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American Timeline
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U.S. Civil War
The northern and southern United States had issues including states' rights versus federal authority, westward expansion and slavery exploded into the American Civil War, the Civil War proved to be the costliest war ever fought on American soil, with some 620,000 of 2.4 million soldiers killed, millions more injured and the population and territory of the South devastated. -
Spanish-American War
A conflict between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the Cuban War of Independence. It also led to the Treaty of Paris. America wins this war and Cuba gets its independence. -
WWI
1914 a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo, Bosnia, assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. An escalation of threats and mobilization orders followed the incident, leading by mid-August to the outbreak of World War I, which pitted Germany, Austria-Hungary and, the Ottoman Empire (the so-called Central Powers) against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy and Japan (the Allied Powers). The Allies were joined after 1917 by the United States. The four years of the Great War--as it was then kno -
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal was opened to the public in 1914. It is a 48 mile ship canal that connects the atlantic ocena to the pacific ocean.It is key for trading through the sea. Cuts down time by more than half. -
First Red Scare
a widespread suspicion of revolutionary political movements, often displayed in anti-labor union sentiments. Labor unions were seen as being politically subversive and revolutionary. In April 1919, two bomb plots were uncovered: one involved 36 bombs mailed to members of the politically and economically elite; the other involved 8 bombs exploding in 8 different places. These bomb plots led to the Palmer Raids, which were deportations, led by Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, of suspected left -
Dust Bowl
When the drought of the "Dirty Thirties" brought dust that blew and covered the country side and destroyed crops in the proccess. -
Stock Market Crash
in 1929, the bubble burst and stocks started down an even more precipitous cliff. In 1932 and 1933, they hit bottom, down about 80% from their highs in the late 1920s. This had sharp effects on the economy. Demand for goods declined because people felt poor because of their losses in the stock market. New investment could not be financed through the sale of stock, because no one would buy the new stock. -
The Holocaust
the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. "Holocaust" is a word of Greek origin meaning "sacrifice by fire." The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in January 1933, believed that Germans were "racially superior" and that the Jews, deemed "inferior," were an alien threat to the so-called German racial community. -
Rape of Nanking (Nanking Massacare)
When the Germans would take citizens and unarmed soldiers and shoot them down. They would take the men and make them work for them and kill/rape the women. There was an estimate of 250,000 to 300,000 killing that day. -
The Attack on Pearl Harbor
A surpirse military attack on the Naval base that was based in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii by the Imperal Japanese Navy. This event also was the entrance into WWII. -
Japanese-American Interment
President Franklin D. Roosevelt issues Presidential Proclamation No. 2537, requiring aliens from World War II -enemy countries--Italy, Germany and Japan--to register with the United States Department of Justice. Registered persons were then issued a Certificate of Identification for Aliens of Enemy Nationality. A follow-up to the Alien Registration Act of 1940, Proclamation No. 2537 facilitated the beginning of full-scale internment of Japanese Americans the following month. While most Americans -
Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombed
), an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Japan's Emperor Hirohito announced his country's unconditional surrender in World War II in a radio address on August 15, citing the devas -
The Korean War
In Europe, East and West eyed each other anxiously across the Iron Curtain. In Asia, the Cold War grew hot. In 1950, North Korean forces, armed mainly with Soviet weapons, invaded South Korea in an effort to reunite the peninsula under communist rule. Within the next couple of days the Truman administration and the United Nations had decided to aid in the defense of South Korea, and soon a multinational army had arrived under the command of General Douglas MacArthur. But while MacArthur was able -
Brown Vs. Board of Education
In a major civil rights victory, the U.S. Supreme Court hands down an unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, ruling that racial segregation in public educational facilities is unconstitutional. The historic decision, which brought an end to federal tolerance of racial segregation, specifically dealt with Linda Brown, a young African American girl who had been denied admission to her local elementary school in Topeka, Kansas, because of the color of her skin. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
The first civil rights legislation enacted by Congress in the United States since Reconstruction following the American Civil War. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
An unsuccessful military invasion of Cuba undertaken by the paramilitary group Brigade 2506. The U.S tried to take Cuba over but had a less army and was not prepared for the results that they got. -
JFK Assasination
President John F. Kennedy is assassinated during a visit to Dallas, Texas. His death caused intense mourning in the United States and brought Vice President Lyndon Johnson to the presidency. Kennedy's untimely death also left future generations with a great many "what if" questions concerning the subsequent history of the Cold War. In the years since Kennedy's death, a number of supporters argued that had he lived he would have done much to bring the Cold War to a close. Some have suggested that -
MLK Assasination
When he was leaving his hotel room that day, he had guards all around him and he was just leaving when he was shot down by a sniper in cold blood. It was a very significant day for many people because he led and did so much for the country and the civil rights acts -
Fall of Saigon
Saigon, capital city of South Vietnam, fell to North Vietnamese forces. It marked the end of the Vietnam War. After the introduction of Vietnamisation by President Richard Nixon, US forces in South Vietnam had been constantly reduced leaving the military of South Vietnam to defend their country against the North. -
Vietnam War
This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by the People's Republic of China and other anti-capitalist, communist allies, and the government of South Vietnam, supported by the United States and other capitalist, anti-communist countries.[29] The Viet Cong (also known as the National Liberation Front, or NLF), a lightly armed South Vietnamese communist common front directed by the North, largely fought a guerrilla war against anti-communist forces in -
First Gulf War
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion and occupation of neighboring Kuwait in early August 1990. Alarmed by these actions, fellow Arab powers such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt called on the United States and other Western nations to intervene. Hussein defied United Nations Security Council demands to withdraw from Kuwait by mid-January 1991, and the Persian Gulf War began with a massive U.S.-led air offensive known as Operation Desert Storm. After 42 days of relentless attacks by the all -
Berlin Wall Falls
The fall of the Berlin Wall happened nearly as suddenly as its rise. There had been signs that the Communist bloc was weakening, but the East German Communist leaders insisted that East Germany just needed a moderate change rather than a drastic revolution. East German citizens did not agree. -
Collapse of the Soviet Union
the Soviet Union disintegrated into fifteen separate countries. Its collapse was hailed by the west as a victory for freedom, a triumph of democracy over totalitarianism, and evidence of the superiority of capitalism over socialism. The United States rejoiced as its formidable enemy was brought to its knees, thereby ending the Cold War which had hovered over these two superpowers since the end of World War II -
9/11 Attack
19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four airliners and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Often referred to as 9/11, the attacks resulted in extensive death and destruction, triggering major U.S. initiatives to combat terr -
Election of Obama
Senator Barack Obama of Illinois was elected president of the United States over Senator John McCain of Arizona. Obama became the 44th president, and the first African American to be elected to that office.
