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On April 25, 1898 the United States declared war on Spain following the sinking of the Battleship Maine in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898. The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898. As a result Spain lost its control over the remains of its overseas empire -- Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippine islands, Guam, and other islands.
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During the 1800's it became clear to the United States that Hawaii was becoming more important as a commercial export resource and as a strategic location for defense in the Pacific region. The United States was also becoming concerned about the possibility that Hawaii might become part of a European nation's empire, possibly Great Britain or France.
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The "Great White Fleet" sent around the world by President Theodore Roosevelt from 16 December 1907 to 22 February 1909 consisted of sixteen new battleships of the Atlantic Fleet. The battleships were painted white except for gilded scrollwork on their bows. The Atlantic Fleet battleships only later came to be known as the "Great White Fleet."
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DEC 3, 1912
Dollar Diplomacy Taft's remarks gave formal definition to the term "dollar diplomacy," a phrase synonymous with the diplomacy his administration pursued between 1909 and 1913. It was a narrowly constructed view of foreign relations, arising in great part out of the natural alliances between the corporate lawyers who came to people Taft's administration and the bankers and businesses that were their clients. -
Alice Paul and Lucy Burns form the Congressional Union to work toward the passage of a federal amendment to give women the vote. The group is later renamed the National Women's Party. Members picket the White House and practice other forms of civil disobedience.
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Arch-Duke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by serbian nationalist named Gavrilo Princep. Set off the powder keg of Europr.
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Germans defeated the Russian army on its way to invade Germany.
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The Allies stopped the German invasion of Paris.
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A British passenger ship, sunk by a German U-Boat.
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Margaret Sanger opens the first U.S. birth-control clinic in Brooklyn, New York. Although the clinic is shut down 10 days later and Sanger is arrested, she eventually wins support through the courts and opens another clinic in New York City in 1923.
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The French held their line against a German offensive until December of the same year, during the longest battle of the war.
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An indecisive naval battle between German and British fleets.
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The United States enters into the first World War, declaring war on the Central Powers.
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The Central Powers, tired of fighting, sign the armistice that ends World War 1
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Women became flappers; bobbed haired woman with short skirts that drank, smoked, and were sexually free than previous generations
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Banned the manufacture and sale of "intoxicating liquors." This drove the liquor trade underground–now, people simply went to nominally illegal speakeasies instead of ordinary bars–where it was controlled by bootleggers, racketeers and other organized-crime figures such as Chicago gangster Al Capone.
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The 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote, is signed into law by Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby.
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Jazz bans played at dance halls like the Savoy in New York City an the Aragon in Chicago; radio stations and phonograph records carried their tunes to listeners across the nation
