Dorothea Lynde DixDorothea Lynde Dix, 1868. Artist Samuel Bell Waugh. (Photo by Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images)

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HISTORY

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

From raising families to leading armies, women such as Catherine the Great, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen Amanirenas, Queen Elizabeth I, Susan B. Anthony, Rosa Parks, Marie Curie, Rosalind Franklin and countless others have played a vital role in history.

Women’s History

In the early 20th century, America was flexing its economic and political muscle on the international stage. The era was defined by the temperance movement, Progressive-era activism, the sinking of the Titanic and World War I.

Early 20th Century U.S.

1984

1953

1928

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

1978

Though the 19th century saw the rise of populism, the labor movement and Jacksonian democracy, it also ushered in the Gilded Age, when men like Cornelius Vanderbilt and J. P. Morgan wielded vast control over politics and business.

19th Century

1967

1796

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.

Medicine

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PTSD and Shell Shock

Ether and Chloroform

Florence Nightingale

Dorothea Lynde Dix

Stories

‘Elephant Man’s’ Grave Discovered in Same Cemetery as Jack the Ripper’s Victims

When Cigarette Companies Used Doctors to Push Smoking

Baby Incubators: From Boardwalk Sideshow to Medical Marvel

Innovative Cosmetic Surgery Restored WWI Vets’ Ravaged Faces—And Lives

This Day in History

First human heart transplant

World’s first “test tube” baby born

Baby Fae, infant who received baboon heart transplant, dies

Dr. Jonas Salk announces polio vaccine

Penicillin discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming

Early smallpox vaccine is tested