death of Pope Lucius II.
12 July 1153	Papal States, Italy	Anastasius IV is elected pope following the death of Eugenius III.
4 December 1154	England, Papal States, Italy	Cardinal Nicholas Breakspear is elected Pope Adrian IV (the first and only English pope) following the death of Pope Anastasius IV.
19 December 1154	England	Henry II Plantagenet is crowned as king of England, founding the Plantagenet dynasty.
18 June 1155	Holy Roman Empire, Papal States, Italy	King Frederick I Barbarossa of Germany and Italy captures and executes as a heretic Arnold of Brescia, the antipapal leader of the Roman commune, and is crowned as Holy Roman Emperor (sacrum Romanum imperator) by Pope Adrian IV, the first emperor to use the full title.
1156	India	King Vikramanka of Rashtrakuta (in the Deccan) dies; his kingdom, which has been the most powerful in India for three centuries, collapses.
1156	Sweden	Erik Jedvardsson becomes king of Sweden following the murder of Sverker I. A resulting feud sees the throne alternating between descendants of Sverker and Erik IX the Saint for the next century.
21 August 1157	Castile, Spain, León	King Alfonso VII of Castile and León, Emperor of Spain, dies; by his will his sons, Sancho III and Ferdinand II, become kings of Castile and León respectively.
31 August 1158	Castile, Spain	King Sancho III of Castile dies; he is succeeded by his infant son, Alfonso VIII. Civil war breaks out.
4 July 1159	Poland, Holy Roman Empire	Wladyslaw II, the former grand prince of Poland, dies; the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa has his sons restored to Silesia, so attaching it to German interests.
7 September 1159	Papal States, Italy	Rolando Bandinelli is elected Pope Alexander III by a majority of the cardinals, but a party favouring the interests of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa elects Cardinal Octavian as Pope Victor IV; neither is able to control Rome.
1160	Japan	Taira Kiyomori, the leader of the Taira samurai clan in Japan, wins control of the imperial government after defeating his rivals in the Hogen and Heijii insurrections of 1156–59.
1162	Sweden	Charles VII, nephew of the former king Sverker I, succeeds as king of Sweden.
14 January 1162	Hungary	King Ladislas II of Hungary dies; he is succeeded by his brother, Stephen IV.
11 April 1163	Hungary	With the death of his rival Stephen IV, King Stephen III of Hungary regains full control of his kingdom.
22 April 1164	Papal States, Italy, Holy Roman Empire	Guido of Crema is (uncanonically) elected Pope Paschal III in succession to the late antipope Victor IV. The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa gives him protection, but German prelates who had recognized Victor as pope refuse to accept Paschal.
9 September 1168	Papal States, Italy, Holy Roman Empire	Abbot John of Struma is elected the successor to the antipope Paschal III, as Calixtus III, and recognized as pope by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa.
13 September 1171	Fatimid Caliphate, Egypt, Zangid Emirate	The last Fatimid (Shiite Muslim) caliph of Egypt, al-'Adid, dies. Egypt nominally becomes subject to the caliph of Baghdad but in practice is annexed to the Zangid emirate under the rule of Saladin, the vizier of Nur-ad-Din, Zengid ruler of Syria.
15 May 1174	Zangid Emirate, Ayyubid Sultanate, Egypt	Nur-ad-Din, the Zengid ruler of Syria, dies. His empire disintegrates as his heir, Ismail, is young; Saladin, Nur-ad-Din's vizier in Egypt, declares his independence, founding the Ayyubid dynasty.
1180	Serbia	Serbia becomes independent of the Byzantine Empire under Stephen Nemanja, Grand Zupan of Rascia.
24 September 1180	Byzantine Empire	The Byzantine emperor Manuel I Comnenus dies; he is succeeded by his son, Alexius II, with his widow, Mary of Antioch, acting as regent.
1181	Khmer Empire	Jayavarman VII is crowned as king of the Khmer Empire following his expulsion of the Chams.
1 September 1181	Papal States, Italy	Cardinal Ubald of Ostia is elected Pope Lucius III following the death of Pope Alexander III.
1182	Holy Roman Empire, Bohemia, Moravia	The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa intervenes in the succession dispute among the Premysl rulers of Bohemia, taking the opportunity to make the Bohemian province of Moravia a margravate subject only to the Empire.
12 May 1182	Denmark, Holy Roman Empire	Following the death of King Valdemar I the Great of Denmark, he is succeeded by his son Cnut IV, who refuses to do homage to the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa.
25 November 1185	Papal States, Italy	Humbert Crivelli, archbishop of Milan, is elected Pope Urban III following the death of Pope Lucius III.
12 December 1189	England, Palestine	Having raised money by the sale of offices and privileges, King Richard I the Lionheart leaves England to join the Third Crusade, leaving William de Mandeville, Earl of Essex and Hugh Puiset, bishop of Durham, in charge of England as justiciars (vice regents in the king's absence).
30 March 1191	Papal States, Italy	Cardinal Hyacinth Bobo is elected Pope Celestine III following the death of Pope Clement III.
15 April 1191	Holy Roman Empire, Italy, Sicily	Pope Celestine III crowns Henry VI as Holy Roman Emperor following the death of his father Frederick I Barbarossa on 10 October 1190. Henry then begins his conquest of his wife's kingdom of Sicily, held by Tancred, Count of Lecce.
7 July 1196	Ayyubid Sultanate	Al-`Adil, the brother of the late Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria gains control of Egypt and much of Syria, styling himself sultan.
