100 Days That Changed the World: A Timeline of History's Turning Points

Every era has its turning points -- single days when the course of civilization shifted. Some brought progress, others brought devastation, but each one left the world fundamentally different than it was the day before.

Here are 100 days that changed everything.

The Ancient World

1. 776 BC -- First recorded Olympic Games held in Olympia, Greece.
2. 509 BC -- Roman Republic established after the overthrow of the last king.
3. March 15, 44 BC -- Julius Caesar assassinated on the Ides of March.
4. August 24, 79 AD -- Mount Vesuvius erupts, burying Pompeii and Herculaneum.
5. October 28, 312 -- Constantine wins the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, paving the way for Christianity in Rome.
6. September 4, 476 -- Fall of the Western Roman Empire.
7. July 16, 622 -- Prophet Muhammad's Hijra to Medina, marking the start of the Islamic calendar.
8. October 10, 732 -- Battle of Tours halts Muslim expansion into Western Europe.
9. 800 AD -- Charlemagne crowned Emperor of the Romans on Christmas Day.
10. 1000 AD -- Leif Erikson reaches North America, centuries before Columbus.

The Medieval World

11. October 14, 1066 -- Battle of Hastings. William the Conqueror takes England.
12. November 27, 1095 -- Pope Urban II calls the First Crusade.
13. June 15, 1215 -- Magna Carta sealed at Runnymede, limiting royal power.
14. 1347 -- Black Death arrives in Europe via Sicilian ports, eventually killing a third of the continent.
15. May 29, 1453 -- Constantinople falls to the Ottoman Empire, ending the Byzantine era.
16. 1440 -- Gutenberg invents the printing press, democratizing knowledge.
17. October 12, 1492 -- Columbus reaches the Americas. View date
18. 1494 -- Treaty of Tordesillas divides the New World between Spain and Portugal.
19. 1498 -- Vasco da Gama reaches India by sea, opening Eastern trade routes.
20. 1500 -- Pedro Alvares Cabral claims Brazil for Portugal.

Renaissance and Discovery

21. October 31, 1517 -- Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses, sparking the Protestant Reformation.
22. 1519 -- Magellan's expedition begins the first circumnavigation of the globe.
23. 1543 -- Copernicus publishes De Revolutionibus, placing the Sun at the center.
24. 1588 -- English fleet defeats the Spanish Armada, shifting naval power.
25. 1607 -- Jamestown established as the first permanent English settlement in America.
26. November 11, 1620 -- Mayflower Compact signed.
27. 1633 -- Galileo forced to recant heliocentrism by the Catholic Church.
28. January 30, 1649 -- King Charles I of England executed, establishing parliamentary supremacy.
29. 1687 -- Newton publishes Principia Mathematica.
30. 1689 -- English Bill of Rights establishes constitutional monarchy.

Enlightenment and Revolution

31. July 4, 1776 -- Declaration of Independence signed. The United States is born. View date
32. July 14, 1789 -- Storming of the Bastille ignites the French Revolution.
33. 1791 -- Bill of Rights ratified in the United States.
34. January 1, 1804 -- Haiti declares independence, the first successful slave revolution.
35. December 2, 1804 -- Napoleon crowns himself Emperor of France.
36. June 18, 1815 -- Battle of Waterloo ends Napoleon's rule.
37. September 15, 1821 -- Central American nations declare independence from Spain.
38. December 2, 1823 -- Monroe Doctrine asserts American influence in the Western Hemisphere.
39. 1833 -- Slavery Abolition Act passed in the British Empire.
40. 1848 -- Revolutions sweep across Europe; Marx publishes The Communist Manifesto.

The Industrial Age

41. 1838 -- First photograph of a person taken by Louis Daguerre in Paris.
42. January 24, 1848 -- Gold discovered at Sutter's Mill, sparking the California Gold Rush.
43. 1859 -- Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species.
44. April 12, 1861 -- American Civil War begins at Fort Sumter.
45. January 1, 1863 -- Emancipation Proclamation takes effect.
46. April 14, 1865 -- Abraham Lincoln assassinated at Ford's Theatre.
47. 1869 -- Transcontinental Railroad completed; Suez Canal opens.
48. March 10, 1876 -- Alexander Graham Bell makes the first telephone call.
49. 1879 -- Thomas Edison demonstrates the practical incandescent light bulb.
50. May 1, 1893 -- World's Columbian Exposition opens in Chicago, showcasing electricity.

