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Battle of Lexington and Concord
British troops marched to Concord, MA to seize a weapons cache from the colonists when Paul Revere and other riders sounded the alarm, beginning the battle, ending in the British troops retreating. -
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American Revolution
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Battle of Bunker Hill
Early in the Revolutionary War, the British defeated the Americans at the Battle of Bunker Hill in Massachusetts. However, the Americans delt a great number of casualties and provided them with a confidence boost during battles to come. -
Battle of Saratoga
British General John Burgoyne achieved a small, but costly victory over American forces led by Horatio Gates and Benedict Arnold. Though his troop strength had been weakened, Burgoyne again attacked the Americans at Bemis Heights on October 7th, but this time was defeated and forced to retreat. He surrendered ten days later, and the American victory convinced the French government to formally recognize the colonist’s cause and enter the war as their ally. -
Battle of Yorktown
George Washington, commanding a force of 17,000 French and Continental troops, begins the siege known as the Battle of Yorktown against British General Lord Charles Cornwallis and a contingent of 9,000 British troops at Yorktown, Virginia, in the most important battle of the Revolutionary War. -
Battle of Tippecanoe
The Battle of Tippecanoe was fought between Shawnee leader Tecumseh and his Native American forces against Governnor William Henry Harrison near modern day Lafayette, which was Indian Territory then. -
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War of 1812
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British Invasion of Washington D.C. and the Burning of the White House
British troops entered Washington, D.C. and burned the White House in retaliation for the American attack on the city of York in Ontario, Canada, in June 1812. -
End of the Federalist Party
The Federalist Party came to an end during the Hartford Convention, which lasted from December 14, 1814 to January 5, 1815, where the party attempted to change the constitution, debatably for the better, but failed and disbanned. -
Battle of New Orleans
Andrew Jackson led a strategic attack against the British where he and his men killed over 2000 British soldiers and lost only 71 of their own. However, this battle was actually fought after the peace treaty had been signed with England. -
Secession of Southern States
Throughout January 1861, 7 of the 34 states at the time seceded from the United States of America to form the Confederate States of America, better known as the Confederacy or the South. -
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Civil War
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Battle of Antietam
This was the first major battle to take place on Union soil, near Sharpsburg, Maryland and Antietam Creek, and was the bloodiest single-day battle in American History -
Battle of Stones River
Of the major battles of the Civil War, Stones River had the highest percentage of casualties on both sides. Although the battle itself was inconclusive, the Union Army's repulse of two Confederate attacks and the subsequent Confederate withdrawal were a much-needed boost to Union morale. -
Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation during the third year of the civil war, which stated: "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." -
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Cold War
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Marshall Plan
In June 1947, in accordance with the Truman Doctrine, the United States enacted the Marshall Plan, a pledge of economic assistance for all European countries willing to participate, including the Soviet Union. -
Establishment of NATO
Britain, France, the United States, Canada and eight other western European countries signed the North Atlantic Treaty, establishing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). -
Warsaw Pact
While Stalin's death in 1953 slightly relaxed tensions, the situation in Europe remained an uneasy armed truce. The Soviets, who had already created a network of mutual assistance treaties in the Eastern Bloc by 1949, established a formal alliance therein, the Warsaw Pact. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
America's secret plot to overthrow the Cuban government was revealed leading to many ships with massize missiles ready to launch facing off, waiting for the other to make the first move.