1197	Bohemia, Holy Roman Empire	Henry Bratislav, Duke of Bohemia, who conquered Moravia, dies. He is succeeded by Vladislav Henry, who soon abdicates in favour of Premysl Ottokar I (deposed in 1193); his recognition as duke ends a period of frequent civil war and strong imperial influence in ducal elections.
8 January 1198	Rome	Lotario di Segni is elected Pope Innocent III following the death of Pope Celestine III.
7 July 1198	Holy Roman Empire, Germany	Otto IV, a member of the Welf dynasty and son of Henry the Lion, is crowned as ‘king of the Romans’ (king of Germany) after he captures the city of Cologne; civil war breaks out in Germany between him and the Hohenstaufen party of Philip, Duke of Swabia, who has already been elected ‘king of the Romans’.
27 May 1199	England	John, the younger brother of the late King Richard I the Lionheart, is crowned as king of England.
18 July 1216	Italy	Cencio Savelli is elected Pope Honorius III.
19 March 1227	Italy	Ugolino dei Conti is elected Pope Gregory IX.
25 October 1241	Italy	Goffredo Castiglione is elected Pope Celestine IV.
25 June 1243	Italy	Sinibaldo dei Fieschi is elected Pope Innocent IV.
1254	Portugal	King Afonso III of Portugal holds the first Cortes (national assembly) attended by representatives of Portuguese towns. This is the first assembly at which the commons are represented.
12 December 1254	Papal States, Italy	Rinaldo Conti is elected Pope Alexander IV.
29 August 1261	Sicily	Jacques Pantaléon of Troyes a professor of canon law in Paris before becoming a bishop, then patriarch or Jerusalem, is elected Pope Urban IV. He offers the crown of Sicily to Charles of Anjou, in an attempt to dislodge the German Hohenstaufen family from Italy.
1 September 1271	Papal States, Italy	Tedald Visconti of Piacenza is elected Pope Gregory X.
21 January 1276	Papal States, Italy	Peter of Tarantaise is elected Pope Innocent V.
14 June 1276	China	Shih, the seven-year-old half-brother of the captured Chinese Song emperor, is enthroned.
11 July 1276	Papal States, Italy	Ottobuono Fieschi is elected Pope Adrian V after the death of Pope Innocent V.
8 September 1276	Papal States, Italy	Peter Juliani of Portugal is elected Pope John XXI.
25 November 1277	Papal States, Italy	John Gaetan is elected Pope Nicholas III.
1 May 1278	Byzantine Empire, Greece	William de Villehardouin, Prince of Achaea, dies. He is succeeded by Charles of Anjou, King of Sicily. Although apparently threatening the Byzantine Empire, Achaea is exhausted by war and the Byzantine Empire is able to extend its territories as far as Arcadia.
1 January 1279	Portugal	King Afonso III of Portugal dies. He is succeeded by his son Dinis.
1280	Russia	Mangu-Temur, Khan of the ‘Golden Horde’, dies. He is succeeded by his brother Tuda-Mangu, but Nogay, the Mongol ruler of the Lower Danube, assumes joint rule in Russia as khan of ‘the Nogay Horde’, ruling between the Dnieper and Danube rivers. Tuda-Mangu ravages Vladimir and replaces Dmitri with his brother Andrew as grand duke.
22 February 1281	Papal States, Italy, Sicily	Simon de Brie is elected Pope Martin IV. He appoints Charles of Anjou, King of Sicily, as senator of Rome.
11 December 1282	Byzantine Empire	The Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus dies. He is succeeded by his son, Andronicus II Palaeologus, who immediately renounces the reunion of the Greek church with Rome.
2 April 1285	Papal States, Italy	Jacopo Savelli is elected Pope Honorius IV.
5 October 1285	France	King Philip III the Bold of France dies of the plague. He is succeeded by his son, Philip IV the Fair.
2 February 1288	Papal States, Italy, Ilkhanate, Persia	Jerome of Ascoli is elected Pope Nicholas IV. He soon receives an ambassador from the Ilkhan Arghun of Persia, who has been visiting the European kings to organize a joint crusade against Egypt.
19 July 1290	Hungary	King Ladislas IV of Hungary is murdered by Cumans. He is succeeded by his adopted heir, Andrew III, grandson of Andrew II. King Rudolf I of Germany invests his own son, Albert, as king, while Pope Nicholas IV favours Charles Martel of Anjou, who is crowned by a papal legate.
5 July 1293	Papal States, Italy	Peter, the hermit of Monte Murrone, is elected Pope Celestine V.
1294	China	Following the death of Kublai Khan, great khan and Mongol (Yuan) emperor of China, he is succeeded by his grandson, Temür.
23 December 1294	Papal States, Italy	Benedict Gaetani is elected Pope Boniface VIII.
1295	Castile, León, Aragon, Spain	King Sancho IV of Castile and León dies. He is succeeded by his four-year old son, Ferdinand IV. Ferdinand's minority offers the Spanish kingdom of Aragon a chance to make territorial gains at the expense of Castile.
10 April 1302	France	King Philip IV of France holds the first known meeting of the Estates General (assembly containing representatives of the three estates, aristocracy, clergy, and commons) in Paris, France, to rally national opinion against Pope Boniface VIII.
22 October 1303	Papal States, Italy	The Italian clergyman Niccolò Boccasini is elected Pope Benedict XI following the death of Pope Boniface VIII.
