Wars, Battles, Revolutions, Crusades, Rebellions, Revolts, Riots, Strikes, Mutinies, Movements, Uprisings, Massacres, Plots, Conspiracies, Cabals, Scandals, Disasters, Assassinations, Affairs, Raids, Purges, Crises, Marches, and Other Hostile Incidents
Egyptian
Battles
Kadesh (1274 BC, Syria) -
Ramses II (Egypt) defeated Muwatallis (Hittite)
Carchemish (605 BC, Turkey)
- Nebuchadnezzar II (Babylon) defeated Egyptians
Persian
Wars
Marathon (490 BC, Greece) -
Miltiades (Greece) defeated Darius (Persia) near Athens;
Pheidippides ran to Athens
with the news
Thermopylae (480 BC, Greece)
- Leonidas I (Sparta) delayed Xerxex I's (Persia)
advance at a
narrow mountain path
Salamis (480 BC, Greece) -
Themistocles's (Athens) navy defeated Xerxes I (Persia) near Athens
Plataea (479 BC, Greece) -
Greeks defeated Persian infantry
Peloponnesian
War
Mantinea (418 BC, Greece) -
Sparta defeated Alcibiades (Athens)
Aegospotomai (4 05 BC, Dardanelles)
-Lysander (Sparta) defeated Athenians in the Hellespont
Thebes
- Sparta War
Leuctra (371 BC, Greece) -
Epaminondas (Thebes) defeated Sparta
Mantinea (362 BC, Greece) -
Epaminondas (Thebes) defeated Sparta and Athens but was killed
Macedonian
Battles
Chaeronea (338 BC, Greece) -
Philip II (Macedonia) defeated Athens and Thebes
Granicus (334 BC, Asia
Minor) - Alexander the Great (Macedonia) defeated Persians
Issus (333 BC, Syria) - Alexander
the Great (Macedonia) defeated Darius III (Persia), who had
massacred Alexander's
injured soldiers at Issus
Gaugamela (Oct. 1, 331 BC,
Iraq) - also Arbela; Alexander the Great (Macedonia) defeated
Darius III (Persi)
Hydaspes (326 BC, India) - Alexander
the Great (Macedonia) defeated King Porus
Ipsus (301 BC, Asia Minor) - Antigonus I was killed, and Alexander's empire was split
among
Ptolemy I, Seleucus
I, and Antigonus's descendants
Second
Punic War
Cannae (216 BC, Italy) -
Hannibal (Carthage) destroyed the army of Varro and Paulus Aemilius
(Rome)
Zama (202 BC, Tunisia) -
Scipio Africanus (Rome) defeated Hannibal, ending the war
Roman
Battles
Carrhae (53 BC, Turkey) - Orontes
(Parthia) defeated Crassus (Rome), and executed him
Alesia (52 BC, France) -
Julius Caesar (Rome) defeated Vercingetorix (Gaul)
Pharsalus (48 BC, Italy) -
Julius Caesar defeated Pompey the Great
Philippi (42 BC, Greece) -
Antony and Octavian defeated Brutus and Cassius, who had
assassinated Julius Caesar
Actium (Sept. 2, 31 BC) -
Octavian and Agrippa defeated Antony and Cleopatra (Egypt)
Teutoburg Forest (9, Germany) -
Arminius (Cherusci) defeated Varus (Rome)
Milvian Bridge (312, Italy)
- Constantine the Great, after seeing a vision of a cross, defeated
Maxentius near Rome,
converted to Christianity, and became emperor
Adrianople (378, Turkey) -
Visigoths destroyed the Eastern Romans under Valens near Edirne
Chalons (451, Gaul) - Flavius
Aetius (Rome) and Theodoric I (Visigoths) defeated Attila the Hun
and Gaiseric (Vandal)
Muslim
Battles
Uhud (625, Arabia) - Khalid (Mecca)
defeated Muhammad
Yarmuk (637, Syria) - Khalid
(Muslim) defeated Byzantines and captured Damascus
Medieval
Battles
Tours (732, France) - also
Poitiers; Charles Martel (Frank) stopped Moor invasion
Stamford Bridge (Sept. 25,
1066) - Harold II (England) defeated Tostig and Harold III (Norway)
Hastings (Oct. 14, 1066,
East Sussex England) - William of Normandy defeated Harold II
(England) at Senlac Hill; Harold
was killed; battle depicted in Bayeux Tapestry
Manzikert (1071, Turkey) -
Alp-Arslan (Seljuks) defeated Romanus IV Diogenes (Byzantium);
led to Seljuk conquest of
Anatolia
Bouvines (July 27, 1214, Lille
France) - Philip II (France) defeated John (England) and Otto IV
(HRE), forcing England out
of northern France
Dunbar (1296, Scotland) -
England defeated Baliol (Scotland), who had allied with France
Stirling Bridge (Sept. 11,
1297, Scotland) - William Wallace (Scotland) defeated Earl of Surrey (England)
Bannockburn (June 24, 1314,
Scotland) - Robert I (Scotland) defeated Edward II (England) at
Stirling Castle
Tannenberg (July 15, 1410,
Poland) - also Grunwald; Witold and Ladislav (Poland and Lithuania)
defeated Ulrich von Jungingen (Teutonic Knights)
Flodden Field (Sept. 9, 1513,
England) - Earl of Surrey (England), leading Henry VIII's army,
defeated and killed James IV
(Scotland)
Pavia (1525, Italy) -
Charles V (HRE) defeated Francis I (France)
Crusades
First (1095 - 1099) - called
by Urban II at Council of Clermont; led by Robert of Flanders,
Bohemond of Taranto, Godfrey
of Bouillon, and Raymond of Toulouse; captured Jerusalem;
set up Edessa, Antioch, Tripoli,
and Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem states in "Outremer"
Second (1144 - 1148) -
called by Eugenius III; led by Louis VII (France) and Conrad III (HRE);
lost at Dorylaeum
and Damascus; freed Lisbon from Moors
Third (1187 - 1192) - after
Saladin retook Jerusalem, Richard I (England), Philip II (France), and
Frederick I (HRE) reestablished Latin
Kingdom but failed to take Jerusalem; Frederick
drowned in Calycadnus River
Fourth (1199 - 1204) -
called by Innocent III; Venetians took Zara in Hungary and
Constantinople
Albigensian (1208 - 1229) -
called by Innocent III and Gregory IX; Louis XIII persecuted
believers in dualism
(Cathars) in southern France
Children's (1212) - led by
Stephen of Cloyes and Nicholas of Cologne; never
reached Holy Land
Fifth (1228) - called by
Gregory IX; Frederick II (HRE) negotiated for control of Jerusalem
Seventh (1248 - 1250) -
Louis IX (France) captured Damietta in Egypt but lost at Cairo
Hundred
Years War
Crecy (Aug. 26, 1346,
France) - Edward III and son Edward the Black Prince (England) defeated
Philip VI (France); English
longbow very effective
Poitiers (Sept. 19, 1356,
France) - Edward the Black Prince (England) captured John II the Good
(France), who was held for
ransom
Agincourt (Oct. 25, 1415,
France) - Henry V (England) defeated Charles D'Albret
(France); French
troops trapped in mud
slaughtered by English bowmen
Wars
of the Roses (English Civil War)
St. Albans (1455, England) -
Margaret of Anjou (Lancaster), wife of Henry VI, defeated Earl of
Warwick (York)
Northampton (1460, England)
Towton (Mar. 29, 1461, England) -
Earl of Warwick (York) and duke of York defeated Duke of
Somerset (Lancaster);
replaced Henry VI with Edward IV as king; bloodiest battle in England
Barnet (Mar. 1471, England)
- Duke of Clarence and Edward IV (Lancaster) defeated Earl of
Warwick (York), who was
killed
Tewkesbury (1471, England) -
Edward IV (York) defeated Margaret of Anjou (Lancaster), wife
of Henry VI; Henry was
murdered in the Tower
Bosworth Field (Aug. 22,
1485, Leicestershire) - Henry Tudor (Lancaster) defeated Richard III
(York); Thomas and William
Stanley joined Henry; Richard III was unhorsed and killed
Mughal
Battles
Panipat (1526, India) -
Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi and established Mughal Dynasty.
Ottoman
Battles
First Kosovo (June 15, 1389,
Serbia) - Murad I (Ottoman) defeated Lazar (Serbia) on the "Field of
Blackbirds"; Murad was
killed but his son Bayazid I led Ottomans to victory
Ankara (1402, Turkey) -
Tamerlane captured Bayazid I (Ottoman)
Second Kosovo (1448, Serbia)
- Murad II (Ottoman) defeated Hunyadi (Hungary)
Constantinople (1453,
Turkey) - Muhammad II captured Byzantine capital
Mohacs (Aug. 29, 1526,
Hungary) - Suleiman I (Ottoman) defeated and killed Louis II (Hungary)
Vienna (1529, Austria) -
Ferdinand I (HRE) ended Suleiman I's siege of Vienna
Lepanto (Oct. 7, 1571,
Greece) - Don Juan's (Austria) navy defeated Ali Pasha (Ottomans)
Thirty
Years War
White Mountain (1620,
Germany) - Count von Tilly (Catholic), under Ferdinand II (HRE), defeated
Frederick V (Bohemia)
Breitenfeld (Sept. 17, 1631, Germany) -
Gustavus Adolphus (Sweden) defeated Count von Tilly
(Catholic)
Lutzen (Nov. 6, 1632, Germany) - Gustavus Adolphus (Sweden) and Bernhard (Protestant)
defeated Albrecht von
Wallenstein (Catholic) near Leipzig, but Gustavus was
killed
English
Revolution
Edgehill (Oct. 23, 1642,
England) - indecisive battle between Cavaliers (King) and Roundheads
(Parliament)
Marston Moor (July 2, 1644,
England) - Oliver Cromwell (Parliament) defeated Cavaliers
Naseby (June 14, 1645,
England) - Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army under Sir Thomas Fairfax
defeated Cavaliers
Preston (Aug. 17 - 19, 1648,
England) - Oliver Cromwell defeated Scots
Dunbar (1650, England) - Oliver
Cromwell defeated Scots
Glorious
Revolution
Boyne (July 11, 1690,
Drogheda Ireland) - William III (new Protestant English king) defeated
James II (deposed Catholic
English king)
War
of the Spanish Succession (Queen Anne's War)
Blenheim (Aug. 13, 1704,
Bavaria) - Duke of Marlborough (England) and Eugene of Savoy
(Austria) defeated French
Ramillies (1706, Belgium) - Duke of
Marlborough (England) defeated France, forcing them out of
the Netherlands
Oudenaarde (1708, Europe) - Duke of
Marlborough (England) and Eugene of Savoy (Austria)
defeated the Duke of Vendome
(France), forcing Louis XIV to sue for peace
Malplaquet (1709, France) - Duke of
Marlborough (England) and Eugene of Savoy
(Austria) defeated French;
bloodiest battle of the war
Great
Northern War
Narva (1704, Estonia) - Russians
took city from Sweden
Poltava (July 8, 1709,
Ukraine) - Peter I (Russia) defeated Charles XII (Sweden)
War
of the Polish Succession
Danzig (1733 - 1734, Poland)
- Stanislaw (Poland) surrendered to Russia, allowing Augustus III
to be king of Poland
War
of the Austrian Succession (King George's War)
Dettingen (June 27, 1743, Bavaria) -
George II (British) defeated French; last monarch to
personally lead troops in battle
Seven
Years War (French and Indian War)
Rossbach (1757, Europe) - Seydlitz (Prussia) defeated France
Plassey (1757, India) -
Robert Clive (British) defeated Bengal
Plains of Abraham (Sept. 13,
1759, Quebec) - James Wolfe (British) defeated Montcalm (France);
both commanders were
mortally wounded
American
Revolution
Lexington and Concord (Apr.
