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Black Thursday
Black Thursday is a term used to describe a series of negative events that happened on a Thursday. For example: On February 6 1851, it was a day of devastating bush-fires in Australia, and on September 18, 1873, the US bank, Jay Cooke & Company declared bankruptcy, triggering a series of bank faliures. -
The invention of the Model T
The Model T was the first car that was affordable for the majority of Americans. Over 15 million Model T's were built and sold. It was introduced in 1908 by Henry Ford. There were many models built from this, two seaters, family vans, but the only color it was produced in was black. These continued to be the main car until about 1927. -
The Zimmerman Telegram
Arthur Zimmerman, a top level "civil servant" sent a coded message to the German Ambassador to Mexico. It basically said that if the US entertained the idea of a war, Germany would propose an alliance with Mexico. It was signed "ZIMMERMAN" -
WWI Armistice
This was an important event in WWI. It ended the fighting on land, sea, and air between the "allies" and Germany. It mean a victory for the "Allies" and a defeat for Germany, even though Germany didn't formally surrender. -
19th Amenment
The 19th amendment made it so that both men and women could vote. It was brought to pass by the women's suffrage movement, which fought to have it written in on both state and national levels. -
Charles Lindbergh's flight
Charles Lindbergh made the first solo non-stop flight between North America and the European mainland. He was given the highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor for his flight. His plane was named the Spirit of St. Louis. -
The New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs, public work, projects, and more enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt between 1933 and 1936. It was a response to the need of recovery from the Great Depression. -
Hitler becomes Chancellor
Adolf Hitler was name Chancellor of Germany by President Paul von Hindenburg. This marked a huge watershed moment for Germany, and the rest of the world because Hitler's idea, which was to do away with politics and make Germany a powerful, unified, one party state, was agreed with by most of the German population. Hitler knew he know has the power to get Nazi Germany up and running and there was nothing the President of Germany, or anyone else for that matter could do to stop it. -
Hitler Invades poland
When Hitler invaded Poland, that launched us into WWII. -
Pearl Harbor
The Attack on Pearl Harbor was terrible. It was a surprise military attack by the Japanese. The attack on Pearl Harbor is what got the US involved in the second world war. -
D-Day
D-Day was the largest seaborne invasion in history. It was an operation to begin the liberation of France, which was German-occupied and controlled by the Nazis. -
Hiroshima and Nagaski
The US dropped two nuclear weapons over the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. The first bomb was dropped on August 6th, and another was dropped 3 days later on the 9th. These nuclear explosions killed many people, mostly civilians. -
Formation of the United Nations
The United Nations was formed shortly after WWII ended. -
The Long Telegram
The Long Telegram was sent by George Kennan from the US Embassy in Moscow Russia to Washington, where it was received on February 22nd. It showed how the Soviets viewed the world. -
The formation of NATO
NATO stands for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It is an intergovernmental military alliance between the 29 North American and European countries. It was signed on April 4th. -
The Russians acquire the Atomic Bomb
The soviet atomic bomb project was approved by Joseph Stalin during WWII. Andrei Sakharov and Igor Kurchatov were the two physicists who led the program to success. -
Korean War
The Korean war was a war between North Korea (with support from China and the Soviet Union) and South Korea (with the support of the US) The war began on the the 25th of June when North Korea invaded South Korea. -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was essentially a long struggle between forces trying to unify the country of Vietnam under a communistic government and the US (with South Vietnam trying to prevent the spread of Communism. It lasted 19 long years. It finally ended when the US withdrew and Vietnam unified under a communism. -
Brown vs Board of Education
Brown vs Board of Education is a well know Supreme Court about the laws that allowed separate public schools for black and white students. Brown argued that it was unconstitutional. It was decided unequal and unconstitutional. -
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in the colored seat in the bus to a white passenger, when the white section was full. She was arrested for civil disobedience. She was very important to the civil rights movements. -
The Cuban Missile Crisis
The US and the Soviet Union had a confrontation concerning American ballistic missile deployment in Italy and Turkey with the Soviets deploying missiles to Cuba. The confrontation lasted 13 days. -
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
President John F. Kennedy was riding with his wife and Texas Governor John Connally and his wife, when former U.S. Marine Lee Harvey Oswald fired on him from a nearby building. Connally was seriously wounded, but he recovered. Kennedy died 30 minutes after the shooting. -
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
This was a joint resolution to "promote the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia." It was signed by Lydon B Johnson without Congress declaring war formally. It allowed the President to do whatever he needed to in order to make sure the resolution was honored and included involving armed forces. -
Apollo 11 Moon Landing
Commander Neil Armstrong and Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module, Eagle, on the moon. Armstrong was the first person to step onto the lunar surface. Aldrin joined him about 20 minutes later. -
Invention of the Internet
Electronic computers started to be developed in the 1950s. The first message was sent over the ARPANET in 1969 from a laboratory in California to the second network node and the Stanford Research Institute. Internet was developed in the 1970s. -
Watergate Scandal
The Watergate Scandal was a political scandal that happened in the early 1970's following a break-in by five men at the DNC headquarters in Washington DC at the Watergate office complex. The five burglars were caught the conspiracy was discovered by some journalists -
Nixon's Resolution
Nixon was secretly bombing Cambodia. This was kept secret for about a year until the American people heard about the My Lai massacre. (US troops killed unarmed civilians and children). When Congress heard, they immediately put an end to the bombings. At the same time, they also drew up the War Powers Resolution. This resolution required the President to consult Congress before starting hostilities and report the deployment of troops. Nixon vetoed the resolution but was overridden. -
The Munich Pact
The Munich Pact, also known as the Munich Agreement, basically said that France would not provide military assistance to Czechoslovakia in the German occupation of this land. It directly dishonored the French-Czechoslovakia alliance. -
The Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall separated East and West Germany. The Berlin wall separated two cities and did not allow people to travel freely. When the wall was finally torn down, it allowed for German unification. -
9/11 Attacks
The 9/11 attacks were a series of 4 attacks by Islamic terrorist group, al-Qaeda. 2 planes, that were hi-jacked by the terrorists flew into the Twin Towers and killed thousands of people. The 3rd hi-jacked plane supposedly flew into the Pentagon and the 4th was on a path to Washington DC, but crashed into the ground in Pennsylvania after it's passengers confronted and intercepted the hi-jackers. They were devastating attacks, and remain to this the day the deadliest terror attacks in history.