3 March 1305	Flanders	Guy, Count of Flanders, dies and is succeeded by his son, Robert of Béthune.
5 June 1305	Papal States, Italy	The French clergyman Bertrand de Got is elected Pope Clement V in Rome.
21 June 1305	Bohemia, Holy Roman Empire	King Wenceslas II of Bohemia dies. He is succeeded by his son, Wenceslas III, who makes peace with the Holy Roman Emperor Albert I.
1307	China	Temür Öljeitü, the great khan, dies. He is succeeded by his nephew Haishan. Mongol rule in China now declines into dissension and civil war.
16 August 1311	England	A parliament meets in which King Edward II of England accepts the Ordinances for the reform of his government and banishes his favourite, Piers Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall.
17 September 1312	Castile, León, Spain	King Ferdinand IV of Castile and León dies. He is succeeded by his infant son, Alfonso XI. In the chaos caused by Alfonso's minority, civil war breaks out.
1313	Dai Viet, Champa	Tran Anh-tong, Emperor of Dai Viet (modern northern Vietnam), occupies Champa (southern Vietnam) and establishes Che Nang, of the Cham royal dynasty, as puppet ruler.
1314	Mameluke Sultanate, Egypt, Africa	The Egyptian Mamelukes establish a Muslim as king of Dongola (north Sudan), ending a Monophysite Christian monarchy dating from 543. From this time Arabs fleeing Mameluke rule begin to settle in the Sudan.
19–20 October 1314	Holy Roman Empire	Frederick the Handsome, Duke of Austria, sometimes called Frederick the Fair, is elected Holy Roman Emperor. The following day Ludwig IV of Bavaria is also elected, and civil war ensues.
30 November 1314	France	Louis X succeeds his father, King Philip IV the Fair of France, to the French throne.
2 May 1316	Ireland	Edward Bruce, brother of Robert I the Bruce, King of Scotland, is crowned as king of Ireland at Dundalk in Ireland.
7 August 1316	France	Following the death of Pope Clement V, the French clergyman Jacques Duèse (D'Euze) is elected Pope John XXII.
1318	Georgia	George V becomes sole king of a newly unified Georgia.
2 January 1322	France	King Philip V of France dies and is succeeded by his brother Charles IV.
2 February 1325	Byzantine Empire	Andronicus III is crowned co-emperor with his father Andronicus II in order to end the civil war in the Greek Empire.
20 January 1327	England	King Edward II of England abdicates in favour of his son Edward III.
7 January 1328	Italy, Holy Roman Empire	King Ludwig IV of Bavaria enters Rome, Italy, and is crowned emperor by the ‘four syndics of the Roman people’. Pope John XXII declares a crusade against Ludwig who retaliates by declaring John deposed.
22 May 1328	Italy, Holy Roman Empire	Having deposed Pope John XXII when the Pope declares a crusade against him, King Ludwig IV of Bavaria elects the Italian clergyman Pietro Rainalducci (Peter of Corvara) as the antipope Nicholas V.
24 May 1328	Byzantine Empire	Andronicus II, co-emperor of Byzantium, is forced to abdicate, leaving his grandson Andronicus III as sole Greek emperor.
1332	Russia	Alexander III, Grand Duke of Vladimir, dies and is succeeded by Ivan I Kalita (the Pouch) of Moscow, Russia. With the metropolitan (leader of the Russian Orthodox chruch) Peter also preferring to reside in Moscow, it becomes the civil and ecclesiastical capital of Christian Russia.
20 December 1334	Italy	The French Benedict monk Jacques Fournier is elected Pope Benedict XII following the death of Pope John XXII.
1337	Mali	Mansa Musa, ruler of the Mali empire, dies. Under his rule, the empire achieved its greatest range, including Gao and Timbuktu.
25 January 1340	Flanders	King Edward III of England assumes the title of king of France at Ghent, Flanders, and is recognized as such by the Flemings.
26 October 1341	Greece	John Cantacuzenus, grand domestic of the Greek Empire, proclaims himself emperor. This begins a civil war in which the nobility supports John Cantacuzenus, while the populace back the young John V.
7 May 1342	Italy	The French clergyman Pierre Roger is elected Pope Clement VI.
16 April 1346	Serbia	King Stephen Dušan IV of Serbia is crowned emperor of the Serbs and Greeks in Skopje, Serbia.
3 August 1347	India	Hasan, leader of the Muslim rebels in the Deccan, India, is proclaimed Bahman Shah and founds the Bahmani dynasty of Kulbarga, India.
1352	Central America	Acamapitzin is elected king of the Aztecs.
18 December 1352	Italy	The French clergyman Etienne Aubert is elected Pope Innocent VI and sets aside the ‘compromise’ made by cardinals before his election, which was designed to restrict papal prerogatives.
1353	Southeast Asia	Fa Ngum, a Siamese (now Thai) prince who has conquered the Upper Mekong Valley, is proclaimed Chieng Dong Chieng Tong, King of Lan Chang (‘the country of a million elephants’), at Luang Prabang (modern Laos).
11 November 1354	Byzantine Empire	John VI Cantacuzenus is forced to abdicate, leaving John V as the sole Byzantine emperor.
28 September 1362	Italy	Guillaume de Grimoard is elected Pope Urban V.
30 December 1370	France	Pierre Roger de Beaufort is elected Pope Gregory XI following the death of Pope Urban V.
21 June 1377	England	Richard II succeeds to the English throne following the death of his grandfather, King Edward III of England, and begins his rule with a council of regency.
