Eras of American History

The blood and sweat of our Founding Fathers freed us from the rule of King George III, and allowed them to create a government by the people and for the people. Freedom would ring after much bloodshed and ravaged, inexperienced soldiers, allied by the French, defeated Great Britain. Thirteen Colonies soon became states, and the United States of America was born.

Battles were not over. They continued with the French and Indian war and the War of 1812. Fighting, bloodshed and negotiation was the only way to retain freedom.

The greatest and most costly loss due to war happened in the 1860's with the War Between the States, or the Civil War. It was more about state's rights until Lincoln declared the Emancipation Proclamation. Most of the battles occurred in the southern states and they were ravaged beyond comprehension. Railroads were pulled up, entire towns were burned, and a noble, but erroneous civilization was virtually destroyed. States had to fight to be re admitted into the union, and shame was a razor sharp consequence.

Shortly after the War Between the States, an American icon; the Bison or Buffalo was slaughtered by the millions and brought to the brink of extinction. The west was wild but wide open. Settlers rode in by the thousands for land claims, gold and silver.

The American Indian was forced to give up its land by the thousands of acres, and signed treaties that were not honored by our government. They wound up on poor land and it was called reservations.

The 20th Century soon approached, and with it a terrible disease called the Spanish flu wiped out one third of the population of the world.

A peaceful President, Woodrow Wilson was forced into war in what was called at the time, The Great World War. Thousands of soldiers would die of pneumonia on the way to the fight. The soldiers that made it faced a war of fierce aggression, and a new tactic in attack called trench warfare. By 1920, the allies had defeated Germany.

The "roaring twenties" was a relatively short era; but prosperous and newly introduced an industry called moving pictures. The economy was stable and people were happy.

Then tragedy struck with The Great Depression. In my mind it could be summarized by a song of the era, "Take an old cold tater and wait". There were starving people in numerous soup lines. People lived in shacks, lost fortunes in the stock market, and most banks closed taking the medium and poor class' money with them. Old houses were burned just for the nails for building. People collected anything. Even an old, bent, rusty 10 penny nail was a minor treasure.

Hitler began his Nazi regime, and with the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japan, the United Sates entered World War II. Everything was rationed in the states for the war, but many jobs were created. The allied forces fiercely fought the Nazi's by storming the beaches of Normandy, fighting in northern Africa and gliders and paratroopers landing behind enemy lines. The allies on the western front and the USSR on the eastern front, eventually collapsed Hitler's forces to Berlin.

The United States bombed two strategic locations in Japan with nuclear weapons developed over the course of the war. After the allies won, Americans returned home to loved ones and jobs. Prosperity began to abound; however, the early 50's brought the Korean War, which was actually called a police action. The U.S. allied with South Korea to fight Communist North Korea. Much blood was spilled in a political arena. This was near the beginning of the "Cold War".

The tumultuous 60's brought a change in the younger generation and a negative view of America's involvement in the Vietnam War (in which war was never declared). 55,000 young men lost there lives over years of carnage and political playgrounds with Communism versus Democracy. President Kennedy was assassinated, as was his brother Robert Kennedy and Civil Rights Leader, Martin Luther King.

The 70's brought the end of the Vietnam Conflict, and Richard Nixon became the first President to resign. This was due to the "Washington Post" calling attention to the "Watergate" scandal. This corruption was brought to the surface, and America witnessed trials of those involved on national television.

"Reaganomics" and disco fever dominated the early eighties.

The nineties brought the First Persian Gulf war with the liberation of Kuwait. Iraq was defeated, but the war was halted before Sadam Hussein and Baghdad were captured.

The new millennium was rapidly approaching. The 21'st Century brought internal terrorist attacks by radical Muslim terrorists. They used passenger planes full of fuel to bomb both World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon. Vulnerability became a tremendous concern. Iraq was attacked again; Hussein captured and executed by his own country; Afghanistan was invaded in search for the master mind of the radicals, Osama Ben Laden. This continues today as do planning and thwarting of terrorist actions. We remain internally vulnerable, and the outcome is unpredictable.