650 BC Sparta enslaves neighbours
The inhabitants of Messenia revolt against Spartan rule and are reduced, in retaliation, to the status of serfs or helots

464 BC Uprising of helots
An earthquake in Sparta leads to an uprising by the helots, who take up a defensive position on Mount Ithome

460 BC Greeks support revolt in Egypt
Forces of the Delian League assist the Egyptians in a successful revolt against their Persian rulers

165 BC Judas the Maccabee in Jerusalem
The Jewish leader Judas the Maccabee captures Jerusalem and cleanses the Temple

88 BC Sulla marches on Rome
The Roman general Sulla takes the unprecedented step of marching upon Rome with a Roman army, to restore his own faction to power

82 BC Sulla marches on Rome again
Sulla takes Rome for the second time, after a battle at the Colline Gate, and then publishes his lethal 'proscriptions'

73 BC Spartacus and fellow students rebel
A rebellion by Spartacus and other slaves from a gladiators' training camp at Capua lasts for two years before it is suppressed

60 Boudicca attacks Romans
Boudicca launches a devastating attack on Roman soldiers and settlers, destroying their headquarters at Colchester

66 Zealots rise against Rome
The Zealots play a prominent part in the uprising which expels the Romans from Jerusalem

69 Year of the four emperors
A rebellion in Spain prompts such chaos that Rome has four emperors within a year, after the suicide of Nero in 68

73 Mass suicide at Masada
The last of the Jewish insurgents are besieged in the stronghold of Masada, eventually killing each other to end their ordeal

130 Hadrian plans new Jerusalem
Hadrian, visiting Jerusalem, decides to rebuild it as a Roman city - an act which provokes the final Jewish uprising

132 Simon Bar-Cochba captures Jerusalem
Simon Bar-Cochba drives the Romans out of Jerusalem and holds it for three years, until a large Roman army recovers the city

532 Theodora defies rebels
Theodora shows her mettle, as empress, in her response to the anarchy and terror unleashed in Constantinople by the Nika revolt

903 T'ang dynasty ends
The leader of a peasant uprising captures and kills the Chinese emperor, bringing to an end the T'ang dynasty

1154 Damascus surrenders to Nur ed-Din
The inhabitants of Damascus surrender their city to Nur ed-Din, helping him greatly in his campaign against the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem

1264 De Montfort captures king at Lewes
Simon de Montfort, leading the barons in rebellion, captures Henry III and his son Edward at Lewes

1265 Prince kills de Montfort
Prince Edward, escaping from captivity, defeats and kills Simon de Montfort at Evesham

1281 Violence in church service in Sicily
An incident in a church service sparks the uprising known as the Sicilian Vespers, in which 2000 French are killed overnight in Sicily

1350 William Tell supposedly shoots apple
William Tell, a figure of legend, epitomizes the struggle of the Swiss farmers against their feudal overlords, the Habsburgs

1381 Peasants' revolt
A poll tax imposed in England provokes widespread unrest, which flares up in the Peasants' Revolt

1381 Wat Tyler meets Richard II
Wat Tyler, leader of the Kentish rebels, meets Richard II at Smithfield - before being struck and wounded by the Lord Mayor of London

1398 Bolingbroke and Mowbray banished
Richard II banishes Thomas de Mowbray for life and Henry of Bolingbroke for ten years

1398 Feud between Bolingbroke and Mowbray
A dangerous feud develops between two of England's most powerful barons, Henry of Bolingbroke (son of John of Gaunt) and Thomas de Mowbray

1399 Richard II denies Bolingbroke his inheritance
John of Gaunt dies and Richard II denies Henry of Bolingbroke his Lancastrian inheritance, declaring Gaunt's vast estates forfeit to the crown

1400 Welsh prince of Wales again
The Welsh rise against the English and proclaim Owain Glyn Dwr as their own prince of Wales

1408 Owain Glyn Dwr loses support
Driven from Aberystwyth and Harlech, Owain Glyn Dwr loses support - and the last Welsh rebellion fades away

