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• Hegira, Hejira
  the flight of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in 622 which marked the beginning of the Muslim era
• Underground Railroad, Underground Railway
  secret aid to escaping slaves that was provided by abolitionists in the years before the American Civil War
• Babylonian Captivity
  the deportation of the Jews to Babylonia by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC
• Creation
  (theology) God's act of bringing the universe into existence
• Berlin airlift
  airlift in 1948 that supplied food and fuel to citizens of west Berlin when the Russians closed off land access to Berlin
• Secession
  the withdrawal of eleven southern states from the Union in 1860 which precipitated the American Civil War
• Human Genome Project
  an international study of the entire human genetic material
• Manhattan Project
  code name for the secret United States project set up in 1942 to develop atomic bombs for use in World War II
• Peasant's Revolt, Great Revolt
  a widespread rebellion in 1381 against poll taxes and other inequities that oppressed the poorer people of England
• First Crusade
  a Crusade from 1096 to 1099
• Second Crusade
  a Crusade from 1145 to 1147 that failed because of internal disagreements among the crusaders and led to the loss of Jerusalem in 1187
• Third Crusade
  a Crusade from 1189 to 1192 led by Richard I and the king of France that failed because an army torn by dissensions and fighting on foreign soil could not succeed against forces united by religious zeal
• Fourth Crusade
  a Crusade from 1202 to 1204 that was diverted into a battle for Constantinople and failed to recapture Jerusalem
• Fifth Crusade
  a Crusade under papal control from 1218 to 1221 that achieved military victories but failed when dissension arose over accepting the terms they had been offered
• Sixth Crusade
  a Crusade from 1228 to 1229 led by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II who fell ill and was excommunicated by the Pope
• Seventh Crusade
  a Crusade initiated in 1248 after the loss of Jerusalem in 1244 and defeated in 1249
• Seward's Folly
  the transaction in 1867 in which the United States Secretary of State William Henry Seward purchased Alaska from Russia
• Boston Tea Party
  demonstration (1773) by citizens of Boston who (disguised as Indians) raided three British ships in Boston harbor and dumped hundreds of chests of tea into the harbor
• Bakke decision
  a ruling by the Supreme Court on affirmative action
• Holocaust, final solution
  the mass murder of Jews under the German Nazi regime from 1941 until 1945
• Actium
  the naval battle in which Antony and Cleopatra were defeated by Octavian's fleet under Agrippa in 31 BC
• Aegates Isles, Aegadean Isles
  islands west of Sicily (now known as the Egadi Islands) where the Romans won a naval victory over the Carthaginians that ended the first Punic War in 241 BC
• Aegospotami, Aegospotamos
  a river in ancient Thrace (now Turkey)
• Agincourt
  a battle in northern France in which English longbowmen under Henry V decisively defeated a much larger French army in 1415
• Alamo
  a siege and massacre at a mission in San Antonio in 1836
• Atlanta, battle of Atlanta
  a siege in which Federal troops under Sherman cut off the railroads supplying the city and then burned it
• Austerlitz, battle of Austerlitz
  a decisive battle during the Napoleonic campaigns (1805)
• Bannockburn
  a battle in which the Scots under Robert the Bruce defeated the English and assured the independence of Scotland
• Bataan, Corregidor
  the peninsula and island in the Philippines where Japanese forces besieged American forces in World War II
• Battle of Britain
  the prolonged bombardment of British cities by the German Luftwaffe during World War II and the aerial combat that accompanied it
• Battle of Kerbala
  a battle in 680 in which the grandson of Mohammed and his followers were killed
• Battle of the Ardennes Bulge, Battle of the Bulge, Ardennes counteroffensive
  a battle during World War II
• Battle of the Marne, Belleau Wood, Chateau-Thierry, Marne River
  a World War I battle in northwestern France where the Allies defeated the Germans in 1918
• Bismarck Sea, battle of the Bismarck Sea
  a naval battle in World War II
• Blenheim
  the First Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Savoy defeated the French in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession
• Borodino
  Napoleon defeated the Russians in 1812 in a pitched battle at a village in western Russia west of Moscow, but irreparably weakened his army
