To understand the present and foresee the future, you need to know the past. Therefore, we bring to your attention a book about 500 key events - turning points in the history of mankind - that occurred from ancient times to the present day. Some of them are “squeezed” into the framework of one day (such as St. Bartholomew’s Night, the Boston Tea Party), others lasted for a longer time - wars, revolutions, church councils. Outstanding achievements of science and technology have played no less a role than other battles or trials in people's lives. This book is also about people who lived in different eras and in different countries, about the creators and victims of history.