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King Philip's War
This was a war between the New England English colonists and the Wampanoag. It was one of the bloodiest wars in American history, proportionally. The cause was that the original leader of the Wamanoag died as a prisoner of the colonists, and the colonists constant hunger for land also helped spark the war. King Philip was killed in 1676, but the war continued until 1678. It is also known as Metacom's rebellioin, or Metacomets war. -
Bacon's Rebellion
Nathaniel Bacon and some frontiersman attacked Native American villages, then attacked Jamestown. They were upset with Governor William Berkely because he was pro-Indian and forced the frontiersmen onto bad land. -
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Armed Conflict
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Seven Years' War
This war was fought between the Anglo-American forces (Britain and America) against France Canada and Indian tribes. The war started badly for the Anglo-American forces. American colonists began organizing huge amounts of troops to fight the French. The war ended in America when Anglo-American forces captured Quebec and Montreal. This war also is important because it began to plant the seeds of hostility between the British and Americans -
Boston Massacre
Huge tension arose when British troops began occupying Boston. On Febuary 22, Bostonians were picketing outside a home of a customs-paying-merchant when a customs informer shot into the crowd, killing an eleven year old boy. Angry, five day later, a crowd began throwing heavy objects at troops. Then the troops opened fire, five men died. This displayed the huge tension and hatred between thetwo sides. -
American Revolution
The American Revolution against England began with Lexington and Concord, where minutemen and Redcoats exchanged fire. The Redcoats retreated, which was amazing since they were basically fighting a band of farmers. Although America came close to losing multiple times, the leadership of George Washington kept them going. Also, Benjamin Franklin got an important alliance with France. The French navy surrounded the British at Yorktown, the last big battle of the war. America used guerilla tactics -
Battle of Saratoga
This is normally known as the turning point of the war. The US defeated the British, and proved to European powers that America could win. This is when France was convinced to join the war. -
Shay's Rebellion
Daniel Shays and about 100 other farmers in debt rebelled against Massachusetts after they raised taxes. The militia crushed this group, but there were fears about the stability of the new nation, in particular the Articles of Confederation. -
Whiskey Rebellion
The government started a new tax on farmers who sell their grain in the form of whiskey, as part of Hamilton's plan to pay off the national debt. This angered the farmers, and they began to protest with intimidation and violence. George Washington sent an army of 15,000 militia men to put down the rebellion, but the farmers gave up before the army got there. This was the first time the federal government demonstrated that it was willing to use its strength domestically. -
War of 1812
Britain's blatant disrepect of America and impressment of Americans forced America to declare war on Britian. During this war, America was embarrassed by the capture and burning of the White House. However, the war ended without a clear winner with the Treaty of Ghent. This war brought on the end of the Federalist party (Hartford Convention) and it also spurred on American manufacturing because during the war America was unable to trade with Europe and had to rely on American manufacturing -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
A slave uprising in the south led by Nat Turner. In the rebellion, around 60 whites were killed. In response, whites in the south killed around 200 blacks, most not even involved in the rebellion. After, southern states passed a series of laws known as the black codes. These restricted rights of assembly and eductation -
Battle of the Alamo
When Mexico became a free country, many Americans poured into the area. The Meixcan gov wanted the Americans to be treated like Meixcan citizens and obey Meixcan laws. The Americans did not obey the laws, so they eventually create the Republic of Texas, an independant country. In an attempt to take back Texas, Mexican troops invaded the Alamo Mission and massacred nearly all the Texans. The cruelty used by the Mexicans in the battle made more Texans join the army and led to Texas winning the war -
Mexican-America War
