EuropePolitical Timelines
Charters, treaties and revolutions: the long European argument over who holds power and on what terms.
Turning points
- 1215Runnymede
Magna Carta
King John agreed to the charter with rebel barons in June 1215. It was soon annulled, then reissued, and later ages read far more into it than its authors intended.
- 1648Westphalia
The Peace of Westphalia
The treaties ended the Thirty Years' War. They are often cited as a foundation of the modern idea of state sovereignty, though historians debate how much.
- 1689England
The Bill of Rights
After the Glorious Revolution, Parliament set limits on the Crown, including over taxation and standing armies in peacetime.
- 1789France
The French Revolution
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was adopted in August 1789, the opening of a decade that remade French politics.
- 1848Revolutions
The Springtime of Nations
Uprisings spread across the continent in a single year. Most were put down, but several left constitutions and wider suffrage behind.
- 1957Rome
The Treaty of Rome
Six countries founded the European Economic Community, the forerunner of today's European Union.
- 1989November 9
The Berlin Wall opens
The opening of the border crossings in Berlin became the symbol of the end of communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe.
- 1993Maastricht
The European Union
The Maastricht Treaty came into force on November 1, 1993, creating the European Union.