The history answer book

THE

HANDY
HISTORY
ANSWER
BOOK
S

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C

O

N

D

E

D

I

Rebecca
Reb a Ferguson
Ferguson

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About the Author

Author of the bestselling first edition of the Handy History Answer Book, Rebecca
Ferguson helped develop the Handy Answer Book® series and a number of books for
Visible Ink Press during the last 15 years, including titles on noteworthy legal trials,
Hispanic/Latino culture, and the Olympics. She recently contributed to the Britannica
Student Encyclopedia, a part of Britannica Online, as well as The Lincoln Library of
American History. Her love of history runs deep. “History,” Rebecca says, “teaches us to
appreciate the scope of human endeavor and experience.”
She lives with her husband and young son near Chicago.


Also from Visible Ink Press
The Handy Anatomy Answer Book, ISBN 978-1-57859-190-9
The Handy Answer Book for Kids (and Parents), ISBN 978-1-57859-110-7
The Handy Biology Answer Book, ISBN 978-1-57859-150-3
The Handy Geography Answer Book, ISBN 978-1-57859-062-9
The Handy Geology Answer Book, ISBN 978-1-57859-156-5
The Handy History Answer Book, ISBN 978-1-57859-170-1
The Handy Math Answer Book, ISBN 978-1-57859-171-8
The Handy Ocean Answer Book, ISBN 978-1-57859-063-6
The Handy Physics Answer Book, ISBN 978-1-57859-058-2
The Handy Politics Answer Book, ISBN 978-1-57859-139-8

The Handy Presidents Answer Book, ISBN 978-1-57859-167-1
The Handy Religion Answer Book, ISBN 978-1-57859-125-1
The Handy Science Answer Book®, ISBN 978-1-57859-140-4
The Handy Sports Answer Book, ISBN 978-1-57859-075-9
The Handy Supreme Court Answer Book, ISBN 978-1-57859-196-1
The Handy Weather Answer Book®, ISBN 978-0-7876-1034-0
Please visit us at visibleink.com.


THE

HANDY
HISTORY
ANSWER
BOOK



THE

HANDY
HISTORY
ANSWER
BOOK
S E C O N D

E D I T I O N

Rebecca Ferguson

Detroit


THE

HANDY
HISTORY
ANSWER
BOOK

Copyright © 2006 by Visible Ink Press®
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Contents

I NTRODUCTION xi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiii
C HRONOLOGY OF SELECTED EVENTS xv

ERAS AND THEIR HIGHLIGHTS … 1
Prehistoric Era…Stone Age…Copper Age…Bronze Age…Iron
Age…Classical Age…Greek Civilization…Mycenaean Age…
The Roman Republic…Holy Roman Empire…The Middle Ages…
The Renaissance…European Colonialism…The Enlightenment…
The Scientific Revolution…The Industrial Revolution…Era of the
World Wars…The Cold War…Early Twenty-first Century

RELIGION … 37
Roman Mythology…Greek Mythology…Buddhism…Hinduism…
Shinto…The Bible…The Hebrew Bible…Christianity…The Old
Testament…Dead Sea Scrolls…The Ten Commandments…
Golgotha…Islam…The Koran…Five Pillars of Faith…Mecca…
The Crusades…The Catholic Church…Popes…The Reformation…
Counter Reformation…Martin Luther…Jesuits…The Puritans…The
Protestant Ethic…Mother Teresa…Pope John Paul II

EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT … 67
Marco Polo…The Vikings…Christopher Columbus…Cabeza de
Vaca…Hernando de Soto…Ferdinand Magellan…Sir Francis
Drake…Captain Cook…Lost Colony…Pilgrims…Lewis and
Clark…Manifest Destiny…American Immigration…Northwest
Passage…Robert Peary…Roald Amundsen…Sir Edmund
Hillary…Charles Lindbergh…Amelia Earhart…Space Exploration

vii


WAR AND CONFLICT … 105
Trojan War…Peloponnesian War…Alexander the Great…Attila the
Hun…Genghis Khan…Hundred Years’ War…Joan of Arc…French
and Indian War…American Revolution…French
Revolution…Napoleon…War of 1812…American Civil
War…Spanish-American War…Russian Revolution…World War
I…Sino-Japanese War…World War II… Korean War…Vietnam
War…Persian Gulf War…War in the Baltics