1420 Hussites build Tabor
The Hussites build a new fortified town at Tabor as their fortress headquarters

1422 Zizka and his 'war wagon fortress'
Jan Zizka wins a series of victories against papal armies, using the mobile barricade which becomes known as his 'war wagon fortress'

1480 Ivan III withholds Mongol tax
Ivan III, grand prince of Russia, becomes the first to deny the Mongols of the Golden Horde their annual tribute of tax

1487 Lambert Simnel crowned in Dublin
Lambert Simnel, supposedly a nephew of Edward IV, is crowned in Dublin - but ends up working in the royal kitchens of Henry VII

1491 Perkin Warbeck has wide support
The king of France is among those supporting Perkin Warbeck, supposedly a prince from the Tower, in his attempt on the English throne

1499 Perkin Warbeck hanged
After three feeble attempts to invade England, Perkin Warbeck is captured by Henry VII (in 1497) and is hanged at Tyburn

1517 Luther nails document to church door
Martin Luther nails his 95 Theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg

1520 Luther's writings burnt
Luther's writings are burnt in Rome by order of the pope

1521 Luther excommunicated
Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther after he has refused to recant

1521 Diet of Worms
Luther travels to the German city of Worms to present his case to an imperial diet

1521 Here I stand, says Luther
Luther bears witness to a Protestant conscience, stating at Worms: 'Here I stand, I can not do otherwise.'

1522 Swiss sausage in Lent
Huldreich Zwingli eats sausage in Lent in Zurich, launching the Swiss Reformation

1525 Adult baptism in Zurich
Conrad Grebel baptises an adult, causing outrage in Protestant Zurich

1529 Protestants acquire their name
The 'Protestation' of various princes and imperial cities at Speyer identifies them as Protestants

1530 Lutheran confession at Augsburg
The Augsburg Confession, presented by Melanchthon to the imperial diet, defines the Lutheran faith

1531 Protestant princes form league
The Protestant princes of Germany form the defensive League of Schmalkalden

1534 Placards all over Paris
Paris wakes up to find Protestant placards all over the place, mocking the sacrament of the mass

1541 Calvin's school of Christ
Protestant reformer John Calvin settles in Geneva and submits the city to a strict Christian rule

1559 Knox back in Scotland
John Knox returns to Scotland from Geneva and inspires the Protestants to march on Edinburgh

1569 English rebels support Mary
A rebellion in the north of England aims to put Mary Queen of Scots on the English throne

1572 Sea beggars in Brill
Sea beggars seize the town of Brill and raise the flag of William of Orange (also known as William the Silent)

1581 Protestant Netherlands reject Spain
In the Oath of Abjuration the northern provinces of the Netherlands formally reject the rule of the Spanish king, Philip II

1598 Edict of Nantes protects Huguenots
The Edict of Nantes secures the civil rights of France's Protestants, the Huguenots

1605 Gunpowder Plot damages Catholic cause
The Gunpowder Plot, attempting murder and treason, severely damages the Catholic cause in Britain

1619 Protestant elected king in Bohemia
The Protestant Frederick V (elector palatine of the Rhine) is elected king by the rebellious Bohemian nobles

1636 Hampden refuses to pay ship money
John Hampden refuses to pay ship money to Charles I, beginning a campaign that gradually wins wide support

1638 Covenant in Edinburgh churchyard
A National Covenant, first signed in an Edinburgh churchyard, commits the Covenanters to oppose Charles I's reforms of the Church of Scotland

1638 Riots in Edinburgh
Riots erupt in Edinburgh, in response to the attempt by Charles I and Laud to impose a hierarchy of Anglican bishops

1639 Bishops' War in Scotland
Covenanters seize control of Edinburgh and other Scottish towns, launching the conflict with England known as the Bishops' War

1648 Rebellion of Cossacks
A Cossack rebellion leads to the eventual transfer of their territory from Poland to Russia

1648 Fronde against Mazarin
A rebellion of nobles against Mazarin, the principal minister of the young Louis XIV, becomes known as the Fronde

