Events That Changed the Course of History

Recently in the Atlantic Monthly, I came across The World Was Never the Same: Events That Changed History by Harvard educated professor Rufus Fears, published by The Great Courses. In his course, Fears presents the 36 events he believes changed the course of history. They are intriguing to contemplate: The list follows:

Hammurabi issues a code of law (1750 B.C.)

Moses and monotheism (1220 B.C.)

The Enlightenment of the Buddha (526 B.C.)

Confucius instructs a nation (553-479 B.C.)

Solon – democracy begins (594 B.C.)

Marathon – democracy triumphant (490 B.C.)

Hippocrates takes an oath (430 B.C.)

Caesar crosses the Rubicon (49 B.C.)

Jesus – the trial of a teacher (A.D. 36)

Constantine I wins a battle (A.D. 312)

Muhammad moves to Medina – the Hegira (A.D. 622)

Bologna gets a university (1088)

Dante sees Beatrice (1283)

Black Death – pandemics and history (1348)

Columbus finds a new world (1492)

Michelangelo accepts a commission (1508)

Erasmus – a book sets Europe ablaze (1516)

Luther’s new course changes history (1517)

The defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588)

The Battle of Vienna (1683)

The Battle of Lexington (1775)

General Pickett leads a charge (1863)

Adam Smith (1776) versus Karl Marx (1867)

Charles Darwin takes an ocean voyage (1831)

Louis Pasteur cures a child (1885)

Two brothers take a flight (1903)

The Archduke makes a state visit (1914)

One night in Petrograd (1917)

The day the stock market crashed (1929)

Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany (1933)

Franklin Roosevelt becomes president (1933)

The atomic bomb is dropped (1945)

Mao Zedong begins his long march (1934)

John F. Kennedy is assassinated (1963)

Dr. King leads a march (1963)

September 11, 2001 (2001)

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