HISTORY.com Editors

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

Which famous French explorer is credited with naming them?

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.'

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.

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 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.

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?

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

The Vietnam War was a long, costly and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States.

Cinco de Mayo celebrates Mexico's 1862 victory over France.

Ronald Reagan’s Childhood and Education Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on February 6, 1911, in Tampico, Illinois, to Edward “Jack” Reagan (1883-1941), a shoe salesman, and Nelle Wilson Reagan (1883-1962). The family, which included older son Neil Reagan ...

The Oregon Trail, a 2,000-mile route from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon City, Oregon, was used by hundreds of thousands of pioneers in the mid-1800s to emigrate west.

Manifest Destiny, a phrase coined in 1845, expressed the philosophy that drove 19th-century U.S. territorial expansion. It contended that the United States was destined by God to expand its dominion and spread democracy and capitalism across the entire North American continent.

Cowboys originated with the Spanish settlers in modern Mexico, before becoming synonymous with the American West during the cattle drives of the 1800s.

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

Sitting Bull (1831-1890) was the Native American chief under whom the Lakota tribes united in their struggle for survival on the North American Great Plains.

Paul Revere was a Boston silversmith and propagandist famous for his midnight ride to warn other patriots about a British attack during the American Revolution.

They were overworked, underpaid and demeaned, but generations of porters on the Pullman Palace Car Company helped promote the rights and futures of African Americans.

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.

The Crédit Mobilier scandal of 1872-1873 damaged the careers of several Gilded Age politicians. Major stockholders in the Union Pacific Railroad formed a company, the Crédit Mobilier of America, and gave it contracts to build the railroad. They sold or gave shares in this construction to influential congressmen.

Oliver Cromwell was an English soldier and statesman. The Puritan organized armed forces in the English Civil Wars and twice served as Lord Protector.

From Shakespeare to Aristotle to Dr. Seuss, see how writers through history have expressed the power of love.

The Church of England, or Anglican Church, is the primary state church in Great Britain and is considered the original church of the Anglican Communion.

The League of Nations, a global diplomatic group developed after World War I to solve disputes before they erupted into open warfare, had failed by 1940.

Feminism, a belief in the political, economic and cultural equality of women, has roots in the earliest eras of human civilization.

The American Revolution was fought—and won—with guns, and the weapons have become ingrained in U.S. culture, but the invention of firearms started long before colonists ever settled on North American soil. The origin of firearms began with gunpowder and...

Jerusalem is a city located in modern-day Israel and is considered by many to be one of the holiest places in the world. Jerusalem is a site of major significance for the three largest monotheistic religions: Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Both Israel and Palestine have claimed Jerusalem as a capital city.

The Cuban Revolution was an armed uprising led by Fidel Castro that eventually toppled the brutal dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista by 1959.

As human civilizations rose, these diseases struck them down.

People use the phrase “Middle Ages” to describe Europe between the fall of Rome in 476 CE and the beginning of the Renaissance in the 14th century.

The Battle of Midway was an epic WWII clash between the U.S. Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy that played out six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The U.S. Navy’s decisive victory in the air-sea battle (June 3-6, 1942) dashed Japan’s hopes of neutralizing the United States as a naval power and effectively turned the tide of World War II in the Pacific.

Douglas MacArthur was a five-star American U.S. general who commanded the Pacific forces in World War II, oversaw the occupation of Japan and led U.N. forces in the Korean War.

The Crimean War (1853-1856) stemmed from Russia’s threat to multiple European interests with its pressure of Turkey. After demanding Russian evacuation of the Danubian Principalities, British and French forces laid siege to the city of Sevastopol in 1854. The war, which ended in defeat for Russia, altered the balance of power in Europe and set the stage for World War I.

Illinois became a territory of the United States and achieved statehood in 1818. During Prohibition, Chicago became synonymous with bootleg liquor and gangsters like Al Capone.