1680 Pueblo Indians rise against Spanish
The Pueblo Indians of New Mexico rise against the Spanish, killing 21 missionaries and some 400 colonists

1710 Machines thrown from Spitalfields window
Machines are thrown out of the window of a Spitalfields factory, in an early protest against industrialization

1715 Uprising fails in Scotland
A Jacobite uprising in Scotland on behalf of the Old Pretender ends in fiasco

1745 Forty-Five rebellion
Charles Edward Stuart lands at Eriskay in the Hebrides, launching the Forty-Five Rebellion

1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie in Edinburgh
Charles Edward Stuart gathers support for the Forty-Five Rebellion on his way south from the Hebrides and reaches Edinburgh

1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie reaches Derby
Charles Edward Stuart marches as far south as Derby, but then turns back

1746 Disaster for Scots at Culloden
Charles Edward Stuart and his 5000 Scots are routed at Culloden, bringing the Forty-Five Rebellion to an abrupt end

1754 Franklin uses cartoon to urge union
Benjamin Franklin's chopped-up snake, urging union of the colonies with the caption 'Join or Die', is the first American political cartoon

1754 Franklin proposes government for colonies
Benjamin Franklin proposes to the Albany Congress that the colonies should unite to form a colonial government

1763 Pontiac leads Indian uprising
Pontiac, an Ottawa chief, leads an uprising of the Indian tribes in an attempt to drive the British east of the Appalachians

1764 Sugar Act taxes Americans
Britain passes the Sugar Act, levying duty on sugar, wine and textiles imported into America

1765 Stamp Act imposed
Britain passes the Stamp Act, taxing legal documents and newspapers in the American colonies

1765 Sons of Liberty oppose Stamp Act
American campaigners against the Stamp Act organize themselves as the Sons of Liberty in Massachusetts and New York

1766 Stamp Act repealed
Britain repeals the Stamp Act, in a major reversal of policy achieved by resistance in the American colonies

1767 Townshend Acts prove last straw in America
The British Chancellor, Charles Townshend, passes a series of acts taxing all glass, lead, paint, paper and tea imported into the American colonies

1770 Boston Massacre
British troops fire into an unruly crowd in Boston, Massachusetts, killing five

1770 Only tea is taxed
In response to American protests, the British government removes the Townshend duties on all commodities with the exception of tea

1773 Boston Tea Party
Some fifty colonists, disguised as Indians, tip a valuable cargo of tea into Boston harbour as a protest against British tax

1774 Boston's port is closed
As a retaliation for the Boston Tea Party, the British parliament closes Boston's port with the first of its Coercive Acts

1774 Americans find British acts Intolerable
Britain's new Coercive (or Intolerable) Acts include the requirement that Massachusetts citizens give board and lodging to British troops

1774 First Continental Congress
Delegates from twelve American colonies meet in Philadelphia and agree not to import any goods from Britain

1775 'Give me liberty or give me death'
Patrick Henry makes a stirring declaration – 'Give me liberty or give me death' – to the Virginia Assembly

1775 Redcoats sent to Concord
General Gage sends a detachment of British troops to seize weapons held by American Patriots at Concord

1775 Revere rides some of the way
Paul Revere is one of the US riders taking an urgent warning to Concord, but he is captured on the journey

1775 Shot fired at Lexington
The first shot of the American Revolution is fired in a skirmish between redcoats and militiamen at Lexington, on the road to Concord

1775 Second Continental Congress
Delegates from the states reassemble in Philadelphia, with hostilities against the British already under way in Massachusetts

1775 Washington is American commander
Delegates in Philadelphia select George Washington as commander-in-chief of the colonial army

1775 Battle on Bunker Hill
At Bunker Hill, overlooking Boston from the north, the American militiamen prove their worth against British professional soldiers

1775 British blockade America
Britain declares the colonies to be in a state of rebellion, and sets up a naval blockade of the American coastline

