ARTICLES

The Korean War began in 1950, drew the United States and China into direct combat, and ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty. Its legacy remains visible in the divided Korean Peninsula and one of the world's most heavily militarized borders.

The GI Bill helped millions of World War II veterans transition into civilian life through education, training, home loans, and other benefits. Its influence helped reshape higher education, homeownership, the workforce, and America's postwar middle class.

In December 1944, Germany launched a surprise offensive through the Ardennes. Discover how American forces held Bastogne, stopped the advance, and helped turn Hitler's final major western offensive into a costly defeat.

On June 6, 1944, Allied forces launched the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Discover how Operation Overlord was planned, how troops fought their way ashore, and how the landings opened the western road toward Nazi Germany.

On December 7, 1941, Japanese aircraft launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Learn what led to the strike, what happened that morning, and how it brought the United States directly into World War II.

The Great Depression brought an abrupt end to the prosperity of the 1920s. Learn how stock speculation, bank failures, unemployment, declining spending, and the Dust Bowl deepened America’s worst modern economic crisis.

The Roaring Twenties transformed American life through economic growth, automobiles, radio, Prohibition, jazz, the Harlem Renaissance, and changing social expectations. Discover the prosperity and contradictions that defined the decade.

The United States tried to remain neutral when World War I began, but German submarine warfare, the Zimmermann Telegram, and growing threats to American interests eventually pushed the country into the conflict in 1917.

Opened in 1914, the Panama Canal connected the Atlantic and Pacific through an approximately 50-mile waterway. Discover the engineering, workers, locks, and global trade impact behind one of history's most ambitious infrastructure projects.

The Spanish-American War lasted only a few months in 1898, but it transformed America's role in the world. Explore the conflict in Cuba and the Philippines, the Treaty of Paris, and the debate over U.S. expansion.

Signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1862, the Homestead Act offered eligible settlers the chance to claim public land and build new lives in the West. Explore how the law worked, the hardships homesteaders faced, and the lasting consequences of western settlement.

Completed in 1869, the Transcontinental Railroad connected distant parts of the United States and transformed cross-country travel. Learn how workers overcame mountains, deserts, and dangerous conditions, and why the railroad's legacy includes both extraordinary achievement and profound social costs.

After the Civil War, the United States faced the difficult task of rebuilding the South and defining freedom for millions of formerly enslaved people. Explore Reconstruction's constitutional changes, political advances, resistance, and unfinished legacy.

On April 9, 1865, Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House. Discover how the final campaign unfolded, what Grant's surrender terms meant, and why Appomattox became the enduring symbol of the Civil War's end.

Sherman's March to the Sea carried Union forces from Atlanta to Savannah in late 1864. Explore the strategy behind the campaign, the destruction it caused, and the controversy that still surrounds its legacy.

The Emancipation Proclamation changed the course of the Civil War, but it did not immediately free every enslaved person in the United States. Learn what Lincoln's 1863 proclamation did, where it applied, and why its limitations matter.

Before sunrise on April 12, 1861, Confederate artillery opened fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Learn how the attack transformed a national political crisis into the opening battle of the American Civil War.

Bleeding Kansas turned the national debate over slavery into armed conflict. Learn how disputed elections, rival governments, the Sack of Lawrence, and retaliatory violence pushed the country closer to Civil War.

The Compromise of 1850 temporarily eased a national crisis over slavery and western expansion. Learn what its five measures did, why the Fugitive Slave Act caused outrage, and why the settlement could not prevent the Civil War.

The California Gold Rush drew people from around the world after gold was discovered in 1848. See how the rush transformed California's population, economy, cities, and place in the American West.