BC to AD

Throughout the 17th century, the ruling Tokugawa shogunate of Japan sought to limit foreign influence on their country. They worried that foreigners would have a negative influence on their citizens. They also worried that foreigners would inevitable overthrow their government. However to European and American minds, Japan offered lucrative trade opportunities for any country that could unlock her rich shores. In 1846, an expedition under Commodore James Biddle attempted to gain entrance to the country but was refused. In 1853, President Millard Fillmore decided to redouble the effort and sent Commodore Matthew Perry to force open the country to trade. In February 1854, Perry sailed into Edo Bay with 8 gunboats. The Japanese granted him access. On March 31, Perry and the Tokugawa shogunate sighed the Convention of Kanagawa , opening up trade between the United States and the reclusive county of Japan.

Throughout its history, Alaska had been home to numerous native tribes, most notably being the Aleut peoples. The Aleuts lived in relative seclusion until the arrival of Europeans in the 17th century. In the early 1700's, Russian surveyors mapped the Alaskan coast. It was not until 1741 that the Alaskan land mass was fully explored by an expedition led by Vitus Bering. The first permanent European settlement was established in 1784. In 1821, Tsar Alexander I officially declared Alaska as a Russian colony. The Monroe administration sought to mitigate Russia's influence in the Northwest. In 1824, Russia and the United States reached an agreement, which limited Russian expansion and opened up Alaskan ports to American shipping. Alaska would remain in Russian hands until 1867. By the 1850's, Alaska had become a burden on Russia due to the cost of maintaining the colony. Since its devastating defeat in the Crimean War, the Russian treasury was nearly depleted. Alexander soug...

Little is know about the early life of Ragnar Lodbrok. In fact, we do not know much about him at all. The only sources we have that prove he may have been a historical figure are from his sons. His sons: Ivar the Boneless, Ubba, Halfdan, Bjorn Ironside, Hvitserk, and Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye were all historical figure during the Viking Age. If we disregard the sagas, and songs about him, his sons are the only historical link we have to this fabled Viking. Ragnar also shows up in various historical events. There is a Ragnar present during the sacking of Paris in 845. For our purpose, we will assume that this Ragnar is also the Ragnar of legend. On March 29, 845, Easter Sunday, Viking long-ships edged slowly down the tranquil waters of the Seine River toward Paris. Viking raiders had tried to attack Paris before, but were repulsed. This time was different. This time the raiders were led by a fable Viking chief named Ragnar Lodbrok. This worried the French king, Charles the Bald. He de...

At the beginning of the Civil War, the New Mexico territory became key to the Confederates' strategy in controlling the southwestern United States. The Confederate forces in the area were controlled by Brigadier General Henry Hopkins Sibley. The Union forces were under the command of Colonel Edward Canby. Sibley tried to capture key forts in order to break the Union's stranglehold on the area, but werse unsuccessful. He then decided to try and take the Glorieta Pass. The capturing of the Pass would allow Confederate forces to gain greater access into the territory. He sent units under the command of William Scurry and Major Charles L. Pyron to take the Pass. Union troops led by General John Slough, and Major John Chivington were dispatch to meet the Confederates. The three day clash to come would prove to a decisive battle, earning the moniker, the "Gettysburg of the West." On the morning of March 26, 1862, Union forces were camped in a part of the Pass called Apa...

Throughout the War of 1812, several native tribes raided settlements along the Florida territorial border. These Native Americans were members of the Creek tribe, which lived in present day Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. The war had caused a great division in the tribe. The tribe divided into two: the Upper Creek, or Red Sticks, who opposed American expansion and supported the British, and the Lower Creek, who were more assimilated and supported the American war effort. With the help of Tecumseh and the Shawnee, the Red Sticks were able to engage the Americans in the southeastern United States. In 1813, they attacked troops stationed on the Florida border at the Battle of Burnt Corn. Then they moved on to attack and and massacre the soldiers garrisoned at Fort Mims. The Form Mims Massacre spurred the states of Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia to call up volunteers to form a militia company. The new militia was placed under the command of General Andrew Jackson. In the sprin...