1776 New American flag
George Washington raises on Prospect Hill a new American flag, the British red ensign on a ground of thirteen stripes – one for each colony

1776 Paine argues for Common Sense
In Common Sense, an anonymous pamphlet, English immigrant Thomas Paine is the first to argue that the American colonies should be independent

1776 Washington takes Boston
George Washington drives the British garrison from Boston, and moves south to protect New York

1776 Virginia wants independence
The revolutionary convention of Virginia votes for independence from Britain, and instructs its delegates in Philadelphia to propose this motion

1776 American colonies vote for independence
Virginia's motion for independence from Britain is passed at the Continental Congress of the colonies with no opposing vote

1776 Jefferson's Declaration adopted
Thomas Jefferson's text for the Declaration of Independence is accepted by the Congress in Philadelphia

1776 Hancock signs first
John Hancock is the first delegate to sign the Declaration of Independence, formally written out on a large sheet of parchment

1777 Stars and stripes
Congress adopts a new flag for independent America – the stars and stripes

1780 Uprising led by Inca descendant
An Indian uprising in Spanish Peru is led by a descendant of the Incas, Tupac Amaru II

1780 Gordon riots terrorize London
Six days of riot in London are triggered by Lord George Gordon leading a march to oppose any degree of Catholic emancipation

1786 Shay's Rebellion
Daniel Shays is the most prominent figure in a violent protest movement by farmers against the government of Massachusetts

1788 Tooth-puller leads Brazil rebellion
Tiradentes (the 'puller of teeth') leads the first rebellion against Portuguese rule in Brazil

1789 What is the Third Estate?
A pamphlet published in France by Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès asks a challenging question, What is the Third Estate?

1789 Jacobin club founded
A left-wing political club begins to meet in a Jacobin convent in Paris, thus becoming known as the Jacobins

1789 Fall of Bastille
An excited Paris mob liberates the seven prisoners held in the forbidding fortress of the Bastille

1789 Crowd brings king from Versailles to Paris
Parisians force their way into the palace at Versailles and insist on Louis XVI and his royal family accompanying them back to Paris

1789 Mutiny on Bounty
Fletcher Christian leads a mutiny on HMS Bounty against the captain, William Bligh

1790 Burke reflects on French Revolution
Anglo-Irish politician Edmund Burke publishes Reflections on the Revolution in France, a blistering attack on recent events across the Channel

1791 Irishmen unite
Wolfe Tone is one of the founders in Belfast of the Society of United Irishmen

1791 Paine's Rights of Man
Thomas Paine publishes the first part of The Rights of Man, his reply to Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France

1792 Tooth-puller beheaded
The Brazilian rebel Tiradentes is beheaded in public in Rio de Janeiro as a warning to would-be revolutionaries

1792 Paine moves to France
Thomas Paine moves hurriedly to France, to escape a charge of treason in England for opinions expressed in his Rights of Man

1793 Rebellion in Vendée
Rebellion breaks out in the Vendée and a peasant army marches against republican Paris

1793 Toussaint L'Ouverture invades his home territory
Toussaint L'Ouverture, a former slave, joins a Spanish force invading the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti)

1793 Paine imprisoned in France
English revolutionary Thomas Paine spends nearly a year in a French prison after opposing the execution of Louis XVI

1794 Whisky Rebellion put down with force
George Washington uses military force to assert government authority on rebels in Pennsylvania refusing to pay a federal tax on whisky

1795 Tecumseh insists on Indian rights
After the Fort Greenville concessions, the Shawnee leader Tecumseh emerges as a champion of Indian territorial rights

1795 Orangemen unite
A secret Protestant group, the Orange Society, is formed in Co. Armagh to resist Irish nationalism

1795 Napoleon saves Paris Convention
The 26-year-old Napoleon Bonaparte comes to public attention for his part in saving the Convention in Paris from an assault by rebels

1796 Wolfe Tone invades Ireland
Irish nationalist Wolfe Tone sails from France to invade Ireland with a force of 14,000 French soldiers