1775, MA) - Francis Smith, under Thomas Gage (British), tried to
seize colonists' gunpowder;
Paul Revere warned of his advance
Bunker Hill (June 17, 1775,
MA) - William Howe (British) dislodged William Prescott and Israel
Putnam (US) but endured
heavy casualties; Artemas Ward (US) had ordered
fortification
of Bunker Hill but Americans
actually located at Breed's Hill
Quebec (Dec. 30-31, 1775,
Quebec) - Guy Carleton (Canada) defeated Benedict Arnold and Richard
Montgomery (US), who had
captured Montreal but was killed here; ended US invasion of
Canada
Long Island (Aug. 27, 1776,
NY) - William Howe (British) defeated George Washington (US) in
Brooklyn; first large battle
of the war
Harlem Heights (Sept. 16,
1776, NY) - George Washington (US) forced William Howe (British) to
retreat in Manhattan
Trenton (Dec. 26, 1776, NJ)
- George Washington (US) crossed Delaware River and defeated Johann
Gottlieb
Rall (Hessian)
Princeton (Jan. 3, 1777, NJ)
- George Washington (US) defeated Charles Cornwallis (British); Hugh
Mercer (US) was killed
Saratoga (June - Oct. 1777,
NY) - John Burgoyne (British) surrendered to Horatio Gates, Benedict
Arnold, and Daniel Morgan
(US); two battles fought at Freeman's Farm
Oriskany (Aug. 6, 1777, NY)
- Nicholas Herkimer (US) helped Peter Gansevoort (US) hold onto
Fort Stanwix, under siege by
Barry St. Leger (British) and Joseph Brant (Mohawk)
Bennington (Aug. 16, 1777,
VT) - Stark (US) defeated John Burgoyne (British) and Hessians
Friedrich Baum and Heinrich
von Breymann
Brandywine (Sept. 11, 1777, PA)
- William Howe (British) continued advance from Chesapeake to
Philadelphia despite George
Washington's (US) resistance
Germantown (Oct. 4, 1777,
PA) - George Washington's (US) attack on William Howe's (British)
troops near Philadelphia
failed; Nathanael Greene (US) arrived late
Monmouth (June 28, 1778, NJ)
- draw between George Washington (US) and Henry Clinton (British),
who continued march to NYC;
Charles Lee (US) disobeyed orders and retreated; Molly
Pitcher legend
Vincennes (Feb. 23, 1779,
IL) - George Rogers Clark (US) recaptured city and Fort Sackville from
Henry
Hamilton
(British)
Savannah (Oct. 9, 1779, GA)
- Benjamin Lincoln (US) and Comte d'Estaing (France) failed to
recapture Savannah from
Augustin Prevost (British)
Camden (Aug. 16, 1780, SC) -
Charles Cornwallis (British) defeated Horatio Gates (US) and Baron
de Kalb (France)
Kings Mountain (Oct. 7,
1780, SC) - Americans defeated Patrick Ferguson (British)
Cowpens (Jan. 17, 1781, SC)
- Daniel Morgan (US) defeated Banastre Tarleton
(British)
Guilford Courthouse (Mar.
15, 1781, NC) - Charles Cornwallis (British) defeated Nathanael Greene
(US) but sustained heavy
losses
Yorktown (Oct. 19, 1781, VG)
- Charles Cornwallis (British) surrendered to George Washington (US),
Comte de Grasse, and Comte
de Rochambeau (France)
Indian
Wars
Fallen Timbers (Aug. 20,
1794, OH) - "Mad" Anthony Wayne defeated Little Turtle (Indian),
Indians
were forced to sign the
Treaty of Greenville the next year
Tippecanoe (Nov. 7, 1811,
IN) - William Henry Harrison (US) fought the Prophet (Shawnees), brother of
Tecumseh
Rosebud (June 17, 1866, US)
- Crazy Horse (Oglala Sioux) defeated George Crook (US)
Little Bighorn (June 25,
1876, MT) - Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse (Sioux) defeated George
Armstrong Custer (US);
"Custer's Last Stand"; all 225 soldiers killed
Napoleonic
Wars
Nile (Aug. 1-2, 1798, Egypt)
- Horatio Nelson in the Vanguard defeated the French in naval battle
Marengo (June 14, 1800,
Italy) - Napoleon (France) defeated Michael von Melas
(Austria), gaining Italy
Trafalgar (Oct. 21, 1805,
near Spain) - Horatio Nelson (British) defeated Pierre-Charles Villeneuve
(France) in naval battle,
preventing invasion of England; Nelson said "England expects
that every man will do his
duty" and was killed
Austerlitz (Dec. 2, 1805,
Moravia) - Napoleon had just captured Vienna; he defeated Austrians
and Russians
Borodino (Sept. 7, 1812,
Russia) - Mikhail Kutuzov (Russia) stopped Napoleon's (France) advance 70
miles west of Moscow;
described in Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace
Leipzig (Oct. 16-19, 1813,
Germany) - also Battle of the Nations; Sixth Coalition (Russia,
Prussia, Britain, Sweden,
Austria) defeated Napoleon; largest battle of the war
Waterloo (June 18, 1815,
Belgium) - Duke of Wellington (British) and Gebhard Leberecht von
Blucher (Prussia) defeated
Napoleon and Michel Ney (France); attack at La Haye Sainte
War
of 1812
Queenston Heights (Oct. 13, 1812,
Ontario) - Stephen Van Rensselaer's (US) troops refused to
reinforce Winfield Scott
(US), who was forced to surrender
Thames (Oct. 5, 1813,
Ontario) - William Henry Harrison (US) defeated Henry Proctor (British)
at the Moravian Mission
("Battle of Moraviantown"); Richard Mentor
Johnson (US)
killed Tecumseh (Shawnee)
Chateauguay (Oct. 26, 1813,
Quebec) - Charles de Salaberry (Canada) turned back Robert Purdy
(US), an advance unit of
Wade Hampton's force advancing to Montreal
Lundy's Lane (July 25, 1814,
Ontario) - draw between Jacob Brown (US) and Gordon Drummond
(British) near Niagara
Falls; bloodiest battle of the war
Plattsburgh (Sept. 11, 1814,
NY) - also Battle of Lake Champlain; Thomas Macdonough (US) defeated
George
Downie (British) in naval battle; George Prevost (Canada) withdrew from NY
Bladensburg (1814, DC) - led
to George Cockburn (British) burning DC, including the White House
New Orleans (Jan. 8, 1815,
LA) - Andrew Jackson (US) defeated Edward Pakenham (British); war
had actually
ended two weeks earlier with Treaty of Ghent
Creek
War
Horseshoe Bend (Mar. 27,
1814, AL) - Andrew Jackson (US) defeated Creeks; led to Treaty of Fort
Jackson, ceding land in AL
and GA
South
American Independence Battles
Chacabuco (Feb. 12, 1817, Chile) -
Jose de San Martin and Bernardo O'Higgins defeated Rafael
Maroto (Spain) near Santiago
Boyaca (Aug. 7, 1819, Colombia) -
Simon Bolivar defeated Spanish
Ayacucho (Dec. 9, 1824,
Peru) - Antonio Jose de Sucre defeated Viceroy La Serna (Spain), ending
Spanish control in South
America
Greek
Independence
Navarino (Oct. 20, 1827, Greece) -
British, French, and Russian navy defeated Ibrahim Pasha
(Ottoman) near Pylos
Texas
Revolution
Gonzales (Oct. 2, 1835, TX)
- Texans defeated Mexicans; "Come and Take It" flag
Alamo (Feb. 23 - Mar. 6,
1836, TX) - Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna (Mexico) captured fort in
San Antonio under William
Travis, James Bowie, and Davy Crockett (Texas)
San Jacinto (Apr. 21, 1836,
TX) - Sam Houston (Texas) forced surrender of Antonio Lopez de
Santa Anna (Mexico);
"Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!" battle cry
Mexican-American
War
Palo Alto (May 8, 1846, TX)
- Zachary Taylor defeated Mariano Arista (Mexico) near Brownsville
Buena Vista (Feb. 22-23,
1847, Saltillo Mexico) - Zachary Taylor (US) defeated Antonio Lopez
de
Santa Anna
(Mexico); Jefferson Davis led the "MS Rifles"
Vera Cruz (Mar. 9, 1847,
Mexico) - Winfield Scott (US) landed at Vera Cruz and began march to Mexico
City
Cerro Gordo (Apr. 17-18,
1847, Mexico) - Winfield Scott (US) continued advance from Veracruz to
Mexico City despite
resistance of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna (Mexico)
Contreras (Aug. 19-20, 1847,
Mexico) - Gabriel Valencia (Mexico) repelled Gideon Johnson Pillow's
(US) advance unit of Winfield
Scott's army, but Robert E. Lee (US) regrouped and captured
the hill guarding the route
to Texcoco
Chapultepec (Sept. 12-13,
1847, Mexico) - Winfield Scott (US) captured inner defenses of Mexico City
from Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna (Mexico)
Crimean
War
Balaklava (Oct. 25, 1854,