The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) was fought for nearly a half-century between Athens and Sparta, ancient Greece’s leading city-states.

Malcolm X, an African American nationalist and religious leader, was gunned down by three men while addressing his Organization of Afro-American Unity in New York City on February 21, 1964. He was 39.

This World War I timeline of battles outlines the most important engagements of the 1914-1918 war, from the first Battle of Mons to the final 1918 armistice.

From the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., to the 2008 election of Barack Obama, to widespread global protests declaring Black Lives Matter in 2020, African American history in the United States has been filled with both triumph and strife.

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.

On the Mexican holiday known as the Day of the Dead, families welcome back the souls of their deceased relatives for a brief reunion that includes food, drink and celebration.

Asian immigrants have come to American shores since the mid-1800s, playing a significant role in U.S. history, but one that’s rife with inequity and exclusion. See a timeline of key events.

The Great Wall of China was conceived by Emperor Qin Shi Huang in the third century B.C. and eventually spanned more than 13,000 miles across northern China.

In 1989, five New York teenagers were falsely accused of rape.

The Gatling gun was the first hand-driven machine gun, and the first firearm to solve the problems of loading, reliability, and the firing of sustained bursts. It was invented by Richard J. Gatling during the American Civil War, and later used in the Spanish-American War. Years later, the technology behind the gun was re-introduced by the U.S. military, and new versions of the gun remain in use today.

Crazy Horse was a Lakota leader and warrior who clashed with the U.S. federal government.

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

The Crusades were a series of religious wars between Christians and Muslims, occurring from 1096 and 1291, primarily to secure control of Middle Eastern holy sites.

Boston has played a central role in U.S. history, from its settlement by the Puritans, to its American Revolutionary battles to its storied universities.

The Bible is the holy scripture of the Christian religion, purporting to tell the history of the Earth from its earliest creation to the spread of Christianity in the first century A.D. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament have undergone significant changes over the centuries, including the the publication of the King James Bible in 1611 and the addition of several books that were discovered later.

Easter is a Christian holiday that celebrates the belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Although a holiday of high religious significance in the Christian faith, many traditions associated with Easter date back to pre-Christian, pagan times. Learn how Easter eggs and the Easter Bunny fall into the holiday.

Columbine was a major school shooting on April 20, 1999 at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.

Earl Warren was a prominent 20th-century leader of U.S. politics and law. Elected California governor in 1942, Warren secured major reform legislation during his three terms in office. He was appointed the 14th chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1953 and oversaw the landmark ruling on Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in which the Court unanimously determined the segregation of schools to be unconstitutional.

The 1980s were a decade of political conservatism, such as President Ronald Reagan’s Reaganomics, and of blockbuster movies, pop culture and fashion on MTV.

In Judaism, Passover commemorates the story of the Israelites’ escape from slavery and departure from ancient Egypt, which appears in the Hebrew Bible’s books of Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, among other texts.

Massachusetts’ Early Colonial History The first settlers in the state now known as Massachusetts were the Pilgrims. They arrived in Plymouth on the Mayflower in 1620 after separating from the Anglican church and fleeing England, creating the Mayflower c...

W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963) was a civil rights activist who led the Niagara Movement and later helped form the NAACP.

Robert Kennedy served as attorney general under President John F. Kennedy and as a U.S. Senator. He was assassinated while campaigning for president in 1968.

Transcendentalism, a 19th-century school of American theological and philosophical thought, embraced nature and the concept of a personal knowledge of God.

Ted Kaczynski, nicknamed the Unabomber, sent a series of deadly mail bombs and wrote an anti-technology manifesto before he was captured at his cabin in 1996.

LSD, or lysergic acid diethylamide, is a hallucinogenic drug that was synthesized by a Swiss scientist in the 1930s and became a symbol of 1960s counterculture.

