HISTORY.com Editors

These aircraft, tanks, rocket launchers and more serve as the workhorses of American warfare. One has even earned the nickname "the finger of God."

Chris Mellon believes the government should more aggressively gather intel on military UFO sightings, some of which were captured on video.

Civil War secrets found in a battlefield garbage pile. A jewel thief in a powdered wig who hastened Marie Antoinette’s downfall. A Supreme Court showdown started by barmaids. Discover 25 fascinating—and often overlooked—moments that made history.

Preserved by icy waters, the majestic wooden ship of the infamous 1914-1916 Antarctic expedition is revealed in images from the deep of the Weddell Sea.

These standout titles don’t just recount battles.

These people went off the beaten track. Then things went horribly wrong.

From its colors to the rendering of a snake-eating eagle, the Mexican flag is packed with symbolism and history.

As a first-grader, her image became an emotional symbol for civil rights and educational equality.

D-Day was a historic World War II invasion, but the events of June 6, 1944 encompassed much more than a key military victory.

A brutally drawn-out election in 1271 led to the formation of the secretive, secluded conclave—and quicker elections.

A look back at some pivotal moments in the complicated relationship between the two superpowers.

Which famous French explorer is credited with naming them?

Their backstories may surprise you.

Christopher Columbus' arrival in North America in 1492 undoubtedly changed the world and lives of the Indigenous people he met. But was it for the better?

Halloween's focus on horror and make believe has spawned creepy legends, ghost stories—and hoaxes.

From witches to zombies to creepy clowns, the season's hair-raising legends all formed from decades—to centuries—of lore.

From pagan rituals to costumes and candy corn, discover how Halloween—and its associated traditions—has evolved through the ages.

The Woodstock music festival may not have been a smoothly run event, but it featured electric moments—musical and otherwise—that made it unforgettable.

A diplomat who used the power of paperwork, a 16-year-old girl who shot Nazis from her bicycle and a teacher who hid Jewish children in baskets were among those who risked their lives to save others during World War II.

The Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma had flourished as a neighborhood built by Black people, for Black people. In 1921 it was destroyed by a white mob. Get the facts on the attack and subsequent coverup.

The 20-foot piece of the NASA space shuttle was found off the coast of Florida during the filming of the new HISTORY Channel series, 'The Bermuda Triangle: Into Cursed Waters.'

The practice can be traced to the ancient Celts, early Roman Catholics and 17th-century British politics.

Before we carved pumpkins, the Irish chiseled creepy faces onto turnips.

Images show devastation during the 2001 terror attacks, and the tragic aftermath.

Watch videos about the attacks of 9/11 and the aftermath.

The struggle for LGBTQ rights dates at least as far back as 1924 and accelerated in the wake of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising.

He's America's first president. The icon we all think we know. But in reality, he was a complicated human being.

If you’ve ever received an anonymous flower basket at your doorstep on the first day of May, you may have been the recipient of a May Day basket.

This HISTORY Channel podcast, produced in partnership with WNYC Studios, was honored with a 2024 Peabody Award.

Meet the standout soldiers, spies and homefront forces who fought in American conflicts, from the Revolution to World War II.

Who was the real St. Patrick? Was that legend about the snakes true? And why did so many St. Patrick's Day traditions start in America?

'After Auschwitz, the human condition is no longer the same. After Auschwitz, nothing will ever be the same.' —Elie Wiesel.

On December 7, 1941, a surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor shocked America. These are the stories of veterans who were at the naval base that morning.

On the morning of 9/11 in New York City, ordinary people picked up video cameras and recorded. This is what they saw—and how they reflected on the experience years later.

The first Indigenous cabinet member in U.S. history, Haaland hails from a lineage of 35 generations based in New Mexico.

These videos showcase the vision and hope John F. Kennedy inspired in Americans—and the immense national grief they shared upon his death.

Stories of a ghostly President Lincoln wandering the corridors and rooms of the White House have persisted for more than a century.

From 'I Have a Dream' to 'Beyond Vietnam,' revisit the words and messages of the legendary civil rights leader.

When Neil Armstrong stepped down a ladder and onto the moon on July 20, 1969, the nation achieved an audacious vision. But there were surprising moments along the way and not everything went as expected.

Some have connected the site with the alleged government coverup of an alien spacecraft crash. Others claim the moon landing was filmed there. If that's not true, what is?