Russia) - Russian attempted to raise siege of Sevastopol failed; "Charge
of the Light Brigade" under
Earl of Cardigan commemorated in a Tennyson poem
Italian
Independence
Magenta (June 4, 1859,
Italy) - Napoleon III (France) and Sardinia defeated Franz Cyulai
(Austria)
Solferino (June 24, 1859, Italy) -
Napoleon III (France) and Sardinia defeated Francis Joseph I
(Austria); inspired Henry
Dunant to found Red Cross
American
Civil War
Fort Sumter (Apr. 12-14,
1861, SC) - Robert Anderson (Union) surrendered to P.G.T. Beauregard
(Confederate) near
Charleston
First Bull Run (July 21,
1861, VG) - also First Manassas; P.G.T. Beauregard (Confederate), reinforced
by Joseph E. Johnston,
stopped Irvin McDowell's (Union) advance to Richmond; Barnard Bee
gave Thomas Jackson
"Stonewall" nickname
Pea Ridge (Mar 7-8, 1862,
AR) - also Elkhorn Tavern; Samuel Curtis (Union) defeated Earl Van Dorn
(Confederate), protecting MO
Hampton Roads (Mar. 8-9,
1862, VG) - Virginia (Confederate) sunk Congress and Cumberland
(Union) but was stopped by
the Monitor (designed by John Ericsson); first ironclads battle
Shiloh (Apr. 6-7, 1862, TN)
- also Pittsburg Landing; draw between Ulysses S. Grant (Union) and
Albert
Sidney Johnston
(Confederate); Johnston was killed and P.G.T. Beauregard took over;
Don
Carlos Buell
reinforced Grant; Grant was advancing towards Corinth MS; "Hornet's
Nest";
Sarah Bell's Peach Orchid,
Owl Creek
Harpers Ferry (1862, VG) -
Thomas Jackson (Confederate) defeated Dixon Miles (Union); largest Union
surrender of the war
Seven Days Battles (June 25
- July 1, 1862, VG) - Robert E. Lee (Confederate) stopped George
McClellan's (Union)
Peninsular Campaign; battles included Mechanicsville, Gaines' Mill,
Harrison's Landing,
Garnett's Farm, Golding's Farm, Savage's Station, Allen's Farm, White
Oak Swamp,Glendale, and Malvern Hill
Second Bull Run (Aug. 29-30,
1862, VG) - also Second Manassas; Robert E. Lee (Confederate), with
James
Longstreet and
Thomas Jackson, defeated John Pope (Union); forced Union out of VG;
followed
by Battle of Chantilly
Antietam (Sept. 17, 1862,
MD) - George McClellan (Union) forced Robert E. Lee (Confederate) to retreat
to VG; Union success led to
Emancipation Proclamation; William French and Israel Richardson
(Union) drove A.P. Hill
(Confederate) out of "Sunken Road" or "Bloody Lane";
Ambrose
Burnside fought Hill
Fredericksburg (Dec. 13,
1862, VG) - Robert E. Lee (Confederate) stopped Ambrose Burnside's (Union)
drive to Richmond; Burnside
had just replaced George McClellan in command of the Army of
the Potomac
Stones River (Dec. 31 1862 - Jan. 2 1863, TN) - also Murfreesboro; draw between
William Rosecrans
(Union) and Braxton Bragg
(Confederate); highest casualty rate of the war
Vicksburg (Apr. - July 1863,
MS) - Ulysses Grant (Union) laid siege to and captured Vicksburg, defended
by John C. Pemberton
(Confederate); battles at Champion Hill and Big Black River
Chancellorsville (May 1-3,
1863, VG) - Thomas Jackson (Confederate) stopped Joseph Hooker's (Union)
advance on Richmond; Jackson
was accidentally killed by his men while spying
Brandy Station (June 9,
1863, VG) - also Battle of Fleetwood Hill; largest Civil War cavalry
fight; J.E.B. Stuart
(Confederate) forced retreat of Alfred Pleasonton
(Union)
Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863,
PA) - George Meade (Union) defeated Robert E. Lee (Confederate); James
Longstreet (Confederate)
attacked Union's left; George Pickett (Confederate) charged Cemetery
Ridge at Little Round Top,
defended by Daniel Sickles and George Sykes
Chattanooga (Sept. - Nov.
1863, GA & TN) - Braxton Bragg (Confederate) defeated William Rosecrans
(Union) at Chickamauga GA
Sept. 19-20, but George Henry Thomas and Ulysses Grant (Union)
defeated Bragg at Lookout
Mountain (Battle above the Clouds, led by Joseph Hooker) and
Missionary Ridge Nov 24-25;
Union gained control of TN
Wilderness (May 5 - 8, 1864,
VG) - draw between Ulysses Grant and George Meade (Union) and Robert
E.
Lee (Confederate);
Grant suffered greater casualties but continued towards Spotsylvania
Spotsylvania (May 8-18,
1864, VG) - Robert E. Lee (Confederate) stopped George Meade (Union), but
Ulysses
Grant continued
drive to Richmond; attack on "Bloody Angle", center of Lee's line
Cold Harbor (June 3, 1864,
VG) - Robert E. Lee (Confederate) defeated Ulysses Grant (Union) decisively
Cherbourg (June 19, 1864,
France) - John Winslow, captain of the Kearsarge (Union) sunk Alabama
(Confederate), captained by
Raphael Semmes
Kennesaw Mountain (June 27,
1864, GA) - Joseph E. Johnston (Confederate) failed to stop William
Tecumseh
Sherman's
(Union) Atlanta campaign
Winchester (Sept. 19, 1864,
VG) - Jubal Early and Robert Rodes (Confederate)
failed to stop Philip
Sheridan's (Union)
Shenandoah Valley Campaign
Cedar Creek (Oct. 19, 1864,
VG) - Philip Sheridan (Union) returned from a conference in Washington to
lead a counterattack
defeating Jubal Early (Confederate)
Franklin (Nov. 30, 1864, TN)
- John Schofield (Union) continued advance to Nashville despite
resistance of John Bell Hood
(Confederate), who tried to get William Tecumseh Sherman to
follow him into TN
Nashville (Dec. 15-16, 1864,
TN) - George Henry Thomas (Union) forced John Bell Hood (Confederate)
to retreat to MS
Appomattox Courthouse (Apr.
9, 1865, VG) - Robert E. Lee (Confederate) surrendered to Ulysses S.
Grant (Union)
French
Invasion of Mexico
Puebla (May 5, 1862, Mexico)
- Ignacio Zaragoza (Mexico) defeated invading French forces
Queretaro (1867, Mexico) - Maximilian
surrendered to Porfirio Diaz and Benito Juarez
War
of the Triple Alliance (Paraguayan War)
Cerro Cora (1870, South
America) - Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay defeated Francisco Solano Lopez
(Paraguay)
Seven
Weeks War (Austro-Prussian War)
Koniggratz (July 3, 1866, Austria) -
also Sadowa; Helmuth von Moltke (Prussia) defeated
Austria
Franco-Prussian
War
Sedan (Sept. 1, 1870) -
Helmuth von Moltke (Prussia) defeated Maurice de MacMahon
and Felix de
Wimpffen (France), and captured
Napoleon III
War
of the Pacific
Point Angamos
(1879, South America) - Chile, which had captured Antofagasta, defeated Hilarion Daza
(Bolivia) and Peru; Chile
then occupied Tacna and Arica, gaining nitrate-rich Atacama
African
Colonial Battles
Blood River (Dec. 16, 1838,
South Africa) - Afrikaners defeated Zulus during Great Trek
Adowa (March 1, 1896,
Ethiopia) - Menelek II (Ethiopia) defeated Italy
Khartoum (1898, Sudan) -
Horatio Herbert Kitchener (British) defeated Mahdi (Sudan), who had
massacred Charles George Gordon's forces there in 1885
Fashoda (1898, Sudan) - Horatio
Herbert Kitchener (British) captured fort from Jean-Baptiste
Marchand (France)
Spanish-American
War
Manila Bay (May 1, 1898,
Philippines) - George Dewey (US) defeated Spain in naval battle
San Juan Hill (July 1, 1898,
Cuba) - William Shafter (US) and Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders
captured hill
Russo-Japanese
War
Port Arthur (1904, Russia) -
Russians surrendered after Japanese shelling
Mukden (1905, China) -
largest land battle of the war
Tsushima (May 27-28, 1905,
Sea of Japan) - Japan defeated Russia in naval battle; first time an
Asian nation defeated a
modern European nation
World
War I
Tannenberg (Aug. 1914, East
Prussia) - Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff (Germany)
defeated Alexander Samsonov (Russia), who committed
suicide
First Marne (Sept. 5-10,
1914, France) - Joseph Joffre (France), along with Ferdinand Foch,
Franchet d'Esperey
(France), and John French (British), forced retreat of Alexander von
Kluck, Karl von Bulow, and
Helmuth von Moltke (Germany); battles included Ourcq,
Petit Morin, Gond Marshes,
and Vitry le Francois
First Ypres (Oct. - Nov.