8 April 1378	Papal States	On the death of Pope Gregory XI the Italian churchman Bartolomeo Prignano is elected Pope Urban VI in Rome, a position he holds until 1389. When he refuses to move to Avignon in France (where the papal court has been since 1309) his election is declared void and the Swiss churchman Robert of Geneva is elected Pope (in effect Antipope) Clement VII in Avignon, a position he holds until 1394. This marks the beginning of the Great Schism, when there are two Popes, which lasts until 1417.
20 September 1378	France, Italy	Dissident cardinals, encouraged by King Charles V of France, elect Robert of Geneva as Pope Clement VII. This means that there are two current Popes.
2 November 1389	Italy	Pietro Tomacelli is elected Pope Boniface IX.
29 September 1399	England	King Richard II of England abdicates and is declared deposed in a quasi-parliamentary assembly. Henry, Duke of Lancaster claims and receives the crown as Henry IV.
17 October 1404	Papal States	Cosmo Migliorato is elected Pope Innocent VII in Rome.
30 November 1406	Papal States, Italy	Angelo Correr is elected Pope Gregory XII in Rome.
26 June 1409	Italy	The cardinals meeting in Pisa elect Cardinal Peter Philarges as the antipope Alexander V.
8 January 1411	Holy Roman Empire, Hungary, Brandenburg, Germany	Jošt of Moravia, rival Holy Roman Emperor, dies. Brandenburg thus reverts to the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund of Hungary, who later in the year mortgages it to Frederick of Hohenzollern, Burgrave of Nuremberg, in whose family it thereafter remains.
31 August 1422	England	On the death of King Henry V of England, he is succeeded by his infant son, Henry VI, with the lords establishing a council to rule in his minority.
21 October 1422	France, England	In accordance with the 1420 Treaty of Troyes, King Henry VI of England succeeds to the French throne following the death of King Charles VI of France.
21 July 1425	Byzantine Empire	The Byzantine emperor Manuel II, who has ruled only Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey) while his brothers have ruled other remaining fragments of the empire in Greece, dies. He is succeeded by his eldest son, John VIII.
c. 1430	Ethiopia	King Yeshaq of Ethiopia dies. A succession crisis follows.
3 March 1431	Papal States, Italy	Gabriel Condulmer is elected Pope Eugenius IV.
30 May 1431	France, England	After being captured by Burgundian troops and then handed over to English troops, the French military leader Joan of Arc is burnt as a heretic in Rouen, France.
9 December 1437	Holy Roman Empire, Hungary, Austria, Bohemia	Unrest follows the death of the Holy Roman Emperor, Sigismund, when he is succeeded as king of Hungary by Albert V, duke of Austria, and the Bohemians refuse to accept Albert as their king.
27 October 1439	Holy Roman Empire, Austria, Hungary	The Holy Roman Emperor Albert II dies. He is succeeded as king of Hungary by King Wladyslaw III (Warnenczyk) of Poland.
1445	Africa, Ethiopia	The sultan of Adal (in present-day Somalia), Ahmed Badly Walasma, is killed by King Zara Ya'qub of Ethiopia. This turns the tide against the Islamic alliance that is threatening Christian Ethiopia.
1447	Middle East, Central Asia	Shah Rukh, the son and successor of Tamerlane, Great Emir of the Mongols, dies. This is followed by the dissolution of the Timurid house of Herat: the Turkoman dynasty of the White Sheep now rules Persia, except for Khorasan, from Tabriz.
6 March 1447	Papal States, Italy	Tommaso Parentucelli is elected Pope Nicholas V.
19 April 1451	India	Buhlul Khan, Afghan governor of Punjab, deposes and retires the last Sayyid (claiming descent from Mohammed's grandson Husein) sultan of Delhi, 'Alam Shah, and claims the throne for himself, founding the Lodi dynasty.
19 March 1452	Holy Roman Empire	Pope Nicholas V crowns the Habsburg Frederick III as Holy Roman Emperor in Rome, Italy. Frederick will be the last emperor to be thus crowned.
8 April 1455	Papal States	The College of Cardinals in Rome, Italy, elects the Spanish compromise candidate, Alfonso de Borgia, as pope, in order to satisfy both the Roman Orsini and Colonna factions. Taking the name Calixtus III, he succeeds Nicholas V, who died a fortnight earlier.
2 March 1458	Holy Roman Empire, Bohemia	The Bohemian diet elects the regent (and leader of the Hussite Utraquists) George of Podebrady as king of Bohemia. He invades Habsburg Austria.
17 January 1468	Ottoman Empire	Skanderbeg, the Albanian national hero and bulwark against the Ottoman Turks, dies at the port of Lezhë, Albania and is succeeded by his son John Castriota II.
1471	South America	Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, the ninth Inca emperor, abdicates in favour of his son Topa Inca Yupanqui, after seeing his reign transform Tawantisiyu (the Inca state) from being a small principality around Cuzco to the dominant state of the Andes through victories over Chimú and Chacan.
26 October 1471	Papal States, Italy	Following the death in July of Pope Paul II, the Genoese Francesco della Rovere is elected Pope Sixtus IV.
12 December 1474	Castile, Aragon, Spain	Henry IV the Impotent, King of Castile, dies and is succeeded by his sister Isabella and her husband Ferdinand V, son and heir of John II of Aragon.
19 January 1479	Aragon, Castile, Spain	John II, King of Aragon, dies and is succeeded by his son Ferdinand II, King of Castile. A union of the two crowns is created through the person of Ferdinand.
August 1483	Sweden, Denmark-Norway	John II (Hans), having succeeded his father Christian I as king of Norway and Denmark in 1481, is recognized by the Swedish state council as king of Sweden. The regent Sten Sture contrives to postpone the coronation.
