29 May 1453
Benjamin Constant's The Entry of Mahomet II into Constantinople (1876)
'It is useless for Constantine to fling himself and a few loyal men against the intruders; he falls unnoticed in the midst of the turmoil, and not until next day will anyone know, from the sight of crimson shoes decked with a golden eagle in a pile of bodies, that the last emperor of the eastern Roman Empire has lost his life and his empire in the honourable Roman fashion' Photograph: UniversalImagesGroup/Getty Images
25 September 1513
'At this moment Balboa commands his men to stop. None of them is to follow him, for he does not want to share this first sight of the ocean with anyone else. After crossing one gigantic ocean in our world, the Atlantic, he alone will be, now and for ever, the first Spaniard, the first European, the first Christian to set eyes on the still-unknown other ocean, the Pacific' Photograph: Alamy
12 September 1741
The final page of Handel's manuscript of Messiah
'The word had become music; what was only dry, sere language before now blossomed and sang, never to fade. The miracle of the will had been worked by the inspired soul, just as the paralysed body had once worked the miracle of resurrection. It was all written down, formed and constructed, rising and unfolding in melody – just one word still remained, the last in the work: “Amen”' Photograph: Robana/British Library/Robana via Getty
25 April 1792
Reproduction of Isidore Pils's Rouget de Lisle singing la Marseillaise (1849) from Le Petit Journal 23 April 1892
'With all the impatience of an author, and proud to have kept his promise so quickly, he goes straight to the residence of Mayor Dietrich, who is taking a morning walk in his garden and mulling over a new speech. What, Rouget, you mean to say you've done it already? Well, let's have a rehearsal at once' Photograph: Alamy
18 June 1815
A French hand-coloured woodcut
'Now, at last, the thunder of cannon is heard on the Prussian flank, with skirmishing and rifle fire from the fusiliers. "Enfin Grouchy!" Grouchy at last. Napoleon breathes a sigh of relief. Trusting that his flank is now secure, Napoleon gathers together the last of his men and throws them once more against Wellington's centre, to break the defensive wall outside Brussels and blow open the gateway to Europe' Photograph: UniversalImagesGroup/Getty Images
January 1848
William Smith Jewett's A View of Sutter's Mill and Culloma Valley
'All Sutter's men leave their work, the metalworkers leave the smithy, the shepherds and herdsmen leave their flocks and herds, the wine-growers abandon their vines and the soldiers their guns. As if possessed, they all snatch up sieves and pans in haste and run to the sawmill to sift gold from the sand' Photograph: MPI/Getty Images
July 1858
The Agamemnon laying cable in the Atlantic
'The ships turn to each other, stern to stern. The ends of the cable are riveted together between them. Without any formality – and even the men on board, tired as they are of unsuccessful attempts, watch with little interest – the iron and copper cable sinks down between the two ships to the bottom of the sea, unplumbed as yet by any lead-line. There is one more greeting from deck to deck, flag to flag, and the British ship steers for Britain, the American ship for America' Photograph: Boyer/Roger Viollet/Getty Images
January 1912
Robert Scott writing in his diary at Cape Evans
'He measures distances on the maps, and we can imagine his horror from what he wrote when he realized that Amundsen's winter quarters were 110 kilometres closer to the Pole than his own. He is shocked but he does not despair. He writes proudly in his diary of his determination to press on for the honour of his country' Photograph: Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
9 April 1917
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin addresses a Moscow crowd in October 1917
'And as Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov steps out of the train, the man who the day before yesterday was still living in the cobbler's house is seized by hundreds of hands and hoisted up on an armoured car. Floodlights are shone on him from the buildings and the fortress, and from the armoured car he makes his first speech to the people. The streets resound, and soon the "ten days that shake the world" have begun. The shot has hit its mark, destroying an empire, a world' Photograph: UniversalImagesGroup/Getty Images
7 April 1919
Woodrow Wilson returns from Paris after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles
'If Wilson rises from the conference table the old world order will collapse, and chaos will ensue; but perhaps it will be one of those states of chaos from which a new star is born. Europe shivers impatiently. Will the other participants in the conference take that responsibility? Will he take it himself? It is a moment of decision' Photograph: Alamy