1914, Belgium) - John French (British) stopped German drive to capture
French ports; it ended the
"race to the sea" after First Marne
Coronel (Nov. 1, 1914, near
Chile) - Graf Maximilian von Spee (Germany)
decisively defeated
Christopher
Cradock
(Britain), who had wanted to protect trade routes off South America
Second Ypres (Apr. 22 - May
25, 1915, Belgium) - draw between Allies and Germany; first use
of poison gas by Germany
Gallipoli (Apr. 25 1915 - Jan. 8 1916, Turkey) - Ataturk (Turkey) and Otto
von Sanders (Germany)
prevented Ian Hamilton
(British) from advancing; Charles Monro (British)
evacuated;
physicist Henry Moseley
killed
Verdun (Feb. 21 - Nov. 26,
1916, France) - Philippe Petain, Robert Nivelle, and
Charles Mangin
(France) stopped Erich von Falkenhayn's (Germany) advance; Petain said "they
shall not
pass"
Jutland (May 31 - June 1,
1916, North Sea) - draw between John Jellicoe (British) and Reinhard
Scheer (Germany); only major
naval battle of WWI; German fleet never again left port
First Somme (June 24 - Nov.
13, 1916, France) - draw between Douglas Haig (British) and Germans;
largest one-day casualties
in British history; last use of cavalry in W Europe; first use of
tanks by British
Vimy Ridge (Apr. 1917, France) -
Julian Byng (British) captured the ridge from Germans
Caporetto (Nov. 1917, Italy) - also
12th Battle of Isonzo; Otto von Below
(Germany) and Austria
forced retreat of Luigi
Cadorna (Italy)
Cambrai (Nov. 20 - Dec. 3,
1917, France) - Julian Byng (British) advanced against Germans along
Hindenberg / Siegfried Line, but was
then driven back; first large-scale use of tanks
Second Somme (Mar. 21 - Apr.
5, 1918, France) - Douglas Haig (British) and Ferdinand Foch
(French) stopped Erich
Ludendorff's (Germany) advance, at high cost
Second Marne (July 15-17,
1918, France) - Allies stopped Erich Ludendorff's (Germany) offensive
Chateau-Thierry, Saint Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne (fall 1918, France) - large American
involvement
under John J. "Black
Jack" Pershing; Meuse-Argonne was largest US involvement in the war
Chaco
War
Ballivian (1934, Bolivia) - Paraguay
defeated Bolivia
Spanish
Civil War
First Battle for Madrid
(1936-1937, Spain) - Republicans, aided by USSR and the International
Brigades, defended Madrid
against fascist Falangists and Nationalists under Francisco Franco
Guernica (Apr. 26, 1937,
Spain) - German planes of the Condor Legion bombed Basque town of
Guernica; commemorated by
Pablo Picasso painting
May Events (May 1937, Spain)
- infighting among Republican forces in Barcelona; socialists
gained control
Battle of Brunete (July 1937, Spain) - Republicans indecisively
attacked Nationalists near Madrid
Battle of the Ebro (July -
Nov. 1938, Spain) - Nationalists inflicted heavy losses on Republicans
World
War II
Britain (1940-1941, Britain)
- Royal Air Force (British) stopped Hermann Goering's Luftwaffe
(Germany); prevented German
invasion of Britain
Leningrad (Sept. 1941 - Jan.
1944, USSR) - Germans and Finns laid siege to Leningrad; part of
Operation Barbarossa
(invasion of Russia); supply lines across Lake Ladoga
Coral Sea (May 4-8, 1942,
near New Guinea) - Chester Nimitz (US) stopped Japanese advance on
Port Moresby; Lexington
sunk; first Japanese setback and first naval battle fought entirely
by carrier-based aircraft
Midway (June 4-7, 1942,
Pacific) - Chester Nimitz (US) defeated Yamamoto Isoroku
(Japan);
Yorktown and four Japanese carriers
sunk
Stalingrad (July 17 - Nov.
18, 1942, USSR) - Vasily Chuikov
(USSR) defended Stalingrad
(Volgograd) against
Friedrich Paulus (Germany); Georgy Zhukov (USSR) finally
forced German surrender
Guadalcanal (Aug. 7 1942 - Feb 7 1943, Solomon Islands) - US captured island
from Japanese;
battles at Santa Cruz
Islands and Tassafronga
El Alamein (Nov. 4, 1942,
Egypt) - Bernard Montgomery (British) defeated Erwin Rommel's
(Germany) Afrika Korps;
followed by Operation Torch amphibious assault on North Africa
Kasserine Pass (Feb. 14,
1943, Tunisia) - Erwin Rommel (Germany) advanced but then was stopped
by
Lloyd Fredendall
and Dwight David Eisenhower (US)
Kursk (July 5 - Aug. 6,
1943, USSR) - Georgy Zhukov and Markian Popov (USSR)
defeated
Gunther von Kluge (Germany);
greatest tank battle in history
Tarawa (Nov. 20-23, 1943,
Gilbert Islands Kiribati) - US took island from Japan
D-Day (June 6, 1944, France)
- Normandy invaded by British (Gold and Sword Beaches) under
Bernard
Montgomery,
Canadians (Juno Beach), and Americans (Utah and Omaha Beaches)
under
Omar Bradley;
Germans had expected attack on Calais by George Patton
Philippine Sea (June 19-20,
1944, Philippines) - US decisively defeated Japan; "Great Marianas
Turkey Shoot"; largest
carrier battle of the war
Leyte Gulf (Oct. 23-26,
1944, Philippines) - William Halsey (US) defeated Takeo Kurita and Soemu
Toyoda (Japan); first use of
kamikazes; largest naval battle ever; Princeton and Musashi
sunk
Bulge (Dec. 16 1944 - Jan 31 1945, Belgium) - also Battle of the
Ardennes; George S. Patton (US)
defeated Gerd von Rundstedt
and Hasso von Manteuffel (Germany), who had driven a
wedge into Allied lines
Iwo Jima (Feb. - Mar. 1945,
Japan) - name means "Sulfur Island", US captured island after bloody
battle; Rosenthal
photographed raising of flag at Mount Suribachi
Okinawa (Apr. - June 1945,
Japan) - Roy Geiger (US) captured island from Mitsuru Ushijama
(Japan);
Yamata sunk; largest land battle
in the Pacific in the war
Korean
War
Inchon Invasion (Sept. 15,
1950, Korea) - Douglas MacArthur (US) broke out of Pusan Perimeter;
Matthew
Ridgway later
replaced MacArthur
First
Indochina War
Dien Bien Phu
(Mar. 13 - May 7, 1954, Vietnam) - Vo Nguyen Giap
(Viet Minh) defeated de
Christian
de Castries
(France), leading to Geneva Accords and ending French empire in
Indochina
Second
Indochina War
Tet Offensive (Jan. - Feb.
1968, Vietnam) - NLR diverted attention to Khe Sanh, then invaded
many cities before being driven back; William Westmoreland (US) was replaced the next
month by Creighton Abrams
Messenian
War (668 BC, Greece) - Sparta rebelled against Messenia; Aristomenes
was betrayed by King
Aristocrates of Arcadia at the Battle of
the Great Trench
First
Punic War (264-241 BC, Mediterranean) - Hamilcar Barca (Carthage) conquered
Spain but lost to
Romans in Sicily
Third
Punic War (149-146 BC, Mediterranean) - Scipio Aemilianus
Africanus (Rome) destroyed Carthage,
as Cato
the Elder had encouraged
Jugurthine
War (111-106 BC, North Africa) - Sulla (Rome) defeated Jugurtha
(Numidia)
Gempei War (1180-1185, Japan) - Minamoto Yoritomo
(Minamoto clan) defeated Taira Kiyomori
(Taira
clan) at Battle of Dannoura and established Kamakura Shogunate
Eighty
Years War (1568 - 1648, Europe) - Netherlands gained independence from Spain
War
of the Three Henrys (1587 - 1589, France) - French religious war; included
battles at Auneau and
Coutras; ended by Edict of Union
King
Philip's War (1675 - 1676, MA) - Josiah Winslow (Plymouth) defeated King Philip
(Wampanoag Indians);
battles included Great Swamp
and Hadley
War
of the Devolution (1667 - 1668, Europe) - Louis XIV (France) demanded the
Spanish Netherlands as
a dowry for Philip IV's
(Spain) daughter Marie-Therese
War
of the League of Augsburg (1688 - 1697, Europe) - Louis XIV (France) fought the
League of
Augsburg (also called the
Grand Alliance; England, Holland, Denmark, Austria), mainly in the Spanish
Netherlands; battle in North
America at Port Royal
War
of Jenkins' Ear (1739 - 1741, Americas) - trade war between Britain and Spain;
ignited by Spanish
seizure of Robert Jenkins's
ship Rebecca; merged with War of Austrian Succession
French
Revolution (1789-1799, France) - Third Estate of the Estates-General formed
National Assembly
and swore in Tennis Court
Oath to create a constitution; stormed Bastille July 14
1789; radicals gained
control in 1792,
establishing National Convention; guillotined Louis XVI and wife Marie
Antoinette;
Vendee peasants rebelled
against conscription; established Committee of Public Safety; Maximilien
Robespierre, leader of the
Jacobins, led Reign of Terror; crushed Royalist and Girondist (moderates,
Corday stabbed Marat)
insurrections; Robespierre beheaded Georges Danton; Thermidoreans
beheaded
Robespierre; Directory of
five members established 1795; launched Napoleonic Wars; 1799 coup
established Consulate;
Napoleon Bonaparte became dictator
Tripolitan
War (1801 - 1805, North Africa) - Stephen Decatur and William Eaton (US) forced
pasha of Tripoli
to retract demand for
tribute after capturing the Philadelphia
Peninsular
War (1808 - 1814, Spain) - part of Napoleonic Wars; Napoleon tried to make his
brother
Joseph king of Spain;
battles at Vitoria, Badajoz, and Salamanca
Mexican
War of Independence (1810 - 1821, Mexico) - led by Father Miguel Hidalgo, then
Jose Maria Morelos,
then Vicente Guerrero and
Agustin de Iturbide
Second
Seminole War (1835 - 1842, FL) - Osceola led Seminoles against US
First
Opium War (1839-1843, China) - China confiscated opium in Guangzhou; Britain
sent warships and
made China cede Hong Kong
and open ports for trade
War
of the Axe (1846 - 1847, Africa) - British fought Kaffirs
Second
Opium War (1856-1860, China) - Guangzhou police boarded the Arrow;
British burned Summer
Palace in Beijing
Boshin Civil War (1868 - 1869, Japan) - Meiji overthrew Tokugawa shogunate
Russo-Turkish
War (1877 - 1878, Eastern Europe) - Alexander II (Russia) defeated Abd Al-Hamid
II
(Ottoman Empire);
independence gained for Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and Bulgaria
First
Sino-Japanese War (1894, Asia) - Japan quickly defeated China
Boer
