| Date | Event | Trend | Notes | Country |
| 1789 | Revolution | Secular | Catholic Monarchy is overthrown | France |
| 1791 | Constitutional Monarchy | Catholic | Catholic Monarch is restored. | France |
| 1792 | First Republic | Secular | De-Christianization in Reign of Terror. | France |
| 1798 | Helvetic Republic | Secular | Constitutional Republic. | Switzerland |
| 1799 | First Republic | Secular | Napoleon’s Coup d’etat. | France |
| 1803 | Mediatization | Secular | Hundreds of ecclesiastical principalities are secularized in the Final Recess. | Germany |
| 1804 | Napoleonic Empire | Secular | Persecution of Catholic institutions ends with Concordat of 1801. | France |
| 1814 | Restoration | Catholic | Catholic Monarchy is restored. | France |
| 1814 | Restoration | Christian | Switzerland returns to Ancien Regime. | Switzerland |
| 1821 | War of Independence | Orthodox | Filiki Eteria initiate revolution. against Islamic Ottoman rule. | Greece |
| 1830 | July Monarchy | Catholic | New Catholic Monarchy. | France |
| 1830 | Belgian Succession | Catholic | Southern provinces break from the United Netherlands. | Belgium |
| 1832 | Fundamental Laws | Orthodox | Consequence of the 1825 Decembrist Revolt. | Russia |
| 1832 | Great Reform Act | Protestant | Catholic Relief Act 1929 encourages Tories to expand suffrage to include more Protestants. | United Kingdom |
| 1848 | Roman Second Republic | Secular | The constitution of this short-lived republic guaranteed freedom of religion. | Italy |
| 1848 | March Revolution | Christian | Constitutional Monarch. Christian religion established as state religion. | Germany |
| 1848 | Sonderbundkrieg | Secular (limited) | Constitution guaranteed freedom of religion – but only among Christians. | Switzerland |
| 1861 | Italian Unification | Secular | Kingdom of Italy declared. Rome captured from the Papal States in 1870. | Italy |
| 1870 | Revolution | Catholic | Lead to Third Republic | France |
| 1870 | Imperial Constitution | Secular | Single German citizenship, recognised religious freedom. | Germany |
| 1871 | Paris Commune | Secular | Short-lived radical government decreed separation of church and state. | France |
| 1889 | Boulangist movement | Catholic | Boulanger threatens coup d’etat and establishment of dictatorship. | France |
| 1905 | Revolution | Orthodox | Limited Constitutional Monarchy from 1906. | Russia |
| 1905 | Law of Separation of Church and State | Secular | Catholicism disestablished as state religion. | France |
| 1917 | February Revolution | Secular | Russian Republic. | Russia |
| 1917 | October Revolution | Secular | Communist rule established. | Russia |
| 1918 | November Revolution | Secular | Communist uprising defeated by nationalists. | Germany |
| 1919 | Weimar Republic | Secular | Constitution guaranteed freedom of religion and declared no state church. | Germany |
| 1920 | League of Nations | Secular | Switzerland | |
| 1925 | Il Duce | Secular | Fascist leader Mussolini establishes a personality cult. | Italy |
| 1929 | Lateran Treaty | Secular | Church becomes independent state from Fascist Italy and gains control of the Vatican City in Rome. | Italy |
| 1929 | Father of Nations | Secular | Stalin’s personality cult takes off. In 1936 he is called “Father of Nations.” | Russia |
| 1931 | Second Republic | Secular | Constitution granted freedom of religion. | Spain |
| 1933 | Fuhrer | Secular | Hitler establishes a personality cult of the Fuhrer. | Germany |
| 1934 | Nazi Germany | Secular | Hitler becomes dictator | Germany |
| 1936 | Red Terror | Secular | Anticlerical violence, at least 30,000 religious figures killed. | Spain |
| 1936 | Great Purge | Secular | Stalin kills 100,000 religious officials during the purges of 1937-1938. | Russia |
| 1940 | Vichy France | Secular | Officially secular regime during period of Nazi occupation strongly supported by the Catholic Church. | France |
| 1940 | Religious oppression | Secular | Concentration camp for religious officials at Dachau. | Germany |
| 1945 | United Nations | Secular | Charter establishes fundamental freedoms for all including religion. | United States |
| 1946 | Fourth French Republic | Secular | New constitution firmly stated France’s secularism. | France |
| 1946 | Italian Republic | Secular | Monarchy abolished in Constitutional referendum. 1948 Constitution made freedom of religion a fundamental principle and maintained independence of Church and State. | Italy |
| 1946 | Greek Civil War | Secular | Communist | Greece |
| 1949 | Federal Republic of Germany | Secular | Germany | |
| 1953 | De-Stalinization | Secular | Communist | Russia |
| 1957 | Treaty of Rome | Secular | Treaty established European Economic Community based in Brussels. | Belgium |
Appendix to “Revolutions: a selective force for the secular state?” by Edward A.L. Turner
Published On: August 18, 2015