Mexico never officially accepted the independence of Texas, and Mexico and America had boundary disputes over the border of Texas. America had claimed the territory down to the Rio Grande border, but Mexico still thought they had the territory up to the Nueces River. James Polk sent soldiers down past the Nueces towards the Rio Grande, and is suspected of trying to provoke a war. The U.S won relatively easily and gained 50,000 square miles of land from the Mexican Cession. -
Bleeding Kansas
The Kansas-Nebraska Act made Kansas a state with popular sovereignty. This meant that voters would determine if slavery was allowed in the states. Bleeding Kansas was a series of confrontations between pro and anti slavery groups in Kansas. Proslavery groups would cross into Kansas just to vote proslavery. In total 56 people died in conflicts in Kansas. This showed huge tensions between the pro and antislavery groups in Amerrica -
The Civil War
The Civil War started when the South seceded from the Union, and formed the Confederacy. They were unhappy with the slavery issue, tariffs, state's rights, and the election of Abraham Lincoln. The war pitted brother against brother, and was long and bloody. Two major battles were Gettysburg and Antietam. -
Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg marked the furthest advance into the North by the South, and ultimately one of the biggest earlier victories for the North. The battle lasted three days; the first won by the South, the second a draw, and the third won by the Union. The Union victory provided a huge morale boost for the North, and shattered General Lee's image of invincibility. -
Sand Creek Massacre
Black Kettle, a chief in the Northern Cheyenne tribe, arrived at the American establishment of Fort Lyon to try and establish peace.The American commander assured them peace, so Black Kettle sent away almost all of his warriors and tribe members. Next, the American troops attacked the undefended camp, killing between 70 and 163 Indians, and almost 2/3 of them were non-warriors, such as women and children. -
Fetterman Massacre
About 80 American soldiers left their fort on the way to defendd an expedition cutting wood that was critical for the fort. This expedition had come under attack by Indiands. As the Americans rode after the Indians, they were ambushed by a very large group of Indians. The entire group of American soldiers was wiped out.This took place around Fort Phil Kearney. -
Battle of Little Bighorn
Colonel George Armstrong Custer was sent with a force of soldiers to the Black Hills of South Dakota. He was supposedly sent to find a location for a fort to keep an eye on the Native Americans, but was actually sent to see if the rumors of gold were true. When negotiations for the Black Hills failed, Custer got ready to attack. When he came to the group of Indians, he split up his force to attack. However,group was strongly outnumbered, resulting in the their demise, with no one surviving. -
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Violent Strikes
From 1881 to 1905, 37,000 strikes occurred and around 7 million workers participated -
Haymarket Riot
In 1886, in Chicago police shot and killed 4 strikers at the McCormick Harvester Plant. The next evening, there was a protest rally in Haymarket Square. Someone throw a bomb into a group of policemen at the protest and killed 7 of them. In response the policemen opened fire and killed 4 demonstrators. The public saw the labor leaders as dangerous radicals, and 8 men were arrested and charged with murder. Four were executed and one commited suicide in jail -
Massacre at Wounded Knee
A spiritual movement, called the Ghost Dance, had been sweeping through the Sioux tribes in the Dakotas. To put a stop to it, a reservation agent decided to bring Sitting Bull into capture. Sitting Bull ended up being killed, and many of the Sioux started to flee to another reservation. Soldiers were rounding them up when a gun went off. The soldiers fired back with cannons, killing 300 Indians, including 7 babies. This basically marked an end to Indian resistance. -
Homestead Riot
In 1892, Carnegie left his steel mill temporarily and left Henry Clay Frick in charge. Frick cut wages, and the workers went on strike. Frick then enlisted the help of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. When the Pinkertons arrived, they had a battle with the workers and seven union members died and three Pinkertons died. A week later the governor brought in the National Guard and crushed the strike. -
Pullman Strike
Occured during a depression. Owner of Pullman Palace Car Company, George Pullman cut wages for factory workers but did not lower the costs of rent in his company town. Over 3,000 employees went on strike and members of the Americans Railroad Union refused to handle Pullman carts. Trains were stopped across the country. President Cleveland had to use federal troops to break the strike. -
War in the Philippines
