CHRONOLOGY OF JEWISH HISTORY

BCE

c1250 Departure of Jews from Exile in Egypt. Time of Moses and origin of Torah (undocumented outside Bible).

1000-960 Reign of King David.

960-922 Reign of King Solomon. First Temple built in Jerusalem.

928 Division of land into two kingdoms of Judah and Israel.

586 Babylonians conquered Jerusalem. First Temple destroyed. Babylonian Exile.

538 Persian king Cyros the Great conquered Babylon. Jews allowed to return to Jerusalem.

520 Dedication of Second Temple in Jerusalem.

336-23 Alexander the Great. Begining of Greek influence and Hellenization of area.

168 Antiochus IV outlawed practice of Judaism and desecrated the Temple.

164 Judas Maccabeus (The Hammer) and his uprising. Cleansing and rededication of the Temple. Miracle of Hanukkah.

63 Conquest of Jerusalem by Pompey and his Roman army.

40 Herod named king of Judea by Romans.

CE

c30 Crucifixion of Jesus Christ (undocumented outside Bible). Beginning of Christianity.

66-73 Jewish revolt suppressed by Romans. Destruction of Second Temple. Masada. Jewish captives and loot from Temple paraded through Rome. The Arch of Titus. Judea Capta.

132-135 Bar Kochba Rebellion against Romans suppressed. Jews killed or expelled, living almost 2000 years, dispersed, without their own country. (Diaspora).

c570-632 Muhammad, founder of Islam. Birth of Koran.

636 Jerusalem occupied by Muslims.

c700-970 Judaism adopted in Khazar Empire (Black and Caspian Sea area). Protection of Eastern Europe against Muslim expansion.

711 Muslim conquest of Spain.

10-12. th cent. Golden Age of Jewish learning in Spain.

1096 First Crusade resulted in massacres of Jews in many countries.

1290 Jews expelled from England.

1348 Black Death comes to Europe. Jews blamed and persecuted as originators.

1478 Foundation of Spanish Inquisition focused on Jewish and Muslim minorities.

1492 Grenada, last Muslim stronghold in Spain, surrendered. Jews expelled from Spain.

1585 First Jewish settler arrived in present day USA. (Joachim Gans of Prague).

1648-56 Chmelnicki uprising, resulted in the Cossack massacre of almost one hundred thousand Jews in Poland, Lithuania and Belorussia. Biggest emigration wave to Czech lands from the East.

1656 Readmission of Jews to England.

1781-88 Emperor Josef II removed many discriminatory laws.

1789-91 French Revolution and emancipation of Jews in France.

1848-49 Jews in Austro-Hungary Empire attained full civil rights with amendment in 1897.

1881-1917 Numerous pogroms in Russia caused mass exodus.

1897 First Congress of Zionists in Basel. Desire to create Jewish state. Theodor Herzl.

1903 Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion published in Russia. Proven forgery created by Russian secret police. Became most famous anti-Semitic document, used to rationalize persecution of Jews in many countries including Nazi Germany.

1917 British Balfour Declaration focused on creation of Jewish homeland in Palestine.

1925 First volume of Hitler's Mein Kamf published in Munich.

1933 Adolf Hitler became German Chancellor. First concentration camp set up (Dachau).

1935 Nazis proclaimed Nuremberg laws, which legalized persecution based on race.

1936 Hitler opened Olympic games in Berlin. World indifferent to Nazi threat.

1938 Nazis organized pogrom Kristallnacht. 30 000 Jews interned in concentration camps.

1939-45 WWII. Total of 35 million perished in Europe, including almost six million Jews (nearly 2/3 of all European Jewry). Over a million Jewish soldiers fought the Nazis on both Fronts.

1948 Foundation of State of Israel.