Belarusian People's Republic

• March 25, 1918
  Belarusian National Council, an assembly of different Belarusian political powers, issues a Third Constituent Charter declaring the independence of Belarus under German occupation
• April 28, 1918
  Belarusian language is proclaimed by the Rada the only official language in Belarusian People's Republic
• 1918, June
  The white-red-white flag and Pahonia, the coat of arms of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, are adopted national flag and emblem of Belarusian People's Republic
• October 11, 1918
  Temporary constitution of Belarusian People's Republic is adopted by government under the Prime Minister Anton Łuckievič
• 1918
  Marc Chagall, a Belarusian-French modernist painter, completes his Cubist work "Over the town"
• December 3, 1918
  The Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic, today the oldest existing government in exile, moves from Minsk to Vilnius in front of the advancing Red Army
• December 10, 1918
  The German army retreat from Minsk, leaving the city to the Red Army
• January 1, 1919
  During Soviet westward offensive the Bolsheviks proclaim in Smolensk the puppet Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic with capital in Minsk
• January 8, 1919
  Communist government replaces the government of Belarusian People's Republic in Minsk, occupied by Red Army during Soviet westward offensive

The Major Events of World War I

• June 28, 1914
  Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie are shot to death by Bosnian Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip during an official visit to the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo, triggering World War I
• September 6, 1914
  The German Schlieffen Plan fails when French forces defeat the German army at the First Battle of the Marne followed by four years of trench warfare on the Western Front
• April 24, 1915
  Massacre of Armenians by Turks begins as part of Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire, during which over 1 million Armenian was deported and killed
• February 21, 1916
  Battle of Verdun, which caused one million casualties, begins in Region de Verdun, France, after German General Erich von Falkenhayn attempts to bleed the French Army white
• September 15, 1916
  British Mark I tank is first used at Flers-Courcelette during Battle of the Somme, becoming the world's first tank to enter combat
• March 3, 1918
  Bolshevik government of Russia signs the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, by which they surrender large territories to Germany, and formally withdraw from World War I
• June 28, 1919
  The Treaty of Versailles, signed by Germany and the Allied Powers, blames Germany for World War I, establishes the Weimar Republic, redraws European borders, and creates a League of Nations

Four Great Chinese Inventions

• 105
  Cai Lun, a Chinese eunuch, tell Emperor He about his invention, zhi, i.e. paper, made of bark, hemp, silk, and fishing net
• 808
  The first mention of a mixture resembling gunpowder, made of sulfur, saltpeter and herb, appears in Taoist text, known as Taishang Shengzu Danjing Mijue, in China
• 868
  Diamond Sutra, the first extant complete printed book containing its date is issued using woodblock printing technique in China
• 1020
  Floating magnetic compass, consisting of an iron body floating in a bowl of water, is invented for navigation in China

5 the most Iconic Castles

• 1078
  William the Conqueror begins the construction of the Tower of London on the north bank of the River Thames to fortify key position and overawe the city by the new ruling elite
• 1406
  Malbork Castle, the largest castle in the world by surface area, is completed by the Teutonic Knights in Marienburg, the administrative center of the Order in Prussia
• 1452
  Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II begins construction of a new fortress called Rumeli Hisar on the Constantinople side of the Bosporus in order to control the sea traffic on the Bosphorus strait
• 1609
  Himeji Castle, a hilltop Japanese castle located in Himeji, Japan is completely rebuilt into a large castle complex by Japanese daimyo Ikeda Terumasa
• 1882
  Neuschwanstein Castle, a Romanesque Revival palace in southwest Bavaria, Germany, is completed by Ludwig II of Bavaria

Genetics

• 1865
  Gregor Mendel, Austrian botanist, formulates his laws of inheritance after exploration of the inheritance of certain traits in pea plants, thus founding the science of genetics
• February 28, 1953
  Cambridge University scientists James Watson and Francis Crick announce that they have determined the double-helix structure of DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid, the molecule containing human genes
• April 25, 1953
  Francis Crick and James D. Watson publish an article describing the double helix structure of DNA
• 1956
  Soviet Russian biologists Alexander Spirin and Andrey Belozersky predict existence of messenger RNA, a large family of RNA molecules that convey genetic information from DNA to the ribosome
• 1965
  Werner Arber, a Swiss microbiologist and geneticist, discovers restriction endonucleases, an enzyme that cuts DNA, thus laying foundation for recombinant DNA technology
• 1973
  American geneticists Stanley Norman Cohen and Herbert Boyer transfer the gene for frog ribosomal RNA into bacterial cells, thus starting genetic engineering
• September 10, 1984
  Alec Jeffreys, a British geneticist, develops techniques for DNA fingerprinting and DNA profiling
• 1990
  Four-year-old Ashanthi DeSilva, who suffers from severe combined immunodeficiency, becomes the first patient to undergo successful gene therapy
• May 18, 1994
  Food and Drug Administration concludes that Flavr Savr, a genetically modified tomato, is safe for food use, making it the first commercially grown genetically engineered food
• April 14, 2003
  The Human Genome Project, an international scientific research project, is successfully completed, with 99 percent of the human genome sequenced to 99.99 percent accuracy
• May 7, 2010
  Scientists conducting the Neanderthal genome project announce that they have sequenced enough of the Neanderthal genome to suggest that Neanderthals and humans may have interbred

