1658
Aurangzeb Takes the Mughal Throne
After defeating and executing his brothers in a brutal civil war, Aurangzeb imprisoned his father Shah Jahan in the Agra fort and crowned himself emperor under the title Alamgir, Seizer of the World. A puritanical Sunni ruler, he would expand the Mughal empire to its greatest extent and begin its long unraveling.
Oliver Cromwell Dies
The Lord Protector, worn down by kidney stones and malaria, died at Whitehall on the anniversary of his battles of Dunbar and Worcester. A great storm tore through London the same night, which royalists took as the devil fetching his own. His incompetent son Richard could not hold the republic together.
Aurangzeb's Brothers Die at Samugarh
On a scorching plain near Agra, Aurangzeb's army crushed the forces of his elder brother Dara Shukoh, the Mughal heir whom Shah Jahan had groomed for the throne. Dara fled, was betrayed, and was paraded through Delhi on a filthy elephant before his execution. The most tolerant Mughal prince was replaced by the most orthodox.
Swedish Empire Peaks at Treaty of Roskilde
After marching his army across the frozen Great Belt in one of history's boldest gambles, Charles X Gustav of Sweden forced Denmark to sign the Treaty of Roskilde, ceding Scania, Halland, and Blekinge. The Swedish Empire reached its greatest territorial extent, ringing the Baltic like a northern Mediterranean under Stockholm's dominion.