Coup against Ngo Dinh Diem
In South Vietnam, the war that involved American advisers and support was as political as it was military.
Search & discovery
ONE SEARCH. A WIDER HISTORY.
Find a person, battle, citation, article, book or episode. Start with a name or identifier, then explore the connections.
489 results for “Wars & Historical Eras”
Showing 145–162
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
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 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.
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
D-Day landings in Normandy
Two days later, early June turned into one of the most famous dates in world history. On June 6th, 1944, Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy in northern France in the opening phase of Operation Overlord. United States troops landed primarily at Utah and Omaha Beaches, facing a mix of flooded terrain, beach obstacles, and entrenched German defenders.
Dade’s column ambushed in Florida
On December 28th, 1835, a column of United States soldiers under Major Francis Dade marched through the pine woods of Florida on what officers believed was a relatively routine movement between forts.
Dale Merlin Hansen
The ridge ahead looked less like a battlefield and more like a shattered hillside of rock, clay, and smoke. It was early May 1945 on Okinawa, and the Marines of Company E had stalled below Hill 60. Japanese machine guns chattered from hidden bunkers. Mortar rounds crashed into the slope, showering the men with dirt and splinters of coral. Every attempt to move up the ridge drew a fresh burst of fire that pinned them
Death of Colonel Elmer Ellsworth in Alexandria
Early in the Civil War, Colonel Elmer Ellsworth led the 11th New York “Fire Zouaves,” a regiment drawn from New York City firefighters, across the Potomac River to occupy Alexandria, Virginia. On May 24th, 1861, Ellsworth personally took down a large Confederate flag flying above the Marshall House inn, a banner that could be seen from the White House and that deeply angered President Lincoln.
Death of Theodore Roosevelt
In the early hours of January 6th, 1919, Theodore Roosevelt died in his sleep at Sagamore Hill, closing the life of a man who had left a deep imprint on American military history. As a young politician, he had resigned his post to help raise the volunteer cavalry regiment that would be remembered as the Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War. His charge up the hills above Santiago, alongside regular Army units and
Death of Ulysses S. Grant
Decades after Appomattox, the nation marked the passing of the general who had borne so much of the Union’s burden in the Civil War. Ulysses S. Grant died at a mountaintop cottage in New York after a long illness, having raced the clock to complete his memoirs and provide for his family. The former lieutenant general and eighteenth president had guided the Union armies through the brutal Overland Campaign, siege of P
Decatur’s Raid in Tripoli Harbor
In the dark waters off Tripoli on February 16th, 1804, a young United States Navy officer, Stephen Decatur, led a small boarding party into one of the most celebrated raids in early naval history. The frigate USS Philadelphia had run aground and been captured months earlier, and Tripolitan forces now held her as a valuable prize in the First Barbary War.