Serpent Mound is the world’s largest surviving effigy mound—a mound in the shape of an animal—from the prehistoric era. Located in southern Ohio, the 411-meter-long (1348-feet-long) Native American structure has been excavated a few times since the late 1800s, but the origins of Serpent Mound are still a mystery. Some estimates place the construction of the National Historic Landmark—also called Great Serpent Mound—at around 300 B.C.

The legislative branch, established by Article I of the U.S. Constitution, was initially intended to be the most powerful of the three branches of government.

Branches of Government At the Constitutional Convention in 1787, the framers of the U.S. Constitution worked to build the foundations of a strong federal government. But they also wanted to preserve the liberty of individual citizens and ensure the gove...

Florida joined the Union as the 27th state in 1845 and is nicknamed the Sunshine State for its balmy climate and natural beauty.

The Indian and Oklahoma territories combined to form Oklahoma on November 16, 1907. It is the 46th state admitted to the Union.

New York’s Native American History Semi-nomadic Indigenous people have been living in the area now known as New York for at least 13,000 years, settling in the space around Lake Champlain, the Hudson River Valley and Oneida Lake. The Haudenosaunee Nativ...

California became the 31st state in 1850. It leads the U.S. in agricultural production, it is known for its tech industry, and it is home to famous cultural institutions and national parks, including Hollywood, Disneyland, Yosemite National Park, Alcatraz, Angel Island and the Golden Gate Bridge.

The Acropolis of Athens, Greece, a UNESCO World Heritage site, has been home to kings, religious festivals and temples like the Parthenon since the Bronze Age.

Louis XIV, the Sun King, ruled France for 72 years. He built the opulent palace of Versailles, but his wars and the Edict of Nantes left France drained and weak.

The G.I. Bill— officially known as the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944—was created to help veterans of World War II. It established hospitals, made low-interest mortgages available and granted stipends covering tuition and expenses for veterans attending college or trade schools.

Alabama became the 22nd state to join the Union in 1819 and was at the center of the American Civil Rights Movement during the mid-20th century.

The flu, or influenza, is a highly contagious viral infection that mainly affects the respiratory system. It’s usually a seasonal illness, with yearly outbreaks killing hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Though rare, completely new versions of the virus may infect people and spread quickly, resulting in pandemics (an infection that spreads throughout the world) with death tolls in the millions.

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.

Jesse Hawley Beginning in 1807, Jesse Hawley—a flour merchant from western New York who went broke trying to get his product to market in the Atlantic coastal cities—published a series of essays from debtor’s prison. In them, Hawley advocated for a cana...

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.

Origins of the PLO The PLO emerged in response to various compounding events that took place in the Middle East. In 1948, Israel became an independent state, which resulted in more than 750,000 Palestinians fleeing their homeland. The subsequent 1948 wa...

Ephesus, an ancient port city in modern-day Turkey, was once an important trading center in the Mediterranean region and home of the famed Temple of Artemis.

The Huns were fierce warriors who terrorized much of Europe and the Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th centuries A.D., until the death of their famed king Attila.

Attila the Hun was the leader of the Hunnic Empire from 434 to 453. Also called Flagellum Dei, or the “scourge of God,” Attila was known to Romans for his brutality and a penchant for sacking and pillaging Roman cities.

Delphi was an ancient religious sanctuary dedicated to the Greek god Apollo. Said to be the center of the world, the site was also home to the Oracle of Delphi.

The Pantheon is one of the best-preserved monuments of ancient Rome. Completed circa 128 A.D., the structure features a rotunda with a massive domed ceiling.

Minnesota is the 32nd state to join the Union and is the most northerly of the 48 conterminous U.S. states. It's home to the Mall of America and the largest continuous network of indoor pedestrian pathways in the United States.

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.

Ohio, a U.S. state since 1803, has sent seven presidents to the White House and is home to the rock and roll and National Football League halls of fame.

Michigan became a state in 1837. Its largest city, Detroit, is home to the American auto industry and is the birthplace of Motown Records.