War (1899 - 1902, South Africa) - British Cape Colony, led by Alfred Milner,
defeated South African
Republic, under Paul Kruger,
leader of the Afrikaners (Boers)
War
of a Thousand Days (1899 - 1902, Colombia) - civil war in Colombia
Mexican
Revolution (1910 - 1920, Mexico) - Porfirio Diaz was ousted by Francisco
Madero, who was ousted
by Victoriano
Huerta, who was ousted by Venustiano Carranza;
Carranza and Alvaro Obregon battled
Emililano Zapata (an Indian from
Morelos demanding "Land and Liberty") and Pancho
Villa (from
Chihuahua); Villa raided
Columbus NM after Woodrow Wilson recognized Carranza as president;
John J. Pershing was sent to
Mexico but couldn't capture Villa
Balkan
Wars (1912 - 1913, Balkans) - in First Balkan War Greece, Bulgaria, and
Montenegro defeated
Ottoman Empire; in Second
Balkan War Greece and Serbia defeated Bulgaria
Russian
Revolution (1917, Russia) - provisional government under Georgy Lvov
established after ousting Czar
Nicholas II in February
Revolution; Alexander Kerensky assumed control after July Uprising;
Bolsheviks under Vladimir
Lenin gained control in October Revolution
Second
Sino-Japanese War (1937-1938, China) - Japan invaded China and took Nanjing;
merged with WWII
Suez-Sinai
War (1956, Egypt) - Israel, supported by France and Britain, occupied the Suez
Peninsula after
Gamal
Abdel Nasser
(Egypt) nationalized; they were replaced by UN peacekeepers;
Prime Minister
Anthony
Eden (British)
resigned
Six-Day
War (June 1967, Middle East) - Israel defeated Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, taking
the Golan
Heights, Suez Peninsula,
West Bank, and Gaza Strip; "War of Attrition" continued for years
Soccer
War (June 1969, Central America) - El Salvador invaded Honduras in a border
dispute following
riots at a World Cup
qualifying match
Arab-Israeli
War (Oct. 1973, Middle East) - also Yom Kippur or Ramadan War; Anwar Sadat
(Egypt) and Hafez
al-Assad (Syria) failed to
retake lands Israel had occupied in Six Day War; Prime Minister Golda Meir
(Israel) resigned
Lebanese
Civil War (1975-1990, Lebanon) - Christian Phalangists fought PLO; Israel
invaded in 1982 to
aid Christians and Syrian
troops aided Palestinians; US embassy and military base bombed in 1983;
Israel withdrew 1985 and
Hezbollah began raids; former allies Michel Aoun and Kataib leader Samir
Geagea fought in Beirut
Nicaraguan
Revolution (1978-1990, Nicaragua) - Sandinistas led by Daniel Ortega ousted Anastasio Somoza;
contras supported by US
staged counterrevolution
El
Salvador Civil War (1979-1992, El Salvador) - Farabundo
Marti National Liberation Front and military
death squads ravaged El
Salvador as Jose Napoleon Duarte was president; Alfredo Cristiani
negotiated
an end to fighting
Iran-Iraq
War (1980 - 1988, Middle East) - Iraq led by Saddam Hussein invaded Iran led by
Ayatollah Khomeini
Falklands
War (1982, South America) - Leopoldo Galtieri
(Argentina) order invasion of Falkland Islands, but the
British retook them; called
Islas Malvinas in Argentina
Persian
Gulf War (1990 - 1991, Middle East) - Saddam Hussein (Iraq) ordered invasion of
Kuwait, led by Sheikh
Jaber; UN force freed Kuwait;
U.S. forces led by H. Norman Schwarzkopf
Wars
of Yugoslav Succession (1991 - 1995, Yugoslavia) - Slovenia and Macedonia
succeeded with little
fighting; Franjo Tudjman and the Croats fought Serb-controlled
Krajina in Croatia; Muslims (led by Alija
Izetbegovic), Croats, and
Serbs (led by Radovan Karadzic) fought in Bosnia; Bosnian Serbs supported by
Serbian President Slobodan
Milosevic "ethnic cleansed" and massacred Muslims in Srebrenica; NATO
peacekeepers sent in; UN set
up war crimes tribunal in The Hague; ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation
Army fought for independence
in Serbia, supported by NATO airstrikes
War
in Afghanistan (2001-?) - Invasion led by U.S. after September 11 attacks,
supported by NATO and other
nations; overthrew Mullah
Mohammed Omar and the Taliban; Operation Enduring Freedom; Osama bin
Laden likely almost caught
at Tora Bora 2001, killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan by U.S. Navy SEALS in
Operation Neptune Spear 2011
Iraq
War (2003-2011) - Invasion led by U.S. after September 11 attacks, believing
Iraq to possess weapons of mass
destruction;
Operation Iraqi Freedom, led by Gen. Tommy Franks; Iraqi Minister of
Information Mohammed
Saeed
al-Sahaf; Saddam Hussein captured near Tikrit Dec.
2003 and hanged Dec. 2006; U.S. troop surge 2007
Syrian Civil War (2011-?) -
Various groups rebelled against Bashar al-Assad's regime, including Sunni Free
Syrian
Army,
Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces, and the Islamic State in Iraq and the
Levant/Syria (ISIL/ISIS);
ISIL
based in Raqqa and also took Mosul in Iraq; ISIS led
by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi; many battles in
Aleppo;
many refugees fled to Europe
Ukrainian Revolution (2014) -
President Viktor Yanukovych preferred ties to Russia over the European Union,
leading
to
Euromaidan protests and ousting of Yanukovych; former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was released
from
prison; Petro Poroshenko elected new President;
pro-Russian Anti-Maidan protests in Eastern and Southern
Ukraine
(including Donetsk); Russia annexed Crimea (including Sevastopol); Malaysian
Airlines plane
MH17
accidentally shot down probably by pro-Russian forces
Maccabee
Revolt (168 - 163 BC, Palestine) - Mattathias and then his son Judas Maccabee
led Jewish
revolt against Antiochus IV
(Syria); commemorated by Hanukkah
Third
Servile War (73 - 71 BC, Roman Empire) - Spartacus led escaped slaves but was
defeated by
Crassus at Lucania
Red
Eyebrows (c. 0, China) - Liu Xuan led uprising against Wang Mang's
H'sin Dynasty
Yellow
Turbans (100s, China) - followers of Zhang Jue's Way
of the Great Peace revolted against Han
Dynasty
Nika
Rebellion (532, Constantinople) - Belisarius, Justinian's general, and Narses
put down revolt by the
Blue and Green parties
An
Lushan Rebellion (755, China) - General An Lushan led
revolt against Tang emperor Xuanzong
Jokyu Disturbance (1221, Japan) - Hojo family
defeated Go-Toba's rebellion
Baron's
Revolt (1265, England) - Henry III defeated revolt under Simon de Montfort at Battle
of Evesham
Kemmu Restoration (1333, Japan) - Go-Daigo and
Ashikaga overthrew Kamakura Shogunate
Jacquerie
(1358, France) - Count Phoebus de Foix and Charles II crushed revolt led by
Guillaume Cale and
Etienne Marcel, upset about taxes
to ransom John II the Good, captured at Poitiers; name comes
from Jacquerie Bonhomme,
collective name of the peasantry
Ciompi Rebellion (1378, Italy) - day laborers revolted in Florence; Walter of
Brienne
Peasant's
Revolt (June 1381, England) - Wat Tyler rebelled against Richard II's poll tax
but was killed
Peasant's
War (1524 - 1526, Germany) - peasants led by Anabaptist Thomas Muntzer were defeated by noble
Swabian League in southern
Germany and Austria
Fronde
(1648 - 1653, France) - revolt against high taxes instituted by Louis XIV's
minister Cardinal Mazarin;
started at Parlement of Paris; ended by the Prince de Conde; name
means "slingshot"
Bacon's
Rebellion (1676, VG) - Nathaniel Bacon took Jamestown and defeated Indians at
the Battle of
Bloody Run, but he died and the rebellion was crushed by Gov. William Berkeley
Culpeper's
Rebellion (1677, NC) - residents of Albemarle region of Carolina led by John
Culpeper protested
trade laws
Jacobite
Rebellion (1745 - 1746, England) - rebellion by "The Forty-Five",
adherents to the exiled House
of Stuart after the Glorious
Revolution; Duke of Cumberland (British), son of George II, defeated
Charles Edward Stuart
(pretender to throne) and his Highlanders at the Battle of Culloden Moor
(Apr. 16, 1746, Scotland)
Pontiac's
Revolt (1763 - 1765, US) - Ottawa chief Pontiac led attacks on British forts,
including Detroit
Regulators
(1771, NC) - William Tyron (British) defeated the Regulators, led by Herman
Husband, at
Alamance Creek
Pugachev's Rebellion (1773 - 1774, Russia) - Yemelyan Pugachev, a Cossack, proclaimed himself Emperor
Peter III and rebelled against
Catherine the Great
Shay's
Rebellion (1786 - 1787, MA) - Daniel Shays was defeated by Benjamin Lincoln at Petersham near
Springfield; most rebels
were later pardoned
Haitian
Slave Revolt (1791, Haiti) - Toussaint L'Ouverture
led slave revolt against French
Whiskey
Rebellion (1794, PA) - West PA farmers protested Alexander Hamilton's excise
tax on whiskey and
fired
shots at Miller
farm; Gov. Thomas Mifflin refused action; Washington ordered Harry Lee to
end the rebellion; most
rebels were released
White
Lotus Rebellion (1796 - 1803, China) - revolts by religious White Lotus Society
against Manchus
Fries'
Rebellion (1798, PA) - Fries led PA Germans in protest
against tax for potential war with France;
John
Adams later
pardoned most rebels
Prosser's
Conspiracy (1800, VG) - slave revolt led by Gabriel Prosser planned to seize
James Madison,
betrayed by informants
Vesey's
Conspiracy (1822, SC) - planned slave revolt led by Denmark Vesey
Decembrist
Uprising (1825, Russia) - officers wanted Constantine, not Nicholas I, to
become czar after
Alexander I's death
July
Revolution (1830, France) - forced Charles X to abdicate in favor of Louis
Philippe
Nat
Turner's Revolt (1831, VG) - Nat Turner led slaves in killing 50 whites, but
revolt was crushed and most
hanged
Dorr's
Rebellion (1842, RI) - Thomas Wilson Dorr, leader of the People's Party, wanted
to extend suffrage
to more citizens in the new
RI constitution
Bear
Flag Revolt (1846, CA) - William Ide and John Fremont led revolt in Sonoma,
capturing Vallejo (Mexico)
Caste
