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The Declaration of Independence, 1776
By issuing the Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, the 13 American colonies severed their political connections to Great Britain. The Declaration summarized the colonists’ motivations for seeking independence. -
The Treaty of Paris
In 1782, Benjamin Franklin rejected informal peace overtures from Great Britain for a settlement that would provide the thirteen states with some measure of autonomy within the British Empire. Franklin insisted on British recognition of American independence and refused to consider a peace separate from France, America’s staunch ally. -
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French Revolution
The French Revolution lasted from 1789 until 1799. The Revolution precipitated a series of European wars, forcing the United States to articulate a clear policy of neutrality in order to avoid being embroiled in these European conflicts. The French Revolution also influenced U.S. politics, as pro- and anti- Revolutionary factions sought to influence American domestic and foreign policy. -
Louisiana Purchase, 1803
The Louisiana Purchase encompassed 530,000,000 acres of territory in North America that the United States purchased from France in 1803 for $15 million. -
The War of 1812-1815
As an important neutral trading nation, the United States became ensnarled in the European conflict that pitted Napoleonic France against Great Britain and her continental allies. -
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The Annexation of Texas, the Mexican-American War, and the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, 1845–1848
During his tenure, U.S. President James K. Polk oversaw the greatest territorial expansion of the United States to date. Polk accomplished this through the annexation of Texas in 1845, the negotiation of the Oregon Treaty with Great Britain in 1846, and the conclusion of the Mexican-American War in 1848, which ended with the signing and ratification of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in 1848. -
The Spanish-American War, 1898
The Spanish-American War of 1898 ended Spain’s colonial empire in the Western Hemisphere and secured the position of the United States as a Pacific power. U.S. victory in the war produced a peace treaty that compelled the Spanish to relinquish claims on Cuba, and to cede sovereignty over Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to the United States. -
The Philippine-American War, 1899–1902
After its defeat in the Spanish-American War of 1898, Spain ceded its longstanding colony of the Philippines to the United States in the Treaty of Paris. On February 4, 1899, just two days before the U.S. Senate ratified the treaty, fighting broke out between American forces and Filipino nationalists led by Emilio Aguinaldo who sought independence rather than a change in colonial rulers. -
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Building the Panama Canal
The Panama Canal was built with the assistance of both Panama and the U.S. to help decrease shipping times through the canal. -
Zimmerman Telegram
Telegram from Germany to Mexico to propose that Mexico attack the U.S. to distract the U.S. -
U.S. Entry into World War I, 1917
On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson went before a joint session of Congress to request a declaration of war against Germany. -
The Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles
The Paris Peace Conference convened in January 1919 at Versailles just outside Paris. The conference was called to establish the terms of the peace after World War I. Though nearly thirty nations participated, the representatives of the United Kingdom, France, the United States, and Italy became known as the “Big Four.” The “Big Four” dominated the proceedings that led to the formulation of the Treaty of Versailles, a treaty that ended World War I. -
The League of Nations, 1920
The League of Nations was an international organization, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, created after the First World War to provide a forum for resolving international disputes. Though first proposed by President Woodrow Wilson as part of his Fourteen Points plan for an equitable peace in Europe, the United States never became a member. -
The Kellogg-Briand Pact, 1928
The Kellogg-Briand Pact was an agreement to outlaw war signed on August 27, 1928. Sometimes called the Pact of Paris for the city in which it was signed, the pact was one of many international efforts to prevent another World War, but it had little effect in stopping the rising militarism of the 1930s or preventing World War II. -
The Great Depression and U.S. Foreign Policy
The Great Depression of the 1930s was a global event that derived in part from events in the United States and U.S. financial policies. As it lingered through the decade, it influenced U.S. foreign policies in such a way that the United States Government became even more isolationist. -
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The Neutrality Acts, 1930s
In the 1930s, the United States Government enacted a series of laws designed to prevent the United States from being embroiled in a foreign war by clearly stating the terms of U.S. neutrality. Although many Americans had rallied to join President Woodrow Wilson’s crusade to make the world “safe for democracy” in 1917, by the 1930s critics argued that U.S. involvement in the First World War had been driven by bankers and munitions traders with business interests in Europe. -
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1937–1945: Diplomacy and the Road to Another War
By the late 1930s, the United States continued its efforts to stay out of the wars in Europe and Asia. As the failure of disarmament, the peace movement, and the doctrine of appeasement became clear, Congress passed a series of neutrality acts designed to prevent the United States from being drawn into the widespread international conflict that the U.S. Government believed to be inevitable. -