Conrad was born in Speyer, Lower Lorraine in the Holy Roman Empire in the year 990. The Holy Roman Empire was created as a successor to the Western Roman Empire. Pope Leo III wanted to establish Catholic dominance throughout western Europe, in opposition to the Orthodox Christianity that existing in the Byzantine Empire. In the year 800, he decide to imbue the Frankish king, Charlemagne as the first Holy Roman Emperor, creating an institution that would exist for a millennium. In 962, the Saxon King, Otto I was elected as emperor, beginning a line of ethnically Germans that would occupy the imperial throne. Otto's daughter, Liutgarde of Saxony would have a son, another Otto. This Otto would have a son named Henry of Speyer who was Conrad father. This heritage would make Conrad a contender for the imperial throne. In 992, Conrad's father died, and he moved to the imperial city of Worms. It would be here that he would receive his education. He also spent time in the imperial ...

Robert the Bruce was born in Turnberry Castle in Ayrshire, Scotland on June 7, 1274. He came from a long line of claimants to the Scottish throne, being a descendant of King David I. During his childhood, he was educated in history, civics and languages. He learned a variety of local dialects, French and Latin. Robert's early life was typical of a 13th century European noble. However his young life would soon be thrown upside down with the arrival of the English in Scotland. In 1286, King Alexander III died, his crown passed to a child named Margaret, the Maid of Norway. Due to Margaret's youth, the Scottish nobles assigned Guardians of Scotland to serve as regents until she would come of age. Then in 1290, Margaret died. This created a crisis between the five remaining claimants to the throne: John Balliol, John Hastings, Floris V, Count of Holland, and Robert. The Guardians feared a civil war, so they asked Edward I, King of England to mediate the situation. The King deci...

On March 24, 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez was traveling through Prince William Sound, Alaska to California to unload 51 million tonnes of crude. At some point in the morning, the tanker accidental ran aground, spilling 10.8 million gallons of its haul into the Sound. The accident was most likely caused by a combination of a failure of the radar system and extreme human error. The effects of the spill were felt by the Alaskan ecological system almost immediately. The first signs of the system's distress was in the seabirds that frequented the Alaskan coast. In all, the oil spill would kill at least 22 killer whales, 12 otters, 300 harbor seals, 247 bald eagles, 2,800 sea otters, 250,000 seabirds and an unknown quantity of marine life. The United States government tried to act quickly to contain the spill but its efforts were in vain. Machines were brought in to remove oil from the sound. It is estimated that the machines were only able to remove about 10 percent of the oil ...

Patrick Henry was born in Hanover County, Virginia on May 29, 1736. He spent his childhood at his father's farm, Studley. He was largely tutored at home until the age of 15. During his tutelage, he acquired a love of oratory from the Protestant ministering that grew out of the Great Awakening. In 1753, he began working at a tavern, where he met a young Thomas Jefferson. He married a neighbor of his named Sarah Shelton in 1754. While working at the tavern, he read law, and was admitted to the bar in 1760. As a lawyer, he began to make a name for himself for his strong, impassioned oratory. He gained further prominence arguing in the Parson's Cause. In 1758, the Virginia House of Burgesses passed a law in which tobacco (which had reached inflated prices) could be purchased with the use of devalued currency. The King vetoed the measure. In 1763, an Anglican minister sued the colony over damages accumulated from the purchasing of the inflated tobacco. He was represented by Patr...

Anne Marbury was born in Alford, Lincolnshire, England on July 20, 1591. Anne was baptized in the Anglican faith. As her father was cleric, she spent much of her childhood traveling throughout England. In 1611, her father died and she married a fabric merchant named William Hutchinson. Anne's life with her new husband was prosperous. He was a very successful merchant, owning property in England and New England. The couple welcomed their first child in 1612 (the first of 15 such pregnancies she would have). The couple also shared similar religious beliefs. They became engrossed by the preaching of Puritan minister, John Cotton. In 1634, Hutchinson and her husband followed Cotton and other members of their church to New England, in order to practice their faith unmolested. Life in the New World was very good to the Huchinsons. She and her husband became active members in the First Church in Boston. They attended church meetings inside and outside the congregation. Anne became a...