War of the Yucatan (1847 - 1853, Mexico) - Mayans revolted but were driven to
Quintana Roo
Revolutions
of 1848 (1848, Europe) - Louis Blanc ousted Louis Philippe in France but
Napoleon III became
president; Ferdinand I was
ousted in Austria; Lajos Kossuth came to power in Hungary; unification
movements failed in Germany
(March Days, Frankfurt Assembly) and Italy
Great
Taiping Rebellion (1851 - 1864, China) - Hong Xiuquan,
self-proclaimed brother of Jesus, was defeated by
the Ever-Victorious Army of
Frederick Townsend Ward (US) and Charles George Gordon (British)
Sepoy
Rebellion (1857 - 1859, India) - Indian soldiers in Meerut employed by English
East India
Company refused to bite cow
or pig greased Lee-Enfield rifle cartridges and tried to reinstate
Muhammad Bahadur Shah as
Mughal emperor
Draft
Riots (1863, NYC) - rioters protesting institution of a draft burned the draft
headquarters and a black
orphanage in NYC
People's
Will (Narodnaya Volya)
(1867, Russia) - assassinated Czar Alexander II
Red
River Rebellion (1869, Canada) - Louis Riel led French-speaking Metis opposing
Canadian expansion west;
Red River was admitted as
Manitoba
Paris
Commune (1871, France) - followers of Louis Auguste Blanqui
and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon established
proletarian dictatorship in
Paris after Napoleon III lost to Prussia at Sedan; crushed by National
Assembly and Thiers in
Bloody Week
Kulturkampf
(1871 - 1883, Germany) - Otto von Bismarck attempted to reduce power of the
church in
Germany; opposed by Pius IX
Satsuma
Rebellion (1877, Japan) - rebellion of samurai under Saigo
Takamori, defeated by Meiji rulers
Northwest
Rebellion (1885, Canada) - Louis Riel led French-speaking Metis in
Saskatchewan; Gabriel Dumont
defeated Mounties at Duck
Lake but lost at Batoche
Haymarket
Square Riot (1886, Chicago) - employees of McCormack reaper plant protested
police
violence; a bomb was thrown;
eight anarchists arrested; led by August Spies; some later pardoned by IL
Gov. John Altgeld
Young
Turks (1889-1909, Ottoman Empire) - Enver Pasha and
the Committee for Union and Progress
(CUP) rebelled against Abd
al-Hamad II, wanting to restore reforms of Selim III to modernize and
Westernize the Ottoman
Empire; deposed al-Hamad but ended after defeat in WWI
Homestead
Strike (1892, PN) - strike of workers at Carnegie's Homestead Steel Works; some
workers shot
by Pinkerton Detectives
ordered in by Henry Clay Frick
Hawaiian
Revolt (1893, Hawaii) - Sanford Dole, supported by US minister John Stevens,
overthrew Queen
Liliuokalani
Pullman
Palace Car Strike (1894, US) - Grover Cleveland sent troops to end strike at
Pullman
Coxey's
Army (1894, DC) - Jacob Coxey led group from Massillon OH to DC, demanding
federal relief
War
of 1895 (1895 - 1898, Cuba) - Cubans fought for independence from Spain; poet
Jose Marti killed at Dos
Rios; Spanish sent
"Butcher" Valeriano Weyler;
US intervened in Spanish-American War
Philippine
Rebellion (1898-1902, Philippines) - guerrillas led by Emilio Aguinaldo opposed
US control
Boxer
Uprising (1900, China) - revolt against foreigners in China by Boxer Society
and Dowager Empress
Cixi
Potemkin Mutiny (1905, Russia) -
Black Sea sailors mutinied during Russo-Japanese War
Easter
Rebellion (1916, Ireland) - Patrick Pearce, Roger Casement, and Thomas MacDonagh led rebellion
against British rule in
Dublin, seizing post office, but were defeated and executed
May
Fourth Movement (1919, China) - students protested in Tiananmen Square against
Treaty of
Versailles, which gave
Germany's Shangdong to Japan instead of Germany
Rand
Revolt (1922, South Africa) - miners strike; put down
by Jan Smuts
Cristero Rebellion (1926, Mexico) - Catholics rebelled against Plutarco Elias
Calles's anticlerical policies
Bonus
Army (1932, DC) - Walter Waters founded Bonus Army in Portland OR and led group
to Anacostia near
DC, demanding immediate
payment of a bonus for WWI vets promised for 1945; Hoover sent
Douglas
MacArthur to
disperse them
Zoot
Suit Riots (1943, CA) - Navy sailors fought Mexican-Americans in East Los
Angeles
Warsaw
Ghetto Uprising (April 1943, Poland) - Polish Jews revolted against Nazis
Anti-Apartheid
(1950s-1990s, South Africa) - African National Congress (Albert Luthuli, Nelson
Mandela),
Pan-Africanist Congress
(Robert Sobukwe), Black Consciousness Movement (Steve
Biko), and
Zulu Inkatha
Freedom Party (Mangosuthu Buthelezi) opposed South
African apartheid policies
Mau
Mau Rebellion (1952-1955, Kenya) - secret society of
Kikuyu people rebelled against British rule;
Jomo Kenyatta was jailed
Hungarian
Revolt of 1956 (1956, Hungary) - Imre Nagy instituted
reforms, but Nikita Khrushchev (USSR)
sent in troops and replaced
him with Janos Kadar
ETA
(1959 - present) - Basque Homeland and Liberty movement used terrorism to try
to gain
independence of Basque
Country from Spain
Katanga
(1960-1963, Congo) - Katanga region led by Moise Tshombe attempted to succeed from the Congo
Civil
Rights Movement (1960s, US) - included Montgomery bus boycotts (1955, Rosa
Parks), Greensboro sit-
ins (1960), March on
Washington (1963, Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream"), Selma
to
Montgomery marches (1965),
school integrations (James Meredith at Ole Miss opposed by
George Wallace, Little Rock
Central High opposed by Orval Faubus)
Quiet
Revolution (1960-present, Canada) - French Canadian nationalism; led by Jean
Lesage, Robert Bourassa,
Rene
Levesque;
Quebec Liberation Front and later Bloc Quebecois political parties
Bay
of Pigs Invasion (Apr. 1961, Cuba) - "La Brigada"
Cuban refugees failed to overthrow Castro; CIA
director Allen Dulles fired;
code named Operation Zapata
South-West
Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) (1966-1988, Namibia) - Marxist group fought
guerrilla warfare for
independence of Namibia from South Africa; Angolan and Cuban troops were
involved
Biafra
(1967-1970, Nigeria) - C. Odumegwu Ojukwu led succession attempt of Igbo people in east
Nigeria
Prague
Spring (1968, Czechoslovakia) - Alexander Dubcek instituted reforms, but Leonid
Brezhnev (USSR)
sent in troops and replaced
him with Gustav Husak
Chicago
Seven (1968, Chicago) - seven people (including Tom Hayden and Abbie Hoffman) tried
for inciting
riots against the Vietnam
War at the Democratic Convention; Bobby Seale was tried separately
American
Indian Movement (1968-1975, US) - organized in Minnesota; took over Alcatraz,
military facility
in Davis (establishing D-Q
University), Mount Rushmore, Plymouth, BIA Office, and Wounded
Knee; "Trail of Broken
Treaties"
Irish
Republican Army (1972 - present, Northern Ireland) - wanted to reunite Northern
Ireland with
Ireland; led by Gerry Adams;
retaliated for "Bloody Sunday" with "Bloody Friday" (1972)
Soweto
Riots (1976, South Africa) - high school students protested near Johannesburg
Los
Angeles Riots (1992, US) - 52 killed in South-Central LA riots after acquittal
of 4 officers charged in
Rodney King beating 1992,
Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell later convicted of civil rights violations
UNITA
(1975 - 1997, Angola) - Jonas Savimbi (UNITA) opposed
Angolan President dos Santos (MPLA)
Solidarity
(1980, Poland) - Lech Walesa led strikers at Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk
Shining
Path (1980 - present, Peru) - Mao-style Communists; formed at university in
Ayacucho by
Abimael Guzman Reynoso, imprisoned
by Alberto Fujimori in 1992
Tupac
Amaru (1980 - present, Peru) - (MRTA) Castro-style
Communists; leader Nestor Cerpa Cartolini
was killed in raid after
taking hostages at Japanese embassy in 1997
Tamil
Tigers (1983 - present, Sri Lanka) - Tamil minority fought Sinhalese
government; Tamil Tigers
(LTTE) carried out many
terrorist acts and assassinations
Kurdistan
Workers Party (1984 - present, Turkey) - Kurds led by Abdullah Ocalan (arrested
1999) wanted
independent state
Intifada
(1987 - 1988, Israel) - Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank protested against Israel
Tiananmen
Square Protest (June 1989, China) - Li Peng and Deng Xiaoping ordered troops to
crush protestors in
Beijing, who had assembled
after the death of reformer Hu Yaobang
Timisoara
Demonstrations (Dec. 1989, Romania) - army joined rebellion against Communist
Nicolae
Ceausescu, who was executed
with wife Elena on Christmas
Zapatistas
(1994, Mexico) - Indians in Chiapas protested NAFTA and PRI policies; led by Subcomandante Marcos
Chechnya
(1994 - 1996, 1999 - 2000, Russia) - Chechnya, led by Dzhokhar Dudayev, fought
for independence
from Russia; capital at
Grozny
Million
Man March (1995, US) - March in Washington, D.C. led by Louis Farrakhan
EPR
(1996, Mexico) - Popular Revolutionary Army revolt in Guerrero state
Occupy
Wall Street demonstrations (2011, US) - Protests against
income inequality; "We are the 99 Percent"
Black
Lives Matter (2013-?, US) - Protests against police
treatment of African Americans; George
Zimmerman found not guilty
for killing Trayvon Martin in Sanford FL in 2012; Policeman Darren
Wilson shot Michael Brown in
Ferguson, MO 2014; Tamir Rice (age 12) shot in Cleveland and
Eric Garner choked in NYC;
Freddie Gray died in Baltimore police van 2015; Chicago police
shot
Laquan McDonald; Police killed Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge,
LA, Philandro Castile in Falcon
Heights,
MN, Sylville Smith in Milwaukee, Keith Lamont Scott
in Charlotte, and Terence Crutcher
in
Tulsa; Micah Johnson killed five police in Dallas and Gavin Long three police
in Baton Rouge
Dakota Access Pipeline
Protests (2016-2017) - Protests on Standing Rock Indian Reservation in ND of
oil pipeline
St.
