69 Batavian rebellion: The Batavians in Germania Inferior (Netherlands) revolt under the leadership of Gaius Julius Civilis.
1248 The Dutch city of Ommen receives city rights and fortification rights from Otto III, the Archbishop of Utrecht.
1287 St. Lucia's flood: The Zuider Zee sea wall in the Netherlands collapses, killing over 50,000 people.
1421 A seawall at the Zuiderzee dike in the Netherlands breaks, flooding 72 villages and killing about 10,000 people.
1487 Citizens of Leeuwarden, Netherlands strike against ban on foreign beer.
1530 The St. Felix's Flood destroys the city of Reimerswaal in the Netherlands.
1554 A great fire occurs in Eindhoven, Netherlands.
1555 Calvinists are granted rights in the Netherlands.
1566 Two-hundred Dutch noblemen, led by Hendrik van Brederode, force themselves into the presence of Margaret of Parma and present the Petition of Compromise, denouncing the Spanish Inquisition in the Netherlands. The Inquisition is suspended and a delegation is sent to Spain to petition Philip II.
1568 The Netherlands declare their independence from Spain.
1570 King Philip II of Spain bans foreign Dutch students.
1579 The Union of Utrecht forms a Protestant republic in the Netherlands.
1607 Eighty Years' War: The Dutch fleet destroys the anchored Spanish fleet at Gibraltar.
1616 Dutch sea-captain Dirk Hartog makes second recorded landfall by a European on Australian soil, at the later-named Dirk Hartog Island off the Western Australian coast.
1619 Dutch statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt is executed in The Hague after being convicted of treason.
1624 Signing of the Treaty of Compiègne between France and the Netherlands.
1626 Dutch explorer Peter Minuit arrives in New Netherland (present day Manhattan Island) aboard the ''See Meeuw''.
1636 Utrecht University is founded in the Netherlands.
1637 Tulip mania collapses in the United Provinces (now the Netherlands) by government order.
1648 Eighty Years' War: The Treaty of Münster and Osnabrück is signed, ending the conflict between the Netherlands and Spain.
1652 At the Cape of Good Hope, Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck establishes a resupply camp that eventually becomes Cape Town .
1654 The Delft Explosion devastates the city in the Netherlands, killing more than 100 people.
1665 English King Charles II declares war on the Netherlands marking the start of the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
1665 James Stuart, Duke of York (later to become King James II of England) defeats the Dutch fleet off the coast of Lowestoft.
1665 England installs a municipal government in New York City (the former Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam).
1667 The Raid on the Medway by the Dutch fleet begins. It lasts for five days and results in a decisive victory by the Dutch over the English in the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
1672 Franco-Dutch War: Louis XIV of France invades the Netherlands.
1674 England and the Netherlands sign the Treaty of Westminster, ending the Third Anglo-Dutch War. A provision of the agreement transfers the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam to England, and it is renamed New York.
1674 Anglo-Dutch War: As provided in the Treaty of Westminster, Netherlands cedes New Netherlands to England.
1704 War of the Spanish Succession: Gibraltar is captured by an English and Dutch fleet, commanded by Admiral Sir George Rooke and allied with Archduke Charles.
1709 Battle of Malplaquet: Great Britain, Netherlands and Austria fight against France.
1717 The Netherlands, Great Britain, and France sign the Triple Alliance.
1719 The Onderlinge van 1719 u.a., the oldest existing life insurance company in the Netherlands is founded.
1771 The Dutch merchant ship ''Vrouw Maria'' sinks near the coast of Finland.
1782 John Adams secures the Dutch Republic's recognition of the United States as an independent government. The house which he had purchased in The Hague, Netherlands becomes the first American embassy.
1793 French Revolutionary Wars: France declares war on the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
1793 French troops conquer Geertruidenberg, Netherlands.
1795 The Batavian Republic is proclaimed in the Netherlands bringing to an end the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands.
1799 The entire Dutch fleet is captured by British forces under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby and Admiral Sir Charles Mitchell during the Second Coalition of the French Revolutionary Wars.
1815 Prince Willem of the House of Orange-Nassau proclaims himself King of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, the first constitutional monarch in the Netherlands.
