Famous Sieges
This French heroine helped break the English siege of Orléans during the Hundred Years' War.
Joan of Arc
Despite its name, the Silk Road was not a single highway but an extensive network of trade routes connecting China with this western continent.
Europe
This devastating pandemic swept through Europe during the 14th century, killing millions and earning its name from the darkened tissue sometimes seen in victims.
Black Death (bubonic plague pandemic)
Signed on September 3, 1783, this treaty officially ended the American Revolutionary War and recognized the independence of the United States.
Treaty of Paris
This South African anti-apartheid leader spent more than 27 years in prison, including many years on Robben Island, before becoming his country's first Black president in 1994.
Nelson Mandela
This American political scandal began with a break-in at Democratic National Committee headquarters and eventually forced President Richard Nixon to resign.
Watergate scandals
This luxurious White Star Line ocean liner struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank during its maiden voyage, killing more than 1,500 people.
RMS Titanic
Established during the American Civil War, this is the highest U.S. military decoration awarded for extraordinary bravery in combat, often presented by the president.
Medal of Honor
This former Spanish mission in San Antonio fell to Mexican forces under General Santa Anna following a 13-day siege.
Alamo
This Chinese dynasty, which ruled from 206 BCE to 220 CE, helped establish the early Silk Road trade network through diplomatic missions and expansion into Central Asia.
Han Dynasty
This influenza pandemic, which struck during the final year of World War I, received a misleading nickname associated with a European country that was neutral during the war.
Spanish flu
Signed on June 28, 1919, this treaty imposed territorial losses, military restrictions, and reparations obligations on Germany following World War I.
Treaty of Versailles
This Indian independence leader was arrested in May 1930 during his civil disobedience campaign against British salt laws.
Mahatma Gandhi
This political scandal during Ronald Reagan's administration involved secret weapons sales to Iran and the diversion of proceeds to anti-government rebels in Nicaragua.
Iran-Contra affair
This English merchant ship carried a group of Pilgrims and other passengers across the Atlantic, eventually reaching present-day Massachusetts.
Mayflower
Featuring the profile of George Washington, this heart-shaped military decoration is awarded to U.S. service members wounded or killed as a result of qualifying hostile action.
Purple Heart
This British general surrendered his army after American and French forces surrounded Yorktown, Virginia.
Lord Charles Cornwallis
This famous Italian merchant traveled through Asia during the 13th century and became known for his accounts of China under Mongol rule.
Marco Polo
Following a worldwide vaccination campaign, the World Health Organization declared this deadly viral disease eradicated in 1980.
Smallpox
Signed in Washington, D.C., this agreement created a military alliance whose members pledged collective defense against armed attacks.
North Atlantic Treaty (the treaty establishing NATO)
While imprisoned for participating in civil rights demonstrations in Alabama, this American minister wrote his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Accused of widespread corruption and human rights abuses, this Philippine dictator fled the country following the People Power Revolution, ending more than 20 years in power.
Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
Launched in Boston in 1797, this American frigate earned its famous nickname after British cannonballs reportedly bounced off its thick wooden hull during the War of 1812.
USS Constitution
Created by Queen Victoria in 1856, this prestigious British military decoration recognizes extraordinary bravery in the presence of the enemy.
Victoria Cross
Following a 47-day siege, this Mississippi city surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant on July 4, 1863.
Vicksburg
Originating in India, this religion spread along the Silk Road into Central Asia and China, carried by monks, merchants, and missionaries.
Buddhism
This subtype of influenza A caused the 1957 pandemic, which spread internationally and was associated with approximately one million or more deaths worldwide.
H2N2 influenza
This series of peace treaties helped end this devastating European conflict that began in 1618 and ravaged much of Central Europe.
Thirty Years' War
Held captive in England for approximately 19 years, this Scottish queen was executed in 1587 after being implicated in plots against Elizabeth I.
Mary, Queen of Scots
This Nigerian military dictator, who ruled from 1993 to 1998, became notorious for massive theft of public funds, some of which were later recovered from foreign banks.
Sani Abacha
This American battleship exploded and sank during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, killing 1,177 crew members.
USS Arizona
This four-pointed gold decoration, featuring maple leaves, recognizes distinguished and valiant service by Canadian or eligible allied military personnel in the presence of the enemy.
Star of Military Valour
This Greek mathematician and inventor designed defensive war machines during the Roman siege of Syracuse and was killed when the city fell.
Archimedes
This enormous desert in present-day Xinjiang, China, was so difficult to cross that Silk Road travelers commonly followed oasis routes around its northern and southern edges.
Taklamakan Desert
This British physician linked a London cholera outbreak to contaminated water from a Broad Street pump, helping establish modern epidemiology.
John Snow
Under the peace settlement that helped end the War of the Spanish Succession, Spain ceded Gibraltar to Great Britain through treaties signed in this Dutch city.
Utrecht
Arrested in 1943 for activities connected to resistance against N*** Germany, this German theologian was executed at Flossenbürg concentration camp in April 1945.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
This Brazilian corruption investigation, known in Portuguese as Operação Lava Jato, uncovered a sprawling system of bribery and kickbacks involving politicians, construction firms, and the state-controlled oil company Petrobras.
Operation Car Wash
Built in Scotland, this famous British clipper transported tea from China and later wool from Australia. Today it is preserved in Greenwich, England.
Cutty Sark
This Union Army private became the first person to receive the Medal of Honor on March 25, 1863, for his participation in the daring Civil War locomotive raid known as the Great Locomotive Chase.
Jacob Parrott