Language reform
Several major world languages have been subject to big spelling reforms: French (in the 16th, 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries), Spanish (in the 18th century), Portuguese (in 1910, in Portugal, and in 1946 and 1972, in Brazil), German (in 1901/02 and 1996/98) and  Russian (in 1728 and 1919).