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS … 219
King Tut…Mayan Empire…Aztec Empire…Roman Empire… Tang
Dynasty…Ming Dynasty…Ottoman Empire…Holy Roman
Empire…The Romanov Dynasty…Marie Antoinette… Napolean…
Boston Tea Party… Declaration of Independence…U.S.
Constitution…Bill of Rights…The American Presidency…
Watergate…The Holocaust…United Nations…G-8…Mahatma
Gandhi…Palestine Liberation Organization…Iron Curtain…
Office of Homeland Security

LAW AND FAMOUS TRIALS … 291
Roman Law…Code Napolean…International Law…Geneva
Conventions…U.S. Supreme Court…Racial Segregation…Salem
Witch Trials…John Peter Zenger…Dred Scott Decision…Susan B.
Anthony…Mata Hari…Scopes Monkey Trial…Billy Mitchell…Al
Capone…Nuremberg Trials…Alger Hiss…Rosenbergs…Roe v.
Wade… ABSCAM…Gang of Four…Nicolae Ceausescu…Beltway
Sniper… 9/11 Conspirators

ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS … 319
Capitalism…Adam Smith…Monetary Systems…Federal Reserve…
ATMs…The Euro…American Tobacco Industry…Navigation
Acts…Gold Rush…Oil Industry…Textile Industry…Bonanza
Farms…Bessemer Steel…Department Stores… Black
Friday…Robber Barons…New York Stock Exchange… Assembly
Line…New Deal…Auto Industry…Computer Industry… Income
Tax…NAFTA…Y2K…Enron

viii

Nationalism…Zionism…Indian Reform Movement…Solidarity…
Apartheid…Tiananmen Square…Antislavery Movement…Civil
Rights Movement…Martin Luther King Jr.…Malcolm X…Ku Klux
Klan…Temperance Movement…Suffragist Movement…Equal
Rights Amendment…Birth Control Movement…Populism… Labor
Unions…Beat Movement…Environmental Protection

CONTENTS

POLITICAL AND SOCIAL
MOVEMENTS … 363

NATURAL AND MAN-MADE
DISASTERS … 403
Volcanoes…Earthquakes…Tsunamis…Tropical Storms…
Hurricanes…Floods…Blizzards…Droughts…Dust Bowl…
Fires…Titanic… Hindenburg…Airplane Accidents…Apollo
13…Challenger… Columbia…Blackout of 2003…Love
Canal…Three Mile Island… Chernobyl…Oklahoma City Bombing

MEDICINE AND DISEASE … 437
Hippocratic Oath…Biological Warfare…Anthrax…Ancient
Medicine…Gray’s Anatomy…Spontaneous
Generation…Vaccines…Louis Pasteur…Antibiotics…Florence
Nightingale…Red Cross…Clara Barton…Insulin…X-ray…Marie
and Pierre Curie…Jonas Salk…Organ Transplantation…Test-tube
Baby…Stem Cell Research…Leprosy…Yellow Fever…AIDS…The
Flu…Behaviorism…Psychoanalysis…Jungian Psychology

PHILOSOPHY … 463
Taoism…Confucius…Socrates…Plato…Aristotle…Scholasticism…
Sir Francis Bacon…Descartes…Empiricism…Kant’s
Philosophies…Hegelian Dialect…Existentialism… Nietzsche…
Natural Law…John Locke…Thomas Paine… Marxism…
Socialism…Communism…Fascism

ix


SCIENCE AND INVENTION … 481
Pythagoras…Ptolemy…Copernicus…Galileo…Halley’s Comet…
Isaac Newton…George Washington Carver…Alfred Nobel…Albert
Einstein…Enrico Fermi…J. Robert Oppenheimer… Big Bang
Theory…Carl Sagan…Charles Darwin…The Leakeys…
The Calendar…Thomas Edison… Trains…Henry Ford…Wright
Brothers…Samuel Morse… Telephone… Television…Computer
Technology…Internet

