At the beginning you will find the most important events in the history of the United States of America on the following timeline.
Figure 1: Timeline of major events in US history
USA History – Important Events
The United States of America is the third largest country in the world and economically and militarily a power that has only slowly lost its importance in recent years. The USA is defined by various events in its history and below are the most important ones.
First settlements in the USA
The first humans came to America over a land bridge about 12,000 years ago. Advanced cultures such as the Maya developed there and at the beginning of the 15th century there were around 10 million indigenous people in what is now the United States.
When Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer (explorer), sailed west in 1492, was the first time people from Europe came to America. Columbus thought he had discovered India and therefore called the population «Indians». In the years that followed, smaller groups from England, Spain, France, and the Netherlands arrived in the Americas, settling but then disappearing—either through conflict with the natives, disease, or lack of food.
Many stereotypes are associated with «Native Americans» today, which the locals would like to avoid. The term is still often used colloquially to describe the negative perception Avoiding the term is now mostly done by indigenous or Native Americans spoken.
The first permanent settlements in the United States were established in Jamestown (now Williamsburg, Virginia) in 1606 and in New Plymouth (in Massachusetts) in 1620.
Figure 2: 13 English colonies 17th century: southern states middle orange; Mid-Atlantic colonies light red; New England colonies dark red; lightly colored areas are today’s states
Source: wikipedia.org
These were British settlers seeking refuge from political and religious persecution. The settlers in Plymouth are now also called the Pilgrim Fathers because they started their journey as pilgrims (pilgrims) in search of religious freedom. They arrived on the ship Mayflower and are considered the first settlers in America, since they Plymouth Compoundsigned a contract under which they worked together.
The Pilgrim Fathers also managed, with the help of the local Wamapanoag tribe, to grow corn and tobacco, and to fish in the local waters. Through this knowledge they eventually managed to become self-sufficient and establish long-term settlements and later villages and towns on the east coast, which became known among the former 13 colonies (see image at right).
America offered large areas and raw materials, which soon aroused the interest not only of Europeans, so that more and more settlers came from various other regions of the world. The new settlers continued to migrate inland, pushing the country’s natives further west or even killing them. Today, out of 10 million indigenous people, about four million live in the United States.
You can find more about the indigenous peoples in America, the different tribes and their history in the article Native Americans!
founding of the United States
In the table below you can see what steps happened between the colonies and what we know today as the USA.
Up until 1959, the USA opened up other regions of the country as more and more people from different countries immigrated. This was accompanied by the displacement and enslavement of the indigenous people, a period of slave trade and the founding of new federal states. Most recently, the US bought Hawaii and Alaska, the 49th and 50th states of the Union. Even today, the USA is a popular immigration country. While many Europeans used to immigrate, today the majority of people who immigrate come from Mexico.
You can find more about the history of the indigenous people and the 50 States of America in the articles Native Americans and 50 States USA. If you want to know more details about the immigration of the settlers, you can find them under Immigrants in USA.
Slavery leads to the Civil War between 1861 and 1865
Between 1861 and 1865 the newly founded state was put to the test for the first time by a civil war. It was a dispute between the northern and southern states of the country and the question of whether the prevailing until then slavery should continue to exist. The southern states benefited from the agricultural slaves, who mostly came from Africa or South America, and feared losing their standard of living as a result.
After the Battle of Gettysburg, however, the less populous southern states were pushed back and surrendered in 1863. The newly elected President Abraham Lincoln signed legislation that same year that provided for the abolition of slavery.
Finally, in 1865, the riots subsided and the Southern States rejoined the United States, creating the America of today.
If you want to learn more about slaves in the USA, check out the post Slavery in Country Studies USA.
Black Friday 1929
Industrialization and improved relations with Great Britain made the United States a world power, both militarily and economically, in the years after the Civil War. Black Friday (Black Friday) on October 25, 1929, however, marked the beginning of the Great Depression (Eng. severe economic crisis), in which money lost value and unemployment and poverty increased. Due to changes in agriculture, industry and politics under the then President Franklin Roosevelt, as well as winning World War II, the USA was able to recover and poverty in the country decreased. Today the USA is the economically strongest country in the world.
In the US, people don’t talk about Black Friday, they talk about it Black Thursday, because the New York City stock market crash actually happened on a Thursday (October 24, 1929). Because of the time difference, however, it was already after midnight in Europe when the stock market collapsed, which is why here from Black Friday is spoken.
You can learn more about the economy of the USA in the article Economy USA under Country Studies USA.
USA History – Wars
The United States has always been involved in international conflicts. Here we give you an overview of the most important wars in which the United States was involved.
The First World War from 1914 to 1918
The USA only entered the First World War in 1917 after the German Reich hadunrestricted submarine warfare» had explained. This meant that merchant and passenger ships were shot down without warning, even from neutral countries. The United States had previously been considered neutral, but supported France, Britain and Russia with arms sales. The end of the war was marked by the Versailles Treaty.
The Versailles Treaty recorded the capitulation of the German Empire. Germany undertook to pay high repair payments to the victors of the First World War.
In the years that followed, the American government focused on domestic affairs and gained considerable economic strength.
You can learn more about America’s economic development in the Economy USA article.
The Second World War from 1939 to 1945
During World War II, the US served as a major arms supplier and supporter of Britain, China, and the Soviet Union (now Russia). Because the American public had little interest in the distant conflict, it was only after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (a port in Hawaii) in December 1941 that then-President Franklin Roosevelt sent troops to support France, Britain, and the Soviet Union.
On June 6, 1944, Allied troops launched an invasion of Germany. Canadian, US and British troops landed on the coast of French Normandy. From June to August, the troops fought their way through occupied France and defeated the troops of Germany. This led to Germany surrendering in May 1945. For the surrender of Japan on August 15, 1945, further measures by the USA and the Soviet Union were required:
- August 6, 1945: The United States drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
- August 8, 1945: The Soviet Union declares war on Japan.
- August 9, 1945: The US drops a second atomic bomb, this time on Nagasaki.
To rebuild the European states, the USA started the Marshall plan. Western Germany in particular, which was then divided into French, British and US occupation zones, benefited from this, because the Marshall plan only worked with economic liberalization. The socialist states under the Soviet Union got nothing, which led to the hardening of the western and eastern fronts and the Cold War.
Economic liberalization means, for example, removing tariffs between countries to boost world trade. Companies are less dependent on government rules and free.
The Cold War and the arms race with the Soviet Union
Figure 3: The Iron Curtain divided Europe into western and eastern blocs
The Cold War from 1945 to 1991 was primarily about two ideals capitalism and the socialismwho met. For this purpose, Europe was divided into a western and an eastern bloc, whose borders were strictly guarded and designated by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill as the Iron Curtain was designated. The map on the right shows you where it went.
The peculiarity of the Cold War was that no war was fought on the actual border. Instead, reliance was placed on the following means:
- Military rearmament, that is, more weapons were further developed, produced and finally placed in such a way that the enemy could perceive them as a threat.
- espionage
- alliances between countries
- Arms and economic aid to 3rd world countries at war
In March 1947, in a policy statement that would come to be known as the Truman Doctrine, the United States pledged assistance to all states in the event of armed domestic conflict and foreign policy threats. With this doctrine, the USA primarily wanted to stop the spread of the Soviet Union by offering help to the other western countries of Europe in…