By the 1900, Dayton, Ohio was a city on the rise. Dayton had been a hot spot for industry and engineering, famously being home to the Wright Brothers. They tested one of their first airplanes there. The future seemed bright for Dayton. However, that would all change on the afternoon of March 21, 1913. March 21 was by all accounts a warm, sunny day, but by the early afternoon, it began to rain. The storm continued into Easter Sunday. As the townspeople lined up in their pews to give their Easter prayers, the rivers around Dayton surged. Dayton was at the confluence of three river tributaries, the Mad River, the Stillwater River, and Wolf Creek. Throughout its history, the town was subject to random flooding from the overflowing of these rivers. Eventually the town installed levies to protect them from the floodwaters. On Monday, the storm intensified, dumping 8 to 11 inches in the span of an evening. The rivers began to crest. On Tuesday morning, the levees broke. Dayton became inunda...

At the nation's founding, the issue of faction and political party was becoming a growing problem. The Founders were deeply worried that faction would divide the young country. Their worries proved to be a reality. By 1800, two parties had formed, the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans, to compete for control of the government. The Federalists, founded by Alexander Hamilton, advocated for a larger federal government, an economy based on industrialization, and was mostly made up of urban easterners. The Democratic-Republicans, founded by Thomas Jefferson, advocated for a smaller government, an economy based on agriculture, and was mostly made up of southerners, and westerners. The two parties would compete until the collapse of the Federalist Party in wake of the War of 1812. The Democratic-Republican Party would further split into different factions until the Presidency of Andrew Jackson. The contested Election of 1828 would start the next phase in the party system of the...

Robert Allen Zimmerman was born in Duluth, Minnesota on May 24, 1941. Robert spent most of his childhood in Duluth, until his father was stricken with Polio and the family had to move in with his grandparents in Hibbing, Minnesota. In Hibbing, he attended Hibbing High School, graduating in 1959. It was there his interest in music took on a whole new life. Throughout the 1940's and 1950's, folk music grew in popularity in the United States. It mixed the styling of Country, Blues, and Gospel. It mostly involved a singular or a small group of musicians using acoustic instruments singing about American culture. The music took on a more political leaning due to the turmoil of Great Depression. Woody Guthrie had popularized the music in the late 1940's with his mix of earthiness and political liberalism. Throughout his adolescence, Robert studied and became a practitioner of Guthrie's style and performance. While in college, Robert performed his music in various off cam...

Stephen Grover Cleveland was born in Caldwell, New Jersey on March 18, 1837. He spent most of his youth in Fayetteville, New York. His life there was idyllic until his father's death in 1853. He attended Fayetteville Academy and Clinton Liberal Academy but had to drop out due to his father's death. His brother secured him a teaching position at the New York Institute for the Blind, in New York City. In 1855, he moved to Buffalo and began to read law. He was admitted to the New York bar in 1859. He then went on to become Assistant District Attorney of Erie County. The eruption of the Civil War halted his ambitions for a time. After the Civil War, Cleveland decided to enter politics. In 1865, he ran as Democrat for District Attorney, but narrowly lost. In 1870, he was nominated as a candidate for the Sheriff of Erie County. He won and assumed office in 1871. During his tenure as Sheriff, he began seeing a widow named Maria Halpin. Their courtship produced a child, after which...

With their victory in the Seven Years' War, Great Britain sought to recoup the debt accumulated from the war. Beginning in 1765, the British Parliament imposed a variety of taxes on their North American colonies (where the majority of the fighting took place). One of these taxes was the Stamp Act of 1765. The Stamp Act required that materials such as legal documents, postage, and even playing cards have a stamp on them indicating that payment had been made. The new tax effected many aspects of colonial life. Protest sprang up almost overnight. Throughout 1765, the colonies erupted in protests from Georgia to Massachusetts. With the passage of the Sugar Act in 1764, the colonies established a system of communication in order to more readily protest these deplorable acts of Parliament. They created a Committee of Correspondence, in which letters, and instructions for protesting could be communicated throughout the colonies. Samuel Adams, a Massachusetts contributor to the Committ...