Following the Spanish-American War, America gained the Philippines as a territory. However, America was resisted by Filipino rebels, led by Emilio Aguinaldo. This war primarily was fought with guerrilla war tactics. By the end of the war, 4,000 American troops had died and 20,000 Fillpino rebels had died. -
Spanish American War
This war was mainly the result of American intervention in the Cuban War of Independence. The last straw that oushed American into a war with Spain, or at least garnered public support for said war, was the USS Maine incident. This was blamed on the Spanish, but was most likely just an accident. The Spanish American war gave rise to Theodore Roosevelt from the Rough Riders, and was a relatively short victory for the US. The Spanish navy was obsolete, and was demolished by the American Navy. -
Battle of Manila Bay
Commodore George Dewey lead a squadron of U.S. ships into combat with the Spanish Pacific fleet, under the command of Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasarón. This battle took place in Manila Bay in the Philipines, and it was the first major battle of the Spanish-American War. The Spanish fleet was very outdated and unprepared, as they thought that it would be impossible for foreigners, Americans, to navigate the bay at night. Because of these two factors, the Dewey had an overwhelming victory. -
Battles of the Santiago Heights
On this day, the only major land action of the war occurred. Amemrican forces fought for and seized two strongly defended areas, El Caney Hill and San Juan Hill. These two hills were overlooking the capital of the Santiago Province in Cuba. In this battle, Theodore Roosevelt lead the Rough Riders in leading the attack on San Juan Hill. -
TR and Latin America
In 1902, Germany, Britain, and Italy blockaded and bombarded Venezuela, because it was not able to pay back its loans. Roosevelt arbitrated, and a deal was soon reached.
In 1904, several European nations threatened to invade the Dominican Republic, which had defaulted on its loans. TR fended off this attack by saying that if anyone went in, it would be America. Taft sent marines in to Nicaragua in 1912 when a revolt broke out which threatened American banking interests, and they stayed there un -
Taft and Latin America
Taft sent marines in to Nicaragua in 1912 when a revolt broke out which threatened American banking interests, and they stayed there until 1933. -
Wilson and Latin America
Wilson sent in marines to the Dominican Republic and Haiti after upheaveals occurred, and they remained until 1924 and 1934, respectively.
Wilson also blockeaded the port of Veracrus after the Mexican Revolution. When the fighting continued, Wilson dispatched 150,000 National Guardsmen to the Mexican-American border. Just prior to this, he had also sent in General Pershing to hunt down the bandit chieftain Pancho Villa. -
World War 1
At the time, Europe had a complex systerm of alliances. When Austria declared war on Serbia, following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, it brought all the countries of Europe into the war. On one side was the Allies, Great Britian, Russia, France, and Italy. The other side was called the Central Powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary. This war was the first fought with trench warfare. Germany was also using submarine warfare to sink merchant ships. Russia left the war in 1917. -
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World War 1
On November 11, 1918 an armistice was signed to end all hostillities. The Treaty of Versailles is later signed to officially end the war -
WW 1 America joins the war
America joins the Allies in April 1917. Over 2 million American soldiers went over to fight in France. In November 1917, Britain was able to mobilize 300 tanks and defeat the Germans stationed in Cambrai France. In the Spring of 1918 a large German force began to march towards France's capital, Paris. American forces got there to stop the advance. The last battle of the war was on September 26 1918, a battle to push the Germans from the Meuse River. Over 1.2 million Americans fought in it -
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The Great Depression
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Bonus Army
In 1924, Congress agreed to give a bonus to all WW1 veterans given over a 20 year period. However, during the Depression, the veterans wanted all their bonus right away. Over 10,000 veterans went to Washington DC to lobby for their bonuses. When Congress declined their request most left. But, over 2,000 remained and they built makeshift homes outside of Washington. On July 28, Hoover sent in the army, armed with guns and tear gas, they tear gassed families and burned their shelters. -
United Automobile Workers
The UAW went on strike and was trying to gain accomodations fo their workers. HOwever, Henry Ford detested unions, and had Harry Bennett and a gang of thugs try to stamp out the union. In 19387 they badly beat Walter Reuther and various other UAW leaders. Ford did not give in to the union until 1941. -
