Directory
References
history of United States: Media
Videos
Find out how the 13 American colonies gained their political independence from Great Britain
Learn about the major events of the Revolutionary War (1775–83), which won 13 American...
Video: © Civil War Trust (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Examine early U.S. involvement in Vietnam under the Eisenhower administration during the First Indochina War
French defeat by Viet Minh at Dien Bien Phu, northern Vietnam, 1954.
Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
A glimpse into California's gold rush towns
An overview of California's Gold Rush.
Video: Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail © Luftklick/Dreamstime.com; © Luciano Mortula/Dreamstime.com
Cuban missile crisis: The world on the brink of war
Overview of the Cuban missile crisis and its effect on Germany, 1962.
Video: Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail National Archives and Records Administration; United States. Department of Defense. Department of Defense Cuban Missile Crisis Briefing Materials. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston
Uncover how the new United States fought with the British over naval impressment and their history of conflict
Learn how the American Revolution and the War of 1812 fit into broader global conflicts...
Video: © Civil War Trust (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Learn why Japan attacked Pearl Harbor causing the United States to join Allied forces in World War II
A detailed video timeline of the Pearl Harbor attack, December 7, 1941.
Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Consider the import of America's founders George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abigail Adams
An overview of the Founding Fathers.
Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Discover the meaning and purpose of the Gettysburg Address delivered by President Abraham Lincoln
Examine the historical context and meaning of U.S. Pres. Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg...
Video: © Civil War Trust (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Follow the history of U.S. spaceflight from Pres. John F. Kennedy to Neil Armstrong and Apollo 11
History of the American human spaceflight program in the 1960s.
Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Know about American industrial design and the contribution of Norman Bel Geddes in popularising modern styles
Learn about American industrial design of the 20th century, particularly the work...
Video: © Open University (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Learn how the Great Famine devastated the Irish population and sparked starvation and migration
An overview of the Great Famine in Ireland.
Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Learn about the debate on the legacy of the American Civil War
Examine the continuing debate over the legacy of the American Civil War.
Video: © Civil War Trust (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Learn how Abraham Lincoln defeated George McClellan before ending the American Civil War
Lincoln's reelection and the end of the Civil War.
Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Hemp production in the United States during World War II
Watch this clip from a 1940s film promoting the production of hemp for the U.S. war...
Video: © American Chemical Society (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Learn about the early outbreak of the AIDS epidemic in the U.S.
Learn about the history of the AIDS epidemic in the U.S., including the response...
Video: © World Science Festival (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Learn about the U-2 incident and the collapse of the 1960 Paris summit
“Summit Crisis,” a newsreel about the U-2 Incident and the collapse of the 1960 Paris...
Video: Universal Newsreel/Internet Moving Images Archive (at archive.org)
See how the North Vietnamese-backed Viet Cong launched surprise attacks across South Vietnam
Scenes of the Tet Offensive, South Vietnam, January–February 1968.
Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Watch scenes of the U.S. and South Vietnamese evacuation from Saigon as North Vietnamese tanks arrive
Scenes of the last American helicopter leaving Saigon, South Vietnam, April 30, 1975.
Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Follow the United States' path from isolationism toward joining the Allied powers in World War II
Still with the hope of not directly engaging in the war, the United States provided...
Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
How the halt command saved British troops in Dunkirk
Overview of the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, 1940.
Video: Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz
Watch Japanese dive-bombers attack the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor to spark the Pacific War
On December 7, 1941, Japanese airplanes strike the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor,...
Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Learn about Japan's pre-World War II invasions, joining of the Axis powers, and attack on Pearl Harbor
In September 1940 Imperial Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with Nazi Germany and...
Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Turning point of World War II: D-Day and its aftermath
Overview of the Normandy Invasion.
Video: Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail © 1962 Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
Images
Raúl Castro and Barack Obama
U.S. Pres. Barack Obama (right) and Cuban Pres. Raúl Castro making televised addresses...
© Anthony Behar—Pool via CNP/DPA
Celebrating the end of World War I
Crowds on Wall Street celebrating the end of World War I, New York City, 1918.
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (digital file no. 09634)
World War I: U.S. Army recruits
U.S. Army recruits at Camp Pike, Arkansas, in 1918, following the United States'...
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Marne, Battle of the
Engineers of the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division preparing to cross the Marne River near...
National Archives, Washington, D.C.
U.S. 27th Infantry Division after the end of World War I
The U.S. 27th Infantry Division passing through the Victory Arch in New York City...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
World War I: “Wake Up” parade
Marchers in a “Wake Up” parade, 1917, during World War I.
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
World War I
Woman working in an American airplane factory during World War I, 1917.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Executive Order 9981
First page of Executive Order 9981, signed by U.S. Pres. Harry Truman, July 26, 1948....
NARA
Executive Order 9981
Second page of Executive Order 9981, signed by U.S. Pres. Harry Truman, July 26,...
NARA
caricature of Thomas Paine
English caricature of Thomas Paine's involvement in the French Revolution.
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
“Old Hickory” (Andrew Jackson)
Caucus Curs in Full Yell, an 1824 cartoon by James Akin, showing “Old Hickory”...
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Granger movement
The Granger movement; lithograph published in 1873.
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Irish emigrants
Irish emigrants departing for the United States.
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (reproducution no. LC-USZ62-2022)
Swedish immigrants
Swedish immigrants en route to the western United States in the mid-19th century.
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Washington inauguration triumphal arches
Triumphal arches, such as these near Philadelphia, were erected throughout the United...
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
A map, titled “Historical Geography” and created by John F. Smith (1888), that uses...
The Newberry Library (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
North Atlantic Treaty Organization: members and partners
Map depicting the member countries and partner countries of the North Atlantic Treaty...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc./Kenny Chmielewski
Spanish viceroyalties and Portuguese territories in the Americas, 1780
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Nuclear tests in the South Pacific
Nuclear tests in the South PacificIslands...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Hurricane Katrina in numbers
Hurricane Katrina formed on August 23, 2005, and in less than a week grew from a...
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc./Christine McCabe and Kenny Chmielewski