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Why We Study History
More InformationWe study history to understand our modern society in a better way. By learning from the failures and triumphs of those who came before us, we understand why people do things that they do today, and how to develop as a global civilization. We learn about human nature through studying history, and we learn about modern culture, economy, and politics as well. -
Paul Revere's Midnight Ride
More Information Paul Revere's famous ride is a perfect example of how history in interpreted in multiple ways. Through countless retellings of an event, details get changed, and different accounts of the truth are developed. When no hard proof is offered, it is up to us to determine which story we believe to be true. Revere's ride shows us why different people explain history in different ways. -
Industrialism
More Information Industrialism developed slightly right before and during the Civil War, but after Reconstruction, it took off. The economic scene changed from the majority being self-employed to the majority working for an employer. A few tycoons controlled most of the wealth of the nation, and often times laborers fought for better working conditions and more money. The U.S. economy had officially been industrialized. -
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US History: 1877-2011
These are the events and ideas that shaped the course of modern American history. Starting in 1877, these actions and emotions directed the historical direction of the United States. -
The Founding of the American Federation of Labor
More Information The founding of the American Federation of Labor was not the first attempt at national organization of labor, but it was the first successful one. It was an organization of only skilled labor, which united them under common goals and desires. This was the beginning of a movement for organized labor, and improved rights for workers. -
The Wounded Knee Massacre
More Information The massacre at Wounded Knee Creek was the end of Native American life in America. There were still small reservations scattered around the country afterwards, but the Native Americans had been all but eradicated. When a weapon was fired amid tension and confusion, U.S. troops massacred Native Americans. The frontier had closed. -
Imperialism
More Information The general public began to push for international expansion. America was hungry for more land. They gained a large amount of it during the Spanish-American War, and through other diplomatic events and forceful events in the late 19th century and early 20th century. People wanted America to become an empire, and eventually, America ruled the Western Hemisphere. -
The Sinking of the Lusitania
More Information When German U-Boats bombed the Lusitania, killing over 1,000 passengers, 128 of whom were Americans, America was thrusted into an international conflict. German harassment on the seas, along with the Zimmerman Note, gave America no option but to join World War I. This ended the country's history of removing themselves from international affairs. -
The Founding of the League of Nations
More Information The League of Nations was one of Woodrow Wilson's fourteen points after World War I. He wanted international peace, while the European leaders wanted revenge against Germany. The League of Nations was founded to support negotiation and diplomacy, but it did not last. It never reached the strength to enforce the kind of security to maintain global peace. -
The Stock Market Crash
More Information When the Stock Market crashed, the American economy was plunged into its longest period of darkness ever. Banks failed, causing citizens to lose all of their money overnight. Workers got laid off; more and more became homeless and hungry. The country had never seen an economic collapse this bad. People migrated in hopes of opportunity elsewhere in the country. Poverty swept the nation like never before. -
The Inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt
More Information When Franklin Roosevelt was inaugurated, he wasted no time going to work to fix the country. He began the New Deal, and picked the country up out of one of its darkest times. He paid the unemployed to perform public service projects. He fixed the banks. He helped farmers regain stability. Franklin Roosevelt set the foundations for the economy to be saved after the Great Depression. -
Japan Bombs Pearl Harbor
More Information Pearl Harbor ruined American hopes of isolationism during the Second World War. To establish a strong economic presence in the west, Japan wanted control of the Philippines, so they bombed the main chunk of the U.S. Navy to gain a time window to take the islands. The U.S., forced to respond, entered their second international deadly conflict of the century, World War II. -
The U.S. Bombs Hiroshima
More Information The war both began and ended with bombs and Japan for the United States. Japan bombed Pearl Harbor to launch us into the war, and once we had defeated Germany, we dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan. Days after, we dropped a second. The devastation of the bombs on the cities and the civilians serves as a constant reminder to the world of the dangers of nuclear weaponry, and a promotion of world peace and diplomacy. -
The Initiation of the Berlin Blockade
More Information The Berlin Blockade and the Berlin Airlift were important international conflicts within the Cold War. The U.S. and its allies against Communism proved to the Communist powers, especially the Soviet Union, that they were willing to fight to contain the social system. Supplies were delivered to the people of West Berlin by air, and the city was eventually released - a huge win for the battle against Communism. -
Rosa Parks Sits on the Bus
More Information Rosa Parks ignited a movement when she defied a white bus driver who told her to move to the back of the bus, because of the color of her skin. She was one of the first important fighters for equality, and played an important role in the Civil Rights Movement. Just by sitting down, she began a battle for basic rights that she knew belonged to her. -
Civil Rights
More InformationThere are basic rights that belong to any people, regardless of race, gender, or way of life. A Civil Rights Movement erupted that had African Americans across the country struggling to gain rights that should have belonged to them from the beginning. Women began an organized battle for equality among gender. Civil rights belong to all people, and in the 60s and 70s, the people who deserved these rights finally fought to get them. -
The Initiation of Operation Rolling Thunder
More Information Operation Rolling Thunder was a military crusade during the Vietnam War. The U.S. bombed the Communist forces in Vietnam, in one of the most pointless wars fought by our country. We sent money and men to fight a war that the majority of Vietnam did not want us fighting, and in the end, we accomplished nothing. The war is an embarrassment on our military and general history as a country. -
Russia Becomes Independent from the Soviet Union
More Information The Soviet Union was slowly collapsing. Several states began to become independent, including Russia. People often credit Reagan and Bush with the end of the Cold War, because of their military spending. Whether or not that is the case, the world could not be more relieved when the decade-long conflict came to its end. -
The World Wide Web is Released to the Public
More Information The World Wide Web was a massive step in bringing people together. People from nations around the globe could communicate and spread ideas and aspects of culture and society. The Web allows international politics, economics, society, and culture to progress ad form connections with one another and between different nations. -
The Impeachment of President Clinton
More Information President Bill Clinton was impeached following a sex scandal involving a White House intern. Newt Gingrich, leading an agressive group of conservatives, launched a political attack on Clinton to force his impeachment. The public stuck behind Clinton after his impeachment, however, because he maintained a consistent approval rating around 65%. -
Globalization
More Information It is important that nations around the world unite and bring together their cultures and societies, and their politics and economics. We, as a world full of different places and people, need to form connections, and strive to work together to promote diplomacy. To help develop the world, we have to support struggling countries, and unite the strong ones towards that common goal.
