List ten important events from your country's history...

- broke away from England in 1776 to form separate countries
- split into two countries in the 1860's
- joined WWII in 1941
- ended WWII by dropping two nuclear bombs on Japan in 1945
- after WWII, rebuilt West Germany and Japan
- enough with the wars, bought Alaska from Russia
- landed the first humans on the moon in 1969
- created the Federal Reserve in the 1920's (or maybe the late 1910's)
- the Fed inflated money through the 1920's leading to a market crash in 1929
- a 90% tax rate enacted in 1932 along with other regulations, turned the recession into a depression that lasted the rest of the decade
- alcohol prohibition enacted in the 1910's caused widespread violation and disrespect for the law and helped organized crime to get a foothold in the country which lead to the first federal gun laws
- alcohol prohibition was eliminated in the mid 1930's but similar laws (though without similar constitutional authorization) were enacted against other drugs starting with cannabis, resulting in a continual worsening of the problems of alcohol prohibition which continue to this day

Revolutionary War
Civil War
1929 Stock Market Crash
Great Depression
Louisiana Purchase
California Gold Rush
Vietnam War
WWI
WWII
That time some Canadians burned down the White House.

Jeez, you put a lot of blame on the federal government. Not surprising from you, I guess.

I saw part of an American Experience documentary on Woodrow Wilson recently. One of the things they said about him is that he was one of the key politicians who moved the country toward the idea that the federal government should take a major role in the economy (to fix/stabilize it). Before his time, the people separated the two, government and economy. Where as now, in modern times, we view the government as being responsible for it. It's odd to even think of how it would be if they weren't.

monica & bill
the day jerry died
the day elvis "died"
the day jfk died
"wacko's" ranch gets invaded
waco, texas
the slow speed chase of a certain white vehicle
the bloody glove
mt st helen's erupts
elian in the raft
exxon spill
brett farve takes the pack to the super bowl
and wins

1066 - England suffers the humiliation of being successfully invaded.... by the FRENCH!

1170 - King Henry II casually asks "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?". A few of his knights take him up on the offer and Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is promptly murdered. Becket's crime was to oppose the King's policy of controlling the church as well as the state.

1348 - A boat carrying Yersinia Pestis reaches England and the Black Death begins. Within two years, over 30% of the entire population is dead. With virtue seemingly no defence whatsoever, people turn to the clergy for an explanation. "We thinks God is angry", they reply. Some people see this as the final clinching proof that they are living in the end of times and that the Apocalypse is coming. Incredibly, six centuries later, some people still believe that the Apocalypse is imminent.

1540 - Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, becomes the worst match maker of all time by trying to hook up King Henry VIII with Anne of Cleves. He does this by showing him a portrait of her that bears little resemblance to reality. Henry agrees to marry Anne but when he finally meets her face to face, he finds her repulsive and dubs her the "Mare of Flanders". Cromwell is executed on the very same day that Henry marries his last wife, Catherine Howard. It is thought that Henry specifically chose a young and inexperienced executioner to carry out the job. Cromwell's head came off on the third go.

1588 - The Spanish (endorsed by the Pope) decide to do God's work by launching a massive Armada against England. Their goal is to restore Catholicism. They have bigger ships and are better equipped but rely on outdated naval tactics. They lose.

1666 - Someone in Pudding Lane mistakenly leaves the iron on and huge swathes of old London town burn to smithereens. Sir Christopher Wren later builds a monument to the Great Fire of London. The best account of the fire we have is from the diaries of Samuel Pepys, who watched the fire spread from his window overlooking the Thames.

1707 - The Act of Union - Part One. Scotland and England merge to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. This annoys a lot of Scottish people as it makes the events of "Braveheart" somewhat redundant.

1800 - The Act of Union - Part Two. This time, Great Britain merges with Ireland creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It doesn't last.

1914 - A Serbian student, Gavrilo Princip, decides it would be a great idea to shoot Archduke Franz Ferdinand during his state visit to Sarajevo. Ferdinand is the heir to Hapsburg Empire, the ruling family of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. What follows is bizarre domino effect as declarations of war are made and treaties of protection are honoured until finally Great Britain declares war on Germany for being mean to Belgium. 90 years later a group of Scottish art students decide it would be an equally good idea to form a band and name it after the Archduke. A war is yet to be declared because of this.

1966 - England win a major sporting trophy, due in no small part to being the hosts of the tournament. Much to the annoyance of the Scottish, it gives the English something to gloat about for an entire generation.