1798 Wolfe Tone commits suicide
Irish nationalist Wolfe Tone, convicted of treason for his failed invasion, cuts his throat to cheat the British gallows

1802 Toussaint L'Ouverture captured by French
Toussaint L'Ouverture is treacherously arrested and sent to France, where he dies in prison

1803 Emmet captured
The uprising by Irish nationalist Robert Emmet ends in disaster when he marches on Dublin with only about 100 men

1804 Haiti asserts independence
The independence of Haiti from France is proclaimed by a new black ruler calling himself the emperor Jacques I

1806 Carbonari oppose French
The Carbonari, an Italian group of revolutionaries, make their first appearance in Naples in opposition to French rule

1806 Belgrade briefly captured from Turks
Karageorge captures Belgrade and wins a limited independence for Serbia within the Ottoman empire

1809 Bolivia leads in Latin American unrest
With acts of defiance in Sucre, Bolivia becomes the first American province to rebel against the Spanish authorities

1810 Bolívar in Venezuela coup
Simón Bolívar, a young officer in Caracas, takes part in a coup which wins control of Venezuela from the Spanish

1810 Argentina takes step towards independence
After a public meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentinians set up an autonomous local government in opposition to Spanish forces

1810 Uruguay's first step towards independence
José Gervasio Artigas lays siege to the Spanish forces in Montevideo, beginning Uruguay's long struggle for independence

1810 Rebellion in Bogotá
The citizens of Bogotá expel the local Spanish officials and declare their loyalty to the deposed Ferdinand VII

1810 Cry of Dolores
The parish priest of Dolores sparks a rebellion against the Spanish authorities in Mexico with his Grito de Dolores

1811 Luddites in Nottingham
Masked Luddites smash machinery in night raids on factories in Nottingham

1811 Colombia claims independence
The citizens of Bogotá declare the independence of the province of Colombia

1811 Paraguay declares independence
The colonists of Paraguay throw out their Spanish governor and declare independence

1812 Spanish recover Venezuela
The Spanish authorities recover control of Venezuela, ending the region's first brief spell of independence

1813 Bolívar's manifesto for revolution
Simon Bolívar publishes the Manisfesto de Cartagena, calling on the citizens of New Granada to unite and expel the Spaniards

1813 Bolívar hailed as Liberator
Bolívar defeats the Spanish forces in Venezuela and is welcomed in Caracas as the Liberator

1813 Indepedence claimed for Mexico
Rebels meeting for a conference in Chilpancingo proclaim a short-lived Mexican independence

1814 San Martin commands Argentinian patriots
José San Martín becomes commander of the patriot army of Argentina, replacing Manuel Belgrano

1814 Spanish forces recapture Venezuela
The Spanish recapture Caracas, after which Bolívar moves southwest to advance on Bogotá, now held again by the Spanish

1814 Chile recovered by Spanish
Spanish forces at Rancagua defeat a Chilean army commanded by Bernardo O'Higgins, who escapes across the Andes into Argentina

1814 Bolívar captures Bogotá
Bolívar recaptures Bogotá from the recently returned Spanish troops

1815 Mexican independence squashed
The Spanish suppress the independence movement in Mexico with the capture and execution of its leader, Jose Maria Morelos

1815 Spanish back once again in Bogotá
The Spanish recover Bogotá yet again and Bolívar flees into exile in Jamaica

1816 Argentina is independent
The independence of Argentina is formally proclaimed, dropping any pretence of remaining loyal to the Spanish king

1817 San Martin and O'Higgins liberate Chile
San Martín and O'Higgins lead an army through the Andes into Chile and capture Santiago

1817 Bolívar assembles army in Venezuela
Bolívar returns to Venezuela and builds up an army of liberation in a remote region up the Orinoco

1819 Bolívar liberates Colombia
Bolívar marches his army across the Andes, captures Bogotá and proclaims the republic of Gran Colombia

1820 Ferdinand VII imprisoned by liberals
A second liberal revolution in Spain ends with Ferdinand VII a prisoner of the Cortes in Cadiz