6 October 1496	Naples, Aragon, Italy	The decrepit Frederick III (Federigo) succeeds his nephew Ferdinand II (Ferrante) as king of Naples (–1501).
2 March 1502	Holy Roman Empire	The imperial arch-chancellor Berthold of Henneberg is forced to resign by the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, ending the effective rule of the Reichsregiment (imperial council).
1651	Japan	Tokugawa Ietsuna, the son of Tokugawa Iemitsu and a minor, becomes shogun (military ruler) of Japan.
29 June 1652	North America	The Puritan leadership of Massachusetts declares the colony a self-governing independent commonwealth, the culmination of a long political struggle over the degree of independence allowed by its 1629 royal charter. The colony's de facto independence lasts until the restoration of King Charles II of England in 1660 and the issue of a new charter.
8 January 1654	Russia	By the agreement of Peryslavl, the Cossacks accept Tsar Alexis as their supreme leader, while maintaining their traditional rights to elect their own hetmen (headmen), maintain an army, and operate their own courts. Russian influence is thereby consolidated in the Ukraine.
16 June 1654	Sweden	Queen Christina of Sweden abdicates and is succeeded by Charles X. She subsequently converts to Catholicism on 3 November 1655.
November 1656	Portugal	King John IV of Portugal dies, leaving his underage son Afonso VI to assume the crown. A regency is established.
2 April 1657	Holy Roman Empire	The death of the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III inaugurates an interregnum in the Holy Roman Empire.
3 September 1658	England	Following the death of Oliver Cromwell, he is succeeded as Lord Protector of England by his son Richard.
25 May 1659	UK	Richard Cromwell resigns as Lord Protector of England and the Commonwealth is re-established by the Rump Parliament.
23 February 1660	Sweden	A regency is established in Sweden when, after the death of his father Charles X, the four-year-old Charles XI becomes king.
25 April–29 December 1660	UK	The Convention Parliament assembles and on 8 May the accession of Charles II as king of England is proclaimed in London, England.
5 February 1661	China	K'ang-Hsi becomes the second emperor of the Manchu dynasty in China at the age of six after the death of Shun-chih. He begins his personal rule in 1669 at the age of fifteen.
17 September 1665	Spain	King Philip IV of Spain dies and is succeeded by his underage son Charles II. A regency is established under Philip's widow Mariana.
1666	Persia, Safavid Empire	Safi II succeeds his father Abbas II as Shah of Persia. He is crowned again as Suleiman I in 1668.
19 June 1669	Poland	Michal Wisniowiecki, a Lithuanian, is elected king of Poland after a nine-month struggle over the succession. His victory prevents French attempts to extend their influence in Poland.
9 February 1670	Denmark-Norway	Following his death of Frederick III, Christian V succeeds his father as king of Denmark.
21 May 1674	Poland	Following his victory over the Ottoman Turks at Chocim, John Sobieski is elected king of Poland as John III.
3 November 1676	Ottoman Empire	Ahmed Köprülü dies and is succeeded by his brother-in-law Kara Mustafa as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.
1680	Japan	Tokugawa Tsunayoshi becomes shogun (military ruler) of Japan, ushering in one of the most tranquil and successful periods of Japanese history.
27 April 1682	Russia	Following the death of Tsar Fyodor III of Russia, a faction led by the family of his stepmother, Natalia Naryshkin, proclaims her son Peter I the Great as tsar.
May 1682–August 1689	Russia	After several days of unrest, the newly proclaimed Tsar Peter I the Great of Russia is overthrown by a faction led by the family of Tsar Alexis's first wife, Maria Miloslavsky, and backed by the Moscow Streltsy (musketeers). Peter and his mentally disabled half-brother Ivan V are proclaimed as joint tsars, with his half-sister Sofia as regent.
1683	China	The Chinese Manchu dynasty gains control of the previously autonomous island of Formosa, incorporating it into Fukien province. It remains a Chinese possession until 1895.
12 September 1683	Portugal	Pedro II accedes to the throne of Portugal on the death of his brother King Afonso VI. He has acted as Prince Regent since 1668.
6 February 1685	UK	James II succeeds as king of England on the death of his brother Charles II.
9 December 1687	Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Holy Roman Empire	The Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I's son Archduke Joseph is crowned as king of Hungary. The coronation brings to an end the negotiations at Pressburg in which a diet (assembly) of the Hungarian Estates has renounced its rights of resistance and recognized the Hungarian crown as a hereditary possession of the male line of Habsburgs.
9 May 1688	Brandenburg, Holy Roman Empire, Germany, Prussia	Frederick III succeeds as Elector of Brandenburg on the death of Frederick William, the Great Elector. He becomes King Frederick I of Prussia in 1701.
August 1689	Russia	Peter I the Great and his supporters engineer a coup against the regent, his half-sister Sofia, which deposes his half-brother Ivan V and makes him sole tsar of Russia. His mother Natalia Naryshkin becomes regent until he comes of age on 30 May 1693.
23 June 1691	Ottoman Empire	Ahmad II succeeds Süleyman III as sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
4 December 1691	Transylvania, Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Habsburg Monarchy	After the battle of Zalánkemén, the Estates of Transylvania recognize the Habsburg kings as their ruler. The principality is not reincorporated into Hungary but is controlled directly from Vienna, in Austria. It is administered by an appointed governor and council, a situation that continues until 1848.
