The milestones of Gen Suharto's long autocratic rule go back almost 30 years:
September 30th, 1965: Six senior army generals killed in what is later called an abortive communist coup. Gen Suharto takes command, crushes coup attempt. Up to 500,000 people killed between October 1965 and early 1966.
March 11th, 1966: Executive power transferred from President Sukarno to Suharto.
March 21st, 1967: Suharto formally named acting president by appointed People's Consultative Assembly (MPR). Formally elected president a year later.
March 1973: Suharto appointed unopposed for second five-year term by MPR. Reappointed in 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993 and 1998 by the MPR.
December 1975: Indonesian troops invade former Portuguese colony of East Timor, annexed in 1976 in a move never recognised by the UN.
November 1991: Indonesian troops fire on mourners in a cemetery in the Timorese town of Dili killing scores.
June 20th, 1996: Megawati Sukarnoputri, daughter of Sukarno, ousted from PDI leadership.
July 8th, 1997: The Indonesian currency, the rupiah, starts to crumble.
October 6th, 1997: Rupiah hits a new low. Two days later, Indonesia asks IMF for help.
October 31st, 1997: Indonesia's IMF package orchestrates a bailout of more than $40 billion.
January 6th, 1998: The rupiah loses half its value over five days. Collapses a fortnight later.
January-February: Riots over rising food prices worsen, leaving five people dead.
March 10th: Suharto re-elected unopposed to a seventh five-year term.
March 11th: Suharto sworn in. Student protests break out across the nation.
March 14th: Suharto announces new cabinet, including his eldest daughter and associates of the "First Family".
April 16th: Thousands of students hold campus protests.
May 1st: Suharto says political reform cannot come, constitutionally, before 2003.
May 4th: Indonesia raises fuel prices by up to 71 per cent. Riots break out in North Sumatran capital of Medan, six die.
May 9th: Suharto leaves for a week-long visit to Egypt.
May 12th: Six students are shot and killed during clashes with security forces in Jakarta.
May 14th: Suharto says any changes must be through constitutional means. Chaos reigns. Mobs attack and damage buildings linked to firms controlled by Suharto's family and friends.
May 15th: Suharto returns and orders ministers to act against rioters. He reduces some oil price rises.
May 16th: Suharto pledges to shuffle cabinet soon. Hundreds of foreigners fly out of Jakarta. The death toll from a week of rioting, arson and looting in Jakarta crosses 500. Many of the victims are ethnic Chinese.
May 18th: Parliamentary Speaker Harmoko, a close associate of the president, calls on Suharto to step down.
May 19th: Suharto promises to step down but does not specify when.
May 20th: Suharto's Golkar party calls on the president to resign.
May 21st: Suharto announces his resignation.