Short answers, pulled from the story.
The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe before about 800 BC, classical antiquity from 800 BC to AD 500, the Middle Ages from AD 500 to 1500, and the modern era since about AD 1500. The first early European modern humans appear in the fossil record about 48,000 years ago.
The modern indigenous populations of Europe descend largely from three distinct lineages. These are Mesolithic hunter-gatherers derived from the Cro-Magnon population, Early European Farmers who migrated from Anatolia during the Neolithic Revolution, and Yamnaya pastoralists who expanded into Europe during the Indo-European expansion.
The first well-known literate civilization in Europe was the Minoan civilization, which arose on the island of Crete. It flourished from approximately the 27th century BC to the 15th century BC before being replaced by the Mycenaean civilization.
Most historians believe only the death of Great Khan Ogedei prevented the complete Mongol conquest of Europe. Mongolian records indicate Batu Khan was planning a winter attack on Austria, Italy and Germany when he was recalled to Mongolia upon Ogedei's death at the end of 1241, after Mongol forces had won the Battle of Legnica and the Battle of Mohi in 1241.
The movable type printing press appeared around 1439 in Mainz and spread across the continent at dazzling speed. By 1500, over 200 cities in Europe had presses that printed between 8 and 20 million books, ending the manuscript culture of the Middle Ages and replacing it with a printing culture.
In 1789 France fell into revolution, and the people of Paris stormed the Bastille prison on the 14th of July 1789. King Louis XVI was guillotined for treason on the 21st of January 1793, and under Maximilien de Robespierre the Reign of Terror executed up to 40,000 people in Paris before the regime was overthrown on the 27th of July 1794.
Napoleon invaded Russia on the 12th of June 1812 with a Grande Armee of nearly 700,000 troops. After occupying a burned Moscow, he was forced to withdraw, and his army was harassed by Cossacks and ravaged by disease and starvation, leaving only 20,000 of his men to survive the campaign.