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The invention of the Model T
The first production Model T was built on August 12, 1908, but didnt leave the factory until September 27, 1908, at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit, Michigan. -
The Zimmermann Telegram
British signals intelligence intercepted and decrypted a coded German telegram from German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann that was intended for Germany's ambassador to Mexico. -
The WWI Armistice
After more than four years of horrific fighting and the loss of millions of lives, the guns on the Western Front fell silent. Although fighting continued elsewhere, the armistice between Germany and the Allies was the first step to ending World War I. -
The 19th Amendment
Passed by Congress and was ratified on August 18, 1920, the 19th amendment granted women the right to vote. The 19th amendment legally guarantees American women the right to vote. Achieving this milestone required a lengthy and difficult struggle—victory took decades of agitation and protest. -
Charles Lindbergh’s Flight
Charles A. Lindbergh left Long Island's Roosevelt Field in a single-engine plane built by Ryan Airlines. The plane, named the Spirit of St. Louis, would not touch ground again until it reached Paris, France. -
Black Thursday
The first day of the stock market crash of 1929, a catastrophic decline in the stock market of the United States that immediately preceded the worldwide Great Depression -
Hitler becomes chancellor
Following several backroom negotiations – which included industrialists, Hindenburg's son, the former chancellor Franz von Papen, and Hitler – Hindenburg acquiesced and he formally appointed Adolf Hitler as Germany's new chancellor. -
The New Deal
Roosevelt sent to Congress the Emergency Banking Act, drafted in large part by Hoover's top advisors. The act was passed and signed into law the same day. It provided for a system of reopening sound banks under Treasury supervision, with federal loans available if needed. -
The Munich Pact
Germany, Italy, Great Britain, and France sign the Munich agreement, by which Czechoslovakia must surrender its border regions and defenses (the so-called Sudeten region) to Nazi Germany. -
Hitler Invades Poland
German troops invaded Poland, triggering World War II. In response to German aggression, Great Britain and France declared war on Nazi Germany. Nazi Germany possessed overwhelming military superiority over Poland. -
Pearl Harbor Attack
The Japanese military launched a surprise attack on the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Since early 1941 the U.S. had been supplying Great Britain in its fight against the Nazis. It had also been pressuring Japan to halt its military expansion in Asia and the Pacific. -
D-Day
More than 150,000 Allied troops land on the beaches of Normandy, France, as part of the largest seaborne invasion in history. Known as "D-Day," the name and date loom large in the memory of World War II—perhaps second only to December 7th, 1941. -
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Hiroshima & Nagasaki
The United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively. The bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the only use of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict. -
The Formation of United Nations
Roosevelt also sought to convince the public that an international organization was the best means to prevent future wars. The Senate approved the UN Charter on July 28, 1945, by a vote of 89 to 2. The United Nations came into existence on October 24, 1945, after 29 nations had ratified the Charter. -
The Long Telegram Invention
George Kennan, an American diplomat living in Moscow, sent an 8,000-word telegram to President Truman's State Department. -
The Formation of NATO
The foundations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) were officially laid down on 4 April 1949 with the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty, more popularly known as the Washington Treaty. -
Russia acquires the Atomic Bomb
After the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the program accelerated into high gear. The Soviets began construction of a near copy of the Fat Man bomb, using the detailed design descriptions provided by Fuchs. This replica, named Joe-1 by the West, was detonated at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in Kazakhstan on August 29, 1949. Its estimated yield was about 22 kilotons. -
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The Korean War
The Korean War started on 25 June 1950 and ended on 27 July 1953, after the signing of an armistice agreeing that the country would remain divided. At the end of the Second World War, Korea – which had formerly been occupied by the Japanese – was divided along the 38th parallel. -
Brown v Board of Education
The U.S. Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren delivered the unanimous ruling in the landmark civil rights case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. State-sanctioned segregation of public schools was a violation of the 14th amendment and was therefore unconstitutional. -
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The Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was a major conflict of the Cold War. -
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat
Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. She was a long time activist and in fact, days before, she had attended a mass meeting about the acquittal of the murderers of Emmett Till. -
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The Cuban Missile Crisis
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum. The thirteen days marking the most dangerous period of the Cuban missile crisis begin. -
JFK’s Assassination
John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was shot as he rode in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas. His accused killer was Lee Harvey Oswald, a former U.S. Marine who had embraced Marxism and defected for a time to the Soviet Union. Oswald never stood trial for murder, because, while being transferred after having been taken into custody, he was shot and killed by Jack Ruby, a distraught Dallas nightclub owner. -
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
This joint resolution of Congress (H.J. RES 1145) gave President Lyndon Johnson authority to increase U.S. involvement in the war between North and South Vietnam -
The Apollo 11 Moon Landing
Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, and Armstrong became the first person to step onto the Moon's surface six hours and 39 minutes later, on July 21 at 02:56 UTC. -
The Watergate Break-ins
In the early morning hours, a night guard at a D.C. hotel and office complex was making his rounds when he noticed a suspiciously taped-open exit door. He quickly alerted authorities, setting off a series of events that would forever change the nation. -
Nixon’s Resignation
Knowing his presidency was effectively over, Nixon finalized his decision to resign. The president's speechwriter Raymond K. Price wrote the resignation speech. It was delivered on the evening of August 8, 1974 from the Oval Office and was carried live on radio and television. -
The invention of the Internet
ARPANET was a great success for the internet, but membership was limited to certain academic and research organizations who had contracts with the Defense Department. In response to this, other networks were created to provide information sharing. Thus, January 1, 1983 is considered the official birthday of the Internet. -
The Fall of the Berlin Wall
At a press conference on 9 November, East German spokesman Günter Schabowski announced that East Germans would be free to travel into West Germany, starting immediately. -
The 9/11 Attacks
The 9/11 attacks were caused by four coordinated Islamist suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States. -
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Covid-19 Pandemic
The Coronavirus pandemic,COVID-19 pandemic, is a global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified in an outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019. Attempts to contain it there failed, allowing the virus to spread to other areas of Asia and then worldwide in early 2020.