1694	Persia, Safavid Empire	Husayn I becomes shah of Persia. He is the last independent ruler of the Safavid dynasty.
6 February 1695	Ottoman Empire	Mustafa II succeeds as sultan of the Ottoman Empire on the death of Ahmad II.
5 April 1697	Sweden	On the death of Charles XI, Charles XII succeeds as king of Sweden.
1 August 1714	Britain, Hanover, Germany, Holy Roman Empire	Following the death of Queen Anne of England, she is succeeded by George Ludwig, elector of Hanover and great-grandson of James I of England, as George I (the electress Sophia having died on 8 June).
8 February 1725	Russia	Following the death of Tsar Peter I the Great of Russia, he is succeeded by his widow, Catherine I. The real ruler of the state during Catherine's reign is Tsar Peter's talented collaborator, Field Marshal Prince Alexander Danilovich Menshikov.
17 June 1789	France	The Third Estate (representing the common people) of the Estates General (parliament) in France declares itself a National Assembly.
20 June 1789	France	The National Assembly in France takes the ‘Tennis Court Oath’, undertaking not to disband until a new constitution is drawn up.
15 July 1789	France	The Commune de Paris (municipal government) is formed in Paris, France. It appoints Jean Bailly as mayor, sets up the National Guard under the Marquis de Lafayette, and is responsible for municipal administration.
21 September 1792	France	The French National Convention convenes in Paris, replacing the Legislative Assembly.
6 April 1793	France	The Committee of Public Safety is established in France as the executive organ of the revolutionary government, effectively headed by the Jacobin leader Georges Danton.
16 May 1795	United Netherlands, Batavian Republic	The Dutch Republic is reorganized under French control as the Batavian Republic, and signs an offensive and defensive alliance with France.
16 May 1796	France, Italy	The northern Italian region of Lombardy is declared a republic, under French rule.
March 1798	Spain	The influential Spanish prime minister and mastermind of the Franco-Spanish Treaty of San Ildefonso against Britain, Manuel de Godoy, is forced to resign, following the Spanish naval defeat by Britain off Cape St Vincent.
14 March 1800	Rome	The Italian cardinal Luigi Chiaramonti, backed by the influential French cardinal Jean Maury, is elected as Pope Pius VII.
19 March 1808	Spain	Charles IV of Spain abdicates in favour of his son, Ferdinand, being too closely associated with the francophile policy of his ousted chief minister, Manuel de Godoy.
21 December 1818	France	Armand du Plessis, duc de Richelieu, resigns as prime minister in France and is succeeded by Elie, duc de Decazes, after the October elections show increasing support for the left.
20 February 1820	France	Elie, duc de Decazes, is dismissed as prime minister of France after the assassination of Charles-Ferdinand d'Artois, duc de Berry, and is succeeded by his predecessor, the more right-wing Armand du Plessis, duc de Richelieu.
1 October 1823	Spain	King Ferdinand VII of Spain, having been restored by the French who have crushed the Spanish rebellion, issues a decree for the execution of his enemies, and a reign of tyranny begins.
10 February 1824	Peru	The South American revolutionary leader Simón Bolívar is proclaimed emperor of Peru.
1 December 1825	Russia	Alexander I, emperor of Russia 1801–25 who was instrumental in defeating the French emperor Napoleon I, dies in Taganrog, Russia, and is succeeded by Nicholas I, his younger brother.
23 June 1828	Portugal	Dom Miguel is proclaimed king of Portugal, following a peaceful coup d'état.
10 December 1834	UK	The Tory politician Robert Peel becomes prime minister of Britain following the resignation of Lord Melbourne.
18 April 1835	UK	Lord Melbourne becomes prime minister of a Whig administration in Britain.
2 March 1836	USA, Mexico, Republic of Texas	Texas declares its independence from Mexico, but the USA does not recognize the Republic of Texas.
4 April 1841	USA	Following the death of William H Harrison after just one month in office, John Tyler becomes the tenth president of the USA.
30 August 1841	UK	Robert Peel becomes prime minister of a Conservative government in Britain when Lord Melbourne resigns because elections have weakened support for him in the House of Commons.
26 February 1858	UK	The English statesman Edward Stanley, Lord Derby, becomes prime minister of a Conservative government in Britain following the resignation of the Whig Henry Temple, Lord Palmerston.
20 October 1860	Austrian Empire	The October Diploma amends the Austrian constitution, restoring the federal institutions as they existed before 1848. The Habsburg territories are granted considerable autonomy in the hope of conciliating the subject nationalities.
7 October 1862	Prussia	The Prussian diet (state assembly) again rejects an increase in the military budget and is adjourned, so that Chancellor Otto von Bismarck rules without a budget for four years.
28 November 1864	Greece	An advanced new democratic constitution in Greece does away with the upper Chamber of Deputies.
29 October 1865	UK	The Liberal politician Lord John Russell becomes prime minister of Great Britain.
3 September 1866	Prussia	Having defeated Austria and established Prussia as the leading power in Germany, the Prussian chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, obtains an indemnity from a grateful Prussian diet (state assembly) for having ruled without parliamentary approval of government budgets, ending the constitutional conflict that began in 1862.
17 February 1867	Austrian Empire, Hungary	The Hungarian diet (national assembly) is opened and the constitution of 1848 restored. Government by Ausgleich (‘compromise’) begins, allowing for a dual monarchy under which the Magyars gain autonomy in Hungary while Austria continues to govern the rest of the Habsburg territories, with unitary foreign and war policies.
