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2001 BCE
Iraq war
In 2001-2002 the USA attacked Afghanistan. In 2003 on 20th March the United States led the missile attacks on Baghdad. The US President George W. Bush said that the invasion was "to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people". 36 million people all over the world took part in 3,000 protests against the Iraq war. In 2008 people are still protesting -
1991 BCE
The Gulf War
In 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait, and in January 1991 the USA attacked Iraq. The mission was called "Desert Storm". The President was George Bush (Senior). -
1964 BCE
Vietnam
The USA was involved in a long war in Vietnam between 1964 and 1975. Two and a half million Americans fought in Vietnam and 58,000 Americans were killed. Between 2 and 5 million Vietnamese died, many of whome were civilians. The war ended in 1975 when Saigon fell to the communists. -
1964 BCE
Civil rights
In 1964 the Civil Rights Act became law. It aimed to stop discrimination on grounds of race, color, religion and nationality. In 1968 the Black Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was assinated. -
1962 BCE
Cold War 2
In 1961 Washington tried unseccessfully to invade Cuba, whose leader was the comunist Fidel Castro and in 1962 the USA force the Soviet Union to remove nuclear weapons from Cuba. The President was John F. Kennedy. The Cold War finished in 1990s. -
1945 BCE
The Cold War
After the end of the Second World War the ideas of comunism and capitalism were very different and the USA formed a policy to help nations against comunisme. A period of tension, suspicions and competitions began between the United Statesand the Soviet Union and their alies, esprcially in espionage, military, industrial, and technological developments, including the space race and the nuclear arms race. The greatest fear was the threat of nuclear war. -
1941 BCE
Word War ll
In 1941 Japanase warplanes attacked the US ships at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii; the USA then declared war on Japan.When the USA dropped two atomic bombs in 1945 Japan surrendered. -
1933 BCE
Wall Street Crash 2
The Great Depression, a period of poverty, followed and in 1933 President Franklin D. Roosvelt started a recovery programme called the "New Deal". -
1929 BCE
Wall Street Crash
During the 1920s many Americans became rich very quickly by buying stocks and shares on the New York Stock Exchange in Wall Street. They kept them for a short time and then sold them at a profit. When the price of these stocks and shares fell in 1929, many people lost their money and businessman didn't have enought money to run their companies 100,000 Americans companies closed and 13 million workers became unemployed. -
1914 BCE
Word War l
In 1914 the USA wanted to stay neutral because it was a European conflict . On April 6th 1917, Congress gave permission for the USA to enter the war to help Britain and the allies after two American boats were sunk. -
Attack on the Twin Towers
On 11th September terrorista hijacked four passenger aeroplanes and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and into a field in Pennsylvania. 3,025 people died in the attacks. Osama Bin Laden, a very rich man from Saudi Arabia, used much of his money to promote terrorist activivities. -
The World Trade Center
At 8.46 a.m. on 11 September 2001, a plane crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York. Seventeen minutes later, a second plane crashed into the south tower. People called them the "Twin Towers" because they were identical.They had 110 floors. About 50,000 peple worked in the towers and around another 200,000 people visited them every day. -
Ground Zero
Ground Zero became a symbolic place. Every year, on 11th September, families of the victims, and other New York residents go to memorial ceremonies. At the ceremonies, they remember the victims and have moments of silence.
The people of New York wanted to re-build the area and create an appropiate memorial. In 2006, they started building Memorial Plaza at Ground Zero. -
Memorial Plaza
In Memorial Plaza there are two square pools with waterfalls where the Twin Towers stood. The names of the victims are around the pools. The park is very big, with 400 hundred trees. There is a space for ceremonies. In the park, there's a National Museum. The museum contains objects and pictures to remember the victims of 11th September. -
Memorial Plaza 2
It also includes "The Survivors' Stairway". This is an original stairway from the Twin Towers. Many survivons escaped using this stayrway and it has become a symbol of hope and survival. -
Victims of 11th September
There were 2976 victims of 90 different nationalities, including 411 emergency workers. Some passengers on board the planes were able to contact their families and friends using their mobile phones. They said that the hijackers had knives and bombs, which were used to kill pilots, flight attendants and some passengers. -
Victims of 11th September 2
About 17,400 people were in the WTC at the moment of the attack. The majority of those at or above this level died during the impact or because they had no escape. Most of the doors that gave acces to the roofs were closed and some disperate people decided to jump from the burning towers.
