American History Week

President Abraham Lincoln visiting soldiers encamped at the Civil War battlefield of Antietam in Maryland, 1 October 1862. (Photo by Rischgitz/Getty Images)

The American Civil War: 7 facts and fictions

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The story of the American Civil War: 32 key moments in the landmark conflict

A US soldier teaching two junior 'rookie' recruits how to clean a gun during the First World War

First World War

7 things you (probably) didn’t know about America’s entry and involvement in the First World War

A joint Franco-Native Indian raid left 56 residents of Deerfield, a small township in north-western Massachusetts, dead. (Alamy)

America: Brave new world or accident?

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How historically accurate are film portrayals of Jesse James?

Grace Humiston was nicknamed 'Mrs Sherlock Holmes' by the American press. (Image courtesy of Brad Ricca)

First World War

America’s ‘Mrs Holmes’: how one woman took on the cases the NYPD couldn’t solve

An example of the Zimmermann Telegram

First World War

The Zimmermann telegram: the telegram that brought America into the First World War

'Soccer' and 'diaper' are among many 'American' words that are more faithful to the old English tongue than those used in Britain today, says James Evans. Other 'Americanisms' were used in Shakespeare's plays before the first English colony was established in Virginia. (L to R: Photos by Hulton Archive/Getty Images; DeAgostini/Getty Images; Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

From candy to diapers: the purity of American English

George Washington

American presidents: 9 things you (probably) didn’t know

The battleship USS California (centre) following the attack at Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941. (Bettmann/Getty Images)

Second World War

12 things you (probably) didn’t know about Pearl Harbor

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What if JFK had lived?

President Nixon making his final televised address as president of the United States, 9 August 1974. Nixon became the first, and so far the only, president to resign from office, following the Watergate scandal. (Photo by Getty Images)

The 5 most notorious presidents in US history

A depiction of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence, 4 July, 1776, from a painting by John Trumbull. The men standing are (l to r) John Adams, Roger Sherman Robert R. Livingston, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. (Image by Bettmann/Getty Images)

Why does the United States of America celebrate Independence Day on 4 July?

Early American patriotic flag. (Visions of America/UIG via Getty images)

10 things you (probably) didn’t know about the American War of Independence