History

Refine Search

What did William Howard Taft do during the Progressive Era?

According to History.com, Taft initiated 80 anti-trust suits against industrial combinations--nearly twice the number issued by his predecessor Roosevelt. One of the most notable suits was against U.S. Steel for acquiring a Tennessee company.\nTaft further pushed for big-business regulations by empowering the Interstate Commerce Commission to stop the efforts of 25 western railroads to raise their rates by 20 percent. Taft initially threatened to enforce the Sherman Antitrust Act, but eventually settled the issue by having all rate requests go through a newly created department of the ICC.\nTa..

Continue Reading

Why did Russia pull out of World War I?

At the beginning of World War I, Russia had the largest standing army in the world, consisting of about 1.4 million regular troops and 4 million reserves. However, the army was plagued with inefficient leadership and a shortage of weapons and ammunition. Entering the war in 1914, Russia quickly attacked Eastern Prussia. After gaining some territory, they were routed by German and Austro-Hungarian forces and by mid-1915, fell back to a front line in their own territory that remained fairly stable until they left the war. Though Russia's exact casualties are not known, they were undoubtedly..

Continue Reading

Which country was responsible for the idea of the Internet?

The "Galactic Network" concept, which eventually grew into ARPANET, was envisioned as a way to interconnect a large set of computers on a global scale. In 1967, Lawrence G. Roberts published his plan for ARPANET. It came to fruition in 1969, when the first connection between an Interface Message Processor at UCLA and a second node located at the Stanford Research Institute was established.

Continue Reading

What hunting tools were employed by early man?

The earliest evidence of humans hunting large animals comes from around 500,000 years ago, which coincides with the age of the first stone spear tip ever found. Approximately 100,000 years ago, humans experienced a wide increase in tool usage and began making different tools from bone, ivory, antler and other materials. Previously, all tools had only been very roughly carved or chipped out of stone.\nThis sudden technological explosion led to people beginning to produce much more effective tools and weapons, including needles and awls. These tools were particularly important in the development..

Continue Reading

What were the results of the Bay of Pigs Invasion?

In terms of casualties, the Bay of Pigs invasion was essentially a draw. The Cuban forces suffered 176 killed, at least 500 wounded, and around 4,000 missing. The CIA and expatriate forces suffered 118 killed, 360 wounded and 1,202 captured. Several of the prisoners Cuba took were later executed. In the end, Cuba traded 1,113 prisoners for approximately $53 million in economic aid. Castro also let around 1,000 relatives of the expatriates leave Cuba to join their family members in the United States.\nThe buildup of missile forces in Cuba after the Bay of Pigs triggered a standoff between the U..

Continue Reading

Who was the first president to fly on Air Force One?

U.S. presidents have used a variety of different aircraft to travel both domestically and internationally. The first plane that a president flew on was an amphibious plane that was converted to have a luxurious interior with sleeping quarters. Modern iterations of Air Force One are typically quite large, with a number of different rooms and communication areas to allow the president to travel with his or her family, staff and security detail.

Continue Reading

What were Khufu's accomplishments?

Khufu was born to Queen Hetepheres I and Sneferu. Although he was responsible for building the Great Pyramid of Giza, scholars do not have much information on Khufu himself. There is only one statue left over from his rule, which is 3 inches tall and made out of ivory. Scholars think that Khufu was married to three women, and inherited the Egyptian throne somewhere in his 20s.It is thought that Khufu began commissioning the pyramid as soon as he took over the throne. It is known that the pyramid building project took a grand total of 23 years to finish, and used more than 2.3 million blocks in..

Continue Reading

What was the main concern of the U.S. during the Cold War?

The U.S. worked to stop Soviet expansion through a policy of containment that was conducted on the political, economic, ideological and military levels. The Cold War began about two years after the 1945 end of World War II and saw its final years between 1985-91 with the coming of Glasnost, the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, German reunification and the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Continue Reading

How many presidents have there been in the United States?

The first president of the United States was George Washington; Washington served in office from 1789 to 1797. Of the men who have served as president, 21 of them won re-election, including 13 who served two full terms. Four men assumed the office from their predecessor and later won election to a full term on their own right. Four presidents were assassinated while in office, while six presidents survived assassination attempts. Additionally, four other presidents died of illness while in office.

Continue Reading

What were the motives behind Lincoln's assassination?

Initially, Booth and his co-conspirators had planned to kidnap Lincoln in March 1865, but the plan fell through when the president did not show up where the conspirators thought he was supposed to be. The war was going badly for the Confederacy by that point, with Richmond falling and the Confederate army under Robert E. Lee surrendering to Union forces in early April.\nFaced with imminent defeat, Booth and the other conspirators came up with one last, desperate plan to save the Confederacy. They orchestrated an elaborate plot to decapitate the American government. Booth would kill the preside..

Continue Reading
Showing 7751 to 7760 of 8554 (856 Pages)