On April 19, 1775, British regulars under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith marched on Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts to destroy Patriot munitions. They were met by a force of militiamen at the North Bridge in Concord. After a pitched battle, the British retreated back to the safety of Boston. The city became surrounded by militia from all over the colony, trapping the British inside. Meanwhile, the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia to decide how to prosecute the upcoming war. On June 14, Congress voted to form a continental army with General George Washington at the head of it. Washington arrived in Cambridge on July 25. He shored up his siege lines, and gave a fateful order to General Henry Knox. Knox's order was to bring captured cannon from Fort Ticonderoga back to Boston to support the siege. After a harrowing journey, the cannons arrived in early March of 1776. On the night of March 9, Washington's army transported the cannons up th...

Samoset was born in 1590 in present day Maine. He was member of the Abenaki tribe, which lived in the abundant coastal bays in Maine. English fishermen frequented these bays, and it was here that Samoset most likely learned English. He eventually rose to the tribal rank of sagamore. His new position required him to establish relations with other tribes' elders. In 1621, he was meeting with members of the Wampanoags of Massachusetts when he had fateful encounter with the English colonists there. In December of 1620, the Pilgrims landed in the New World. They were Puritans, a separatist religious sect of the Anglican church. They were escaping persecutions in their home country. A small coastal inlet in the New World would prove to be their salvation. Upon landing in there, they established a colony at Plymouth, in present day Massachusetts. The first couple of months in the colony would prove to be difficult. Hunger and disease ran rampant. Relations with the local native tribes...

Prior to European occupation, Maine was inhabited by the native tribes of the Wabanaki peoples. The tribe's first encounter with Europeans was in 1200 C.E., when they began trading with Norwegian settlers from the Newfoundland colony. In 1604, Maine became inhabited by the French. They created the first permanent settlements in Maine, at Saint Croix Island. By 1607, the English began exploring the area, and establishing their first settlements. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, Maine became a battleground between the French, English and native inhabitants. After their defeat in the French and Indian War, the French ceded much of Maine to the English. With the end of the American Revolution, 18 years later, Maine was given to the new United States with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. Before statehood, Maine would be a territory of Massachusetts. It would become a further battle ground during the War of 1812. In 1819, Maine separated from Massachusetts, becoming an indepe...

Eli Whitney was born on December 8, 1765 in Westborough, Massachusetts. Whitney spend most of his childhood working various jobs such as in a nail factory and as a farm laborer. During the long work day, he studied machinery and was eventually accepted into Yale University. After graduating in 1792, he traveled to Georgia to begin his career. Post-Revolutionary Georgia was emerging as a growing economic center, presenting new opportunities especially for industrial minded northerners. In Georgia, he went into business with another Yale alum, Phineas Miller. At the turn of the 19 th century, Whitney began to invent. Whitney began tinkering with devices used to produce high cotton crop yield. In the 1790’s, he developed the cotton gin (engine). It was a device that quickly separated the cotton fiber from the stem. Before this, the stem would be taken from the plant and the fiber would have to be manually removed from the stem. The cotton gin would greatly reduce the time for this to ...

Alexander Nikolaevich was born in Moscow on April 29, 1818. During his childhood, he traveled throughout his future empire under the tutelage of poet and scholar, Vasily Zhukovsky. Young Alexander embraced the liberal notions of freedom of thought, and expression being preached throughout Russia, especially in intellectual centers like St. Petersburg. After Russia's disastrous defeat in the Crimean War, he grew to detest military pomp and circumstance. In 1855, his father, Tsar Nicholas I died, and Alexander ascended to the throne. Tsar Alexander II was a very progressive ruler, fostering the reforms he favored as a youth. In 1861, he abolished serfdom, a long held system of peasant servitude. He liberalized Russia's harsh penal code. He also expanded land rights to the recently released serfs. However even with Alexander's liberal reforms, his reign saw an increase in popular dissent throughout the country. The dissenters formed groups around the new ideology of anarchis...

By 1932, the nation had grown tired of the ineffective policies of President Herbert Hoover. The Great Depression had grown worse since the Stock Market crash in 1929. President Hoover’s response was to ask businesses to voluntarily provide relief to workers. The system did not work. As a result, Hoover was all but a lame duck by the Election of 1932. Hoover decided to run for reelection, running on his successes prior to his presidency. His opponent was the Democratic Governor of New York, Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt had already tested many different relief type programs in his home state to great success. The American voter responded in turn. On Election Day, Roosevelt achieved a landslide victory.  When Roosevelt assumed office in March 1933, he had a gargantuan task ahead him. The Depression has seeped into all aspects of American life. The major issue that spurred on the Depression was the failure of the nation’s banking system. Throughout the 1920’s, banks speculate...