On the morning of December 7, 1941 Paul Kennedy found himself staring straight at an incoming Japanese aircraft.

The Renaissance was a fervent period of European cultural, artistic, political and economic “rebirth” following the Middle Ages.

The French Revolution began in 1789. Soon, the Bastille was stormed and the monarchy eliminated. After the Reign of Terror, France established a new government.

George Washington Carver, born into slavery, was a scientist and inventor who developed hundreds of products using peanuts (but not peanut butter) and other crops.

Islam is the second largest religion in the world after Christianity, with about 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide. Although its roots go back further, scholars typically date the creation of Islam to the 7th century, making it the youngest of the major world religions.

Trailblazing Black female athletes like Althea Gibson and Wilma Rudolph overcame discrimination to pave the way for future stars like Venus and Serena Williams.

The Battles for Chattanooga in late 1863 brought victory to Union forces and ended the Confederate siege at the railroad junction of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn as a haven for his fellow Quakers, and became known as the birthplace of independence as one of the 13 colonies.

Codenamed Operation Overlord, the invasion began on June 6, 1944, also known as D-Day, when some 156,000 American, British and Canadian forces landed on five beaches along the heavily fortified coast of France’s Normandy region during World War II. The operation was one of the largest amphibious military assaults in history and has been called the beginning of the end of war in Europe.

West Virginia separated from Confederate Virginia to earn statehood in 1863. The state today is known for its coal production and its mountainous terrain.

From early Spanish colonialism to civil and worker rights laws to famous firsts to Supreme Court decisions on immigration, see a timeline of notable events in U.S Hispanic and Latinx history.

Theodore Roosevelt became the 26st U.S. President in 1901, and was elected for a second term in 1904. Roosevelt's complex legacy includes his achievements as a progressive reformer and conservationist who regulated big business and established the national park system. He died in 1919.

The Celts were a collection of tribes that may have evolved as early as 1200 B.C. before spreading their religious beliefs and traditions across western Europe.

The American Indian Movement (AIM) is a grassroots movement for Indigenous rights, founded in 1968 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The group has organized many high-profile protests and occupations, and was a driving force behind the Native American civil rights movement of the 1970s.

Sam Houston (1793-1863) was a lawyer, congressman and senator from Tennessee. After moving to Texas in 1832, he joined the conflict between U.S. settlers and the Mexican government and became commander of the local army. On April 21, 1836, Houston and his men defeated Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna at San Jacinto to secure Texan independence.

Jackie Robinson, the first Black athlete to play in the MLB, joined the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947, a date now known as Jackie Robinson Day.

The Irish Republican Army, also called the Provisional Irish Republican Army, was a paramilitary organization that used terror tactics, among other methods to halt British rule in Northern Ireland and bring about an independent republic for all of Ireland. A 30-year period that saw violent clashes between the IRA and other paramilitary groups and British security forces became known as The Troubles.

As explorers sought to colonize their land, Native Americans responded in various stages, from cooperation to indignation to revolt.

The Armenian genocide was the systematic killing and deportation of millions of Armenians by Ottoman Empire Turks from 1915-1920, during and after World War I.

Alexander Hamilton, one of America’s most influential Founding Fathers and Treasury secretaries, had a brilliant political career until he was killed in an 1804 duel.

Shortly after the Twin Towers fell on September 11, 2001, the nation began to mourn, and around the country Americans began to commemorate the victims and demonstrate their patriotism, although backlash against Arab Americans and others also emerged.

The Founding Fathers and the Senate Although the U.S. Senate in its present form dates back to 1789, the year Congress as it is currently constructed met for the first time, it was not part of the original unicameral (“one chamber”) legislature establis...

Learn about the first, earliest, biggest and most famous St. Patrick's Day parades around the world, in cities including New York, Boston, Chicago and Dublin.

Royal succession, or the transition of power from one ruler to the next, is based on rules like primogeniture for the United Kingdom and other monarchies.

Transcendentalism Popular 19th-century writers, including transcendentalists such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman drew inspiration from nature, while artists of the era—including Thomas Cole, Asher Durand and Albert Bierstad...

Formation of Baseball’s Color Line As the expanding popularity of baseball in the United States led to the formation of amateur clubs in the second half of the 19th century, African Americans were among those joining the action. Records exist of an abbr...