Cuban Missile Crisis

• October 22, 1962
  In a televised speech, US President John F. Kennedy announces that U.S. spy planes have discovered Soviet missile bases in Cuba which would house medium-range missiles capable of striking a number of major cities in the US, marking start of Cuban Missile Crisis
• October 23, 1962
  US navy ships begin a blockade of Cuba, to prevent Soviet ships from bringing in supplies to complete building missile bases
• October 27, 1962
  Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev publicly calls for the dismantling of U.S. missile bases in Turkey, which was accepted by US President Kennedy at a later date
• October 28, 1962
  Nikita Khrushchev announces his government's intent to dismantle and remove all offensive Soviet weapons in Cuba
• August 30, 1963
  Hot Line communications link between Washington DC and Moscow begins in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis

Teutonic Knights

• March 5, 1198
  The Teutonic Knights, religious Catholic order, are established as a military order in a ceremony at Acre in Palestine
• 1226, March
  The Golden Bull of Rimini, issued by Emperor Frederick II, authorizes the Teutonic Knights to conquer and convert pagan Prussian tribes in the Baltic
• December 28, 1233
  Kulm law, a charter granted settlers civic freedoms, is issued by the Teutonic Knights as a part of their efforts to colonize Prussia
• April 5, 1242
  At the Battle on the Ice the Republic of Novgorod under 20-year-old Prince Alexander Nevsky defeat the Livonian branch of the Teutonic Knights halting the Northern Crusades directed against pagans and Eastern Orthodox Christians
• February 7, 1249
  Treaty of Christburg forces the pagan Prussian clans to recognize the rule of the Teutonic Knights, establishing German as the dominant culture and language
• 1255
  Königsberg is founded on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement Twangste by the Bohemian King Otakar II, who came to help Teutonic Knights during their conquest of Prussia
• July 13, 1260
  Lithuanians defeat the joint forces of the Teutonic Knights from Prussia and Livonian Order from Livonia at the Battle of Durbe during the Livonian Crusade
• June 1, 1298
  The people of Riga with help of Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytenis defeat the order in the Battle of Turaida
• 1341
  The Livonian Order buy the Duchy of Estonia from King Valdemar IV of Denmark
• February 17, 1370
  Teutonic Knights beat forces of Grand Duchy of Lithuania at Battle of Rudau
• 1406
  Malbork Castle, the largest castle in the world by surface area, is completed by the Teutonic Knights in Marienburg, the administrative center of the Order in Prussia
• July 15, 1410
  Lithuanian-Polish forces defeat the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of Grunwald in Prussia, thereby halting the Knights' eastward expansion along the Baltic and hastening their decline
• 1466
  Second Peace of Thorn ends the Thirteen Years' War, a conflict between the Prussian Confederation, allied with the Kingdom of Poland, and the State of the Teutonic Order, with win of Prussian Confederation
• April 10, 1525
  Albert von Brandenburg, a member of a branch of the House of Hohenzollern and the leader of the Teutonic Order, secularizes Order's remaining territories into the Duchy of Prussia and passes the first laws of the Protestant church, making Prussia a Protestant state
• 1809
  Napoleon strips the Teutonic Knights of their last holdings in Bad Mergentheim in Germany

St Paul's Cathedral

• 604
  Æthelberht of Kent, king of Kent, builds a wooden Anglo-Saxon cathedral dedicated to Saint Paul, the first Saint Paul's Cathedral in London
• 1561
  Saint Paul's Cathedral in London is destroyed by lightning
• September 2, 1666
  Great London Fire, which destroys 80% of London including Saint Paul's Church in five days, begins in house of baker on Pudding Lane
• June 21, 1675
  Sir Christopher Wren begins to rebuild St Paul's Cathedral in London, replacing the old building which has been destroyed by the Great fire
• December 2, 1697
  Saint Paul's Cathedral opens at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, thirty-two years after the Great Fire