1848: Marx publishes manifesto
The Communist Manifesto, written by Karl Marx with the assistance of Friedrich Engels, is published in London on 21 February 1848. Karl Marx was born in Prussia in 1818, the son of a Jewish lawyer who converted to Lutheranism. After moving to Paris in 1843 he began a lifelong career as the intellectual leader of communist movement.
Expelled from France he settled in Brussels, where he wrote The Communist Manifesto. The political pamphlet opens with the dramatic words, ‘A spectre is haunting Europe, the spectre of communism’, and ends by declaring, ‘The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Workers of the world, unite!’
Marx was later expelled from Brussels and moved to London, where he and his family lived in poverty while he continued to publish. There he composed his major work Das Kapital, which prophesied the inevitable self-destruction of the capitalist system and became the foundation of international communism. He died penniless and was buried at Highgate Cemetery, but his ideas lived on and fundamentally shaped the twentieth century.
2004
The European Green Party is formed.
2001
In light of the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Britain, the European Commission bans all British milk, meat and livestock exports.
1997
In England, the Court of Appeal quashes the conviction of the "Bridgewater three", three men who were convicted of the killing of 13-year-old boy Carl Bridgewater in 1979.
1995
Steve Fossett becomes the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.
1988
Jimmy Swaggart, America's leading television evangelist, is forced to reign after it emerges that he has being seeing a prostitute.
1972
Richard Nixon becomes the first American President to visit China, and has an audience with Mao Zedong.
1972
Luna 20, the unmanned Soviet Spaceship lands on the Moon.
1970
The Vietnam War: American National Security Advisor, Henry Kissinger begins secret peace talks with North Vietnamese representative Le Duc Tho, in Paris.
1965
Controversial black rights leader Malcolm X is assassinated in America.
1952
In Britain, the Conservative government abolishes Identity Cards.
1948
In America, NASCAR is officially incorporated as the National Association for Stock Car Racing.
1918
The First World War: Allied troops capture Jericho in Palestine.
1612
Mikhail Feodorovich Romanov is elected as Tsar by the Russian national assembly, heralding the beginning of the Romanov dynasty.
1440
The Prussian Confederation is formed.