IMPORTANT EVENTS

1707 Act of Union - Between England and Scotland that resulted in the formation of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain.
1789 The French Revolution occurred.
1797 Napoleon invades Italy; Napoleonic wars begin.
1801 Ireland was forcibly incorporated into the United Kingdom.
1804 Napoleonic Code or the Civil Code was introduced, abolishing privileges based on
birth. Upheld equality before law and secured the right to property.
1814-1815 - Defeat of Napoleon by European powers-Britain, Prussia, Russia and Austria.
1815 The European powers met at Vienna to draw up a settlement for Europe. The treaty
of Vienna was signed.
1815 Conservative regimes were set up.
1821 Greek's struggle for independence began.
1830s Giuseppe Mazzini had sought to put together a coherent programme for a Unitary
Italian Republic.
1832 Treaty of Constantinople was signed and Greece was recognised as an independent
nation.
1848 831 elected representatives marched towards the Frankfurt parliament and drafted the
constitution for a German nation to be headed by a monarch subject to a parliament.
1859-1870 - Unification of Italy.

1861 - Victor Emmanuel Il was proclaimed King of United Italy.

1866-1871 - Unification of Germany.
1867 Habsburg rulers granted more autonomy to the Hungarians.
1905 Slav nationalism gathers force in the Habsburg and Ottoman Empires.
1914 - Beginning of World War l.
IMPORTANT EVENTS
1859 Inland Emigration Act
1909 Hind Swaraj by Mahatma Gandhi
1915 Mahatma Gandhi returned to India from South Africa.
1917 Gandhi travelled to Champaran (Bihar) to inspire peasants to struggle against the
oppressive plantation system.
1917 Gandhiorganised a satyagraha to support the peasants of Kheda (Gujarat).
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1918 Gandhi went to Ahmedabad to organisea satyagraha movement amongst cotton will
workers.
1918-19 Distressed UP peasants organised by Baba Ramchandra.
1919 Government of India Act.
1919 Rowlatt Act
1919 Gandhian hartal against Rowlatt Act, Jalianwala Bagh massacre.
1919 - Khilafat committee was formed in Bombay.
1920 (Sept)- Congress session at Calcutta. Gandhi convinced other leaders of the need to starta
non-cooperation movement in support of Khilafat as well as for Swaraj.
1920 (Dec) - Congress session at Nagpur, the Non-Cooperation programme was adopted.
1921 (Jan) - Non-Cooperation and Khilafat Movement was launched.
1922 (Feb) - Chauri Chaura incident, Gandhi withdrew the Non-Cooperation Movement.
1924 Alluri Sitarama Raju arrested, ending a two year armed tribal struggle.
1928 Simon Commission arrived in India.
1929 (Dec) - Congress adopted the formalised the demand of 'Purna Swaraj' under the presidency
of Jawaharlal Nehru.
1930 Gandhi sent a letter to Viceroy Irwin stating eleven demands.
1930 Gandhi began the Civil Disobedience Movement by breaking salt law in Dandi.
1930 Ambedkar established the Depressed Classes Association.
1931 Gandhi ends Civil Disobedience Movement
Gandhi-lrwin Pact
1931 (Dec) Second Round Table Conference
1932 Civil disobedience relaunched.
1932 Poona Pact
1942 Quit India Movement
IMPORTANT EVENTS
AD 594 Earliest print technology was developed in China, Japan and Korea.
AD 768-770 Buddhist missionaries from China introduced hand-printing technology to
Japan.
11th century Chinese paper reached Europe through the silk route.
15th century Woodblocks were being widely used in Europe for printing textiles, playing
cards and religious pictures with simple, brief texts.
1430s Johann Gtenberg invented the first known printing pres.
1450-1550 Printing presses were set up in most countries of Europe.

History: India and the Contemporary World-II 113 =

1517 Martin Luther, a religious reformer, wrote 'Ninety Five Theses' criticising
many of the practices and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church.
1558 The Roman Church, troubled by effects of popular readings and questioning
of faith, imposed several controls over publishers and booksellers and began
to maintain an Index of prohibited books.
Mid-16th century The first printing press came to Goa with Portuguese missionaries.
1674 About 50 books had been printed in Konkani and in Kanara languages.
1780s Literature mocked the royalty and criticised their morality. This resulted in
the growth of hostile sentiments against the monarchy.
James Augustus Hickey began the Bengal Gazette, a weekly magazine.
1810 The first printed edition of the Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas appeared.
1820s The Calcutta Supreme Court passed certain regulations to control press
freedom and the company began encouraging publication of newspapers
that would celebrate the British rule.
1821 Rarmmohan Roy published the Sambad Kaumudi and the Hindu orthodoxy
commissioned the Samachar Chandrika to oppose his opinions.
1822 Two Persian newspapers were published, Jam-iJahan Nama and Shamsul
Akhbar. A Gujarati newspaper, the Bombay Samachar, was also published.
1835 Faced with urgent petitions by editors of the English and vernacular
newspapers, Governor-General Bentinck agreed to revise press laws. Thomas
Macaulay formulated new rules that restored their earlier freedoms.
1860s Few Bengali women such as Kailashbashini Debi wrote books highlighting
the experiences of women.
1871 Jyotiba Phule, the Maratha pioneer of 'low caste' protest movements, wrote
about the injustices of the caste system in his Gulamgiri.
1876 Rashsundari Debi's autobiography, Amar Jiban, was published. It was the
first ful-Hength autobiography published in the Bengali larnguage.
1878 The Vernacular Press Act was passed, modelled on the Irish Press Laws.
It provided the government with extensive rights to censor reports and
editorials in the vernacular press.
1880s Tarabai Shinde and Pandita Ramabai wrote with passionate anger about the
miserable lives of upper-caste Hindu women, especially widows.
1907 When the Punjab revolutionaries were deported, Bal Gangadhar Tilak wrote
with great sympathy about them in his Kesari.
1920s Popular works were sold in cheap series, called the Shilling Series in England.
1930s Bangalore cotton millworkers set up libraries for educating themselves.