John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) served as the 6th U.S. president, from 1825 to 1829. He was the son of former president John Adams, a Founding Father. Quincy Adams was outspoken in his opposition to slavery and support of freedom of speech.

The Battle of Trafalgar, fought off the coast of Spain in 1805, was a pivotal moment in the Napoleonic wars that established England as a dominant naval power.

Virginia was the first of the original 13 colonies to be permanently settled by the English, who established Jamestown on the banks of the James River in 1607. Virginia became a state on May 15, 1776.

The 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, Illinois, was marked by violent protests and party upheaval as Hubert Humphrey clinched the presidential nomination.

Jimmy Carter served as the 39th U.S. president and faced formidable challenges, including a major energy crisis as well as high inflation and unemployment. In the foreign affairs arena, he reopened U.S. relations with China and made efforts to broker peace in the Arab-Israeli conflict, but was damaged late in his term by a hostage crisis in Iran. His post-presidency work is distinguished by extensive charitable, humanitarian and diplomatic causes.

Warsaw Ghetto Shortly after the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, more than 400,000 Jews in Warsaw, the capital city, were confined to an area of the city that was little more than 1 square mile. In November 1940, this Jewish ghetto was seale...

New Mexico became a U.S. state in 1912. It was the site of the first nuclear bomb test and drew attention for alleged alien activity near Roswell.

From Athens to Tokyo, the Games have crossed five continents, withstood boycotts and were only canceled three times due to two World Wars. See a timeline of notable moments in Summer Olympic Games history.

Vladimir Putin took control of Russia as prime minister and president by the early 21st century, his time in power marked by invasions of Crimea and Ukraine.

U.S. Army Women in Vietnam The great majority of the military women who served in Vietnam were nurses. All were volunteers, and they ranged from recent college graduates in their early 20s to seasoned career women in their 40s. Members of the Army Nurse...

New Hampshire was the first state to have its own constitution and the 9th to ratify the U.S. Constitution—officially putting the document into effect.

Celebrating the rich and diverse culture and contributions of of the diverse population of Arab Americans, National Arab American Heritage Month has been observed during the month of April since 2017.

Queen Elizabeth II served from 1952 to 2022 as reigning monarch of the United Kingdom. She was the longest-reigning monarch in British history.

Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) was the nation's seventh president (1829-1837) and became America’s most influential–and polarizing–political figure during the 1820s and 1830s. For some, his legacy is tarnished by his role in the Trail of Tears—the forced relocation of Native American tribes living east of the Mississippi.

The Paris Commune of 1871, a government set up by revolutionaries in Paris after the collapse of the French empire, ended after two months of violence and destruction. Despite its short duration, the movement introduced concepts now considered commonplace in modern democracies, including women’s rights, worker’s rights and separation of church and state.

Hernando de Soto was a 16th-century Spanish explorer and conquistador who grew rich through slavery and his conquests of the Inca and other Native Americans.

The capital of the United Kingdom has a long, rich history that stretches back to the ancient Romans.

The year 2021 saw political turmoil, the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, an unusual Olympic Games, devastating natural disasters, advances in space exploration and more.

The Lend-Lease Act of 1941 allowed the U.S. government to lend or lease war supplies to any nation vital to U.S. defense, such as Britain during World War II.

In August 1964, after two U.S. destroyers stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin were attacked by North Vietnamese forces, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which authorized President Johnson to take any measures he believed were necessary to retaliate. The resolution became the legal basis for the United States to enter the Vietnam War.

The Battle of Waterloo was a humiliating defeat for Napoleon, crushing his imperial dreams of ruling Europe and bringing the bloody Napoleonic Wars to a final end.

The Klondike Gold Rush was a mass influx of prospecting migrants to the Canadian Yukon Territory and Alaska after gold was discovered in those regions in 1896.

Peace in the Middle East The ultimate goal of the Camp David Accords was to establish a framework for peace in the Middle East by formalizing Arab recognition of Israel’s right to exist, developing a procedure for the withdrawal of Israeli forces and ci...

Since the Constitution was ratified in 1789, hundreds of thousands of bills have been introduced attempting to amend the nation's founding document. But only 27 amendments to the U.S. Constitution have been ratified, out of 33 passed by Congress and sent to the states. See summaries of all 27.

The Shang Dynasty ruled China from 1600 to 1046 B.C. and left a record of advancements in the fields of math, astronomy, art and military technology.