1830 Creation of the state of Belgium after separation from The Netherlands.
1840 Willem II becomes King of the Netherlands.
1848 A greatly revised Dutch constitution, drafted by Johan Rudolf Thorbecke, severely limiting the powers of the Dutch monarchy, and strengthening the powers of parliament and ministers, is proclaimed. This constitution is still in effect today.
1863 Keti Koti (Emancipation Day) in Suriname, marking the abolition of slavery by the Netherlands.
1900 The international arbitration court at The Hague is created when the Netherlands' Senate ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree.
1917 World War I: At Vincennes outside of Paris, Dutch dancer Mata Hari is executed by firing squad for spying for the German Empire.
1919 The eight-hour working day and free Sunday become law in the Netherlands.
1919 The Netherlands gives women the right to vote.
1919 KLM, the flag carrier of the Netherlands, is founded. It is the oldest airline still operating under its original name.
1920 The Netherlands refuses to surrender ex-Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany to the Allies.
1932 The 153-year old De Adriaan Windmill in Haarlem, Netherlands burns down.
1940 World War II: Germany invades Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
1940 World War II: The Netherlands surrenders to Germany.
1940 World War II: After fierce fighting, the poorly trained and equipped Dutch troops surrender to Germany, marking the beginning of five years of occupation.
1940 World War II: the old city centre of the Dutch town of Middelburg is bombed by the German Luftwaffe, to force the surrender of the Dutch armies in Zeeland.
1942 World War II: Japan declares war on the Netherlands and invades the Netherlands East Indies.
1942 World War II: The Dutch surrender to Japanese forces on Java.
1942 Diplomatic relations between the Netherlands and the Soviet Union are established.
1944 World War II: American aircraft mistakenly bomb the Dutch towns of Nijmegen, Arnhem, Enschede and Deventer, resulting in 800 dead in Nijmegen alone.
1944 The Holocaust: a tip from a Dutch informer leads the Gestapo to a sealed-off area in an Amsterdam warehouse where they find Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family.
1944 World War II: Allied Airborne troops parachute into the Netherlands as the "Market" half of Operation Market Garden.
1944 World War II: Surviving elements of the British 1st Airborne Division withdraw from Arnhem in the Netherlands, thus ending the Battle of Arnhem and Operation Market Garden.
1944 The city of Breda in the Netherlands is liberated by 1st Polish Armoured Division.
1944 World War II: Units of the British Army land at Walcheren in the Netherlands.
1945 World War II: Canadian and UK troops liberate the Netherlands and Denmark from Nazi occupation when Wehrmacht troops capitulate
1945 The General Dutch Youth League (ANJV) is founded in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
1948 Juliana becomes Queen of the Netherlands.
1949 Indonesian National Revolution: The Netherlands officially recognizes Indonesian independence.
1953 A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands.
1956 The dike around the Dutch polder East Flevoland is closed.
1957 The European Economic Community is established (West Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg).
1960 The Anne Frank House opens in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
1962 The Harmelen train disaster killed 93 people in the Netherlands.
1971 Doctors in the first Dutch abortion clinic (the Mildredhuis in Arnhem) start to perform ''aborti provocati''.
1973 The Netherlands experiences the first Car Free Sunday caused by the 1973 oil crisis. Highways are deserted and are used only by cyclists and roller skaters.
1975 Suriname gains independence from the Netherlands.
1982 Aston Villa win the European Cup, defeating Bayern Munich 1-0 in Rotterdam, Netherlands thanks to a Peter Withe goal.
1983 Over 500,000 people demonstrate against cruise missiles in The Hague, Netherlands.
1986 Aruba becomes independent of Curaçao, though it remains in free association with the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
1986 The Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly ends.
1992 A Dutch DC-10, flight Martinair MP 495, crashes at Faro Airport, killing 56 people.
1996 Curaçao gains limited self-government, though it remains within free association with the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
1998 The Netherlands is selected as the site for the trial of the two Libyan suspects of the 1988 Pan Am bombing.
1999 The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo.
2001 In the Netherlands a Scottish court convicts Libyan Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi and acquits another Libyan citizen for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 which blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.
2001 Same-sex marriage becomes legal in the Netherlands, the first country to allow it.
2002 Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn is assassinated by an animal rights activist.
2009 Seven people are killed and 17 injured at a Queen's Day parade in Apeldoorn, Netherlands.