Part B · interactive timeline — click any event to learn more
Jump to era:
3000 BC2025
Part C · the 40 anchor events — your permanent mental map
Part D · proximity shockers — things that feel far apart but aren't
Cleopatra and the iPhone
Closer than you think
Cleopatra (died 30 BC) lived closer in time to the Moon landing (1969) than to the building of the Great Pyramid (~2560 BC). The pyramids are genuinely ancient — even to the ancient Egyptians.
Napoleon and the first photograph
Only 14 years apart
Napoleon died in 1821. The first photograph was taken in 1826. No photo of Napoleon ever existed — he died just before the invention that would have captured him.
The fax machine and the US Civil War
Invented the same decade
The fax machine was patented in 1843. The US Civil War began in 1861. Lincoln could theoretically have sent a fax.
Shakespeare and Galileo
Exact contemporaries
Shakespeare (1564–1616) and Galileo (1564–1642) were born the same year. While one rewrote drama, the other rewrote the solar system.
Vikings and the Aztecs
Overlapped by 400 years
Viking raids peaked 800–1000 AD. The Aztec empire rose ~1300 AD and was conquered in 1521. Vikings and Aztecs existed at the same time for centuries — just on different continents.
The last guillotine execution in France
1977 — same year as Star Wars
France's last execution by guillotine was in September 1977. Star Wars came out in May 1977. The guillotine outlasted the Apollo programme.
Part E · the "what year was that?" lookup tool
Enter any year and instantly see its era, what just happened, and what was coming next.
Part F · test yourself
1. Someone says something happened in 1870. What era is that, and what major events frame it?
The Long 19th Century — the industrialising, empire-building era. 1870 sits between Napoleon's final defeat (1815) and the start of WW1 (1914). Specific anchors: the Franco-Prussian War was 1870–71, which led directly to the unification of Germany under Bismarck. Darwin published On the Origin of Species only 11 years earlier (1859). The US Civil War ended just 5 years prior (1865). Edison invented the light bulb 9 years later (1879). It's squarely the Victorian industrial age — steam power, nation-states forming, European empires expanding.
2. How many years separate Julius Caesar's assassination from the fall of the Western Roman Empire?
About 521 years. Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC. The Western Roman Empire fell in 476 AD. 44 + 476 = 520 years. To put that in perspective: that is longer than the time between Columbus reaching the Americas (1492) and today (2025) — 533 years. Rome lasted as an empire for longer than the entire post-Columbus age of exploration, colonialism, industrialisation, and the world wars combined.
3. The French Revolution began in 1789. How long before WW1 was that?
125 years. 1914 − 1789 = 125. In that span: the entire Napoleonic era, the Industrial Revolution, Darwin, Marx, the US Civil War, Bismarck's unification of Germany, the Belle Époque, and the invention of the telephone, car, and aeroplane. The 19th century was extraordinarily compressed with change — more transformation per decade than any previous era. Napoleon himself was only 25 years after the French Revolution's start.
4. The Berlin Wall fell in 1989. How old would someone be today if they were 20 years old when it fell?
About 56 years old in 2025. 1989 + 36 = 2025; if they were 20 then, they are now 56. This is useful for calibrating "living memory." The Cold War, the USSR, apartheid South Africa, and a divided Germany are not ancient history — they are within the clear memory of people in their mid-50s and older. Your parents or colleagues may have adult memories of a world that felt entirely different.
5. Was Beethoven alive at the same time as Napoleon? What about Mozart?
Both, yes — and the overlap is closer than most people expect. Napoleon (1769–1821) and Beethoven (1770–1827) were almost exact contemporaries — born one year apart. Beethoven originally dedicated his Third Symphony (the "Eroica") to Napoleon, then furiously crossed out the dedication when Napoleon declared himself Emperor. Mozart (1756–1791) died when Napoleon was just 22 and already rising through the French military. All three — Napoleon, Beethoven, and Mozart — were alive simultaneously for 22 years (1769–1791).