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US Declares Neutrality
President Woodrow Wilson addressed the US populace by telling them that the US would remain a neutral country in World War 1. Isolationists favored this approach. -
Wilson's Fourteen Points
Woodrow Wilson described his plan for peace in Europe. He had come up with fourteen points that he felt would increase the chance of no future war. The first 5 points were about factors leading to war, 6-13 were about territorial issues, and 14 was about an international organization to promote peace. -
Zimmerman Note is Publicized
The Zimmerman note was from Arthur Zimmerman of Germany asking Mexico to declare war on the US. This Telegram was published on the front pages on newspapers on March 1, 1917. This telegram made many Americans feel that we should enter the war because we were now being threatened on our own soil. -
US declares war on Germany
Woodrow Wilson asked Congress on this day to declare war on Germany and enter WW1. He decided to join the war because Germany broke their promise to stop unrestricted submarine warfare and continued to sink ships. -
Creation of the AEF
The AEF which means American Expeditionary Forces was established to fight alongside our allies. John J. Pershing led these men and trained them well before they were shipped overseas. -
Battle of Belleau Wood
This was the first major full scale battle that the American soldiers fought in WW1. John J. Pershing created the counter attack to drive the Germans that had broke through the line back. -
Battle of Argonne Forest
This was the largest American led fight that occurred during WW1. The Americans used artillery to waken the Germans before they advanced was stopped on September 30 but resumed 4 days later. The Germans were getting beaten back and defeated from already being disease ridden. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. This event caused the US join WW2. -
Doolittle Raid
This was an air raid carried out James Doolittle and his other pilots. This was the first airstrike to hit Japanese mainland homes. -
Battle of Midway
The Japanese hoped to set up a trap to disable the US Navy but the Navy had received the information on the planned ambush. They created their own ambush and were able to cause a lot of damage to the Japanese fighters. This battle was known to be the turning point of the war. -
Operation Torch
This operation was the American-British invasion of French North Africa. In this invasion there were 3 amphibious attack units to hit important ports so that they could begin to clear the Germans from Africa. -
Battle of Kasserine Pass
Kasserine Pass is a 2 mile gap where the US had held back the German forces. Earlier the US Soldiers had been pushed back 50 miles but stayed at the passes through the mountain and were able to defeat the German offensive. -
Battle of Sicily
The US invaded Sicily so that they could begin to drive the Nazis out of Europe. They fought for 38 days and successfully drove back the Axis troops. -
Invasion of Normandy
This was started off by D-Day. This was an amphibious attack that happened on 5 beaches. The invasion was leaked to the Germans several days before and they had some inclination of the invasion. -
Battle of Aachen
The Allied forces had hoped to capture Aachen so that they could move into the industrialized Ruhr. This was one of the largest urban battles the US fought during WW2 ad it resulted in the Germans surrendering at the end of the battle. -
Battle of the Bulge
This battle caught the US off guard and caused them the most casualties of any battle during the war. The Germans expended a lot of resources in this battle and the US eventually won the battle. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
This battle was fought because the US needed a base near the Japanese coast. The Japanese totaled 23,000 fighters that defended the island. The US fighters were able to clear out the Japanese in a month. -
Operation Varsity
This was a mainly airborne assault by the Allied Powers that was designed to help the ground forces advance. This was success for the Allies and was the last large airborne assault of WW2. -
Battle of Okinawa
This battle was fought in order to get the air bases the US needed to be able to attack Japan. The US suffered 65,000 casualties and 14,000 dead. -
The Start of the Korean War
75,000 Soldiers of North Korea crossed the 38th parallel and the Korean War had begun. -
Truman Orders the First Troops on the Ground
