rak usa 2 Flashcards
(21 cards)
Discovery (3)
1000 - Viking Leif Ericson - no permanent settlement
15th century - great demand for Asian products (spices, silk…) in Europe
1492 - Christopher Columbus tried to find a new route to
India-navigational error → Bahamas (called the people Indians)
-brought corn and potatoes- significant impact
-followed by other European nations- England, Spain, France…
-America was named after Amerigo Vespucci - Italian explorer who
first claimed that Columbus discovered a new continent, not India
Settlements
First English colony - Virginia (Elizabeth I, Virgin queen)
first permanent settlement - Jamestown
1620 - Pilgrim Fathers came on ship Mayflower
- Puritans, escaped religious persecution in England
-established Plymouth settlement in Massachusetts
Thanksgiving Day
first successful harvest with Native Americans
Settlements 2
established also other colonies in the north - New England
century later - first 13 colonies (all of them with English settlers) -> 13 stripes on American flag
Salem Witch Trials
1692-1693
Series of trials in Salem (Massachusetts)
started in Salem village - 2 girls started to accuse people they did not like of being witches
-> many people convicted of witchcraft, some of them tortured and hanged
American Revolutionary War
1775-1783
Colonies were becoming independent
British government imposed new taxes(glass, paper, tea)
1773 Boston Tea Party - group of American men dressed like Indians threw away the cargo of tea from a British ship
-> more British soldiers + intolerable acts to punish Massachusetts colony (closing of harbor until paying for tea)
1775 - delegates from 13 colonies met to discuss the situation
-> formed an army (commander George Washington), which was later helped by France and Spain
Epilogue: ARW
July 4. 1776 - declaration of Independence was ratified(approved)
Document written mostly by Thomas Jefferson (day of independence - annual feast on July 4.)
1783 Britain recognized independence of the new nation - USA, 1. president George Washington
Expansion
Louisiana Purchase (Louisiana + other states) - bought by Jefferson from France
Florida - bought from Spain
Mexican War (1846-1848), Mexico gave California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico
Alaska - bought from Russia
Gold Rush
massive migration to California after finding flakes of gold in the river
- migrants called 49-ers
-favorite method - panning for gold
- mining camps often became boom towns
San Francisco -> gold towns
majority people did not become rich
success of people selling supplies (tools, food, clothes)
e.g. Levi Strauss - jeans for workers
The Civil War
North:
->capitalist system
->industry
->Union States
->Abraham Lincoln
South:
->slave system
->agriculture - depended on the work of slaves
->Confederate States
->Jefferson Davis
The Civil War 2 (cause, etc.)
Two different systems, question of slavery, S wanted to leave the Union
North had advantage = more land, population and industry
1861 S left the Union
1863 N won the war, 5 days later president Lincoln was assassinated (theater)
Results: slavery was abolished and USA was united again
WWI
1914-1918
long neutrality(viewed as dispute between old world powers)
1915 - Germans sank Lusitania (+ American passengers)
1917 - USA joined the Allies - significant help - president Woodrow Wilson
after the war USA strengthened its economy and became the world’s leader
Roaring twenties
Period of social economic political change
-economical boom -> electrification, building roads, growth of towns and industries
-many Americans = extra money -> spent it on cinemas (Charlie Chaplin), fashion, appliances(radios, fridges) and cars (Henry Ford models)
Roaring twenties (Flapper etc.)
Flapper - young woman with bobbed hair, short skirt, who is drank, smoked and said unladylike things
right to vote for women
jazz and Charleston(type of dance) were popular
best description of the period - The Great Gatsby (novel)
Prohibition Era
Illegal to sell any Alcohol
->Reasons:
1. responsible for crime and violence
2. affected people’s health
3. against God’s will
4. destruction of families
Al Capone (Scarface Al)
-gangster during prohibition era in Chicago
smuggled alcohol
->sent to Alcatraz = a prison for the worst criminals(not murders, but a tax fraud)
Great Depression
1929-1941
after Wall Street Crash - stock market completely collapsed (black tuesday, 29.10.1929)
Results:
1. Economic downturn - less production
2. Unemployment
3. Poverty - bread lines, soup kitchens
4. Homelessness
5. Dust Bowl - wind and dust caused migration -> countryside to cities, search for work)
6. Hoovervilles - towns with temporary houses built of leftover materials (Hoover - ineffective policy)
New Deal - recovery plan of Franklin D. Roosevelt, new president - millions of jobs created (building roads, schools, airports)
WWII
1939-1945
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (naval base in Hawaii) in 1941
USA joined Allies and declared war on Japan, Germany and Italy
May 1945 - war in Europe ended
August 1945 - USA dropped atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 5 days later the war ended
Cold War (6 ways of fighting)
1945-1989
Geopolitical conflict
USA + Western Bloc vs. Soviet Union + Eastern Bloc
no direct conflict
Ways of fighting:
1. propaganda
2. espionage
3. struggle for world dominance
4. nuclear arms race
5. space race
6. proxy wars - small countries fight = supported by USA/Soviet Union(Korea War, Vietnam War)
Cold war ended with the collapse of Soviet Union
Civil Rights Movement
1954-1968
Movement to gain equal rights for African-Americans
Supported also by white people, religious groups, some politicians
Leader: Martin Luther King (1929-1968, assassinated)
famous speech: I have a dream…
Rosa Parks- Afro-American - refused to give up her bus seat -> arrested
1964 - Civil Rights Act - banned discrimination
Terrorist Attacks
September 11, 2001
attack on Twin Towers(part of World Trade Center) -> planes hijacked by Al-Qaeda terrorist group