CULTURE AND RECREATION … 519
First Written Language…Alphabet…Invention of Paper…First
Book…Printing Methods… Johannes Gutenberg…Journalism…
Education…Folktales…Poetry…Novels…Harlem Renaissance…
Harry Potter…Fine Art…Photography… Architecture…Theater…
Music…Dance…Movies…Radio and Television…Games…Sports

FURTHER READING 596
I NDEX 606

x

Introduction
When I was asked to research and write the first edition of this book, my first thought
was that history—with decade upon decade of fugitive dates, people, and places—was
particularly well-suited to the Handy Answer Book® format. My second thought was
that it could not be done. History was too big a subject to squeeze itself into a finite
series of questions and answers, neatly arranged by subject, trimmed and bound into a
manageable size. But soon, very soon, the questions suggested themselves: What was
the Pax Romana…the Trail of Tears…the Gunpowder Plot…the Oath of the Tennis
Court…the Boxer Rebellion…the Battle of the Bulge…VE Day…Black Friday? Who
were the Huns…the War Hawks…the Big Four…the Robber Barons? Who was Carrie
Nation…Alex de Toqueville…Clara Barton…Balanchine? What were the Crusades…
the Rights of Man…the Boer Wars…the carpetbaggers?
And so the first edition came into print—and stayed in print, the audience keeping it in demand. The comments I have heard and read from readers have been truly
gratifying. The Handy History Answer Book is being used as a study aid for high
school and college students; as an introduction to broad subjects, such as the world
wars, for younger students; as a refresher for history buffs; and as pleasure reading for
the curious-minded of all ages. Readers have called it “nifty,” “handy-dandy,” and “history in a nutshell.” The book found its audience.
So, a second edition was called for. Once again, the questions presented themselves in a hurry. I used the opportunity of a second edition to cover the astonishing
events of the early 2000s, including the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina,
which struck the Gulf Coast of the United States as this book went into final production (the preliminary toll of the storm’s ravages are captured here and the situation
continues to unfold as this book is published). I also took the opportunity to fill gaps
that I perceived to exist in the coverage of some earlier events, update subjects that
have not neatly concluded, and to change the record. On this last point, it’s not true
that history is unchanging. New documents are discovered, public opinion shifts,
scholars develop new interpretations. Just ask Alexander Graham Bell’s descendants.

xi

The Handy History Answer Book is a resource for learning—for brushing up on
the events, terms, and history-makers many of us remember but somehow can’t always
neatly define. This book is not intended to be a comprehensive work on history; it can’t
be done in a single volume. Still, the minds that conceived of it thought that reasonably intelligent people ought to have a convenient place to go to look up those devilish
questions that have a way of cropping up in everyday conversation and reading.
While The Handy History Answer Book focuses on Western civilization, it is
impossible to not take into account events in the East. Eastern influences are certainly evident in the West. And vice versa. It turns out that the idea of a global village is
not so very new. This being so, the reader will find a number of questions and answers
regarding Eastern events, ideas, and innovations. Further, since the readership is
largely U.S.-educated, the emphasis is on those events that are most-studied in the
American classroom.
Herewith: a new edition, revised and updated, to find its place on the desks, bedside tables, and bookshelves of fact-finders.
Perhaps no one has ever issued a better apology than the great Carl Sandburg,
who in his prefatory remarks to The American Songbag wrote, “This book was begun
in the depths of humility, and ended likewise with the murmur, ‘God, be merciful to
me, a sinner.’” I, too, sincerely apologize for any factual errors in these pages. Every
effort was made to verify the accuracy of the information herein.
Peace in our time.

xii


Acknowledgments
Thanks to Marty Connors, who approached me with the idea, and to all my friends
and colleagues at Visible Ink Press, especially Roger Janecke, Terri Schell, and Christa
Gainor, who have done everything in their might to support the project.
In Diane Sawinski I had not only a smart, experienced editor, but photo
researcher, sounding board, and fellow mom. The good-looking cover and clean, highly readable format are the hard work of talented art designer Mary Claire Krzewinski
and ace typesetter Marco Di Vita. Kudos to Larry Baker for creating such an extensive

and thorough index and to Bob Huffman for his top-notch work on the book’s images.
Ted and Gilbert, thanks, guys, for letting me do this work. Go team.