WWII
The major cause of WWII was Hitler invading and capturing Poland, and then proceeding to launch a campaign against all of Western Europe. America was drawn into the war through alliances, but mainly when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. The war pitted the Allies of England, France, the Soviet Union, and America against the Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan. -
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World War 2
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Blitzkrieg
In Spring 1940, Nazi Germany launched their Blitzkrieg, or Lightning War, campaign. This was a strategy in which the German army attacked very quickly and kept advancing at all times, not giving the defenders time to recover or fortify. NAzi Germany quickly took control of Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, and France, or most of Western Europe. -
Pearl Harbor
Japan launched a surprise attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in the hope of crippling the US Pacific Navy. The base was unprepared, resulting in a large amount of casualties and many ships being destroyed. However, the US carrier group that had been stationed there had left the previous day for training, and therefore was saved from the attack, leaving a criticcal part of the US Navy functioning. -
Island Hopping Campaign
Island Hopping was the US strategy for attacking Japan. The idea behind it was that US forces would take strategic islands in a path across the Pacific headed towards the Japanese main land. Taking the islands provided a forward base to use as a staging ground for future attacks, and made it so US bombers could reach farther and farther into Japanese territory. This eventually resulted in US bombers dropping the atomic bombs on Japan. -
D Day
D Day was when the Allied forces launched an invasion into Europe, through the French region of Normandy, then occupied by Germany. After a fierce battle, resulting in more than 20,000 combined casualties, the Allies prevailed. The occupation of Normandy Beach provided the Allies with a critical foothold in Europe, and paved the way for the rest of the war in Europe. -
Battle of the Bulge
This attack was Hitler's last, desperate effort to salvage the war for Nazi Germany. The Wermacht launched a surprise attack against a weak portion of Allied forces in the Ardennes mountain region. The German offensive created a "bulge" in Allied lines as they pushed in, resulting in the battle's name. The Allies came out on top, resulting in severely weakened Axis forces, and basically the total destruction of the Luftwaffe. -
The Cold War
Following World War 2, the Soviet union and the United States were the two major super powers in the world. Their conflicting ideas of capitalism vs communism caused the cold war, a time of political and miltiray tension between the two nations. Both quickly built up military weapons, preparing for war. America used containment and the CIA to fight communism while the Soviet Union worked to spread communism to other countries and supported communist countries. -
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Cold War
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Okinawa
The island hopping campaign culminated in the attack on the island of Okinawa, only 350 miles from Japan. The US launched an amphibious assault against the incredibly tough JApanese defenses, making this 82 day battle one of the bloodiest of the war. There were over 165,000 combined casualties. The taking of this island gave the US the base it needed to launch an invasion of Japan. The bllodiness of this battle also influenced the decision to drop the atomic bomb. -
Atomic Bombs dropped
The UB-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped a uranium bomb on Hiroshima. It resulted in more than 100,000 Japanese casualties, mainly civilian. The US then dropped pamphlets warning that another would be dropped if the Japanese did not surrender. On August 9th a plutonium bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing 35,000 and injuring more than 60,000 people. Japan then surrendered on August 14th, ending WWII. -
Berlin Blockade
Following World War 2, Berlin was split into two sections, the West was controlled by America, France, and Britain while the Eastern side was controlled by the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union set up a blockade to stop all the supplies coming into Berlin so that America would be unable to supply the section that was under their control. In response the countries supporting western berlin started the Berlin Airlift to get supplies into Berlin. The Soviet Union and eventually they ended the blockade -