1821 Massacre of Muslims by Greek insurgents
An uprising in Greece against Turkish rule is followed by the massacre of several thousand Muslims

1821 San Martin proclaims Peruvian independence
San Martín enters Lima and proclaims Peruvian independence with himself as 'Protector'

1821 Bolívar recovers Venezuela
Bolívar defeats the Spanish at Carabobo and liberates, for the second time, his native city of Caracas

1822 Sucre wins Ecuador
After defeating the Spanish at Pichincha, Antonio José de Sucre enters Quito and liberates Ecuador

1822 Self-proclaimed emperor in Mexico
Agustin de Iturbide declares himself emperor of the new nation of Mexico, as Agustin I

1822 San Martín bows out of Peru
After failing to agree with Bolívar at Guayaquil, San Martín resigns his post as Protector of Peru

1823 Byron joins Greek rebels
Lord Byron arrives in Greece to support the cause of Greek independence

1823 Guatemala declares independence
Guatemala declares independence following the example of neighbouring Mexico

1823 Bolívar takes control in Peru
Bolívar arrives in Lima to be granted command of the army and dictatorial powers in the republic of Peru

1824 Peru finally liberated
After the surrender of the Spanish army to Antonio José de Sucre at Ayacucho, Peru is finally liberated

1825 Sucre liberates Bolivia
With a victory at Tumusla Antonio José de Sucre liberates Upper Peru (the future Bolivia), the last Spanish stronghold in continental America

1825 Thirty-three Immortals fight for Uruguay
Juan Antonio Lavalleja leads a band of Thirty-three Immortals in Uruguay's fight for independence from Brazil

1825 Bolivia named for Bolívar
Upper Peru declares independence as the republic of Bolivia, in honour of Simón Bolívar

1825 December uprising in St Petersburg
A December uprising in St Petersburg ends when troops fire on the crowd, but the 'Decembrists' become revolutionary martyrs

1827 Lavalleja defeats Brazilian army
Lavalleja defeats a Brazilian army at Ituzaingó, in the decisive battle for Uruguayan independence

1830 July revolution in Paris
A revolution erupts in Paris in July and sweeps Charles X from the throne

1831 Mazzini inspires Young Italy
Italian nationalist Giuseppe Mazzini founds Young Italy, an organization to promote insurrection

1831 Nat Turner's Uprising
Nat Turner leads a revolt by fellow slaves in Southampton County, Virginia, killing 59 whites and provoking more repressive legislation

1836 Texas declares independence
The inhabitants of the Mexican province of Texas declare their independence as a new republic

1836 Sam Houston wins Texas
Sam Houston destroys a Mexican army near the San Jacinto river, completing the seizure of Texas from Mexico

1837 French rebel in Canada
Rebellions in Canada reveal widespread discontent with the British administration, particularly among the French settlers

1838 League against Corn Laws
Seven Manchester merchants and mill-owners found the Anti-Corn Law League

1843 O'Connell sentenced to prison
Daniel O'Connell is convicted of seditious conspiracy and is sentenced to prison

1844 O'Connell acquitted on appeal
Daniel O'Connell is acquitted on appeal and released from prison

1844 Dominican Republic claims independence
The other half of Hispaniola joins Haiti in declaring independence, as the Dominican Republic

1847 Communist League founded in London
At a congress in London Engels persuades a group of radical Germans to adopt the name Communist League

1848 Year of revolutions begins in Sicily
An uprising in Sicily in January starts off Europe's 'year of revolutions'

1848 Communist Manifesto published in Paris
The Communist Manifesto, by Marx and Engels, is published in Paris with the ringing slogan: 'Workers of the world, unite!'