Boston Tea Party
Pearl Harbor attack
Kennedy assasinated
First man on the moon
Custer's Last Stand
First powered flight
Valentine's Day Massacre
911
Great Chicago Fire
1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake

You said quick, no thinking so these are what my mind randomly came up with.

I know about all, was in the earthquake.

Yeah, monica blowing the President is an important event in history.

Except for the bit about the Fed causing the 1929 market crash, I didn't think anything I wrote there was very controversial. Well, maybe that the 90% tax rate of FDR's kept the depression going. Apparently some people think he didn't worsen things, may even have helped. Doesn't make much sense to me but many things that people think don't make sense to me.

Civil War, World Wars I & II (2 items), Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War, assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln's Gettysburg address, The Emancipation Proclamation, The Sufferage Movement & women winning the right to vote, signing of the Declaration of Independence, penning of the U.S. Constitution, Pearl Harbor, assassinations of JFK, MLK Jr., RFK, Neil Armstrong's-first man on the moon, Watts Riots, Rosa Parks, the O.J. trial, Boston Tea Party, Watergate/Nixon, President Truman ordering H-bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki, , D-Day, VE Day, Salem Witch Trials, Ruby Ridge, Waco, Revolutionary War, the 1980 eruption of Mt St Helens.

The invention of Silly Puddy
The invention of the Super Ball
The invention of the Slinky

The norman conquest
The black death
Civil war
The Church of England
The Spanish Armada
Great Britain
BSE
WWI
WWII

1. Paul Henderson scored the winning goal to beat the Soviets in the Summit Series, 1972.
2. Canadian ambassador to Iran, rescues American hostages. 1980
3. Liberated Holland from the Nazis, 1945.
4. War of 1812. We won!
5. Someone invented the snowmobile.
6. Something about the Plains of Abraham. The Quebecois have been pissed off ever since.
7. Constitution repatriated, including the Charter of Rights and Freedoms,1982.
8. Hosted stranded airline passengers 2001.
9. Klondike gold rush 1897.
10. Completed the railroad 1885.

Some of these things I know quite a bit about. Some I know next to nothing.

That was called "The War of 1812" and you guys started it!

They weren't really French. They were a bunch of Vikings that had been living in France for a few generations. Normans = North men = Norsemen...

Were you peaking at icurok's paper, or are those just the chapter headings in every UK student's history books?

American Revolution
Salem trails
Boston massacre
Boston tea party
farmers rebellion
John Browns Virgina raid
the Civil War
that ship explotion we blamed on Spain
the Spanish American war
Monro Doctorin
sinking of Lucitainia and WW1
the depression
WW2
the Cold War (a lot of crap happened there)
the (possibly faked) moon landing

opps, thats more than 10, my bad

1. The United States Revolutionary War. If you think the Iraqi War has been bloody, then you should read about this war. Bloody, but worth it.

2. Civil War-Again more savage than the Iraqi War, but it freed the slaves in the end. Was it worth it?

3. Emancipation Proclamation: Freeing the slaves

It's late, so I'm only listing three.

I know. It was intended to be tongue in cheek.

1.) Confederation - July 1st 1867
2.) War of 1812
3.) The repatritaion of the constitution - 1982

I can't think of anymore.

technicly no one won the war of 1812 as all taritories captured went back to the previous boarders before the war.

9/11 terrorists attacks
World War I
World War II
JFK assassination
Civil War
Korean War
Gulf War
Vietnam War
first landing on the moon
Bush re-election

-the time when we burnt the White House
-uhm.... the time when we killed off all them 'Injuns'
-the time when we had Trudeau as PM, bloody butt-hole
-the time we made a wrong choice to stop being a part of the UK... well we still kind of are
-the time we beat Russia in hockey

...

I really don't know much. I go out of my way to avoid learning Canadian history because it's beyond boring. Actually, I dislike any kind of 'New World' history unless it has anything to do witht purely North American Indians.

Ignoring natural history, because I'm guessing that's not what you want...

1) First humans arrive (don't know all that much about this).
2) Roman invasion (they didn't meet with much resistance from the 'barbarians' except at the extremes of the land - Scotland, Wales and Cornwall).
3) Romans leave (but they were so interbred with the local population that this is a bit misleading - it was more that Rome withdrew).
4) 1066 - battle of Hastings - King William (done this to death at school)
5) Magna Carta (often hailed as the basic rights of the people, but really the basic rights of the barons, only grudgingly later applied to the commoners).
6) Reformation and disestablishmentarianism (Henry VIII wanted an heir *really* badly).
7) Defeat of the Spanish Armada (possibly when we were at out most powerful).
8) The Civil War (down with the monarchy - woohoo!)
9) The industrial revolution (basis of a great deal of the UK's power)
10) The world wars.

