Incredible Watershed Moments In History

5. Vaccine for small pox

Smallpox has been, without a shadow of a doubt, the deadliest disease in the history of human kind. Smallpox was greatly feared, as one in three of those who contracted the disease died, and those who survived were often badly disfigured. During the 18th century, small pox killed an estimated 400,000 Europeans per year, and was responsible for an estimated 300–500 million deaths during the 20th century. With the arrival of European Settlers in the New World, the outbreak of small pox wiped out 80-90% of the Native-American population. A cure was strongly needed. Englishman Edward Jenner had observed that

milkmaids did not generally get smallpox and theorized that cowpox, a disease contracted by milkmaids, similar to smallpox but far less virulent, protected milkmaids from smallpox. Jenner then tested his hypothesis by inoculating 8-year-old James Phipps, and from there on several other people, and discovered that those inoculated with cowpox were immune to smallpox. His discovery and research eventually led to widespread vaccinations, and to this day, smallpox remains the only human infectious disease to have been eradicated.

4. Invention of the Printing Press

Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press with replaceable/moveable wooden or metal letters in 1436, and revolutionized the production of books, fostering rapid development in the sciences, arts and religion through the transmission of texts. It played a key role in the Protestant Reformation, via distribution of pamphlets in an effective, yet inexpensive, way. It also helped fuel the Scientific Revolution. With the ushering in of the “Printing Revolution”, the Gutenberg Printing Press laid the material basis for the modern, knowledge-based economy and the spread of learning to the masses.

3. Publication of the 95 Theses

The “Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgence”, written by Martin Luther in 1517, is widely credited as the start of the Protestant Reformation. The theses debated and criticized the Church and the Pope, and many of the doctrinal policies regarding purgatory, Mariology, sacraments, indulgences and the authority of the Pope. By the early 1520s, Luther had attracted a vast following, as the newly formed printing presses had helped spread his message, and reputation, across Germany. The Reformation offered two choices-to be Catholic or Protestant, and there was no real alternative. In the lights of the Reformation, the Church, too, started a counter reformation; heretics were subject to punishment, torture and death, and books propagating Protestant themes were burned. Meanwhile, wherever Protestantism had obtained official status — England, Scotland, Geneva, Germany and Scandinavia — Catholics were persecuted. The Reformation split Europe, and shattered the religious unity of Europe. The Church as an institution suffered a severe setback in terms of its moral authority and political power. By strengthening the power of monarchs, the Reformation helped to produce the modern state, and, in an indirect way, Protestantism contributed to the growth of political liberty.

As an interesting sidepoint, Luther’s toilet has been recently discovered by historians, and it was on that very toilet that he wrote the theses, due to spending large amounts of time sitting on it because of constant constipation. You can read more about that here.

2. Berlin Conference

The Berlin Conference (1884 A.D.) had been called for by Portugal, and was organized by Otto von Bismarck, the Chancellor of Germany. Its outcome, known as the General Act of the Berlin Conference, is often seen as the formalization of the Scramble for Africa, where European superpowers carved themselves pieces of Africa on paper in order to extend economic and nationalistic agendas. The conference ushered in a period of heightened colonial activity on the part of the European powers, while simultaneously eliminating most existing forms of African autonomy and self-governance. By 1895, the only independent states in Africa was Liberia and Ethiopia.

1. Birth of Jesus of Nazareth

Throughout history, the influence Jesus had on the lives of people has never been surpassed. Christianity has evolved the world, and changed how people think, and live. Even the dating system we use is based on the birth of Jesus. The subject of countless books and debates, no other person has had more affect on world history than any other leader or philosophy or political movement.