• Bosworth Field
  the battle that ended the Wars of the Roses (1485)
• Bouvines
  in 1214 the French under Philip Augustus defeated a coalition formed against him in one of the greatest battles of the middle ages
• Boyne, battle of Boyne
  a battle in the War of the Grand Alliance in Ireland in 1690
• Brunanburh, battle of Brunanburh
  a battle in 937 when Athelstan defeated the Scots
• Buena Vista
  a pitched battle in the Mexican War in 1847
• Bull Run, Battle of Bull Run
  either of two battles during the American Civil War (1861 and 1862)
• Bunker Hill, battle of Bunker Hill
  the first important battle of the American War of Independence (1775) which was fought at Breed's Hill
• Cannae
  ancient city is southeastern Italy where Hannibal defeated the Romans in 216 BC
• Caporetto, battle of Caporetto
  battle of World War I (1917)
• Caudine Forks
  a battle in the Apennines in 321 BC in which the Samnites defeated the Romans
• Chaeronea
  a battle in which Philip II of Macedon defeated the Athenians and Thebans (338 BC) and also Sulla defeated Mithridates (86 BC)
• Chalons, Chalons-sur-Marne
  the battle in which Attila the Hun was defeated by the Romans and Visigoths in 451
• Chancellorsville
  a major battle in the American Civil War (1863)
• Chapultepec
  a pitched battle in the Mexican War that resulted in a major victory for American forces over Mexican forces at a locality south of Mexico City (1847)
• Chattanooga, battle of Chattanooga
  in the American Civil War (1863) the Union armies of Hooker, Thomas, and Sherman under the command of Ulysses S. Grant won a decisive victory over the Confederate Army under Braxton Bragg
• Chickamauga, battle of Chickamauga
  a Confederate victory in the American Civil War (1863)
• Chino-Japanese War, Sino-Japanese War
  a war between China and Japan (1894 and 1895) over the control of the Korean Peninsula
• Coral Sea, battle of the Coral Sea
  a Japanese defeat in World War II (May 1942)
• Cowpens, battle of Cowpens
  battle in the American Revolution
• Crecy, battle of Crecy
  the first decisive battle of the Hundred Years' War
• Cunaxa, battle of Cunaxa
  battle in 401 BC when the Artaxerxes II defeated his younger brother who tried to usurp the throne
• Cynoscephalae, battle of Cynoscephalae
  the battle that ended the second Macedonian War (197 BC)
• Dardanelles, Dardanelles campaign
  the unsuccessful campaign in World War I (1915) by the English and French to open a passage for aid to Russia
• Dien Bien Phu
  the French military base fell after a siege by Vietnam troops that lasted 56 days
• Drogheda
  in 1649 the place was captured by Oliver Cromwell, who massacred the Catholic inhabitants
• Dunkirk, Dunkerque
  an amphibious evacuation in World War II (1940) when 330,000 Allied troops had to be evacuated from the beaches in northern France in a desperate retreat under enemy fire
• El Alamein, Al Alamayn, Battle of El Alamein
  a pitched battle in World War II (1942) resulting in a decisive Allied victory by British troops under Montgomery over German troops under Rommel
• Eniwetok
  World War II (February 1944)
• Flodden, Battle of Flodden Field
  a battle in 1513
• Fontenoy, Battle of Fontenoy
  a battle in 1745 in which the French army under Marshal Saxe defeated the English army and their allies under the duke of Cumberland
• Fort Ticonderoga, Ticonderoga
  a pitched battle in which American revolutionary troops captured Fort Ticonderoga from the British in 1775
• Fredericksburg, Battle of Fredericksburg
  an important battle in the American Civil War (1862)
• Gettysburg, Battle of Gettysburg
  a battle of the American Civil War (1863)
• Granicus, Battle of Granicus River
  the battle in which Alexander won his first major victory against the Persians (334 BC)
• Guadalcanal, Battle of Guadalcanal
  a battle in World War II in the Pacific (1942-1943)
• Hampton Roads
  a naval battle of the American Civil War (1862)
• Hastings, battle of Hastings
  the decisive battle in which William the Conqueror (duke of Normandy) defeated the Saxons under Harold II (1066) and thus left England open for the Norman Conquest
• Hohenlinden, battle of Hohenlinden
  a battle during the Napoleonic Wars (1800)
• Inchon
  a battle in the Korean War (1950)
• Indian Mutiny, Sepoy Mutiny
  discontent with British administration in India led to numerous mutinies in 1857 and 1858
• Ipsus, battle of Ipsus
  a battle between the successors of Alexander the Great (301 BC)
• Issus, battle of Issus
  a battle (333 BC) in which Alexander the Great defeated the Persians under Darius III
• Ivry, battle of Ivry, Ivry la Bataille
