HISTORY.com Editors

On December 7, 1941, a surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor shocked America. These are the stories of veterans who were there.

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

Perfect picks for the wanna-be time traveler on your list.

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

Aileen Wuornos, Ed Gein and Dennis Rader left infamous legacies.

These standout titles don’t just recount battles.

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

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

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

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?

U.S. presidents have received elaborate welcomes by the British monarchy since 1918.

From its colors to the rendering of a snake-eating eagle, the Mexican flag is packed with symbolism and 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 people went off the beaten track. Then things went horribly wrong.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.'

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.

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

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?

The Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907 was an informal agreement between the United States of America and the Empire of Japan whereby Japan agreed to deny passports to laborers intending to enter the United States and the US would not impose restrictions on Japanese immigrants already in the country.

Christmas trees are a German-born tradition with ancient roots.

The French Revolution was a watershed event in world history.

The majority of the world's countries eventually formed two opposing alliances: the Allies and the Axis.

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

Christmas, celebrated annually on December 25, is both a sacred religious holiday as well as a worldwide cultural and commercial phenomenon.

Santa Claus—otherwise known as St. Nicholas or Kris Kringle—has a long history steeped in Christmas traditions.

Black codes were laws designed to limit the freedom of African Americans after slavery was abolished.

The Freedmen's Bureau was established to help millions of former Black slaves in the aftermath of the Civil War.

The Russian Revolution was a series of uprisings from 1905 to 1917 led by peasants, laborers and Bolsheviks against czarist Romanovs.

Jim Crow laws were state and local statutes enacted after the Civil War that legalized segregation by race.

The Civil Rights Movement was a struggle for justice and equality for African Americans that took place mainly in the 1950s and 1960s.

Slavery in America was the institution of enslaving human beings and became the main cause behind the country's Civil War.

The Vikings were a group of Scandinavian seafaring warriors who left their homelands from around 800 A.D. to the 11th century, and raided coastal towns. Over the next three centuries, they would leave their mark on much of Britain and the European continent, as well as parts of modern-day Russia, Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland.

Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-born industrialist who became very wealthy via the steel industry before giving away much of his fortune as a philanthropist.

The “Schutzstaffel” (German for “protective echelon”) was founded in 1925 and served as Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler’s (1889-1945) personal bodyguards. They later became one of the most powerful and feared organizations in all of Nazi Germany.

King Philip’s War, a failed effort by Native Americans of New England to drive out English colonists, was led by Wampanoag chief Metacom (aka King Philip).

The English philosopher and political theorist John Locke (1632-1704) laid much of the groundwork for the Enlightenment and made central contributions to the development of liberalism. Trained in medicine, he was a key advocate of the empirical approaches of the Scientific Revolution.

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

The Civil War's Second Battle of Bull Run, waged in northern Virginia in 1862, brought a decisive victory for the Confederates over the far larger Union forces.

Leonardo da Vinci—architect, inventor, scientist and painter of the 'Mona Lisa' and 'The Last Supper'—was a major figure of the Italian Renaissance.

The Great Terror of 1937, also known as the Great Purge, was a deadly political campaign led by Joseph Stalin to eliminate dissent in 1930s Soviet Union.

The War on Drugs is a phrase used to refer to a government-led initiative in America that aims to stop illegal drug use, distribution and trade by increasing and enforcing penalties for offenders. The movement started in the 1970s and is still evolving today.

The Irish Potato Famine was caused by a potato disease in Ireland in the mid-1800s. The “Great Hunger” killed about 1 million people, forcing another million to emigrate.

Though video games are found today in homes worldwide, they actually got their start in the research labs of scientists early 1950s. Academics designed simple games, like tic-tac-toe and tennis for two, as part of their research or for fun on the side.

The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world, lasting from the stock market crash of 1929 to 1939.

The Black Death was a devastating global epidemic of bubonic plague that struck Europe and Asia in the mid-1300s.

Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese on December 7, 1941.

During the Tulsa Race Massacre, a white mob attacked residents, homes and businesses in the predominantly Black Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma over 18 hours on May 31-June 1, 1921. The event remains one of the worst incidents of racial violence in U.S. history.

These dishes were on table at the first Thanksgiving in Plymouth.

Hanukkah honors the rededication of Jerusalem’s Second Temple.

Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday in the United States, and Thanksgiving 2025 occurs on Thursday, November 27.

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was a statesman, author, publisher, scientist, inventor, diplomat, a Founding Father and a leading figure of early American history.

The Trail of Tears was the deadly route used by Native Americans when forced off their ancestral lands and into Oklahoma by the Indian Removal Act of 1830.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616), considered the greatest English-speaking writer in history and England’s national poet, has had more theatrical works performed than any other playwright.

World War I started in 1914, after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and ended in 1918. During the conflict, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire (the Central Powers) fought against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Japan and the United States (the Allied Powers). World War I saw unprecedented levels of carnage and destruction due to new military technologies and the horrors of trench warfare.

The Seven Years’ War, or French and Indian War, was a global conflict lasting from 1756 to 1763. Battles occurred on both the European and North American continents.

Jackson was a key civil rights leader and presidential candidate.

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).

Find out the backstory to these common Thanksgiving facts—or if they're more fiction than fact.

Commander in chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and served two terms as the first U.S. president.

The Gunpowder Plot was a failed attempt by Guy Fawkes and others to blow up British Parliament on November 5, 1605.

The Mayflower was a merchant ship that carried 102 passengers on a journey from England to the New World in 1620.

The Stonewall Riots served as a catalyst for the gay rights movement.

The style of politics that claims to speak for ordinary people and often stirs up distrust has risen up on both sides of the political spectrum throughout U.S. history.

Veterans Day originated as “Armistice Day” on November 11, 1919, the first anniversary of the end of World War I. Congress passed a resolution in 1926 for an annual observance, and November 11 became a national holiday beginning in 1938.

Christianity is the most widely practiced religion in the world, with more than 2 billion followers. The Christian faith centers on beliefs regarding the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Native American Heritage Month is a federal observance held each November to honor American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Ancient Greece, the birthplace of democracy, was the source of some of the greatest literature, architecture, science and philosophy in Western civilization, and home to stunning historical sites like the Acropolis and the Parthenon.

Democracy in ancient Greece established voting rights for citizens, a supervising council and a jury system.