xiii



Chronology of
Selected Events
P R E H I STO R I C E R A
2 million B.C.
Paleolithic (Old Stone) Age begins; it lasts until 10,000 B.C.
Earliest forms of art and communication are used (c. 35,000 B.C.).

c. 50,000 B.C.
North America begins to be settled by primitive man; migrants (hunter-gatherers in pursuit of
game) likely travel over the Bering Strait waterway via a great land or ice bridge between Asia and
North America. Period of migration lasts until about 40,000 B.C. and is followed by a second period,
between 26,000 and 8000 B.C.

c. 10,000 B.C.
Neolithic (New Stone) Age begins; it lasts until 3300 B.C.

c. 8000 B.C.
Ancient man migrates across the Americas, reaching as far as Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost part of South America.

c. 3300 B.C.
Bronze Age begins; it lasts until 2500 B.C.

c. 3000 B.C.

Egypt, one of the world’s oldest civilizations, develops in the Nile River valley; the kingdom lasts
until 332 B.C., when it is conquered by the Macedonians under Alexander the Great.
Greek civilization begins to flourish in the Mediterranean.

c. 2500 B.C.
Iron Age begins; it lasts until 2000 B.C.

TH E C LASS ICAL AG E
2000 B.C.
The Classical Age begins, dominated first by the Greeks and, later, the Romans.

c. 1400 B.C.
The Hebrew prophet Moses leads the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt.
The first five books of the Bible are written.

xv


c. 1200 B.C.
10-year Trojan War begins when the Myceneans attack the city of Troy, considered key to the
profitable Black Sea trade.

c. 1000 B.C.
Mayan culture begins to flourish in Central America.

700s B.C.
Rome is established.

500s B.C.
Roman Republic is born (509 B.C.).

Celts, an Indo-European people, spread across present-day France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and
the British Isles. By the 200s B.C., they venture as far as Greece. Ultimately they are absorbed by the
Roman Empire, with the exception of Ireland and other isolated pockets.

400s B.C.
Greek civilization reaches its height.
Greek philosopher Socrates lays the foundation for Western thought.

300s B.C.
Macedonian king Alexander the Great amasses an empire stretching from Egypt to India,
spreading Greek ideas and customs throughout.

200s B.C.
Punic Wars, a series of conflicts waged by the Romans to gain territory, begin in Italy.

100s B.C.
Roman armies conquer Macedonia.
Punic Wars end; the Romans are victorious.

60s B.C.
Julius Caesar is elected consul and the First Triumvirate is formed to govern Rome.

40s B.C.
Caesar is murdered by his countrymen (44 B.C.).

20s B.C.
The Roman Empire is established by the ruler Augustus (also known as Octavian), and the 200
years of the Pax Romana begin. The Roman Empire lasts nearly 500 years.
A.D.

30s
Jesus is crucified (c. 30 A.D.).

200s
Roman armies have by now conquered so many peoples that the Roman Empire stretches
across Europe and includes the entire Mediterranean coast of Africa as well as parts of the Middle
East.

300s
Roman emperor Constantine the Great converts to Christianity (c. 312) and makes the church
legal; Christians regain freedom of worship.
Constantine the Great moves the capital of the Roman Empire to Byzantium (later called Constantinople, which is today Istanbul, Turkey), shifting the focus from West to East and paving the
way for the Byzantine Empire.

xvi

Upon death of emperor Theodosius the Great (395), the Roman Empire is divided into East
(centered in Byzantium) and West (centered in Rome).


400s
Under leadership of Attila, the Huns rule much of Eastern Europe; after his death (453), their
dominance ends.
Rome suffers repeated attacks at the hands of various Germanic tribes and finally falls in 476,
marking the end of the West Roman Empire; the East Roman Empire, which has remained Christian
but has been significantly influenced by the East, survives as the Byzantine Empire.

500s
Byzantine Empire, centered in Constantinople (Istanbul, Turkey), grows in strength and influence.