The Modern Era (1900--1950)

51. December 17, 1903 -- Wright Brothers achieve first powered flight at Kitty Hawk. View date
52. April 18, 1906 -- San Francisco earthquake and fire devastate the city.
53. April 15, 1912 -- RMS Titanic sinks on her maiden voyage. View date
54. June 28, 1914 -- Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand triggers World War I.
55. November 11, 1918 -- Armistice signed, ending World War I. View date
56. August 18, 1920 -- 19th Amendment ratified, granting American women the right to vote.
57. October 29, 1929 -- Black Tuesday. Stock market crash triggers the Great Depression. View date
58. January 30, 1933 -- Adolf Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany.
59. September 1, 1939 -- Germany invades Poland. World War II begins. View date
60. December 7, 1941 -- Japan attacks Pearl Harbor. The US enters WWII. View date
61. June 6, 1944 -- D-Day. Allied forces land at Normandy. View date
62. August 6, 1945 -- Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. View date
63. August 15, 1945 -- Japan surrenders, ending World War II.
64. October 24, 1945 -- United Nations officially established.
65. May 14, 1948 -- State of Israel declared.

Cold War and Space Age

66. June 25, 1950 -- Korean War begins.
67. October 4, 1957 -- Soviet Union launches Sputnik, the first artificial satellite. View date
68. January 1, 1959 -- Cuban Revolution succeeds. Fidel Castro takes power.
69. April 12, 1961 -- Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space. View date
70. August 13, 1961 -- Berlin Wall construction begins.
71. October 16, 1962 -- Cuban Missile Crisis begins. The world comes closest to nuclear war.
72. August 28, 1963 -- Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. View date
73. November 22, 1963 -- President John F. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas. View date
74. July 2, 1964 -- Civil Rights Act signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson.
75. July 20, 1969 -- Neil Armstrong walks on the Moon. View date
76. August 15, 1969 -- Woodstock festival begins.
77. June 17, 1972 -- Watergate break-in leads to Nixon's resignation.
78. January 22, 1973 -- Roe v. Wade decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
79. April 30, 1975 -- Fall of Saigon ends the Vietnam War.
80. November 9, 1989 -- Berlin Wall falls. View date

The Digital Age

81. March 12, 1989 -- Tim Berners-Lee proposes the World Wide Web.
82. August 6, 1991 -- First website goes live at CERN. View date
83. April 27, 1994 -- South Africa holds first multiracial elections. Nelson Mandela elected president.
84. September 4, 1998 -- Google founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
85. September 11, 2001 -- Terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. View date
86. March 20, 2003 -- US-led invasion of Iraq begins.
87. February 4, 2004 -- Facebook launched from a Harvard dorm room. View date
88. December 26, 2004 -- Indian Ocean tsunami kills over 230,000 people.
89. June 29, 2007 -- Apple releases the first iPhone, changing communication forever. View date
90. November 4, 2008 -- Barack Obama elected as the first African American U.S. President.
91. January 3, 2009 -- Bitcoin genesis block mined, launching cryptocurrency.
92. March 11, 2011 -- Fukushima nuclear disaster following earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
93. May 2, 2011 -- Osama bin Laden killed by U.S. Navy SEALs.
94. June 26, 2015 -- U.S. Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage nationwide.
95. June 23, 2016 -- United Kingdom votes to leave the European Union (Brexit).
96. January 20, 2017 -- Donald Trump inaugurated as 45th U.S. President.
97. March 11, 2020 -- WHO declares COVID-19 a global pandemic. View date
98. January 6, 2021 -- U.S. Capitol breached during certification of the presidential election.
99. February 24, 2022 -- Russia launches full-scale invasion of Ukraine. View date
100. November 30, 2022 -- OpenAI releases ChatGPT, igniting the AI revolution. View date

History Is Made Every Day

Every single day, something happens that will be remembered. The question is: where were you when it happened? Enter your birthday above to see how these events map to your life.

Explore more historical dates on Dayze's On This Day page, or look up any specific date in our date explorer.