Great Swamp Fight, critical battle of King Philip’s War, fought on December 19, 1675, in which the Native peoples of New England fought English settlers and their Mohegan and Pequot allies in what is believed to be the bloodiest conflict per capita in U.S. history. Sometimes called the “Great Swamp Massacre,” it took place in the area of West Kingstown,...

　　Invasion of Poland, attack on Poland by Nazi Germany that marked the start of World War II. The invasion lasted from September 1 to October 5, 1939. 　　As dawn broke on September 1, 1939, German forces launched a surprise attack on Poland. The attack was sounded with the predawn shelling, by the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein, of Polish fortifications at the...

　　Fall of Saigon, capture of Saigon, the capital of the Republic of South Vietnam, by North Vietnamese forces, which occurred from March 4 to April 30, 1975. It was the last major event of the Vietnam War and effectively signalled the bitterly contested unification of Vietnam. 　　The Paris Peace Accords of January 1973 had allowed the United States a face-saving...

　　Battle of Toulouse, the last major engagement of the Napoleonic Wars, fought on April 10, 1814, between the British and French armiez. Fought in southern France, the battle proved that the French were still determined and able to fight, and although it was inconclusive, the British suffered more casualties than the French, leading many historians to consider it a French...

　　Dos de Mayo Uprising, also called the Battle of Madridan engagement of the Peninsular War that occurred on May 2, 1808. The French commanders in Spain were highly experienced and successful soldiers, but they completely misjudged the inflammatory nature of Spanish political, religious, and social life. What they considered as a simple punishment for dissent and opposition to French control...

　　plague of Justinian, plague pandemic that spread throughout the Mediterranean region and beyond beginning about 541 CE. It is named for Justinian I, who was the Byzantine emperor at that time. 　　Although there is evidence that bubonic plague has been around for as long as humankind, the plague of Justinian is the first documented outbreak of a bubonic plague pandemic....

　　Moscow theater hostage crisis of 2002, hostage taking by Chechen militants at the Dubrovka Theater in Moscow, Russia, that lasted from October 23 to October 26, 2002. It ended when Russian Spetsnaz (special forces) troops of the anti-terrorist Alfa command filled the theater with a gas. At least 150 people died, the vast majority of them as a result of...

　　Battles of El-Alamein, linked battles in World War II, fought from July 1–27 and October 23—November 11, 1942, pitting German and Italian against British, Australian, New Zealander, South African, and Indian forces in coastal central Egypt and resulting in a pivotalAllied victory. After the First Battle of El-Alamein, Egypt (150 miles west of Cairo), ended in a stalemate, the second...

　　 　　New Parliament House, New Delhi, May 24, 2023India's New Parliament House, inaugurated in May 2023, houses the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.(more)More than 968 million voters have registered ahead of India’s 2024 general election, for which voting will be held in seven phases between April 19 and June 1. This election will decide the majority party in the...

　　Quit India Movement, mass protest movement during 1942–43 against the colonial British raj’s political and military control of India. The movement, which took place against the backdrop of World War II, was initially planned by Mahatma Gandhi and his followers in the Indian National Congress (Congress Party) as a nonviolent action. However, attempts by the British authorities to prevent the...

　　hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic, economic disaster in the Weimar Republic in 1922–23 that impoverished millions of German citizens and paved the way for the rise of the Nazi Party. 　　During World War I, prices in Germany had doubled, but that was just the start of the country’s economic troubles. In 1914, Germany abandoned its gold-backed currency, certain that the...

　　Battle of the Crater, Union defeat on July 30, 1864, during the American Civil War (1861–65), part of the Siege of Petersburg, Virginia. In the final full year of the war, Union forces besieged the town of Petersburg, to the south of the Confederate capital of Richmond. But a well-conceived attempt to end the stalemate of trench warfare and break...