President Truman ordered the first US troops to go to battle to fight and help South Korea against North Korea. This was the first major part that we had in the Korea war and started our involvement. -
First US Troop is killed in Korea
This was the person killed from the US in the Korean War. His name was Kenneth Shadrick and he was from West Virginia. -
Battle of Heartbreak Ridge
This was a month long battle that took place in an area known as the Punchbowl. This battle was won by the US and French soldiers that fought. -
Dwight Eisenhower is elected President
This was an important event because Truman had begun the war. Eisenhower was elected president and he ended the war -
Armistice is Signed
It settled all fighting between North Korea and South Korea and other nations involved. This also decided as to how the POW's would be handled and created the DMZ. -
Creation of MACV
This was important because it was the Military Assistance Command of Vietnam. This provided the ability to send our military officials to Vietnam to train South Vietnamese fighters. They kept the military leaders there but they were not considered a military force occupying Vietnam. -
Battle of Ap Bac
This was one of the first battles that occurred between the Vietcong and the South Vietnamese and US forces. The Vietcong were outnumbered but still caused some major damage. Of the fifteen helicopters transporting troops, five were lost to the Vietcong fire. -
End of the Diem Regime
Diem was executed due to the fact that the people thought he was running a bad regime so the CIA secretly backed the people who carried out the plot to rid Vietnam of Diem. After he was removed and executed, Vietnam had very poor leadership after he was removed. -
Kennedy's Assassination
He was assassinated in Dallas by Lee Harvey Oswald. After Kennedy was killed, Lydon B. Johnson was sworn in as the President of the US. Kennedy was assassinated 3 weeks after Diem was executed. -
Lyndon Johnson is Sworn in
This event occurred after President Kennedy was assassinated. Johnson was sworn in and he was the first president to send troops into Vietnam and really enraged the war. -
Battle of Ia Drang Valley
This is the battle that was mainly lead by Lt. Col. Hal Moore. It was fought at LZ XRay. The US eventually won this battle on November 18, 1965 -
Tet Offensive
During the Tet holiday, there is usually a ceasefire, but there was an attack carried out by the North Vietnamese and the Vietcong. These attacks happened in many different cities in South Vietnam -
My Lai Massacre
The US soldiers attacked a village killing around 500 civilians. They thought that there would be Viet Cong but there was just civilians. The US was able to cover up the incident for a year until it became revealed to the public. -
Vietnamization
President Nixon was the one to institute this into the war. It was to start pulling out our American troops and teach the South Vietnamese troops to take over when the Americans had left. -
Nixon Approves Expanding War into Cambodia
Nixon wanted to expand the war in Vietnam into Cambodia to be able to bomb some more of the Ho Chi Mihn Trail and some of the strongholds of the NVA and VC. This move angered many American people and caused many protests to begin. -
Kent State
28 National Guardsmen opened fire on a group of protesting students. The protest was caused by Nixon announcing that he was expanding into Cambodia for the Vietnam War. There were 4 students killed and 9 were wounded. -
Jackson State Killings
Happened 11 days after Kent State shooting. Two people wounded from the police firing at the protestors who threw rocks. -
26th Amendment is Ratified
This amendment changed the age from 21 to 18 for people to vote. They changed it because people could not understand why the men who were chosen to fight were not allowed to choose who ran their country. -
Watergate Scandal
The Democratic National Committee building was broken into by burglars connected to Richard Nixon. Richard Nixon tried to cover up the scandal but it ultimately lead to him resigning in 1974. -
Last US Soldiers Leave Vietnam
The last US soldiers leave South Vietnam. There are only a few American forces left there after the main fighting force left. They were airlifted out in 1975 when Saigon fell. -
Josip Tito's Death
This event was important because he was the person who had reunified Yugoslavia. After he died, Slobodan Milosevic became a leader who controlled the Serbs. -
Iraqi takeover of Kuwait
Iraq invaded Kuwait because they said that Kuwait had been had been stealing crude oil by slant drilling. They also had invaded Kuwait due to Iraq's to pay off debt from the Iraq-Iran War. They saw that if they invaded Kuwait then they would control 20 percent of the oil reserves. -
