Brigadier General James H. Doolittle leans out the window of his bomber plane and smiles. Undated photograph c 1943.

American aircraft designer Howard Hughes prepares for the trial run of his strategic airlift flying boat, the Hughes H-4 Hercules (aka the 'Spruce Goose'), Los Angeles harbor, 2nd November 1947. The brief flight was the aircraft's first and only time airborne.

German fighter pilot Manfred Baron of Richthofen. Photography. around 1916.

Amelia Earhart, pictured with the Lockheed Electra in which she disappeared in 1937.

Charles Lindbergh (Photo by Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)

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World War I pitted Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire against Great Britain, the United States, France, Russia, Italy and Japan. New military technology resulted in unprecedented carnage. By the time the war was over and the Allied Powers claimed victory, more than 16 million people—soldiers and civilians alike—were dead.

World War I

The 21st century saw the dawn of the war on terrorism, as the 9/11 attacks and the Boston Marathon bombing dramatically changed society. Economic issues moved to the forefront during the Great Recession. The COVID-19 pandemic upended lives and economies around the world. Awareness of social inequality grew as the killings of Black Americans, including Trayvon Martin and George Floyd, spurred widespread protests.

21st Century

In the 15th century, Europeans began to sail west across the Atlantic Ocean in search of new routes to China and the East, but in the process they discovered what they labeled a "New World," although Indigenous people had lived there for centuries. Other explorers have pushed the limits of flight and seafaring, and traversed the frozen Continent of Antarctica.

Exploration

The 1990s is often remembered as a decade of relative peace and prosperity: The Soviet Union fell, ending the decades-long Cold War, and the rise of the Internet ushered in a radical new era of communication, business and entertainment. However, the decade was not without violence and tragedy, including the Bosnian genocide, the Rodney King beating and subsequent L.A. Riots, and the bombing of the World Trade Center. The Columbine High School shooting marked a solemn chapter in gun violence, and the devastatingly deadly Oklahoma City bombing by a domestic terrorist followed lethal standoffs between federal agents and armed civilians at Ruby Ridge, Idaho and Waco, Texas.

1990s

Art history tells the complex story of human civilization through art, literature and design. It ranges from prehistoric art of the Neolithic period through Renaissance masterpieces, Impressionism, Modernism, the Bauhaus and contemporary art.

Art, Literature and Film History

World War II was the biggest and deadliest war in history, involving more than 30 countries. Sparked by the 1939 Nazi invasion of Poland, the war dragged on for six bloody years until the Allies defeated the Axis powers of Nazi Germany, Japan and Italy in 1945. Explore the battles, leaders and atrocities from the war and its impact on geopolitics and humankind.

World War II

1933

1996

Inventions from the telephone to the Model T and the computer have defined human history, and inventors like Leonardo da Vinci, Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, Eli Whitney and Alexander Graham Bell have transformed our society.

Inventions & Science

2014

1949

1977

1941

Explore the wars, battles, leaders, civilizations, regimes, prominent figures and major events from the continent that encompasses 2 percent of the Earth’s surface. From Stonehenge to the Great Awakening to the French Revolution to the rise and fall of Communism in Russia, see how Europe’s often tumultuous history unfolded.

Aircraft

Topics

What Happened to Amelia Earhart?

James H. Doolittle

Charles Lindbergh

Stories

7 Things You May Not Know About Howard Hughes

6 Famous WWI Fighter Aces

This Day in History

Malaysia Airlines flight vanishes with more than 200 people aboard

Wiley Post flies solo around the world

TWA Flight 800 explodes over Long Island

Palestinians hijack German airliner

First Allied jet-propelled aircraft flies

First commercial jet makes test flight