1848 Revolution brings second French republic
A revolution in Paris in February removes Louis-Philippe and introduces France's second republic

1848 Vienna uprising unseats Metternich
An uprising in Vienna leads to the resignation, on the following day, of the long-serving chancellor Klemens von Metternich

1848 Emperor flees from radical Vienna
Another uprising in Vienna causes the emperor Ferdinand I to flee for safety to Innsbruck

1848 Martial law in Prague
Martial law is imposed in Prague after a demonstration by radical Czech students following a Pan-Slav congress

1848 Third uprising in Vienna
Suppression of unrest in Hungary provokes a third violent uprising in Vienna and another flight by Ferdinand I, this time to Olomouc

1848 Pope flees from radical Rome
An uprising in Rome causes Pope Pius IX to flee for safety to a coastal fortress at Gaeta

1849 Brief republic in Rome
A new Roman republic is proclaimed, with veteran agitator Giuseppe Mazzini in the leading role

1849 Kossuth declares Hungary independent
Nationalist leader Lajos Kossuth announces the independence of Hungary and the deposition of the Habsburg dynasty

1849 Dostoevskyundergoes mock execution
Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky undergoes a mock execution, after being sentenced to death for revolutionary activities against tsar Nicholas I

1850 Dostoevsky given hard labour
Fyodor Dostoevsky begins four years of hard labour in Siberia for revolutionary activities

1850 Taiping Rebellion
A rebellion against the Qing dynasty, led by Christian convert Hong Xiuquan, breaks out in southern China

1853 Taiping rebels capture Nanjing
The Taiping rebels capture the Chinese city of Nanjing and make it their capital

1854 Gunfight at Eureka stockade
Australian gold diggers, angered by the requirement to purchase a licence, make a defiant stand at the Eureka stockade

1856 Pottawatomie Massacre
Abolitionist John Brown presides over the lynching of five pro-slavery men at Pottawatomie in Kansas

1857 Mutiny in India
Animal fat on a new issue of cartridges sparks off the Indian Mutiny, also know as the First War of Indian Independence

1857 Siege of Lucknow ends
After being besieged for five months in Lucknow, the remnants of the British garrison finally escape

1858 Fenians founded in USA
John O'Mahony, an Irish emigrant to the USA, founds the Fenian Brotherhood as a secret organization supporting the Irish republican cause

1858 British recapture Lucknow
Lucknow is retaken by the British, nearly a year after it fell to the rebels

1858 Indian Mutiny aftermath
The end of the Indian Mutiny is followed by brutal British retaliation

1858 Irish Republican Brotherhood
An Irish branch of the US Fenians is established as the Irish Republican Brotherhood

1859 Attack on Harper's Ferry
John Brown is captured leading a group of abolitionists to seize arms from the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry

1859 John Brown hanged
Abolitionst John Brown is convicted of treason at Harper's Ferry and is hanged

1860 Garibaldi captures Sicily
Garibaldi lands at Marsala in Sicily in May with his thousand Redshirts, and wins control of the island for the king in waiting, Victor Emmanuel II

1860 Garibaldi enters Naples
Garibaldi crosses from Sicily to the mainland and by September is in Naples

1860 Southern dismay at Lincoln presidency
South Carolina becomes the first southern state to secede from the Union in response to Lincoln's election

1861 Confederate States of America
Seven southern states, meeting in Montgomery, Alabama, agree to form the Confederate States of America

1861 Jefferson Davis is Confederate president
The seven members of the newly formed Condederacy elect Jefferson Davis as their provisional president

1861 Richmond is Confederate capital
Richmond, the state capital of Virginia, becomes the capital of the Southern Confederacy

1861 Confederate attack launches Civil War
Shots are fired against the Federal military garrison in Fort Sumter, in Charleston harbour, launching the American Civil War

1863 Chinese Gordon
British officer Charles Gordon leads untrained auxiliaries against the Taiping rebels in China, becoming known as Chinese Gordon

1863 Bread riots in Richmond
Mobs of women destroy shops in Richmond, Virginia, in protest at food prices inflated by the war

1863 Lincoln imposes conscription
Four days of riots in New York greet Lincoln's new conscription or draft laws, with exemptions for the rich

1864 Taiping rebellion finally suppressed
Imperial Chinese troops and Gordon's auxiliaries take Nanjing, the rebel capital, finally bringing to an end the Taiping rebellion

