1538    Geneva expels John Calvin and his followers from the city. Calvin lives in exile in Strasbourg for the next three years.

1553    Michael Servetus is arrested by John Calvin in Geneva as a heretic.

1553    Condemned as a heretic, Michael Servetus is burned at the stake just outside Geneva.

1602    A surprise attack by forces under the command of the Duke of Savoy and his brother-in-law, Philip III of Spain, is repelled by the citizens of Geneva.

1863    Eighteen countries meeting in Geneva agree to form the International Red Cross.

1920    First assembly of the League of Nations is held in Geneva.

1981    Cold War: In Geneva, representatives from the United States and the Soviet Union begin to negotiate intermediate-range nuclear weapon reductions in Europe (the meetings ended inconclusively on December 17).

1985    Cold War: In Geneva, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet for the first time.

1988    In a United Nations ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland, the Soviet Union signs an agreement pledging to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.

1988    Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat gives a speech at the UN general assembly in the Austrian city of Geneva after the US authorities refused to give him a visa to enter New York.

2008    The Large Hadron Collider at CERN, described as the biggest scientific experiment in history is powered up in Geneva, Switzerland.