600s
Islam is founded by Muhammad, who is believed to be a prophet of Allah (God).
Feudal system begins to be established as a way of organizing and protecting communities: a
lord grants his subjects land, and in return they provide him with services, including military protection.

CHRONOLOGY OF SELECTED EVENTS

TH E M I DDLE AG E S

800s
On Christmas Day 800, Charlemagne is crowned ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, a loose confederation of German and Italian states; but after his death in 814, the empire lapses.
During China’s Tang dynasty, the first book is published: Diamond Sutra.

900s
Otto I is crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, a confederation of Western European
states that will last until 1806.

1000s
Seafaring Norseman Leif Ericsson arrives at Newfoundland or Nova Scotia, Canada (1001),
becoming the first European to set foot on North American soil.
Pope Urban II announces (1095) the first of the Christian Crusades, wars to recover the Holy
Land (Palestine) from the Muslims.
Norman invasion: French duke William of Normandy (a.k.a. William the Conqueror) sails
across the English Channel (1066) and invades Anglo-Saxon England.

1100s
Feudalism takes hold in France and spreads into England, Spain, and other parts of the Christian world.
Europe’s first university is formed at Bologna, Italy (1158).

1200s

Genghis Khan amasses his empire in the East.
Marco Polo travels to the East (1270), where he remains for some 25 years before returning to
his native Venice, bringing back fantastic accounts of his journey.
Magna Carta is signed at Runnymede, England (1215).
The Crusades, a series of military expeditions, end; the Christian goal of permanently recovering the Holy Land of Palestine is not realized, but trade routes have been established, new markets
opened, and shipbuilding has been improved—paving the way for the age of exploration.

xvii


T H E R E NA I S S A N C E , T H E A G E
A N D T H E R E F O R M AT I O N

OF

E X P L O R AT I O N ,

1300s
The Renaissance takes hold in Europe; it lasts until the 1600s. Arts and letters flourish during
the period.
Aztec Indians establish city of Tenochtitlán (c. 1325) on future site of Mexico City.
Hundred Years’ War begins (1337); England and France fight intermittently until 1453; England loses all claims to lands on the European continent.

1400s
Byzantine Empire falls to the Ottoman Turks (1453).
Gutenberg builds his first printing press (1440s).
Age of exploration begins as Roman Catholic powers Spain and Portugal send explorers in
search of new trade routes to India and the Far East.
Under the sponsorship of Spanish monarchs, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus voyages west
(1492) in search of a trade route to the East and lands in the Caribbean islands (West Indies).

Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci reaches the Western Hemisphere (1497–1503) and is later
credited with being the first European explorer to realize he had arrived in the New World, which
will be named for him: America is derived from Amerigo.

1500s
Portuguese navigator Gaspar de Corte-Real makes landfall and explores the coasts of Labrador
and Newfoundland, Canada (1500); it is the first authenticated European landing on the North
American mainland.
Reformation begins (1517) when theology professor Martin Luther nails his Ninety-Five Theses to
the door of the Castle Church at Wittenburg in Saxony, Germany.
Spaniards, led by Hernán Cortés, arrive in central Mexico (1519); by 1521 they suppress the
Aztecs and claim Mexico as a viceroyalty of Spain.
Incas of South America are conquered by the Spaniards (1530s).
Ottoman (Turkish) Empire reaches its height, spreading Islamic culture in the East and into
Europe.

TH E E N LIG HTE N M E NT AN D
TH E S C I E NTI F I C R EVO LUTI O N
1600s
Not to be outdone by Spain’s colonialism in the New World, England establishes settlements
along the eastern seaboard of the North American mainland. France also settles North America,
claiming regions for its crown and prompting a series of colonial wars (1689–1763) with England.
England emerges the victor.
Galileo advocates (1613) the controversial Copernican system of the universe, proposing that
Earth revolves around the sun.
The Scientific Revolution is under way; the era is marked by key discoveries and rapid advances
in astronomy, anatomy, mathematics, and physics; science courses become part of school curricula.

xviii

Ottoman Empire begins a 300-year decline.