Operation Desert Shield
This operation was designed to be able to defend Saudi Arabia. This made American soldiers part of a coalition with other countries against Iraq that would later fight together in Operation Desert Storm -
The Ultimatum Given to Hussein
Saddam Hussein was told that if he and the Iraqi fighters that had invaded Kuwait had not left by January 15, 1991; they would use whatever they needed to against Iraq to get them to leave. -
Operation Desert Storm
Since Saddam Hussein had not removed Iraq from Kuwait by the deadline stated in the ultimatum given; the US launched Operation Desert Storm in response to his failure to meet the ultimatum. Norman Schwarzkopf was the man who had planned the airstrikes on Iraq. They bombed Iraq, used Cruise missiles, and used other advanced weaponry and were able to disable a lot of Iraq's resources. -
Operation Desert Sabre
This was a large ground based assault on Kuwait to be able to take control of it again. It included 3 attacks lead by Norman Schwarzkopf. They were able to gain control of it again and Iraqi forces later surrenedered. -
The Cease Fire of the Persian Gulf War
The ceasefire ordered by president Bush ended the Persian Gulf War. The Iraqi people had little resistance left in their arsenal so Hussein agreed that they would recognize Kuwait as being a real country and they would get rid of all the Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. -
Slovenia and Croatia Declare Independence from Yugoslavia
When they declared Independence; they created a civil war. Slovenia won the battle against Milosevic and then Croatia was focused on. The Battle of the City of Vukovar was won by the Serbs and there was the first mass executions of Croats. -
Recognized Bosnia Independence
Bosnia declared their independence in April of 1992. This had adverse effects for the country. Milosevic sent the Serbs to attack Sarajevo. Their snipers killed civilians and children. The Serbs considered it an ethnic cleansing to get rid of the Muslim population. The UN only responds to the situation with economic sanctions. -
UN Resolution 751
This authorized the humanitarian relief efforts and established the UN operation in Somalia. It was to sort out the confusion among groups in the region and US airlifted the supplies to keep away from looters and being slowed down. -
Operation Provide Relief
This was the operation was the predecessor of Operation Restore Hope. They wanted to avoid using the military to provide relief but inevitably had to after the operation proved inadequate. -
Operation Restore Hope
The situation in Somalia kept getting worse and worse so they created the Resolution 794 which was meant to create a safe area for humanitarian efforts to take place. It was to then be able to deliver food and protect ti and provide other humanitarian reliefs for the people of Somalia. -
Aidid Forces Attack Soldiers
Since Aidid had very little respect for the UN and other parts of the organization. Aidid's Somali soldiers attacked Pakistani soldiers that were part of UNOSOM II; killing 24 soldiers and wounding 44. -
US Attacks Aidid Compound
The US made plan to directly attack one of Aidid's compounds. They went in by helicopter with missiles and machine guns and killed about 73 people. Aidid retaliated to the US attack by killing and displaying 4 western journalists for the world to see. -
Battle of Mogadishu
The US forces went into Mogadishu in Somalia in an operation. They expected the operation to last only about an hour but two blackhawk helicopters were shot down. The fight resulted in 18 US soldiers dead and 73 wounded. -
Sarajevo Attacked a Second Time
Sarajevo was attacked for the second time by the Serbs. This time 68 people were killed and 200 were wounded. This was the international call for help for Bosnia because of the pictures that were everywhere so the US and UN respond with actual help this time. -
The Bombing of Bosnia
The name of the operation was Operation Deliberate Force. The bombing was in response to the Markale massacres. The NATO began airstrikes and hit 97% of their Serbian target locations. -
Peace Talks At Wright Patterson Air Force Base
Slobodan Milosevic agrees to have Peace Talks and Wright Patterson Air Force Base. He agreed to democratic elections, two main portions, and that war criminals be handed over to be prosecuted for war crimes. The two main portions he agreed to were the Bosnian Serb Republic and the Muslim-Croat Federation.
