Chapitre 25 :
Major Conflicts involving the USA (in America)
Several times in their History, the USA have had to fight on their own territories to assure their
freedom and their independence.
Before they gained their independence, the British colonies fought the local Indian populations. During
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the 17
century, several wars (Pequot war, King Philip’s war)
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devastated the traditional way of life of native Americans. In the 18
Milestones :
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and 19 centuries, US Americans settled in most of the native
Americans’ territories, leading to some battles, like the battle of Fallen
Timber in 1794. During the rush to gold, white settlers suffered from
- 1622 : The bloody slaughter in
skirmishes, and the US government responded by military actions
Virginia sparked the Indian
against the Sioux and Cheyenne tribes. Finally, Geronimo, the last
wars
Indian Chief, surrendered in 1886 and the Indian wars ended with the
- 1636-1637 : The Pequot War :
clash of the Wounded Knee between Sioux reserves and US troops in
all the Pequot popuation was
1890.
massacred
- 1675-1676 :King Philip’s war,
The first conflict of the United States of America was the War of
led England to forbid any white
Independence (1775-1783), also called the American Revolution by
settlement beyond the
the English. It opposed the thirteen original colonies to the United
Appalachians
Kingdom. The war was due to British taxation on colonial exploitation
- 1886 : Geronimo surrendered
and refusal of England to let Americans participate in their own
to the US troops
policies. The tensions spread when British troops opened fire on
- 1890 : The Indian wars ended
American demonstrators, the Boston Massacre (1770) and when the
Boston Tea Party dumped a cargo full of tea in the Boston Harbor. The
war stopped when the British were defeated at Yorktown with the help
- 1775 – 1783 : the War of
of the French in 1781 and when the Peace of Versailles was signed in
Independence
1783. However, the war restarted in 1812 because of disputes about
- 1770 : The Boston Massacre
the border with Canada. Finally, the peace was signed in 1814 after
- 1773 : The Boston Tea Party
the capture of Washington DC by British troops.
- 1783 : The Peace of Versailles
- 1812 – 1814 : The USA
The Mexican-American War, from 1846 to 1848, was a consequence
declared war on Great-Britain
of a clash about the border between the two nations. Mexico didn’t
because of border disputes
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recognize the Rio Grande as the border. After the failure of the USA to
- December, 24 1814 : The
purchase the California and the New Mexico states, and after attacks
Treaty of Ghent confirmed the
against the American troops, US General Zachary Taylor invaded
American Independence
Mexico as far as Mexico City. Finally, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
guaranteed the USA the possession of California and New Mexico and
also a part of Texas for $15m.
- 1846 – 1848 : The MexicanAmerican War
The Civil War started in 1861, opposing the Southern and the Northern
States on the issue of slavery. The Southern States’ economy was
based on the agricultural exploitations, therefore on the large
- March 1811 : Lincoln was
manpower of slaves, contrary to the Northern States’ economy which
elected
was based on industry and that took advantage of the cheap labour
- 1861 - 1865 : The Civil War
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force of migrants. Some crises emerged when new States wanted to
- April 9 1865 : The defeats of
determine if they should permit or prohibit slavery. In 1861, when
Gettysburg and Vicksburg
Abraham Lincoln took his office, 11 states created a separate nation :
ended the war, General Lee
the Confederate States of America, led by President Jefferson Davis.
surrendered to General
They fought for 4 years against the Northern States despite a number
Grant
disadvantage, but General Lee (a confederate general) had to
surrender and this ended the war after the defeats of Gettysburg and
Vicksburg. Lincoln was assassinated by a confederate sympathiser
five days after Lee’s surrender. The war was very expensive and killed
620,000 american soldiers. It was the most costly war of american
History in terms of human losses, and the last conflict on the US soil.