History

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The History Portal

History is the study and interpretation of the record of people, societies and civilizations. The term history comes from the Greek "ιστορία" historia, "an account of one's inquiries," and shares that etymology with the English word story. The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica stated that "history in the wider sense is all that has happened, not merely all the phenomena of human life, but those of the natural world as well. It is everything that undergoes change; and as modern science has shown that there is nothing absolutely static, therefore, the whole universe, and every part of it, has its history."

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The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 (also known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre), were a series of student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, the People's Republic of China, between April 15, 1989 and June 4, 1989. The protest, denouncing China's economic instability and political corruption, was violently suppressed by armed soldiers ordered into Beijing by the PRC government. Although student protests had been occurring for over a year, the famous protest began in the mid-April 1989. It was triggered by the death of Hu Yaobang, respected among students and intellectuals, the general secretary of the CCP between 1981 and 1987, and who was forced to resign by Deng Xiaoping. The protests began on a relatively small scale, in the form of mourning for the late Hu, and demands that the party revise their official view of him. The protests grew larger after news of confrontation between students and police spread, and a stand-off between demonstrators and the Chinese Communist Party intensified. After several weeks, Party officials decided to forcibly remove the protesters through military force, and an estimated 2,600 people died in the ensuing conflict.

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The Vietnam War or Second Indochina War was a conflict between the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRVN, or North Vietnam), allied with the National Liberation Front (NLF, or "Viet Cong") against the Republic of Vietnam (RVN, or South Vietnam), and its allies — notably the United States military in support of the South, with US combat troops involved from shortly after the Korean War until the official withdrawal in 1975.

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Did you know...

...that Joseph McCoy was a 19th century cattle baron who is often cited as the inspiration for the phrase "The Real McCoy" because he made good on his pledge to Texas ranchers to get them a good price for their Longhorn cattle if they drove them from Texas to Kansas on the Chisholm Trail?

...that the U.S. Army managed Yellowstone National Park for 32 years from Fort Yellowstone?
...that Iowa's Black Hawk Purchase is named for the Sac chief Black Hawk, despite that fact that he was in prison when the land-transfer treaty was signed?
...that the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942 was seen as formally demonstrating Australia's independence to the world?
...that the Panjdeh Incident in 1886 almost led to full-scale war between the British Empire and Imperial Russia over their competing interests in Afghanistan?
...that Roman embassies to China are reported in Chinese historical accounts from as early as 166?
...that in the history of neurology, Ancient Egyptians described the effect of high transection of the spinal cord in humans?
...that the Pope crowned Charlemagne as the first "Emperor of the Romans," since the Empire in the west had fallen over three centuries before, (supposedly without Charlamagne knowing he would do so, though most historians doubt that) on Christmas Day?