Oliver Cromwell is named Lord Protector of England (1653), interrupting the English monarchy.
Charles II ascends the English throne (1660), beginning the Restoration; absolutism of the
monarchy is reestablished, but monarchs clash with a more powerful Parliament.
Harvard, America’s first university, is chartered (1636).
Tsar Peter the Great rules Russia (1682–1725), introducing western European civilization and
elevating Russia to the status of great European power.
British Parliament compels King William and Queen Mary to accept the Bill of Rights (1689),
asserting the Crown no longer has absolute power and must rule through Parliament; England’s constitutional monarchy is founded.

T H E R E V O L U T I O NA RY E R A : WA R S
B I RT H O F I N D U S T RY

AN D TH E

CHRONOLOGY OF SELECTED EVENTS

Peace of Westphalia (1648) ends the Thirty Years’ War, helping establish Protestantism in
Europe.

1700s
Act of Union (1707) joins England and Scotland.
German physicist Daniel Fahrenheit invents mercury thermometer (1714).
Danish navigator Vitus Bering crosses the narrow strait separating Asia and North America
(1728).
Trial of New York City printer John Peter Zenger (1735) lays foundation for freedom of the
press.
English inventor John Harrison presents his ship’s chronometer to London’s Board of Longitude (1736); the device, which goes through several improvements, affords explorers and traders

more accurate navigation.
First golf club is formed (1744), in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Powerful earthquake strikes Lisbon, Portugal (November 1, 1755). Felt across Europe, the
quake generates debate among philosophers who try to explain why God would destroy that particular city, which was then the seat of the Holy Inquisition, on All Saints’ Day.
French and Indian War (1754–63) is fought in North America; Britain emerges as the victor.
Seven Years’ War (1756–63) is fought as European powers vie for supremacy.
England gains control of India (1757).
Tsarina Catherine the Great rules Russia (1762–96).
James Watt patents the first practical steam-powered engine (1769).
French military engineer Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot builds a steam-powered road vehicle (1769),
beginning developments that lead to the introduction of the automobile.
Industrial Revolution begins (mid-1700s) in Great Britain with the introduction of power-driven machinery and spreads to western Europe and America.
Boston Tea Party (1773) and other acts of colonial rebellion spark the American Revolution
(1775–83).
Thomas Paine writes Common Sense (1776), promoting the idea that democracy is the only
form of government that can guarantee natural rights; the pamphlet galvanizes support for American Revolution.

xix


Declaration of Independence is issued (1776) by representatives of the 13 American colonies.
Scottish economist Adam Smith writes The Wealth of Nations (1776), proposing a system of
natural liberty in trade and commerce, the cornerstone of capitalism.
Vermont prohibits slavery (1777).
Articles of Confederation take effect (March 1, 1781) when the last state (Maryland) ratifies
them; the document is later replaced with the Constitution.
Treaty of Paris ends the American Revolution (September 3, 1783).
Cotton-spinning machine is invented (1783) in Great Britain.
First hot-air balloon flights (1783), in Paris.
Constitutional Convention is convened at Philadelphia (1787) and the U.S. Constitution is

drafted; it will be ratified by the states the following year and will go into effect in 1789.
French Revolution (1789–99) begins with the Oath of the Tennis Court and the storming of the
Bastille.
Spinning mills are introduced in the United States (1790) by English-born mechanist and businessman Samuel Slater, launching the American textiles industry and creating great demand for
southern-grown cotton.
Baseball is popular enough with the American public to be the subject of a Pittsfield, Massachusetts, town ordinance (1791).
Bill of Rights (1791) is added to the U.S. Constitution.
Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin (1793).
U.S. forces of General Anthony Wayne defeat the Shawnee at Fallen Timbers, Ohio (1793).
France’s Reign of Terror (1793–94) is led by revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre.
English engineer Richard Trevithick constructs a working model of a locomotive engine (1797).
English physician Edward Jenner announces he has developed the vaccine (1798).
Coup d’État of 18th Brumaire (1799): Napoleon Bonaparte rises to power in France.