Lend-Lease and Military Aid to the Allies in the Early Years of World War II
During World War II, the United States began to provide significant military supplies and other assistance to the Allies in September 1940, even though the United States did not enter the war until December 1941. -
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U.S.-Soviet Alliance, 1941–1945
Although relations between the Soviet Union and the United States had been strained in the years before World War II, the U.S.-Soviet alliance of 1941–1945 was marked by a great degree of cooperation and was essential to securing the defeat of Nazi Germany. Without the remarkable efforts of the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front, the United States and Great Britain would have been hard pressed to score a decisive military victory over Nazi Germany. -
The Formation of the United Nations, 1945
On January 1, 1942, representatives of 26 nations at war with the Axis powers met in Washington to sign the Declaration of the United Nations endorsing the Atlantic Charter, pledging to use their full resources against the Axis and agreeing not to make a separate peace. -
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1945–1952: The Early Cold War
The United States emerged from World War II as one of the foremost economic, political, and military powers in the world. Wartime production pulled the economy out of depression and propelled it to great profits. -
Rio Pact
Was an agreement signed by many countries in the Americas stating that an attack on one of them is an attack on them all. -
The Berlin Blockade
Was held to try and stop the spread of Communism through Berlin and led to the building tension between the U.S. and the USSR. -
Marshall Plan
Was an American initiative to aid in the rebuilding of Europe after WWII by giving away $13,000,000,000. -
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The Korean War
War between North and South Korea when the North aided by Communist military support invaded the South and the U.S. jumped in to help. -
The East German Uprising, 1953
On June 16, 1953, workers in East Berlin rose in protest against government demands to increase productivity. Within days, nearly a million East Germans joined the protests and began rioting across hundreds of East German cities and towns. In order to prolong the uprising and win support for the West, the United States established an aid program to feed East Germans. -
The Eisenhower Doctrine, 1957
President Dwight D. Eisenhower announced the Eisenhower Doctrine in January 1957, and Congress approved it in March of the same year. Under the Eisenhower Doctrine, a country could request American economic assistance and/or aid from U.S. military forces if it was being threatened by armed aggression from another state. -
The Bay of Pigs
The Bay of Pigs was a failed invasion attempt of Cuba by the CIA to oust Fidel Castro -
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The Berlin Wall
A wall was built in Berlin to separate the East and West sides, Democracy vs Communism, and the wall remained for the next 28 years splitting the city in two. -
The Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was a direct and dangerous confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War and was the moment when the two superpowers came closest to nuclear conflict. -
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Ending the Vietnam War, 1969-1973
President Richard M. Nixon assumed responsibility for the Vietnam War as he swore the oath of office on January 20, 1969. He knew that ending this war honorably was essential to his success in the presidency. He expected that the American people would give him a year to end U.S. involvement in the war, and he expected to succeed during that time. -
Detente
Was a time of reduced tension between the U.S. and USSR thanks to Nixon trying to decreases the chances of a nuclear war. -
The Horn of Africa and SALT II, 1977–1979
In the summer of 1977, Somalia, a poverty -stricken country in the Horn of Africa, invaded its equally poor neighbor, Ethiopia, in hopes of conquering the Ogaden Desert region, which was populated by ethnic Somalis. What began as a local conflict in a far-flung region of the world grew into a Cold War hotspot as the United States and the Soviet Union took sides. -
Camp David Accord
The Camp David Accords, signed by President Jimmy Carter, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in September 1978, established a framework for a historic peace treaty concluded between Israel and Egypt in March 1979. -
Iran-Iraq War, 1980-1988
At the end of the Iran-Iraq War of 1980–1988, Iraq emerged with its state intact and a reinforced sense of national pride, but laden with massive debts. Iraq had largely financed the war effort through loans, and owed some $37 billion to Gulf creditors in 1990. -
Evolution of NATO, 1988-2001
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was born at the outset of the Cold War, designed to meet three complementary objectives: deter Soviet expansionism, prevent the revival of nationalist militarism in Europe through a strong North American presence on the continent, and encourage European political integration. Its core function lay in the collective defense of Central and Western Europe against a Soviet attack. -
The Gulf War, 1991
At the end of the Iran-Iraq War of 1980–1988, Iraq emerged with its state intact and a reinforced sense of national pride, but laden with massive debts. Iraq had largely financed the war effort through loans, and owed some $37 billion to Gulf creditors in 1990. -
NAFTA
Also known as the North American Free Trade Agreement, created a trilateral trade bloc in North America, Canada, the United States and Mexico. -
9/11
Terrorists crash 2 plains into the U.S. Twin Towers making it the most destructive terrorist attack on U.S. soil