Bartholomew's Day Massacre (Aug. 24, 1572, France) - encouraged by his mother
Catherine de
Medicis, Charles IX ordered
massacre of Huguenots, including Coligny
Glencoe
Massacre (Feb. 13, 1692, Scotland) - English soldiers killed members of the
MacDonald clan,
who they believed had not
sworn an oath to William III
Boston
Massacre (Mar. 5, 1770, MA) - five colonists including leader Crispus Attucks killed by British
troops; John Adams and
Josiah Quincy defended the soldiers in murder trial
Fort
Mims Massacre (Aug. 30, 1813, AL) - Red Eagle (Creek) killed 250 settlers; led
to Creek War
Peterloo
Massacre (Aug. 1819, England) - members of Manchester Patriotic Union Society
killed;
led by Henry Hunt; led to
passage of the Six Acts
Massacre
at Chios (1822, Greece) - Turks massacred Greeks during Greek war for
independence;
commemorated in Delacroix's Massacre
at Chios
Goliad
Massacre (Mar. 1836, TX) - Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna (Mexico) executed most
of James
Fannin's (Texas) men
Myall
Creek Massacre (June 1838, New South Wales) - settlers massacred Aboriginies
Pottawatomie
Massacre (May 24, 1856, KS) - John Brown killed five proslavery men, avenging
murders in Lawrence
Mountain
Meadows Massacre (1857, UT) - John Lee and Mormons and Paiute Indians massacred
137 near Cedar City
Fort
Pillow Massacre (Apr. 12, 1864, TN) - Nathan Bedford Forrest (Confederate)
massacred black
Union troops defending the
fort
Sand
Creek Massacre (Nov. 29, 1864, CO) - John Chivington (US) massacred Cheyenne
and Arapaho
Indians under Black Kettle
Wounded
Knee Massacre (Dec. 29, 1890, SD) - US army massacred Sioux under Big Foot, who
had practiced Ghost Dance
taught by Wovoka (Pauite), after arrest of Sitting
Bull
Bloody
Sunday (Jan. 22, 1905, Russia) - protestors led by Father Georgy Gapon outside Nicholas II's
Winter
Palace in St. Petersburg were killed by the Russian Imperial Guard
Amritsar
Massacre (Apr. 13, 1919, India) - also Jallianwala Bagh Massacre; Reginald Dyer
(British) ordered
shooting of many protesting Rowlatt Acts in Amritsar's Golden Temple
Bloody
Sunday (Nov. 21, 1920, Ireland) - Irish killed British agents
St.
Valentine's Day Massacre (Feb. 1929, IL) - Al Capone's men killed six of George
"Bugs" Moran's men
and Reinhardt Schwimmer in Chicago
Night
of the Long Knives (1934, Germany) - Hitler had many SA leaders killed,
including Ernst Rohm
Catavi Massacre (Dec. 21, 1942, Bolivia) - soldiers killed protesting tin
miners
Sharpeville
Massacre (Mar. 21, 1960, South Africa) - police killed Pan-Africanist Congress
(PAC)
protestors
My
Lai 4 Massacre (Mar. 1968, Vietnam) - William Calley
(US) massacred Vietnamese civilians; journalist
Seymour
Hersh broke the
story
Plaza
of the Three Cultures (Oct. 2, 1968, Mexico) - student protestors in Tlateloco shot by police; Gustavo
Diaz
Ordaz feared protestors could mar the Mexico City Olympics
Kent
State Massacre (May 4, 1970, OH) - National Guard killed 4 anti-Vietnam student
protestors
Bloody
Sunday (Jan. 30, 1972, Ireland) - British shot Irish in Londonderry
Saturday
Night Massacre (Oct. 20, 1973) - Attorney General Elliot Richardson and his
deputy William
Ruckelshaus resigned,
refusing Nixon's order to fire Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox; Solicitor
General
Robert Bork fired Cox; Leon Jaworski replaced Cox
Jonestown
(1974, Guyana) - people following Jim Jones' People's Temple Sect drank cyanide
after shooting a
visiting US congressman
Heaven's
Gate (1997, US) - 39 committed suicide at Rancho Santa Fe CA in
connection with Comet Hale-Bopp
Plots, Conspiracies, and Cabals
Harem
Conspiracy (1100s BC, Egypt) - conspiracy against Ramses III
Pazzi Conspiracy (1478, Italy) - Pazzi family tried
to assassinate Lorenzo de' Medicis
Babington
Plot (1586, England) - Mary's page Babington planned to kill Elizabeth I and
crown Mary
Gunpowder
Plot (Nov. 5, 1605, England) - Robert Catesby, Guy Fawkes, and others planned
to kill James I and
members of Parliament by
exploding gunpowder under the House of Lords
Popish
Plot (1678, England) - Titus Oates and Israel Tonge
testified falsely that Catholics were planning to kill Charles
II and replace him with his
brother James
Rye
House Plot (1683, England) - Whigs plotted to kill Charles II and Duke of York
(James II) on road
from London to Newmarket but they never made the trip; William Russell and
Algernon Sidney were executed;
Duke
of Monmouth was
pardoned
Conway
Cabal (1777, US) - plot to replace Washington with Gates as commander of
American forces,
named for Irish general who
wrote a letter criticizing Washington
Other Hostile Incidents
Defenestration
of Prague (1618, Bohemia) - Bohemian rebels threw two of Ferdinand II's
ministers (Martinic and Slawata) out the
window of Hradcany Castle
Pride's
Purge (Dec. 1648, England) - Thomas Pride removed Presbyterian and royalist
members of the Long
Parliament; led to Rump
Parliament and High Court of Justice, that executed Charles I during
English Revolution
Black
Hole of Calcutta (June 20, 1756, India) - British soldiers died in airless
dungeon
Gaspee (June 1772, RI) - colonists burned Gaspee, commanded by William Dudingston
(British)
Boston
Tea Party (Dec. 16, 1773, MA) - colonists, led by Samuel Adams and disguised as
Indians, emptied tea on
British ships into the harbor; MA Gov. Thomas Hutchinson
XYZ
Affair (Oct. 1797) - Charles Maurice de Talleyrand (France) demanded $10
million loan and $250,000
gift to negotiate with
Americans Elbridge Gerry, Charles Pinckney ("not one cent for
tribute"),
and John Marshall
Great
Trek (1835 - 1843, South Africa) - Dutch Afrikaner settlers migrated and
established Natal,
Orange Free State, and South
African Republic
Caroline (Dec. 29, 1837, NY) -
Canadians destroyed American ship Caroline that was aiding
rebels on the Niagara River
Creole (1841, US) - ship carrying
slaves from VG to LA was seized by the slaves and taken to Nassau
Arrow (1856, China) - Guangzhou
police stopped British ship Arrow, leading to Second Opium War
Senate
floor clubbing (1856, DC) - Charles Sumner (MA) insulted Andrew Butler (SC) in
"Crime Against
Kansas" speech in the
Senate, so Butler's representative nephew Preston Brooks clubbed him
Lecompton
Constitution (1858, KS) - pro-slavery settlers tried to establish pro-slavery
constitution in KS
Harpers
Ferry (Oct. 1859, VG) - John Brown raided armory; was captured and hanged
Trent Affair (Nov. 8, 1861,
Atlantic) - Charles Wilkes in the San Jacinto captured Confederate
commissioners,
James
Murray Mason
and John Slidell, on the Trent, nearly leading to war with Britain
Ems
Dispatch - 1870, Otto von Bismarck edited a report of Napoleon III's demands
and William I's rejection so
as to incite the
Franco-Prussian War, unifying Germany
Jameson
Raid (Dec. 1895, South Africa) - Paul Kruger (Boer) defeated Leander Starr
Jameson (British), who had
hoped to aid a revolt by the
Uitlanders, but it never occurred; planned by Cecil
Rhodes; Wilhelm II
(Germany) sent
congratulatory telegram
Kruger
Telegram - 1896, Wilhelm II congratulated Boer Paul Kruger for repelling
British Jameson Raid
Agadir Incident - 1911, French
sent warship to Morocco; led towards WWI
Lusitania (May 7, 1915, Ireland) -
Cunard Line's Lusitania torpedoed by German U-boat
Zimmerman
Telegram (1917, Mexico) - Germany proposed allying with Mexico in WWI, allowing
Mexico
to retake TX, NM, and AZ
Palmer
Raids (1918 - 1921, US) - Wilson's Sec. of State Mitchell Palmer deported many
Communists, including
249 on the Bluford
Long
March (1934 - 1935, China) - Mao led communists on 6000 mile
march to Yan'an, fleeing the
Kuomintang
Kristallnacht
(Nov. 9, 1938, Germany) - Nazis looted Jewish stores and killed many Jews
Cuban
Missile Crisis (Oct. 16 - 28, 1962, Cuba) - Khrushchev (USSR) sent nuclear
missiles to Castro's
Cuba, but withdrew them
after a US blockade and Kennedy's secret promise to remove missiles
in Turkey
Maddox and C. Turner Joy
(1964, Vietnam) - two US ships attacked, leading to Gulf of Tonkin resolution
Iran
Hostage Crisis (Nov. 1979 - Mar. 1981, Iran) - students supported by Ayatollah
Khomeini took 66 from
American embassy; held 53
for 444 days; Carter's rescue attempt failed and Cyrus Vance resigned;
released as Reagan was
inaugurated
Mayaguez
(May 1975,
