| ca. 1500–1650 | Consolidation of serfdom in eastern Europe |
| 1533–1584 | Reign of Ivan the Terrible in Russia |
| 1589–1610 | Reign of Henry IV in France |
| 1598–1613 | Time of Troubles in Russia |
| 1620–1740 | Growth of absolutism in Austria and Prussia |
| 1642–1649 | English civil war, which ends with execution of Charles I |
| 1643–1715 | Reign of Louis XIV in France |
| 1653–1658 | Military rule in England under Oliver Cromwell (the Protectorate) |
| 1660 | Restoration of English monarchy under Charles II |
| 1665–1683 | Jean-Baptiste Colbert applies mercantilism to France |
| 1670 | Charles II agrees to re-Catholicize England in secret agreement with Louis XIV |
| 1670–1671 | Cossack revolt led by Stenka Razin |
| ca.1680–1750 | Construction of absolutist palaces |
| 1682 | Louis XIV moves court to Versailles |
| 1682–1725 | Reign of Peter the Great in Russia |
| 1683–1718 | Habsburgs push the Ottoman Turks from Hungary |
| 1685 | Edict of Nantes revoked in France |
| 1688–1689 | Glorious Revolution in England |
| 1701–1713 | War of the Spanish Succession |