  a battle (1590) in which the Huguenots under Henry IV defeated the Catholics under the duke of Mayenne
• Iwo, Iwo Jima, invasion of Iwo
  a bloody and prolonged operation on the island of Iwo Jima in which American marines landed and defeated Japanese defenders (February and March 1945)
• Jena, Battle of Jena
  the battle in 1806 in which Napoleon decisively defeated the Prussians
• Jutland, battle of Jutland
  an indecisive naval battle in World War I (1916)
• Kennesaw Mountain
  battle of the American Civil War (1864)
• Kwajalein
  an amphibious assault in the Pacific in World War II (January 1944)
• Lake Trasimenus, Battle of Lake Trasimenus
  a battle in 217 BC in which Hannibal ambushed a Roman army led by Flaminius
• Langside, battle of Langside
  (1568) Catholic forces supporting Mary Queen of Scots were routed by Protestants
• Lepanto, Battle of Lepanto
  Turkish sea power was destroyed in 1571 by a league of Christian nations organized by the Pope
• Leuctra, battle of Leuctra
  Thebes defeated Sparta in 371 BC
• Lexington, Concord, Lexington and Concord
  the first battle of the American Revolution (April 19, 1775)
• Leyte, Leyte Island, Leyte invasion
  a battle in World War II
• Little Bighorn, Battle of Little Bighorn, Battle of the Little Bighorn, Custer's Last Stand
  a battle in Montana near the Little Bighorn River between United States cavalry under Custer and several groups of Native Americans (1876)
• Lucknow
  the British residents of Lucknow were besieged by Indian insurgents during the Indian Mutiny (1857)
• Lule Burgas, battle of Lule Burgas
  the principal battle of the Balkan Wars (1912)
• Lutzen, battle of Lutzen
  a battle in the Thirty Years' War (1632)
• Macedonian War
  one the four wars between Macedonia and Rome in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, which ended in the defeat of Macedonia and its annexation as a Roman province
• Magenta, Battle of Magenta
  a battle in 1859 in which the French and Sardinian forces under Napoleon III defeated the Austrians under Francis Joseph I
• Maldon, Battle of Maldon
  a battle in which the Danes defeated the Saxons in 991
• Manila Bay
  a naval battle in the Spanish-American War (1898)
• Mantinea, Mantineia
  the site of three famous battles among Greek city-states: in 418 BC and 362 BC and 207 BC
• Marathon, battle of Marathon
  a battle in 490 BC in which the Athenians and their allies defeated the Persians
• Marengo
  a battle in 1800 in which the French under Napoleon Bonaparte won a great victory over the Austrians
• Marston Moor, battle of Marston Moor
  a battle in 1644 in which the Parliamentarians under the earl of Manchester defeated the Royalists under Prince Rupert
• Metaurus River
  a battle during the second Punic War (207 BC)
• Meuse, Meuse River, Argonne, Argonne Forest, Meuse-Argonne, Meuse-Argonne operation
  an American operation in World War I (1918)
• Midway, Battle of Midway
  naval battle of World War II (June 1942)
• Minden, battle of Minden
  a battle in the Seven Years' War (1759) in which the English forces and their allies defeated the French
• Monmouth Court House, Battle of Monmouth Court House, Battle of Monmouth
  a pitched battle in New Jersey during the American Revolution (1778) that ended with the withdrawal of British forces
• Naseby, Battle of Naseby
  a battle in 1645 that settled the outcome of the first English Civil War as the Parliamentarians won a major victory over the Royalists
• Navarino, battle of Navarino
  a decisive naval battle in the War of Greek Independence (1827)
• Okinawa, Okinawa campaign
  a campaign in the closing days of World War II in the Pacific (April to June 1945)
• Omdurman, battle of Omdurman
  a battle (1898) in which an English and Egyptian army under Kitchener defeated the Sudanese
• Operation Desert Storm
  the United States and its allies defeated Iraq in a ground war that lasted 100 hours (1991)
• Orleans, siege of Orleans
  a long siege of Orleans by the English was relieved by Joan of Arc in 1429
• Panipat, battle of Panipat
  battle in which the ruler of Afghanistan defeated the Mahrattas in 1761
• Passero, Cape Passero
  a naval battle in the Mediterranean Sea off Cape Passero in which the Spanish navy was destroyed by France and England while attempting to recover Sicily and Sardinia from Italy (1719)
• Petersburg, Petersburg Campaign
  the final campaign of the American Civil War (1864-65)
• Pharsalus, battle of Pharsalus
  Caesar defeated Pompey in 48 BC
• Philippi, battle of Philippi
  Octavian and Mark Antony defeated Brutus and Cassius in 42 BC
• Philippine Sea, battle of the Philippine Sea
  a naval battle in World War II (1944)
