Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown
Four years later to the week, another British army marched out to surrender, this time at Yorktown, Virginia.
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Coup against Ngo Dinh Diem
In South Vietnam, the war that involved American advisers and support was as political as it was military.
Creation of the Badge of Military Merit
In the late summer of the Revolutionary War, General George Washington issued a general order at his headquarters in Newburgh, New York, establishing a new distinction for enlisted soldiers and noncommissioned officers. The Badge of Military Merit took the form of a heart made of purple cloth, to be worn over the left breast by those who had performed “any singularly meritorious action” in the service of the Continen
Creation of the Continental Army
On this date, the Second Continental Congress voted to adopt the New England militia forces already besieging British-held Boston and to form them into a Continental Army. Before this decision, the men surrounding Boston answered primarily to their individual colonies, making coordination and supply uneven and uncertain.
Creation of the Continental Navy
When the Continental Congress resolved on this date to outfit a small fleet to intercept British supply ships, it took a cautious but decisive step toward creating a national sea service.
Creation of the Manhattan Engineer District
On August 13th, 1942, the United States Army Corps of Engineers officially established the Manhattan Engineer District, better known by the shortened phrase that would later describe the atomic bomb project. The district’s creation gave the Army formal responsibility for coordinating a vast, secret effort that drew together physicists, chemists, industrial firms, and military planners.
Creation of the Navy’s WAVES program
As the demands of World War II grew, the United States Navy struggled to man new ships, bases, and shore commands. On July 30th, 1942, a law created Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, better known as WAVES, within the Naval Reserve. For the first time, women could serve as commissioned officers and enlisted sailors in the Navy in large numbers, though they were limited mainly to shore-based roles.
Creation of the U.S. Army Air Corps
On July 2nd, 1926, the Air Corps Act transformed the Army’s air arm from the Air Service into the United States Army Air Corps, giving aviation a more formal place in the nation’s defense structure. The law did not create an independent air force overnight, but it acknowledged that aircraft had become essential for reconnaissance, bombing, and support of ground troops.
Creation of United States Africa Command
In the early twenty-first century, American defense planners adjusted organizational charts to match emerging challenges, including terrorism, fragile states, and competition for influence in new regions. On February 6th, 2007, the Department of Defense announced the creation of United States Africa Command, often abbreviated as AFRICOM, as a unified combatant command responsible for military relations with most nati
Crisis along the Pusan Perimeter
By August 31st, 1950, United States and South Korean troops clung to a shrinking defensive line around the port of Pusan, the last major foothold on the Korean Peninsula.
Crossing the Rhine at Oppenheim
By early 1945, Allied forces in Western Europe had driven the Wehrmacht back to the Rhine, the last great natural barrier before the German heartland. Several crossings were already underway or planned, including the famous seizure of the Remagen bridge, but General George S. Patton’s Third Army sought its own foothold.
Cuban Missile Crisis address and “quarantine”
In October 1962, reconnaissance photographs revealed Soviet ballistic missiles being installed in Cuba, within range of American cities and bases.
Cuban Missile Crisis begins in the White House
On this date, the President was briefed on photographs taken two days earlier by a high-altitude reconnaissance flight, revealing that the Soviet Union was secretly installing medium-range nuclear missiles in Cuba.
Cuban Missile Crisis de-escalates
In October 1962, the discovery of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba put United States forces on some of the highest alert levels in their history.
Cuban Missile Crisis naval quarantine
A story of a tense naval cordon, nuclear brinkmanship, and how one week at sea pushed the Cold War to the edge and back again.
Cuban quarantine lifted
The nuclear tensions of the early Cold War peaked when the United States discovered offensive missiles being installed in Cuba.
Curtis F. Shoup
The snow was hard as concrete on the Belgian hillside, the January cold locking the ground into a sheet of ice. Staff Sergeant Curtis F. Shoup and the soldiers of his company lay sprawled on that frozen slope, their dark uniforms stark against the white as German machine guns raked the hillside. The attack had stalled almost as soon as it began. The enemy gun on the rising ground ahead had perfect fields of fire, swe
Cyclone-class Patrol Ships
A story of littoral patrol, close-in surveillance, and small crews standing between fragile targets and fast, unpredictable threats.