United States purchases Alaska from Russia , Midway Islands are annexed

Treaty of Washington between United States and Great Britain sets precedent for peaceful settlement of international disputes

Reciprocity treaty with Hawaii binds Hawaii economically and politically to United States

United States acquires naval base in Samoa

Congress approves funds for construction of first modern steel ships; beginning of modern navy

New treaty with Hawaii gives United States exclusive use of Pearl Harbor

First Inter-American Conference meets in Washington, D.C.

American settlers in Hawaii overthrow Queen Liliuokalani; provisional government established

Cuban insurgents rebel against Spanish rule

Battleship Maine explodes in Havana harbor (February), Congress declares war against Spain (April), Commodore Dewey defeats Spanish fleet at Manila Bay (May), United States annexes Hawaii (July), Americans defeat Spanish at El Caney, San Juan Hill (actually Kettle Hill), and Santiago (July), Spain sues for peace (August), Treaty of Paris ends Spanish-American War (December).

Congress ratifies Treaty of Paris, United States sends Open Door notes to Britain, Germany, France, Russia, Japan, and Italy, Philippine-American War erupts

Foraker Act establishes civil government in Puerto Rico

Platt Amendment authorizes American intervention in Cuba

Philippine-American War ends with American victory

Hay-Pauncefote Treaty with Great Britain empowers United States to build Isthmian canal

Theodore Roosevelt introduces corollary to Monroe Doctrine

Russo-Japanese War

Taft-Katsura Agreement recognizes Japanese power in Korea

Root-Takahira Agreement vows to maintain status quo in the Pacific Roosevelt sends the fleet around the world

Revolution begins in Mexico

Bryan negotiates "cooling-off” treaties to end war

World War I begins, U.S. Marines take Veracruz, Panama Canal completed

Japan issues Twenty-One Demands to China (January), Germany declares water around British Isles a war zone (February), Lusitania torpedoed (May), Bryan resigns; Robert Lansing becomes secretary of state (June), Arabic pledge restricts submarine warfare (September)

Germany issues Sussex pledge (March), General John J. Pershing leads unsuccessful punitive expedition into Mexico to seize Pancho Villa (April)

Wilson calls for "peace without victory" (January), Germany resumes unrestricted U-boat warfare (February), United States enters World War I (April), Congress passes Selective Service Act (May), First American troops reach France (June), War Industries Board established (July)

Wilson outlines Fourteen Points for peace (January), Germany asks for peace (October), Armistice ends the war (November)

Peace negotiations begin in Paris (January), Treaty of Versailles defeated in Senate

Washington Naval Conference limits tonnage

World Court rejects qualified U.S. entry

Kellogg-Briand Pact outlaws war (August), Clark Memorandum repudiates Roosevelt Corollary (December)

Japan occupies China's Manchurian province

FDR extends diplomatic recognition to USSR

Hitler's troops reoccupy Rhineland

FDR signs permanent Neutrality Act (May), FDR urges quarantine of aggressor nations (October), Japanese planes sink USS Panay in China (December)

Ludlow war referendum buried in Congress (January), Munich Conference appeases Hitler (September)

Germany invades Poland; European portion of World War II begins

Germany invades USSR, Japanese attack Pearl Harbor; United States enters World War II

U.S. defeats Japanese at battle of Midway (June), Allies land in North Africa (November)

Soviets smash Nazis at Stalingrad

Allies land on Normandy beachheads

Big Three meet at Yalta (February), Germany surrenders unconditionally (May), United States drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrenders (August), 1945 Truman meets Stalin at Potsdam conference (July), World War II ends with Japanese surrender (August)

Winston Churchill gives "Iron Curtain" speech

Truman Doctrine announced to Congress (March), George Marshall outlines Marshall Plan (June)

Soviets begin blockade of Berlin (June)

NATO treaty signed in Washington (April), Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb (August)

Truman authorizes building of hydrogen bomb (January), North Korea invades South Korea (June)

Truman recalls MacArthur from Korea

Korean War truce signed at Panmunjom (July)

Fall of Dien Bien Phu to Viet Minh ends French control of Indochina

England and France touch off Suez crisis

Fidel Castro takes power in Cuba

American U-2 spy plane shot down over Russia

U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs invasion crushed by Cubans (April)

Cuban missile crisis takes world to brink of nuclear war (October)

United States, Great Britain, and USSR sign Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (August)

Congress overwhelmingly passes Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (August)

LBJ commits 50,000 American troops to combat in Vietnam (July)

Vietcong launch Tet offensive (January)

U.S. forces invade Cambodia (April), Ohio National Guardsmen kill four students at Kent State University (May)

President Nixon visits China (February), U.S. and USSR sign SALT I accords in Moscow (May)

United States and North Vietnam sign truce (January)

Last evacuation helicopter leaves roof of U.S. embassy in Saigon, South Vietnam (April)

President Carter signs Panama Canal treaties restoring sovereignty to Panama (September)

Iranian militants take 58 Americans hostage in U.S. embassy in Teheran (November), Soviet invasion of Afghanistan leads to U.S. withdrawal from 1980 Moscow Olympics (December)

American hostages in Iran released after 444 days in captivity (January)

Soviets shoot down Korean airliner (September), U.S. invades Grenada (October)

Russia boycotts summer Olympics in Los Angeles (July)

Iran contra affair made public (November)

Reagan and Gorbachev sign INF treaty at Washington summit

Berlin Wall crumbles (November)

Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait (August)

Operation Desert Storm frees Kuwait and crushes Iraq (January-February), Soviet Union dissolved, replaced by Commonwealth of Independent States (December)