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Invention of the Ford Model T
One of the world's first inexpensive and easily obtained automobiles. -
The Zimmerman Telegram
A secret diplomatic communication from Germany that proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico. -
The WWI Armistice
Ended all fighting between the allied forces and Germany in World War I. -
The 19th Amendment
Prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to U.S. citizens on the basis of sex. -
Charles Lindbergh's Flight
The first solo non-stop trans-Atlantic flight (New York to Paris). -
Black Thursday
The stock market plummeted 11%, beginning the Wall Street Crash of 1929. -
The New Deal
A series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. -
Hitler Becomes Chancellor
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The Munich Pact
An agreement reached by Germany, Great Britain, France, and Italy that permitted German annexation of the Sudetenland, in western Czechoslovakia. -
Hitler Invades Poland
Marked the beginning of World War II. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
A surprise military strike by Japan on the United States in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. -
D-day
Allied forces launched a combined naval, air, and land assault on Nazi-occupied Normandy, France, in what became the largest seaborne invasion in history. -
Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima
The U.S. drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. This remains the only real use of nuclear weaponry in history. -
Bombing of Nagasaki
The U.S. drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. This remains the only real use of nuclear weaponry in history. -
Formation of the UN
The United Nations is formed. -
The Long Telegram
American diplomat George F. Kennan sent an 8,000 word telegram to the U.S. on the aggressive nature of Stalin's foreign policy. -
Formation of NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is formed. -
Russians Acquire the Atomic Bomb
The Soviet Union successfully exploded its own atomic bomb. -
The Korean War
A war between North Korea (supported by China and the Soviet Union) and South Korea (supported by the UN, especially the U.S.). -
Brown v Board of Education
A supreme court case between the Brown family and the Topeka Board of Education, ending with the ruling that separating children in public schools on the basis of race was unconstitutional. -
The Vietnam War
Ended April 30, 1975 (20 years later!). An armed conflict between the U.S. and Vietnam (and their allies). The U.S. lost this one. -
Rosa Parks Refuses to Move
Rosa Parks, an African-American woman, refused to give up her seat in the colored section of a public bus to a white man once the white section was full. -
The Cuban Missile Crisis
A political and military standoff between the U.S. and the Soviet Union over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles in Cuba. -
Assassination of JFK
President John F. Kennedy is assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald. -
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Authorized President Johnson to take any measures necessary to retaliate and promote the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia. -
Apollo 11 Moon Landing
The spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Crew members included Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. -
The Watergate Break-Ins
Burglars linked to President Richard Nixon's re-election campaign were caught and arrested trying to steal information from the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington D.C. -
Nixon's Resignation
President Richard Nixon resigns due to a massive loss of support over several issues, most prominently the Watergate scandal. -
Invention of the Internet
The Internet (though not the world-wide internet we know now) is invented. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
The massive wall dividing communist East Germany from West Germany crumbles. -
The 9/11 Attacks
A series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Wahhabi terrorist group. They flew passenger planes into the World Trade Centers in New York, the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and almost either the Capitol Building or the White House in Washington D.C., (the passengers on that final flight got news of the other attacks and took over the plane). -
COVID-19 Pandemic
First broke out in Wuhan, China. A vaccine was only recently developed, and is still in limited quantities and not readily available.