28 February 1868	UK	The British Conservative politician Benjamin Disraeli becomes prime minister of Britain.
24 May 1873	France	French president Adolphe Thiers is deposed by the monarchist Asembly, and the antidemocratic candidate Marie-Edme-Patrice-Maurice MacMahon, duc de Magenta, is elected in his place.
18 February 1874	UK	The Conservative politician Benjamin Disraeli becomes British prime minister, with Stafford Northcote as chancellor of the Exchequer, Edward Stanley, Earl of Derby, as foreign secretary, and Richard Cross as home secretary.
28 April 1880	UK	William Ewart Gladstone forms a Liberal ministry in which he is also chancellor of the Exchequer, with Lord Granville foreign secretary, William Harcourt home secretary, and Joseph Chamberlain president of the Board of Trade.
25 June 1885	UK	Robert Cecil, Lord Salisbury, forms a Conservative ministry in Britain, with himself taking the position of foreign secretary as well as prime minister, Michael Hicks Beach chancellor of the Exchequer, and Richard Cross home secretary.
16 June 1891	Canada	John Abbot becomes premier of Canada following the death of Sir John Macdonald, premier since 1878 and the force behind making Canada a dominion.
19 September 1891	Chile	The dictator José Balmaceda is driven from office in Chile following civil war with the congress.
7 January 1892	Egypt	At the age of 18, Abbas succeeds Tewfik as khedive of Egypt, ruling until 1914 and demonstrating hostility towards British influence.
6 June 1892	Japan	The pro-Western Prince Hirobumi Ito becomes premier of Japan.
11 August 1892	UK	Following electoral defeat in the British general election, the Conservative prime minister Lord Salisbury resigns and William Ewart Gladstone forms a Liberal ministry, with Lord Rosebery foreign secretary, William Harcourt chancellor of the Exchequer, and Herbert Asquith home secretary.
17 January 1893	Pacific, USA	Hawaiian revolutionaries depose Queen Liliuokalani, amid rumours of US government complicity.
15 February 1893	USA, Pacific	US president Benjamin Harrison's administration submits a Hawaiian annexation treaty to the US Senate, but on 9 March the newly inaugurated president Grover Cleveland retracts the treaty amid controversy over US complicity in the Hawaiian revolution.
26 October 1894	Germany	Prince Chlodwig von Hohenlohe succeeds Leo, Count von Caprivi, as German chancellor, the unpopularity of the February commercial treaty with Russia contributing to Caprivi's fall.
1896	UK	Queen Victoria becomes the longest-reigning British monarch.
17 October 1900	Germany	Bernhard von Bülow succeeds the aged Prince Chlodwig von Hohenlohe as the German chancellor.
5 December 1905	United Kingdom	Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman forms a Liberal ministry in Great Britain with Sir Edward Grey as foreign secretary, Herbert Asquith as chancellor of the Exchequer, and Richard Haldane as war secretary.
25 July 1907	Korea, Japan	Japan declares in a treaty that Korea is its protectorate. Korea also agrees a convention giving Japan control over its government through Japanese vice ministers in its major departments. Japan has controlled Korea's foreign policy since 1905.
13 February 1909	Anatolia, Ottoman Empire	The grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire, Kiamil Pasha, is forced to resign by the Turkish nationalists, who now dominate the Ottoman parliament.
16 July 1909	Persia	Mohammed Ali, shah of Persia, is deposed by the pro-liberal Bakhtiari chief, Ali Kuli Khan, in favour of Sultan Ahmad Shah, aged 12.
1915	United Kingdom	The inclusion of photographs in passports is made compulsory in Britain.
26 February 1920		In accordance with the Treaty of Versailles, the League of Nations takes over the Saar area between France and Germany; France takes control of the Saar's coal deposits.
1926	Italy	The fascist government in Italy undertakes (in theory at least) a ‘corporatist’ reorganization of industry with the declaration of 13 state-controlled corporations and the establishment of the National Council of Corporations. Workers are to be represented by fascist labour syndicates.
11 November 1931	United Kingdom	Ramsay MacDonald forms a second National Government in Britain, with Neville Chamberlain as chancellor of the Exchequer, John Simon as foreign secretary, and Stanley Baldwin, Conservative leader, as lord president of the council.
9 March 1932	Ireland	The Dáil (lower house of the legislature) elects Éamon de Valera as president of the executive council (prime minister) in the Irish Free State.
2 June 1932	Germany	Franz von Papen, expelled from the Centre Party on becoming chancellor, forms a nonparty ‘cabinet of barons’ in Germany.
9 September 1932	Spain	The northeast region of Catalonia is granted autonomy in Spain, with its own flag, language, and parliament.
22 January 1933	USSR	The USSR launches its second five-year plan, envisaging the continued growth of heavy industry and increased production of consumer goods.
30 January 1933	Germany	The German president, Paul von Hindenburg, appoints the Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler, as chancellor. His cabinet includes only two other Nazis, Hermann Goering and Wilhelm Frick. Franz von Papen is vice chancellor and Constantin von Neurath foreign minister.
9 March–16 June 1933	USA	The US Congress begins a special session to deal with economic and social problems, granting President Franklin D Roosevelt control over gold and silver bullion and foreign exchange. It passes 15 major bills during the ‘Hundred Days’.
23 March 1933	Germany	An enabling bill is passed by the Nazi-dominated Reichstag (parliament) in Germany giving the chancellor, Adolf Hitler, full dictatorial powers.
26 March 1933	Portugal	A new constitution, known as the ‘Estado Novo’ is drawn up in Portugal, establishing a dictatorial government under the president, Sidónio Pais.
