Short answers, pulled from the story.
Giorgio Vasari coined the term Gothic architecture in his 1550 publication Lives of the Artists. He described the style as a barbarous German invention to insult Renaissance critics who viewed the soaring stone structures of the Middle Ages as the work of barbarians.
The true birth of the Gothic style occurred in the choir of the Abbey of Saint-Denis near Paris between the years 1140 and 1144. Abbot Suger orchestrated a radical reconstruction that introduced the pointed arch and rib vault to dissolve heavy walls and let in light.
The High Gothic period spanned from approximately 1240 to 1350 and ended when a portion of the choir at Beauvais Cathedral collapsed in 1248. No cathedral built since has exceeded the height of the Beauvais choir, and the disaster marked the end of the race for verticality.
Rayonnant Gothic emerged in the 13th century and maximized stained glass coverage to the point where walls were effectively entirely glazed. Flamboyant style flourished in the 15th century and was characterized by flame-shaped spaces between tracery bars known as daggers or fish-bladders.
The tower of Salisbury Cathedral was completed in 1320 and is much higher than other towers in English Gothic architecture. The tower of Salisbury Cathedral was built upon the pillars of the much earlier church and is higher than the nearly contemporary Amiens Cathedral which is twice as high.
The Gothic Revival period occurred in the 18th and 19th centuries with the Palace of Westminster in London designed by Sir Charles Barry and Augustus Welby Pugin as a prime example. The Gothic Revival style also reached the Far East with the Anglican St John's Cathedral located at the center of Victoria City in Central Hong Kong.