Beirut

capital and largest city of Lebanon

30 dated entries naming Beirut, drawn from 25 separate years between 14 BCE and 2020 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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1st century BC

14 BCECaesar Augustus makes Beeroth (modern Beirut) a colonia, named Colonia Julia Augusta Felix Berytus.source

6th century

551July 9 – Beirut is destroyed by an earthquake and tsunami. Its epicenter has an estimated magnitude of about 7.2 or 7.6, and according to reports of Antoninus of Piacenza, Christian pilgrim, some 30,000 people are killed.source

7th century

637Battle of Hazir: Muslim Arab forces (17,000 men) under Khalid ibn al-Walid defeat the Byzantine army near Qinnasrin (Northern Syria). The cities of Beirut and Tyre are captured by Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan after a short siege.source

11th century

1099May – The Crusaders march past Tripoli, accompanied by guides provided by the emir who lead them safely through the towns of Batroun and Byblos. On May 19 they cross the Dog River north of Beirut into Fatimid territory. There local governors supply the Crusaders with tribute and food in return for no damage to the agricultural area. The Fatimids keep no large troops in the north, except for small garrisons.source

12th century

1182August – Saladin sends an Egyptian fleet to blockade Beirut and leads his forces in the Bekaa Valley. The city is strongly fortified and Baldwin IV rushes with his army up from Galilee – only pausing to collect the ships that lay in the harbors of Acre and Tyre. Failing to take Beirut by assault before the Crusaders arrived, Saladin breaks off the siege and withdraws.source
1184Saladin sends his nephew Izz al-Din Usama, governor (emir) of the iron-rich mountains near Beirut, to build Ajloun Castle, which controls the trade along the road between Damascus and Egypt.source

13th century

1229May 1 – Frederick II departs from Acre, while he and his suite pass down the "Street of the Butchers" to the harbour, the people crowd out of the doors, and pelts him with entrails and dung. Meanwhile, Odo of Montbéliard (or Eudes), commander of the Crusader army, and John of Ibelin, lord of Beirut, are left behind to quell the unrest in Palestine.source
1231War of the Lombards: Richard Filangieri sails for Beirut, where the town is handed over to him. He occupies Sidon and Tyre – while other Lombard forces appear before Acre. At Acre, Filangieri summons a meeting of the High Court and shows letters from Frederick II appointing him as ambassador (baili).source
1283June – Qalawun ("the Victorious"), Mamluk ruler of Egypt, signs a peace treaty for 10 years with the Crusader States at Caesarea. It guarantees the Crusaders the possession of the territory from the Ladder of Tyre, north of Acre, to Mount Carmel and Atlit. But Tyre and Beirut are excluded. The right of free pilgrimage to Nazareth is permitted for the Christians.source
1291June – Al-Ashraf Khalil enters Damascus in triumph with Crusaders chained at their feet and the captured Crusader standards, which are carried upside-down as a sign of their defeat. Following the capture of Acre, Khalil and his Mamluk generals proceed to wrest control of the remaining Crusader-held fortresses along the Syrian coast. Within weeks, the Mamluks conquer Tyre, Sidon, Beirut, Haifa and Tartus.source

18th century

1759November 25 – Near East earthquakes of 1759: The second and stronger event in an earthquake doublet occurs to the east of Beirut, with a surface wave magnitude of 7.4 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), destroying all the villages in the Beqaa Valley.source

19th century

1840September 10 – Ottoman and British troops bombard Beirut, and land troops on the coast, to pressure Egyptian Muhammad Ali to retreat from the country.source

20th century

1912February 24 – Battle of Beirut: Italy makes a surprise attack on the Ottoman port of Beirut, when the cruiser Giuseppe Garibaldi and the gunboat Volturno bombard the harbour, killing 97 sailors and civilians.source
1958July 15 – 1958 Lebanon crisis: 5,000 United States Marines land in the Lebanese capital Beirut in support of the pro-Western government.source
1973April 10 – Operation Spring of Youth: Israeli commandos raid Beirut, assassinating 3 leaders of the Palestinian Resistance Movement. The Lebanese army's inaction brings the immediate resignation of Prime Minister Saeb Salam, a Sunni Muslim.source
1976June 20 – Hundreds of Western tourists are moved from Beirut and taken to safety in Syria by the U.S. military, following the murder of the U.S. Ambassador.source
1981July 17 – Lebanese Civil War: Israeli aircraft bomb Beirut, destroying multi-story apartment blocks containing the offices of PLO-associated groups, killing approximately 300 civilians and resulting in worldwide condemnation and a U.S. embargo on the export of aircraft to Israel.source
1982August 20 – Lebanese Civil War: A multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the PLO withdrawal from Lebanon.source
1982June 6 – The 1982 Lebanon War begins: Israeli forces under Defense Minister Ariel Sharon invade southern Lebanon in their "Operation Peace for the Galilee," eventually reaching as far north as the capital Beirut. The United Nations Security Council votes to demand that Israel withdraw its troops from Lebanon.source
1982September 14 – Lebanese President-elect Bachir Gemayel is assassinated in Beirut.source
1982September 24 – The Wimpy Operation, the first act of armed resistance against Israeli troops in Beirut.source
1983August 29 – Two U.S. Marines are killed by mortar blast in Beirut, marking the first U.S. combat fatalities of the Multinational Force in Lebanon.source
1983October 23 – Beirut barracks bombing: Simultaneous suicide truck-bombings destroy both the French Army and United States Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, killing 241 U.S. servicemen, 58 French paratroopers and 6 Lebanese civilians.source
1984March 16 – The United States Central Intelligence Agency station chief in Beirut, William Francis Buckley, is kidnapped by the Islamic Jihad Organization and later dies in captivity.source
1985February 16 – The ideology of Hezbollah is declared in a program issued in Beirut.source
1985March 16 – Lebanon hostage crisis: US journalist Terry Anderson is taken hostage in Beirut; he remains a prisoner until December 4, 1991.source
1987January 20 – Terry Waite, the special envoy of the Archbishop of Canterbury in Lebanon, is kidnapped in Beirut (released November 1991).source

21st century

2005February 14 – Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri is assassinated, along with 21 others, by a suicide bomber in Beirut.source
2019August 25 – 2019 Beirut drone crash: According to Lebanese officials, two Israeli drones attack Beirut, Lebanon. One crashed into the roof of the Hezbollah Media Center, about 45 minutes before the second exploded in the air and damaged the building. It is the first such incident between Israel and Lebanon since the 2006 Lebanon War.source
2020August 4 – An explosion caused by unsafely stored ammonium nitrate kills at least 218 people, injures thousands, and severely damages the port in Beirut, Lebanon. Damage is estimated at $10–15 billion, and an estimated 300,000 people are left homeless. The following day, the Lebanese government declares a two-week state of emergency.source