1800s
Trained scientists develop new technologies, including farm machinery and equipment for textile manufacturing and transportation, fueling the Industrial Revolution.
Manifest Destiny takes hold, resulting in U.S. expansionism through the acquisition of lands
(Louisiana Territory, Florida, Texas, California, etc.) by purchase, warfare, and treaties.
U.S. labor movement has its origins (early 1800s) as workers begin organizing.
Act of Union unites Ireland with England and Scotland, forming the United Kingdom (1801).
In what came to be known as the Louisiana Purchase (1803), the United States bought from
France the Louisiana Territory.
Napoleon Bonaparte declares himself emperor of France (December 2, 1804).
Louis and Clark expedition (1804–06) explores western United States.
Holy Roman Empire ends in the Confederation of the Rhine (1806), which brings most of the
German states under French domination, a result of the Napoleonic Wars.

1810s
Work begins (1811) on the National Road, the first U.S. government road; the first of a long
series of federal transportation projects that knit the nation together.

xx

War of 1812 is fought between the United States and Britain.


Napoleon is defeated by a European coalition in the Battle of Waterloo (1815), ending his reign.

1820s
Missouri Compromise (1820): Missouri is admitted to the Union as a slave state and Maine as a
free state; territories north of the 36th parallel, with the exception of Missouri, are free. The compromise intended, but failed, to settle the slavery question.
Greek War for Independence is fought (1821–29).
Lyceum movement begins (1826); the decades-long movement promotes establishment of public schools, libraries, and museums in the United States.
Erie Canal is completed (1825), spurring settlement of U.S. interior.
New York Stock Exchange opens (1825) at 11 Wall Street, New York City.

1830s
Abolition movement gains strength in the United States (1830s).
First commercially successful reaper is built (1831) by Virginia-born inventor Cyrus Hall
McCormick.

CHRONOLOGY OF SELECTED EVENTS

Treaty of Ghent (December 24, 1814) officially ends the War of 1812.

Texas War of Independence (1836).
England’s Queen Victoria begins her long reign (1837–1901).
Trail of Tears (1838): American Indians are forced westward by the U.S. government to make
way for white settlers.

1840s
Mexican War is fought (1846–48) over U.S. annexation of Texas.
Ireland experiences the Great Famine (1845–48), prompting widespread immigration to the
United States.
Gold Rush begins in California (1848).
First women’s rights convention is held (1848) in Seneca Falls, New York, launching the American women’s suffragist movement.

1850s
Compromise of 1850 fails to settle the slavery issue in the United States.
Bessemer process is developed (1850s); it is the first method for making steel cheaply and in
large quantities.
America’s first department stores are established (1850s–1880s) after the Parisian model Bon
Marché (est. 1838).
U.S. owns all territory of present-day contiguous states (1853); Alaska is added in 1867 and
Hawaii in 1898.
Crimean War (1853–56) is fought between Russian forces and the allied armies of Britain,
France, the Ottoman Empire (present-day Turkey), and Sardinia (part of present-day Italy).
What becomes known as the Comstock Lode is discovered (1857) in Mount Davidson, Nevada; it
is the richest silver mine in the U.S.
Bleeding Kansas (1858): deadly conflicts between abolitionists and pro-slavery factions.
Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species (1858).
Mexico’s War of Reform (1858–61).
U.S. oil industry begins when retired railroad conductor Edwin L. Drake drills a well (1859)
near Titusville, Pennsylvania.

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Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company is set up (1859) in New York City; A&Ps proliferate rapidly, launching chain store concept.

1860s
First practical internal-combustion engine is built (1860); the diesel engine follows two years
later.
Civil War (1861–65) is fought in the United States.
Sioux uprising (August-September 1862) in southwestern Minnesota.
Red Cross is founded (1864), as part of the first Geneva Conventions (1864, 1906, 1929, 1949).
Two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment,
banning slavery throughout the United States (1865).
American Civil War ends when Confederate states surrender (April 9, 1865).
President Abraham Lincoln is shot (April 14, 1865); he dies the next day.
Reconstruction begins (1865).
Europe’s Austro-Hungarian monarchy is established (1867); it lasts until 1918.
Articles of impeachment are brought against President Andrew Johnson over political and ideological differences between him and Congress (February 1868).
Transcontinental railroad is completed (May 10, 1869) in the United States.