• Plassey, battle of Plassey
  the victory in 1757 by the British under Clive over Siraj-ud-daula that established British supremacy over Bengal
• Plataea, battle of Plataea
  a defeat of the Persian army by the Greeks at Plataea in 479 BC
• Plevna, Pleven
  the town was taken from the Turks by the Russians in 1877 after a siege of 143 days
• Poitiers, battle of Poitiers
  the battle in 1356 in which the English under the Black Prince defeated the French
• Port Arthur
  a battle in the Chino-Japanese War (1894)
• Battle of Puebla
  a battle in which Mexican forces defeated the French in 1862
• Pydna, Battle of Pydna
  a major victory by the Romans over the Macedonians in 168 BC
• Ravenna, Battle of Ravenna
  a battle between the French and an alliance of Spaniards and Swiss and Venetians in 1512
• Rocroi, Battle of Rocroi
  a battle in the Thirty Years' War (1643)
• Rossbach, battle of Rossbach
  a battle in the Seven Years' War (1757)
• Saint-Mihiel, St Mihiel, battle of St Mihiel
  a battle in the Meuse-Argonne operation in World War I (1918)
• Saipan
  US forces captured the island from the Japanese in July 1944
• Salerno
  a battle in World War II
• Santiago, Santiago de Cuba
  a naval battle in the Spanish-American War (1898)
• Saratoga, battle of Saratoga
  a battle during the American Revolution (1777)
• Sempatch, battle of Sempatch
  the Swiss Confederation escaped Hapsburg domination by their victory in 1386
• Shiloh, battle of Shiloh, battle of Pittsburgh Landing
  the second great battle of the American Civil War (1862)
• Soissons, battle of Soissons-Reims, battle of the Chemin-des-Dames, battle of the Aisne
  a battle in World War I (May 1918)
• Solferino, battle of Solferino
  an indecisive battle in 1859 between the French and Sardinians under Napoleon III and the Austrians under Francis Joseph I
• Somme, Somme River, Battle of the Somme
  battle in World War I (1916)
• Somme, Somme River, Battle of the Somme
  battle of World War II (1944)
• Battle of the Spanish Armada
  in the English Channel a small fleet of British ships successfully defeated the large armada sent from Spain by Philip II to invade England
• Spotsylvania, battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse
  a battle between the armies of Grant and Lee during the Wilderness Campaign
• Syracuse, siege of Syracuse
  the Athenian siege of Syracuse (415-413 BC) was eventually won by Syracuse
• Syracuse, siege of Syracuse
  the Roman siege of Syracuse (214-212 BC) was eventually won by the Romans who sacked the city (killing Archimedes)
• Tannenberg, battle of Tannenberg
  a battle in World War I (1914)
• Tarawa, Makin, Tarawa-Makin
  battles in World War II in the Pacific (November 1943)
• Tertry, battle of Tertry
  a battle in France in 687 among the descendants of Clovis
• Teutoburger Wald, battle of Teutoburger Wald
  a battle in 9 AD in which the Germans under Arminius annihilated three Roman Legions
• Tewkesbury, battle of Tewkesbury
  the final battle of the War of the Roses in 1471 in which Edward IV defeated the Lancastrians
• Thermopylae, battle of Thermopylae
  a famous battle in 480 BC
• Trafalgar, battle of Trafalgar
  a naval battle in 1805 off the southwest coast of Spain
• Trasimeno, battle of Trasimeno
  a battle in central Italy where Hannibal defeated the Romans under Flaminius in 217 BC
• Tsushima
  a naval battle in the Russo-Japanese War (1905)
• Valmy, battle of Valmy
  the French defeated the Austrian and Prussian troops in 1792 (with a famous cannonade from the French artillery)
• Verdun, battle of Verdun
  a battle in World War I (1916)
• Vicksburg, siege of Vicksburg
  a decisive battle in the American Civil War (1863)
• Wagram, battle of Wagram
  a battle in the Napoleonic campaigns (1809)
• Battle of Wake, Battle of Wake Island
  in December 1941 the island was captured by the Japanese after a gallant last-ditch stand by a few hundred United States marines
• Waterloo, Battle of Waterloo
  the battle on 18 June 1815 in which Prussian and British forces under Blucher and the Duke of Wellington routed the French forces under Napoleon
• Wilderness Campaign
  American Civil War
• Yalu River
  a battle in the Korean War (November 1950)
• Yorktown, siege of Yorktown
  in 1781 the British under Cornwallis surrendered after a siege of three weeks by American and French troops
• Ypres, battle of Ypres, first battle of Ypres
  battle in World War I (1914)
• Ypres, battle of Ypres, second battle of Ypres
  battle in World War I (1915)
• Ypres, battle of Ypres, third battle of Ypres
  battle in World War I (1917)
• Zama, battle of Zama
