-
Alaska becomes U.S Territory
Secretary of State William Seward quickly took up a renewed Russian offer and on March 30, 1867, agreed to a proposal from Russian Minister in Washington, Edouard de Stoeckl, to purchase Alaska for $7.2 million. ... Alaska became a state on January 3, 1959. -
The Influence of Sea Power in History
Written by Alfred Thayer Mahan, is a novel about navel warfare. Scholars considered it the single most influential book in naval strategy. Its policies were quickly adopted by most major navies, ultimately leading to the World War I naval arms race. -
The Republic of Hawaii is Established
The Republic of Hawaii was the formal name of the government that controlled Hawaii from 1894 to 1898 when it was governed as a republic. The republic period occurred between the administration of the Provisional Government of Hawaii which ended on July 4, 1894, and the adoption of the New lands Resolution in the United States Congress in which the Republic was annexed to the United States as a territory. -
Pact of Biak-na-Bato
The Biak-na-Bato Constitution provided for the establishment of a Supreme council that would serve as the highest governing body of the Republic. It also outlined certain basic human rights, such as freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and the right to education. -
Battle of Manila Bay
Battle of Manila Bay, (May 1, 1898), defeat of the Spanish Pacific fleet by the U.S. Navy, resulting in the fall of the Philippines and contributing to the final U.S. victory in the Spanish-American War. -
Surrender at Santiago
On May 19, 1898, a month after the outbreak of hostilities between the two powers, a Spanish fleet under Admiral Pascual Cervera arrived in Santiago harbour on the southern coast of Cuba. ... By July, however, the progress of U.S. land forces in Cuba put Cervera's ships at risk from the shore. -
Battle of San Juan Heights
The Battle of San Juan Hill (July 1, 1898), also known as the battle for the San Juan Heights, was a decisive battle of the Spanish–American War. The San Juan heights was a north-south running elevation about 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) east of Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. -
Treaty of Paris is Signed
The war officially ended four months later, when the U.S. and Spanish governments signed the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898. Apart from guaranteeing the independence of Cuba, the treaty also forced Spain to cede Guam and Puerto Rico to the United States. -
Protocol of Peace
On August 12, 1898, representatives for the United States and Spain signed a peace protocol in Washington DC, ending the three-month-long Spanish-American War in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. ... The war had formally begun on April 25, 1898, when the United States declared war against Spain. -
Philippines Becomes Independent Republic
After its defeat in the Spanish-American War of 1898 , Spain ceded its longstanding colony of the Philippines to the United States in the Treaty of Paris. -
U.S. Congress Declares War on Spain
On April 25, 1898 the United States declared war on Spain following the sinking of the Battleship Maine in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898. The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898. -
Annexation of Hawaii
Hawaii was annexed to the United States in 1898 when Queen Liliuokalani tried to restore the power of monarchy after the death of King Kalakaua. ... One reason was because Hawaii played an important role in the interest of US's economy. -
Battle of Manila
The war began with a brief but bloody clash between Filipino independence fighters and U.S. troops in Manila. After their naval victory over the Spanish in the Battle of Manila Bay in May 1898, U.S. troops occupied the Philippine capital, Manila. ... A district of Manila, Phil., set afire during an insurrection, 1899. -
Foraker Act
A civilian government refers to a government that is run by local citizens rather than citizens of the United States. This was achieved through the Foraker Act of 1900. Eventually, the law would be replaced, but it has a legacy of creating a relationship between the U.S. and Puerto Rico as a territory. -
Big Stick Policy
Big Stick policy, in American history, policy popularized and named by Theodore Roosevelt that asserted U.S. domination when such dominance was considered the moral imperative. Roosevelt’s first noted public use of the phrase occurred when he advocated before Congress increasing naval preparation to support the nation’s diplomatic objectives. -
Building the Panama Canal
The canal permits shippers of commercial goods, ranging from automobiles to grain, to save time and money by transporting cargo more quickly between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. -
The Great White Fleet
The Great White Fleet was the popular nickname for the powerful United States Navy battle fleet that completed a journey around the globe from 16 December 1907, to 22 February 1909, by order of United States President Theodore Roosevelt. -
Dollar Diplomacy
the foreign policy of president Taft. Taft and his bureaucrats encouraged American bankers and business men to make loans to foreign countries to further American commercial interests. ... Also to encourage and protect trade within Latin America and Asia. -
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution, which began in 1910, ended dictatorship in Mexico and established a constitutional republic. A number of groups, led by revolutionaries including Francisco Madero, Pascual Orozco, Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata, participated in the long and costly conflict. -
Germany invades Belgium
Germany declared war on France. To avoid the French fortifications along the French-German border, the troops had to cross Belgium and attack the French Army by the north. Of course, Belgians refused to let them through, so the Germans decided to enter by force and invaded Belgium on Aug. 4, 1914. -
Lusitania Sinks
On the afternoon of May 7, 1915, the British ocean liner Lusitania is torpedoed without warning by a German submarine off the south coast of Ireland. Within 20 minutes, the vessel sank into the Celtic Sea. Of 1,959 passengers and crew, 1,198 people were drowned, including 128 Americans. -
Zimmerman Telegram
The Zimmermann Telegram (or Zimmermann Note or Zimmerman Cable) was a secret diplomatic communication issued from the German Foreign Office in January 1917 that proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico. -
U.S. Enters War
In 1917, Germany, determined to win its war of attrition against the Allies, announced the resumption of unrestricted warfare in war-zone waters. Three days later, the United States broke diplomatic relations with Germany, and just hours after that the American liner Housatonic was sunk by a German U-boat. -
Battle of Belleau Wood
The Battle of Belleau Wood was part of the Allied drive east away from an axis from Amiens to Paris in what was a response to the German Spring Offensive in 1918. During the Spring Offensive, the Germans had come dangerously close to breaking the Allied lines protecting Amiens and Paris. -
Armistice Day
Armistice Day is commemorated every year on 11 November to mark the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France at 5:45 am, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I, which took effect at eleven o'clock in the morning. -
Battle of Cantigny
The Battle of Cantigny, fought May 28, 1918 was the first major American battle and offensive of World War I. The U.S. 1st Division, the most experienced of the five American divisions then in France and in reserve for the French Army near the village of Cantigny, was selected for the attack. -
The May Fourth Movement
The May Fourth Movement was an intellectual and reformist movement that reached its peak in 1919. The movement was initiated mainly by university students, who were angry at China’s treatment at the hands of Western powers after World War I. -
Red Scare
During the Red Scare of 1919-1920, many in the United States feared recent immigrants and dissidents, particularly those who embraced communist, socialist, or anarchist ideology. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
Just before 8 a.m. on that Sunday morning, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes descended on the base, where they managed to destroy or damage nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight battleships, and over 300 airplanes. More than 2,400 Americans died in the attack, including civilians, and another 1,000 people were wounded. -
U.S. Declares War on Japan After Pearl Harbor
On December 8, 1941, the United States Congress declared war (Pub.L. 77–328, 55 Stat. 795) on the Empire of Japan in response to that country's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor the prior day. It was formulated an hour after the Infamy Speech of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. -
Mexico Declares War on Axis Powers
Mexico formally declared war on the Axis Powers in support of the Allies on May 22, 1942, following losses of oil ships in the Gulf of Mexico, most notably the Potrero del Llano and the Faja de Oro, to German submarine attacks. -
Sino Japanese War
First Sino-Japanese War, conflict between Japan and China in 1894–95 that marked the emergence of Japan as a major world power and demonstrated the weakness of the Chinese empire. The war grew out of conflict between the two countries for supremacy in Korea.