Korean War
After World War 2, the USA and the Soviet Union split Korea, USA in the south and soviet union in the north. North Korea invaded the south on June 24 1950. Truman called for UN support in south korea and got it. MacArhur led the UN forces and forced the north koreans to reatreat across the border. UN forces pushed deep into north korea but then China intervened and pushed the UN forces back across the border. It eneded in a stalemate -
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
This was the final battle of the First Indochinese war. French forces in Vietnam were attacked by the communist Viet Minh, led by Ho Chi Minh. The French forces were forced to surrender and withdraw from the area. After the war, Vietnam was split, the north communist and the south capitalist. This split led to the Vietnam war. It also ended French influence in Vietnam -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War conflict between the United States, North Vietnam, and South Vietnam. It resulted in social, economic, and political tentions in America and was a very controversial war. American military involvment ended in 1973 with the Paris Peace Accords. This war was considered a loss for America. -
Tonkin Gulf
According to reports, North Vietnamese naval forces fired on two American vessels, although it was never confirmed. This caused a minor uproar in America, leading to Congress granting Johnson a "blank check" to do what he deemed necessary in Vietnam, essentially unwittingly allowing Johnson to escalate the war far beyond what Congress thought he would do. -
Operation Rolling Thunder
This was a US strategy of continuous bombing of certain high value targets in North Vietnam. Although the campaign lasted for 3 years, it was largely unsuccessful as the jungles of Vietnam and the lack of conventional industry or military targets made it difficult for American pilots to make a impact. -
Tet Offensive
The Tet Offensive was when North Vietnam attacked a majority of major southern Vietnam cities simultaneously, and managed to hold many for a period of time. This instigated the Credibilty Gap in the US, as people realized the war was not going as well as they were told by the government, and the North Vietnamese were more organized and formidable than expected. -
Cambodian Campaign
The Cambodian Campaign in mid-1970 was when Richard Nixon ordered a series of military operations in Cambodia. This angered the US public, because rather than withdrawing troops from Vietnam, more were being sent in and escalating the war into Cambodia. -
Paris Peace Accords
The Paris Peace Accords was the official end of the Vietnam War for America, at least militarily. America was henceforth only allowed to aid South Vietnam monetarily. However, fighting did not cease until 1975. -
Iran Hostage Crisis
A revolution occured where the pro-US leader of Iran, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, was overthrown and forced to leave Iran. Ayatollah Khomeini was very anit-America. When the exiled Shah got cancer, President Carter admitted him into the US for cancer treatment. In respones, Ayatollah Khomeini's supporters stormed the US embassey and took hostages. A rescue attempt failed and the crisis ruined Carter's presidency. The hostages released the day Carter leaves office -
Nicaragua
The Sandanista government in Nicargua was turning the country procommunist. The CIA organized and financed a group called the contras to attempt to overthrow the Sandinistas. The contras used guerilla tactics to fight the Sandinistas which created many civilian casualties. When the American public heard of the covert operations, they protested thinking it might be another Vietnam. Congress banned financing the contras, but through the Iran Contra affair, America did it anyway -
Grenada
Grenada had a procommunist government. America sent two thousands marines to invade and set up a pro-US government. Most Grenadians approved -
Terrorism in the 80s
Israel and Palestine conflicts led to a huge increase in terrorism in the 1980s. Palestinian terrorists set off 2 deadly bombs in the Vienna and Rome airports in 1985. Other terrorists attacks included assassinations, hijackings, bombings, and kidnappings. When it was discovered that Libya was responsible for the majority of the attacks, America and Britain began bombing Libyan military sites. Terrorism steming from the Middle East continued through the 80s into modern day. -
Persian Gulf War- Operation Desert Storm
On August 2, Iraq invaded Kuwait. In response America placed economic sanctions against Iraq. When that didn't get them to withdrawl, America began bombing Iraq. Then they, and a coalition force of many other nations, invaded Kuwait and forced Iraq to withdrawl. A cease-fire was signed after Iraq's withdrawl. A huge decisive victory for America