1867 Kapital hits bookstalls
The first volume of Das Kapital is completed by Marx in London and is published in Hamburg

1868 Ten Years' War begins in Cuba
An uprising against Spanish rule in Cuba sparks off a Ten Years' War

1868 Grito de Lares 1868
An armed uprising against Spanish rule takes place in the town of Lares in Puerto Rico, becoming known as the Grito de Lares ('Cry of Lares')

1871 Philosopher leads Cairo campaign
The Afghan philosopher Jamal al-Din, moving to Cairo, urges drastic and violent measures against western influence

1871 Parisians set up Commune
An uprising results in the Paris Commune, followed by the siege of the city by French government forces

1871 Communards defeated in cemetery
The Paris communards are overwhelmed in a battle at the Père Lachaise cemetery, which is followed by brutal reprisals

1871 Ku Klux Klan destroyed
US president Ulysses S. Grant uses the new Civil Rights Act to suppress the violent Ku Klux Klan in southern states

1877 Widespread strikes in USA
A strike against wage cuts by Baltimore railway workers spreads until it becomes almost a national strike

1878 Romania is independent
Romania achieves a new status as an internationally recognized independent nation

1878 Serbia is idependent
A war of liberation against Turkey wins full independence for Serbia

1885 Young Turks organize
A secret revolutionary group (Union and Progress, later known as the Young Turks) is formed in Salonika in the Ottoman empire

1886 Haymarket Affair ends in disaster
In the Haymarket Affair a demonstration in Chicago against police brutality results in deaths and subsequent executions

1892 Homestead Lockout
The closing of the Homestead Steel Works near Pittsburgh in a dispute with unions leads to massive confrontation and violence

1894 Debs leads Pullman strike
US Socialist Eugene Debs comes to prominence as leader of a strike by railway workers against the Pullman Company

1894 Basque Nationalist Party
The Basque Nationalist Party is founded, beginning more than a century of separatist unrest in northwest Spain

1895 Lenin arrested and imprisoned
Lenin is arrested in St Petersburg, along with other members of the Union for the Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class

1898 Philippines declare independence
The Philippines declare independence from the colonial power, Spain, with whom they are at war

1905 First Communist soviet
The first soviet ("council") of workers is set up in St Petersburg, introducing a word of great significance in Russian Communist history

1916 Spartacus League in Germany
Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg found the radical Spartacus League, named after the gladiator

1916 Pearse proclaims republic of Ireland
The rebel leader Patrick Pearse stands under the portico of Dublin's General Post Office to announce the birth of the Irish republic

1916 Casement arrested in Irish undergrowth
Roger Casement is arrested after returning secretly to Ireland three days before the Easter Rising

1916 Pearse and Connolly executed
Patrick Pearse and his fellow Irish rebel James Connolly are executed by firing squad

1917  March 10 Soldiers join protesters in Petrograd
A mutiny by soldiers, in support of Petrograd demonstrators, proves a turning point in Russia's February revolution

1917  March 11 Another Bloody Sunday in Russia
Crowds demonstrating in Petrograd are fired on after tsar Nicholas II sanctions the use of force

1917  March 12 Peter and Paul fortress falls
An uprising in Petrograd brings the Peter and Paul fortress into the hands of the rebels

1917  April Lenin's April Theses
Lenin expounds in Petrograd the new theory of his April Theses, predicting the possibility of imminent revolution

1917  April Trotsky returns to Russia
Trotsky hurries back to Russia from exile in the United States

1917 July 17 Armed rebels in Petrograd
An armed uprising in Petrograd disperses after Lenin declines to give support

1917 July Trotsky imprisoned, Lenin flees
Trotsky is imprisoned and Lenin flees to Finland as Russia's Provisional Government cracks down on the Bolsheviks

1917 September Trotsky chairs Petrograd Soviet
Trotsky, released from prison, stages a coup to win Bolshevik control of the Petrograd Soviet