1870s
Fifteenth Amendment is passed (1870), giving all citizens equal protection under the law
(which meant to extend suffrage to black men).
Panic of 1873: Monetary crisis in the U.S. begins period of economic depression, which launches the Progressive movement, seeking wide-ranging reforms.
Alexander Bell invents the telephone (1875); Italian-American inventor Antonio Meucci has
already been working on transmitting voice over wire since the 1860s (it is not until 2002 that the
U.S. Congress officially recognizes Meucci as the inventor of the telephone).
Custer’s Last Stand: Battle of Little Bighorn (June 25, 1876).

Late 1800s
President James Garfield is shot (July 2, 1881); he dies from the wounds in September.
Haymarket Square Riot in Chicago (May 1886).
Thomas Edison invents the automatic telegraphy machine, stock-ticker machine, incandescent
light bulb, the phonograph, and more (late 1800s).
Gas-powered automobile is invented (late 1800s).

Ellis Island (New York) opens as a processing center for immigrants (January 1, 1892).
Chinese-Japanese War is fought over control of Korea (1894–95).
Radio is invented (1895).
England’s Queen Victoria celebrates her Diamond Jubilee (1897), a high point of the Victorian Age.
Zionism is founded (late 1890s); the movement seeks a homeland for Israel.
Spanish-American War (1898) is fought over the liberation of Cuba.
French chemists-physicists Pierre and Marie Curie discover radium (1898).
First Hague Convention is held (1899); it and a subsequent convention (1907) outline laws and
customs of war.

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William McKinley becomes the first U.S. president to ride in a car—a Stanley Steamer (1899).


1900s
Boxer Rebellion in China (1900).
President William McKinley is shot (September 6, 1901); he dies September 14.
Nobel prizes are first awarded (1901).
At Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright make the world’s first
flight in a power-driven, heavier-than-air machine—the airplane (1903).
Russo-Japanese War is fought over interests in China and Korea (1904–05).
Russian Revolution begins with Bloody Sunday, January 22, 1905.
Irish nationalist movement Sinn Fein is organized (1905).
Ford introduces the Model T (1908).
NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) is founded (1909).
Robert E. Peary and his expedition reach the North Pole (1909).

CHRONOLOGY OF SELECTED EVENTS

T H E T W E N T I E T H C E N T U RY

1910s
Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his expedition reach the South Pole (1911).
Revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata helps overthrow the Mexican government of Porfirio Diaz
(1910), beginning the bloody 10-year Mexican Revolution.
Titanic sinks (1912).
American automaker Henry Ford invents the moving assembly line (1913), revolutionizing the
production of consumer goods and ushering in the consumer age.
World War I, known as the Great War, is fought in Europe (1914–18).
Bolshevik Revolution (1917), a.k.a. October Revolution, ends tsarist rule in Russia and begins
Communist era. It is followed by Red Terror (to c. 1920), a period of Communist coercion and civil
unrest.
Germany agrees to an armistice and the Central powers surrender, drawing World War I to a
close (1918); an estimated 10 million lives have been lost and 20 million have been injured.
Paris Peace Conference (1919) redraws European boundaries as part of WWI settlement. In an
effort to keep Germany in check, the Treaty of Versailles metes out severe punishment to the former
power.
In response to Temperance Movement (est. mid-1800s), the U.S. Congress passes the Eighteenth Amendment (1919), making prohibition federal law; but enforcement is difficult and bootlegging becomes its own industry, dominated by organized crime (to 1933, when the amendment was
repealed).
May Fourth movement emerges in China (1919).

1920s
Roaring Twenties, also called the Jazz Age, is marked by extreme optimism in the United States.
Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified (1920), granting women the right to
vote.
New York City bomb explosion (September 16, 1920) rips through J. P. Morgan Bank building;
anarchists are thought responsible, but no one is ever charged with the crime.
British parliament passes Government of Ireland Act, creating Northern Ireland out of the six
mostly Protestant counties of Ulster; 26 southern counties refuse to accept the legislation, forming

the Irish Free State (1921), later called the Republic of Ireland.

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