There were a lot of things I would have added if I'd had more than 10 points - colonialism for example.

You were just pawns of the British Empire, we forgive you. Have you gotten the queen off your money yet? eh?

Well, you have to admit there were other factors behind creating the Federal Reserve and the 1929 crash... The US socialized in response to problems, not just for the hell of it.

I just don't think that socialization actually helped with any of those problems so they strike me more as excuses than reasons for centralizing control. I think it will turn out very badly, even worse than we are now, in the end.

I'm doing a history degree, I pretty much just looked at my bookshelf

I don't think the leaders who moved us toward more socialization did it as a power grab. I think they honestly thought it was the best way to solve the problems of their day.

Thing are better in many ways, since the changes... higher standard of living, etc. I think it's fair to say that the positive effects may have happened despite the socialization, though. There are just too many variables to know which factors caused which results.

Centralization isn't always bad, right?

I'm not really disagreeing with you. You might be right, but I could never be as sure about it as you. Some of the assertions you made in your first comment are certainly not mainstream history (dare I say, "fringe").

it is actually....where is heyzeus to help me out w/ the details here? but in essence, good ole billy-boy initially covered up the monica thing by starting something in the middle east...know, i do not recall what that all was, but there was something.
and besides, if it wasn't for that, who would have ever heard about monica? saturday night live would have been quite uneventful that year.

I think there exist people who think that FDR helped ease the depression rather than deepened and lengthened it. I'd think they were the fringe but there are probably more of that sort than the other.

I'm still thinking on your question about centralization sometimes not being bad. It seems like there must be an example somewhere to support that contention but for something the size of a nation, I'm having a hard time finding it. Well, how's this? It makes life simpler that something like driving laws are pretty uniform across the country. If they varied widely from state to state, it'd be very confusing.

the arrival to the americas-whatever and whoever you think that was.
the american revolution
the writing of the constitution
the civil war
the end of slavery
womens right to vote
voting rights act of 1965
election of our first president
my birth
martin luther king's marches

Yeah, standards... like frequency allocation, or network protocols. Though, none of these examples seem to require centralized enforcement.
For nations, centralized power means change can happen more rapidly. If that change is good, that can really help. If it's bad, it can make a huge mess. So, it's a mixed bag... like most things, I suppose. I think most people tend to think we need centralized/streamlined power at a times to deal with a crisis (like a disaster or war).

Fudgehead elected president
Fudgehead is re-elected

FudgeheadJr gets Fudgehead Cousin to screw up the polling and prevent minorities from voting
FudgeheadJr gets elected 8 years after Fudgehead
FudgeheadJr declares war
FudgeheadJr attacks Iraq for supposedly having WMD's (none found)
FudgeheadJr doesn't do anything comparitively to Vietnam who for a fact ahve WMDs
FudgeheadJr gets re-elected
FudgeheadJr declares war
FudgeheadJr tortures US citizens in various ways

Sorry, Not too happy at the moment regarding politics, can you tell

Vietnam?

Don't you mean North Korea? Geographically, they're further apart than Seattle and Washington D.C!

I think central control is a slower, not faster, way to change. Generally large organizations have a lot of inertia, are slow to move, and are often far removed from whatever it is that warrants a change so they might not even notice it for a while. On the other hand, with distributed decision making there's a lot more diversity. It's likely that some people have made the change before the central government even knows there's something that might need changing.

Of course, with distributed decision making it may never happen that everyone makes the change. That's just the way it is with freedom and diversity. I see central control as useful in those handful of instances where everyone has to make the same decision. I don't think those situations are common, but standards like things are the best example I can come up with and not even all of those. Otherwise I think the government has no legitimate role and tends to make things worse rather than better.

1-Emancipation Proclamation
2-Boston Tea Party
3-Declaration of Independence
4-Gettysburg Address
5-World War I
6-Civil Rights Movement
7-Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo w Mexico--for land grants
8-World War II
9-Vietnam War
10--Pearl Harbor

Yeah, I meant overall change... sure, smaller groups change faster, but their change doesn't matter that much (only affects a few people). Though, I'll grant that such changes may spread. I was thinking more along the lines of a dictator making edicts (very fast centralized power changing the lives of many, all at once). I'm not equating large organizations with centralization.

