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Spanish - American War
After the American battleship "Maine" was sunken in the Cuban Havana Harbor, America began to push for the independence of Cuba from Spain. This caused Spain, then the U.S., to declare war on each other. After months of fighting in the Caribbean, Atlantic, and Pacific, and due to Spain's lack of industrialism, the U.S. won the war. This was followed by the allowance of the U.S. control over Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and parts of the Philippines in the Treaty of Paris. -
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World War I
The United States joined the war much later than everyone else, in 1917 in fact. Their reasoning behind it is slightly different than others'. The U.S.'s freedom of seas was threatened throughout the 1910s by German U-Boats and submarines. Also, the U.S. would have lost money in the war had France and Britain lost. The efforts by the U.S. aided in the formation of an armistace, or an agreement to cease fighting. -
Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points
During a joint session of Congress on Jan. 8, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson proposed a 14-part plan that he felt was necessary for the peace and freedom of overseas areas. It's main ideas were the reducing of weapons, increase of trade, increase of freedom, and the diplomatic settling of conflicts. These ideas established a framework for peace negotiations after the armistace of WWI by Germany. -
Treaty of Versailles
This treaty was created after the armistace of WWI, and it saw the heavy losses for Germany. Land losses, demilitarization, reparations for other nations, and taking the blame for the war were the terms that Germany had to work with. The Treaty of Versailles was also responsible for the creation of the League of Nations, which sought for the preventation of future conflicts in Europe. Also, several countries were established, like Poland, Finland, Iraq, Hungary, and many more -
FDR and the New Deal
From the beginning of his presidency, Franklin Roosevelt had a plan that was meant to stimulate the U.S. economy after the events of the Great Depression took place. This included improvements on industry, agriculture, and banking while improving the unemployment rate by enforcing environmental projects (hydroelectricity, replanting, etc.). The efforts given by the New Deal and FDR helped improve the living conditions of the United States, as well as government stability and a secure economy. -
Lend-Lease Act
The Lend-Lease Act gave the United States the ability to assist in overseas war efforts with countries who were vital to the defense of the U.S. themselves. While the United States handing out weapons to countries at war may seem like a good idea, it actually brought them closer to the conflict against the Axis powers of Germany, Italy and Japan. Isolationists, who believed the U.S. should stay home and not get involved, did just that. It was a reason for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
On this date, Japan launched a surprise attack on the Hawaiian naval base of Pearl Harbor. Beginning early in the morning, Japanese fighter planes dropped bombs on naval ships and surrounding areas. The attack left 2,403 Americans dead and 1,178 wounded. This was the official point of the United States entering World War II. -
Invasion of Normandy
A plan formulated by General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Allied invasion of Normandy in France was meant to push German troops back far enough into Europe to gain a decent foothold on the European front. This was an extremely dangerous task. Troops landing in on ships would take heavy fire from German troops and explosives buried in the sand. Many airbourne soldiers would parachute in to establish force more inland. This invasion cost 4,414 Allied soldiers their lives, but for a good reason. -
Battle of the Bulge
On this day, German forces launched an attack on two American divisions in the Ardennes region in Belgium. This was meant to be a counterattack and for Germany to get a foothold on the war effort. When Americans tried to secure bridgeheads, they took the appearence of a large bulge of troops fighting desperately to hold the Germans back. This worked, but almost 90,000 American soldiers lost their lives, which makes this a very important battle in the aspect of WWII. -
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Atomic Bombing on Japan & End of WWII
On August 6 and 9, 1945, the U.S. Air Force dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively. The two attacks costed, at most, 250,000 people their lives. Days after the attacks, Japan formally surrendered to the United States. On September 2, Japan signed the instrument of surrender, which officially ended WWII, and began the American occupation of Japan.