  the battle in 202 BC in which Scipio decisively defeated Hannibal at the end of the second Punic War
• American Civil War, United States Civil War, War between the States
  civil war in the United States between the North and the South
• American Revolution, American Revolutionary War, War of American Independence, American War of Independence
  the revolution of the American Colonies against Great Britain
• Arab-Israeli War, Six-Day War, Six Day War
  tension between Arabs and Israeli erupted into a brief war in June 1967
• Arab-Israeli War, Yom Kippur War
  Egypt and Syria attacked Israel in October 1973 (on Yom Kippur)
• Balkan Wars
  two wars (1912-1913) that were fought over the last of the European territories of the Ottoman Empire and that left the area around Constantinople (now Istanbul) as the only Ottoman territory in Europe
• Boer War
  either of two wars: the first when the Boers fought England in order to regain the independence they had given up to obtain British help against the Zulus (1880-1881)
• Chinese Revolution
  the republican revolution against the Manchu dynasty in China
• Crimean War
  a war in Crimea between Russia and a group of nations including England and France and Turkey and Sardinia
• Cuban Revolution
  the revolution led by Fidel Castro and a small band of guerrilla fighters against a corrupt dictatorship in Cuba
• English Civil War
  civil war in England between the Parliamentarians and the Royalists under Charles I
• English Revolution, Glorious Revolution, Bloodless Revolution
  the revolution against James II
• Franco-Prussian War
  a war between France and Prussia that ended the Second Empire in France and led to the founding of modern Germany
• French and Indian War
  a war in North America between France and Britain (both aided by American Indian tribes)
• French Revolution
  the revolution in France against the Bourbons
• Hundred Years' War
  the series of wars fought intermittently between France and England
• Iran-Iraq War, Gulf War
  a dispute over control of the waterway between Iraq and Iran broke out into open fighting in 1980 and continued until 1988, when they accepted a UN cease-fire resolution
• Korean War
  a war between North and South Korea
• Mexican Revolution
  a revolution for agrarian reforms led in northern Mexico by Pancho Villa and in southern Mexico by Emiliano Zapata (1910-1911)
• Mexican War
  after disputes over Texas lands that were settled by Mexicans the United States declared war on Mexico in 1846 and by treaty in 1848 took Texas and California and Arizona and New Mexico and Nevada and Utah and part of Colorado and paid Mexico $15,000,000
• Napoleonic Wars
  a series of wars fought between France (led by Napoleon Bonaparte) and alliances involving England and Prussia and Russia and Austria at different times
• Norman Conquest
  the invasion and settlement of England by the Normans following the battle of Hastings (1066)
• Peloponnesian War
  a war in which Athens and its allies were defeated by the league centered on Sparta
• Gulf War, Persian Gulf War
  a war fought between Iraq and a coalition led by the United States that freed Kuwait from Iraqi invaders
• Punic War
  one of the three wars between Carthage and Rome that resulted in the destruction of Carthage and its annexation by Rome
• Restoration
  the re-establishment of the British monarchy in 1660
• Russian Revolution, February Revolution
  the revolution against the czarist government which led to the abdication of Nicholas II and the creation of a provisional government in March 1917
• Russian Revolution, October Revolution
  the coup d'etat by the Bolsheviks under Lenin in November 1917 that led to a period of civil war which ended in victory for the Bolsheviks in 1922
• Russo-Japanese War
  Japanese victory in the war with Russia (1904-1905) gave Japan power over Korea and Manchuria
• Seven Years' War
  a war of England and Prussia against France and Austria (1756-1763)
• Spanish-American War, Spanish War
  a war between the United States and Spain in 1898
• Spanish Civil War
  civil war in Spain in which Franco succeeded in overthrowing the republican government
• Thirty Years' War
  a series of conflicts (1618-1648) between Protestants and Catholics starting in Germany and spreading until France and Denmark and Sweden were opposing the Holy Roman Empire and Spain
• Trojan War
  (Greek mythology) a great war fought between Greece and Troy
• Vietnam War, Vietnam
  a prolonged war (1954-1975) between the communist armies of North Vietnam who were supported by the Chinese and the armies of South Vietnam who were supported by the United States