End of the Eastern Zhou

Timeline

1. -314–-256Royal City · HenanAfter King Ping's eastward move, the Son of Heaven's authority declined daily, leaving only small polities near the royal city. In the Warring States era the Zhou house grew even weaker; during King Nan's reign it even allied with the feudal lords to attack Qin and failed. The Zhou house was financially exhausted and could no longer sustain the title of overlord of all under heaven.
2. -256Royal City · HenanKing Zhaoxiang of Qin dispatched troops to take the Eastern Zhou state; King Nan surrendered and was relocated to Nanzheng in Qin. The Eastern Zhou state's lands were annexed by Qin, the small polity under the Son of Heaven destroyed, and the Eastern Zhou political entity of several centuries' standing declared ended.
3. -256–-221Central Plains · HenanKing Nan died the following year, and the Zhou sacrificial line was severed. The end of the Eastern Zhou meant the complete collapse of the old order with the Son of Heaven as overlord; all under heaven passed from the contention of the seven powers into the final sprint in which Qin annexed the six states and moved toward unification.