The winter of 1888 was extremely mild on the east coast of the United States. With March’s arrival, New Englanders felt that spring was just around the corner. The 10 th proved an equally auspicious day. Off the coast in the Atlantic, Canadian winds blew hard from the north while a low pressure system began to form east of Long Island. By the evening, it began to snow throughout the eastern United States. Throughout the 11 th , the snow accumulated heavily. By the 12 th , the snow drifts grew enormous. Business ground to a halt. Schools and church services were canceled. Railroad became mired in tidal wave sized snow drifts. Fire and ambulance services were unable to service their communities. In all, the Great Blizzard of 1888 dropped anywhere from 10 inches in some places to over 58 inches in others. Due to the gridlock in emergency services, the storm resulted in over 400 fatalities.

The origins of the Mexican-American War lay in a border dispute between Mexico and the state of Texas. Mexico saw the annexation of Texas as provocation for war. The United States claimed the border of the new state was at the Rio Grande River. However Mexico protested that the border actually was 300 miles to the north at the Nueces River. In the summer of 1845, President James K. Polk decided to test Mexico's resolve. He dispatched 3,500 troops under the command of General Zachary Taylor to the Nueces River. In the presence of Taylor's troops, Polk sent John Slidell to negotiate an agreement for the disputed territory. Mexico refused to make any agreement. In the spring of 1846, President Polk ordered Taylor to the Rio Grande. In April, Mexican cavalry killed 11 American soldiers under Captain Seth Thorton during a patrol. Congress officially declared war on July 7, but by then the war was already in full swing. The United States prosecuted the war with speed and effici...

At the beginning of the Civil War, the Union had a clear naval advantage. The Confederate navy was almost nonexistent. The Confederate Secretary of the Navy, Stephen Mallory sought to change that. Throughout the 1850's, European countries experimented with ships made out of iron that ran on steam power. The new technology was miles ahead of the old wooden ships left over from the 18th century. Confederate naval experts realized that these ships would give them a chance against the Union navy, currently blockading every major southern port. The C.S.S. Virginia began to be built in the fall of 1861. The body of the ship was reconstruction from the husk of the sunken Union ship, U.S.S. Merrimack. The ship was refurbished with iron plating, new guns, and an iron ram. The ship was completed in February of 1862. In early March, the Virginia was launched and began to creep down the coast toward the unsuspecting Union blockade. Reports of the Virginia's construction has reached t...

Before the outbreak of the American Revolution, bands of the Delaware tribe lived around the Hudson and Delaware Rivers. Due to white encroachment, they migrate west into Ohio territory, settling around the Tuscarawas and Muskingum Rivers. They established a large village named Coshocton. Life in the village was relatively peaceful, even with its close proximity to the British garrison at Fort Pitt. The peace may also have been due to fact that many members of the tribe were recently converted to Christianity by minister David Zeisberger. In 1742, Zeisberger was anointed as a minister and traveled to Ohio to build a missionary settlement named Gnadenhutten. He began to convert the local natives and became their minister. Zeisberger would act in this capacity until the outbreak of war. When the American Revolution broke out in 1775, the fragile peace between the whites and natives in Ohio was broken. In 1781, British allied Lenapes attack Coshocton, capturing the tribe and Zeisberg...

With the conclusion of Mexican-American War, the debate over slavery was reignited. Since the nation's inception, the issue of slavery threatened to destroy the unity of the nascent republic. The Founders were forced to table the issue in order to bring the fledgling states into unison. As the founding generation faded into history, the issue reared its head as new states attempted to join the original thirteen. By the turn of the 19th century, the northern states had almost entirely abolished slavery. Slavery mostly remained in southern states due to economic facility and cultural norms. In 1820, the question of over slavery reached a boiling point. When Missouri applied for statehood in 1820, it threw the delicate balance free and slave states into flux. Threats of secession rang out throughout the chambers of Congress. A compromise was needed in order restore the delicate balance. Representative Henry Clay of Kentucky proposed such a compromise. His Missouri Compromise allowed...