The Silk Road was a network of trade routes connecting China and the Far East with the Middle East and Europe. Established when the Han Dynasty in China officially opened trade with the West in 130 B.C., the Silk Road routes remained in use until A.D. 1453, when the Ottoman Empire boycotted trade with China and closed them.

The Boxer Rebellion of 1900 was a failed uprising against Japanese and Western influence in China, led by the Society of the Righteous and Harmonious Fists.

Experiments linking human activity to rising temperatures surfaced in the 1800s, but it would be another century until climate change became a serious concern.

The U.S. launched the war in Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The conflict lasted two decades and spanned four U.S. presidencies, becoming the longest war in American history.

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.

Columbus Day is a U.S. holiday that commemorates the landing of Christopher Columbus in the Americas in 1492.

The election of 1860 was a pivotal presidential election that brought Abraham Lincoln to the White House amid debates on issues of slavery and states' rights.

What Does the Judicial Branch Do? From the beginning, it seemed that the judicial branch was destined to take somewhat of a backseat to the other two branches of government. The Articles of Confederation, the forerunner of the U.S. Constitution that set...

FDIC Created The Glass-Steagall Act set up a firewall between commercial banks, which accept deposits and issue loans and investment banks which negotiate the sale of bonds and stocks. The Banking Act of 1933 also created the Federal Deposit Insurance C...

During the 1950s, the United States was the world’s strongest military power. Its economy was booming, and the fruits of this prosperity–new cars, suburban houses and other consumer goods–were available to more people than ever before. However, the 1950s also saw great conflict. The nascent civil rights movement and the crusade against communism at home and abroad exposed underlying divisions in American society.

2020 was a tumultuous year that saw the onset of a deadly pandemic, widespread protests over systemic racism—and a deeply contentious election.

The road to full marriage equality for same-sex couples in the United States was paved with setbacks and victories. The landmark 2015 Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges made gay marriage legal throughout the country.

In 1969, Michael Collins was part of the historic Apollo 11 mission in 1969. Known as the "forgotten astronaut," Collins remained in the command module as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon.

The U.S. Supreme Court's 1992 ruling in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey reaffirmed a woman's right to an abortion as granted in the 1973 Roe v. Wade case. However, the decision altered Roe and upheld a number of abortion requirements cited in the case, while broadening the authority of states to regulate and restrict abortions. Planned Parenthood v. Casey was overturned in 2022.

The 2020 outbreak of the infectious respiratory disease known as COVID-19 triggered one of the deadliest pandemics in modern history.

Nostradamus was a French astrologer and physician whose mysterious books of prophecies and predictions earned him fame and a loyal—and controversial—following during the 1500s.

Hoovervilles, named after unpopular President Herbert Hoover, were encampments of crude dwellings for poor and homeless people during the Great Depression.

Palestine is a small region of land in the eastern Mediterranean region that includes parts of modern Israel and the Palestinian territories of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. It has played a prominent role in the ancient and modern history of the Middle East and has been marked by frequent political conflict and violent land seizures.

The Nazi Party was a political organization that ruled Germany through murderous, totalitarian means from 1933 to 1945 under the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler.

Satanism is a modern, largely non-theistic religion based on literary, artistic and philosophical interpretations of the central figure of evil. It wasn’t until the 1960s that an official Satanic church was formed by Anton LaVey.

The Super Bowl is an enormously popular sporting event that takes place each year to determine the championship team of the National Football League (NFL). Broadcast in more than 170 countries, the Super Bowl is one of the most-watched sporting events in the world, with elaborate halftime shows, celebrity appearances and cutting-edge commercials

The Winter Olympics are an international sports competition held every four years. The Games feature cold-weather events on snow (skiing, snowboarding, biathlon) and ice (figure skating, hockey, speed skating, curling, bobsled, luge, skeleton).

The Knights Templar was a powerful medieval organization of devout Christians which protected visitors to the Holy Land and carried out military operations.