Cambodia) - Communists seized American vessel Mayaguez in Gulf of Siam;
Cambodia was bombed and the
crew was rescued
Branch
Davidian Siege (1993, US) - 51-day siege of Branch Davidian compound in Waco
under David Koresh,
80 killed in April 19, 1993
fire
Scandals
Petticoat
Affair - 1829, Peggy O'Neill (also Margaret Eaton), wife of Jackson's Secretary
of War John Henry Eaton,
was ostracized by wives of
most cabinet members; most of cabinet resigned; Martin Van Buren replaced
John Calhoun as VP
Black
Friday - 1869, Fiske and Gould tried to corner the gold market
Credit
Mobilier - 1872, Oakes Ames (MA congressman)
organized Credit Mobilier construction, contracted by
Union Pacific, which
inflated costs, and offered bribes to other congressmen; James Garfield, James
Blaine,
Henry Wilson, and VP
Schuyler Colfax were implicated
Pacific
Scandal - 1872 - 1873, Canada Prime Minister John Macdonald accepted bribes
from Hugh Allan for railroad contract
Whiskey
Ring - 1875, Treasury Secretary Benjamin Bristow investigated distillers and
politicians involved in tax
fraud, including Grant's
secretary Orville Babcock
Dreyfus
Affair - 1894-1899, Hubert-Joseph Henry forged documents implicating Jewish
Alfred Dreyfus as a spy for
Germany
and he was
court-marshaled; Georges Picquart discovered real spy
was Ferdinand Esterhazy; Emile
Zola wrote "J'accuse" in Georges Clemenceau's L'Aurore;
Emile Loubet pardoned Dreyfus
Taft's
Interior Department - 1909, US Forestry Head Gifford Pinchot accused Taft's
Secretary of the Interior
Richard
Ballinger of
accepting bribes for mining in AK; Taft dismissed conservationist Pinchot
Teapot
Dome - 1923, Harding's Interior Secretary Albert Fall accepted bribes from
Edward Doheney and Harry Sinclair
for
leasing naval oil reserves in Elk
Hills CA and Teapot Dome WY
Profumo Scandal - 1963, Harold MacMillan's (British) War Secretary John Profumo may have given secrets to mistress
Philby
Spy Scandal - 1963, British intelligence liaison Kim Philby defected to CIA;
had warned Guy Burgess and
Donald
MacLean about
impending arrests in 1951
Watergate
- 1972 - 1974, five men burglarized DNC headquarters at Watergate Complex; H.R.
Haldeman (Chief
of Staff), Richard
Kleindienst (Attorney General) and John Ehrlichman
(Special Assistant) resigned;
John Dean (Counsel)
dismissed; investigated by Senator Sam Earvin, Judge John Sirica, and Special
Prosecutor
Archibald Cox; in Saturday
Night Massacre Elliot Richardson and William Ruckelshaus were dismissed before
Robert Bork replaced Cox
with Leon Jaworski; "plumbers" had also broken into psychiatrist's
office of Daniel
Ellsberg, who had leaked
Pentagon Papers; story broken by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of Washington
Post
with Deep Throat (Mark Felt)
Tanaka
- 1974, Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka and others in the Liberal
Democratic Party accepted
bribes from Lockheed Martin
Iran
Contra Affair - 1980s, NSC directors Robert McFarlane and John Poindexter, and
aide Oliver North, sold weapons to
Iran
and sent
profits to contras battling Sandinistas in Nicaragua; investigated by Senator
John Tower and
Special Prosecutor Lawrence
Walsh
Whitewater
- 1990s, Special Prosecutors Robert Fiske, Kenneth Starr, and Robert Ray
investigated Bill and
Hillary Clinton, Jim and
Susan McDougal, Webster Hubbell, and Jim Guy Tucker for land dealings and
failed savings and loan; Clinton
was impeached (but not convicted by Senate) for perjury
relating to affair
with Monica Lewinsky in
testimony in Paula Jones lawsuit; also investigated Travelgate (Billy Dale
acquitted)
and suicide of Vincent
Foster
Hillary
Clinton E-mail Controversy - 2010s, House Select Committee on Benghazi (looking into 2012 killing of
Ambassador to Libya Chris
Stevens and others by militants) discovered Clinton used a private e-mail
account while Secretary of
State; FBI Directory James Comey criticized her
carelessness but did not believe
a crime was committed;
investigation briefly re-opened just before 2016 election in connection to
e-mails
found during investigation
of texts sent by Anthony Weiner, estranged husband of campaign vice-chair
Huma Abedin; Attorney Gen.
Loretta Lynch criticized for meeting with Bill Clinton at Phoenix airport
Penn
State Football Scandal - 2012, Penn State football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky convicted of sexual
abuse;
Head Coach Joe Paterno and
President Graham Spanier criticized for handling of
the situation
Petrobras
Scandal - 2014-2016, corruption at Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras;
former President Luiz Inacio Lula da
Silva arrested; President
Dilma Rousseff impeached and removed from office; "Operation Car
Wash"
Russian
interference in U.S. Presidential Election of 2016 - Russian hackers may have
been behind the release of
e-mails from Clinton
campaign manager John Podesta on Wikileaks, and the spread of "fake
news" on
social media; DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned after
WikiLeaks email release; Trump campaign
manager Paul Manafort and
advisors Carter Page and Roger Stone under suspicion for Russian ties; Donald
Trump Jr. admitted he and
Jared Kushner met with Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya;
National Security
Advisor Michael Flynn
resigned after it was learned he met with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak about sanctions;
Trump
fired FBI Directory James Comey; Attorney General
Jeff Sessions recused himself; Robert Mueller
appointed
special counsel
Disasters
Aug.
24, 79 - Vesuvius volcano
Nov.
1, 1755 - Lisbon earthquake
Feb.
28, 1844 - Canon exploded on USS Princeton, killing Sec. of State Abel
Upshur and Sec. of Navy Thomas Walker Gilmer
Apr.
27, 1865 - Sultana explosion killed Union soldiers headed home from
Vicksburg
Oct.
8, 1871 - Chicago fire
May
3, 1889 - Johnstown PA flood
Sep.
8, 1900 - Galveston TX hurricane
Dec.
30, 1903 - fire in Iroquois Theater, Chicago
Apr.
18 - 19, 1906 - San Francisco earthquake and fire
Mar.
25, 1911 - fire at Triangle Shirtwaist factory in NYC; investigated by Al Smith
Apr.
14 - 15, 1912 - White Star Line's Titanic hits iceberg in North
Atlantic; killed 1503 including John Jacob Astor IV and
Benjamin Guggenheim; Captain
Edward Smith went down with ship
Dec.
6, 1917 - explosion in Halifax Harbor
Aug.
1931 - Huang He River flooding killed 3.7 million in China
May
6, 1937 - German zeppelin Hindenburg burned at mooring in Lakehurst NJ
Apr.
6, 1947 - French Grandcamp exploded in Texas
City harbor
Jul.
26, 1956 - Italian Andrea Doria and Swedish Stockholm
collided off Nantucket
Mar.
28, 1979 - partial meltdown at Three Mile Island PA
May
18, 1980 - Mt. St. Helens volcano
Sep.
1, 1983 - Soviets shot down South Korean passenger plane
Dec.
3, 1984 - explosion at Union Carbide plant in Bhopal India
Sep.
19, 1985 - Michoacan - Mexico City earthquake
Apr.
26, 1986 - Chernobyl nuclear accident near Kiev
Jan.
28, 1986 - Space Shuttle Challenger
exploded killing 7 including NH teacher Christa McAuliffe
Jul.
3, 1988 - USS Vincennes shot down Iranian passenger plane
Mar.
24, 1989 - Exxon Valdez, captained by Joseph Hazelwood, spills oil in
Prince William Sound AK
Apr.
15, 1989 - Hillsborough disaster; Liverpool fans crushed at soccer match in Sheffield
Apr.
19, 1989 - explosion in gun turret of USS Iowa
Sep.
16 - 19, 1989 - Hurricane Hugo hit Caribbean and US
Oct.
17, 1989 - San Francisco "World Series" earthquake
Aug.
24 - 26, 1992 - Hurricane Andrew hit FL and LA
Jan.
17, 1994 - Northridge CA earthquake
Oct.
27 - 29, 1998 - Hurricane Mitch hit Central America
Dec.
1999 - flooding in Venezuela
Aug.
12, 2000 - Russian sub Kursk sunk in Barents Sea
Feb.
1, 2003 - Space shuttle Columbia
broke apart on re-entry
Aug.
2005 - Hurricane Katrina in LA, MS,
AL; flooded New Orleans
May
2008 - Cyclone Nargis,
southern Myanmar killed over 138,000
Jan.
12, 2010 - Earthquake in Haiti
Apr.
2010 - Explosion on Deepwater Horizon drilling platform in Gulf of Mexico
Mar.
11, 2011 - Earthquake and tsunami near Tohoku, Japan, led to nuclear meltdowns
at Fukushima Daiichi
May
22, 2011 - Joplin, MO tornado
Dec.
26, 2014 - Tsunami killed over 200,000 around Indian Ocean after earthquake
near Sumatra
Mar.
8, 2014 - Malaysia Airlines MH370 disappeared over Indian Ocean after departure
from Kuala Lumpur