Socialization is a tribal response. Help our group and we help ourselves. Individually, we have little power. As a centralized group, we can fight against large forces that may work against us (nature, external threats, exploitation, unexpected events - i.e. tsunamis, Nazis, sweat shops, economic instability).

Good! I expect a higher standard of accuracy from you!

Have you been reading American revisionist history? We won, because the Americans failed to achieve their objectives and we mounted a successful defense.

I didn't know that was on the agenda.

Ah! So you are admitting that you cheated!

So where's yours?

1. The Declaration of Independence
2. The Revolutionary War
3. emancipation; The Civil War
4. World War I
5. Prohibition
6. The Great Depression
7. Pearl Harbor; World War II; the atomic bomb
8. The Moon Landing
9. The Vietnam War
10. Watergate & Nixon's Resignation

wow!
i don't think i have EVER heard (seen) you say fudge so many times in one breath. i'm impressed.

...obviously frustrated

I'm glad I was able to impress someone

I hope Noah wasn't sitting in your lap

np I haven't been reading anything of the sort. I think it's beeter to think of it as atie as nothing was gained or lost in the end.

pawn!

it's a good thing that he hasn't totally learned how to read as of yet

how's everything going so far? settled in? making friends? adjusting to the area?

The signing of the Declaration of Independence
George Washington becoming the first president
The Civil War
Women's Suffrage
Prohibition
World War I
World War II
The Civil Rights Movement
The Great Arms Race
The Cold War

probably enough to write an essay about half of them...and enough to write a few sentences about the other half.

1. Signing of The Declaration Of Independence and the subsequent American Revolution.
2. Ratification of the U.S. Constitution.
3. The signing of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln.
4. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
5. Buying the Louisiana Purchase from the French whereby the U.S. more than doubled the size of the country.
6. Women's Suffrage.
7. The Civil Rights Movement
8. The Civil War.
9. The attack on the Twin Towers September 11th, 2001.
10. The dropping of the H-Bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

yup! I actually had to look at my bookshelf to think of something! All this studying is clearly sinking in!

1. Halifax Explosion
2. Oka
3. Louis Reill trial
4. Creation of Responible Government
5. Invention of medicare
6. Confederation
7. WWII
8. Railroad
9. European Invasion/whatever you want to call it
10. Dr. Pentfield, I smell burnt toast

I know differnt amounts about each one. I think I have an alright grasp on Canadian History, although I'm really bad at dates.

yo

I'm the one asking the questions in this survey, not answering them

World War One
World War Two
Battle of Waterloo
Henry the Eight becoming Protestant
The invention of the Mini Skirt by Mary Quant
The Industrial Revolution
The Building Revolution during the reign of Queen Victoria
The building of the 'Empire' and the take over of India and large parts of Africa.
The mass immigration policy that was in introduced in the 1950's to provide a workforce.
Emiline Pankhurst and the Suffragettes helping to raise awareness on the right for women to vote.

Whatever works for you...I look at objectives.

It's that bad, eh? Sorry I directed attention your way, I didn't mean to embarrass you.

milesains from spain,
clan system,
viking raids
norman invasion,
english invasion,
cromwell genocide
1690
potato blight
1916 civil war
ww1

I remember the women's movement so well , and we still do not have certain rights and we are being violated and it used against us, all women these days. When it comes down to abortion and my rights as a woman are taken away from me. Plus our health insurance does not go far enough and if we need plastic surgery it is not covered under any insurance? And I remember the time when women could not vote in an election back so many years ago. We have come a long ways and we still have a long road ahead of us. And in the Bible Days it was much worse for a woman and we were treated as slaves as I can remember?

Assassination of Kennedy
Civil War
Signing of Declaration of Independence
Civil Rights Movement
Putting the man on the moon
2000 election
End of WW2
9-11
Pearl Harbor attack
Resignationj of Nixon

1. Civil War - North vs. South
2. American Revolution - Americans vs. somebody else
3. Assassination of JFK - who was on the grassy knoll?
4. Attempted assassination of Reagan - the Brady Bill
5. O.J. Simpson murder trial - Media Meddling in Justice
6. Signing of the Declaration of Independence - John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin
7. Remember the Alamo - Texas vs. Mexico
8. Prohibition - bootlegging
9. No more slavery - enough said
10. The Depression - Grapes of Wrath

World War II
The Romantic Movement (1797-1830)
The World Cup 1966

Yes I am English and proud!!

Argh! 1066 - Battle of Hastings - I know zilch about it.
Oliver Cromwell - Boo! Dictator! Boo!
Argh...
Losing the empire. Crap!
Um, um, um, er, I dunno