2 August 1934	Germany	When the German president, Paul von Hindenburg, dies, the German presidency is merged with the chancellorship and all members of the armed forces take an oath of loyalty to Adolf Hitler personally as Führer (‘Leader’).
29 November 1935	New Zealand	Michael Joseph Savage becomes New Zealand's first Labour prime minister.
1 December 1935	China	Jiang Jie Shi (Chiang Kai-shek) is elected chairman of the Guomindang (Nationalist Party) Executive Council, so becoming virtual ruler of China.
4 June 1936	France	The Popular Front leader, Léon Blum, becomes the first Socialist and Jewish prime minister of France.
4 February 1938	Germany	The German war minister and Wehrmacht (army) commander, Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg, resigns following a personal domestic scandal. The Führer formally declares himself commander with Wilhelm Keitel as chief of staff. Joachim von Ribbentrop is appointed foreign minister.
21 January 1939	Germany	The German Führer dismisses Hjalmar Schacht as president of the Reichsbank for opposing his rearmament expenditure. He replaces him with Walther Funk, minister of economics.
14 May 1940	UK	Recruiting begins for the Local Defence Volunteers (later the Home Guard) in Britain.
1944	USSR	The Soviet leader Joseph Stalin acts to re-establish communist rule in the USSR's non-Russian European regions. Using the pretext that various ethnic groups have collaborated with the Germans, he orders mass deportations and annuls autonomous regions.
14 October 1944	Germany	Erwin Rommel, German field marshal who commanded the Afrika Korps during World War II, chooses to commit suicide, in Herrlingen, near Urm, Germany, to avoid being prosecuted for his part in the attempt to assassinate Hitler on 20 July (52).
20 January 1949	USA	Making his inaugural address, President Harry S Truman of the USA announces his Fair Deal: a liberal domestic reform programme that extends social security, raises the minimum wage, and increases public housing legislation. He also announces a four-point programme that includes economic aid for underdeveloped countries.
27 October 1951	UK	The veteran British Conservative Party leader Winston Churchill forms a government, with Anthony Eden as foreign secretary and R A ‘Rab’ Butler as chancellor of the Exchequer.
5 March 1953	USSR	Following the death of the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, he is succeeded on 6 March by Georgi Malenkov (designated by Stalin), as chairman of the council of ministers.
18 June 1953	Egypt	A republic is proclaimed in Egypt, with General Muhammad Naguib Bey as president and prime minister, and Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser as deputy prime minister and minister of the interior.
5 April 1955	UK	Winston Churchill resigns as British prime minister because of age and ill health and is succeeded on 6 April by Anthony Eden who, on 7 April, reforms the Conservative government. Harold Macmillan becomes foreign secretary and R A Butler chancellor of the Exchequer.
10 January 1957	UK	The Conservative Harold Macmillan becomes British prime minister after the resignation of Anthony Eden 9 January, and, on 13 January, he forms a ministry with R A Butler as home secretary, Selwyn Lloyd as foreign secretary, and Peter Thorneycroft as chancellor of the Exchequer.
21 September 1957	Norway	King Haakon VII of Norway dies and is succeeded by his son, Olaf V.
2 January 1959	Cuba	The Cuban 26 July Movement ignores the military junta and proclaims Dr Manuel Urratía provisional president. He announces a cabinet on 3 January, with Fidel Castro as prime minister (takes oath on 16 February).
9 December 1962	Tanganyika	Tanganyika (now Tanzania) becomes a republic within the Commonwealth, with Julius Nyerere as president.
18 October 1963	UK	The British prime minister Harold Macmillan resigns for reasons of health, and on 19 October, is succeeded by the Scottish peer the Earl of Home, who later disclaims the peerage, is made a Knight of the Thistle, and becomes Sir Alec Douglas-Home. He is elected a member of the House of Commons, for Kinross, on 8 November.
13 September 1966	South Africa	Following the death of the South African prime minister Henrik Verwoerd on 6 September, he is succeeded by Johannes Vorster.
15 June 1969	France	Georges Pompidou is elected president of France and, on 20 June, appoints Jacques Chaban-Delmas as prime minister.
23 September 1969	North Vietnam	Ton Dac Thang succeeds President Ho Chi Minh of North Vietnam following Ho Chi Minh's death on 3 September.
19 June 1970	UK	The British prime minister Harold Wilson resigns following the general election and Edward Heath forms a Conservative ministry, with Sir Alec Douglas-Home as foreign secretary, Iain Macleod as chancellor of the Exchequer, and Reginald Maudling as home secretary.
23 August 1998	Russia	Russian president Boris Yeltsin sacks his entire government for the second time in five months and returns Viktor Chernomyrdin, whom he previously fired and who is considered responsible for the country's economic downfall, as interim prime minister.
11 September 1998	Russia	Russian president Boris Yeltsin names foreign minister Yevgeny M Primakov as his compromise candidate for the position of prime minister, after the Duma (parliament) repeatedly rejects his first choice, Viktor Chernomyrdin.
14 January 1999	USA	The impeachment trial of US president Bill Clinton opens in the Senate in Washington, DC. It is the first-ever impeachment trial of an elected US president. The president is charged with perjury and obstruction of justice in his testimony about his relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
12 February 1999	USA	After a month-long impeachment trial, the US Senate acquits President Bill Clinton of perjury and obstruction of justice, 55–45 and 50–50. The charges would have needed a two-thirds majority to dismiss the president from office.

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administration

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administration