A Beijing demonstrator blocks the path of a tank convoy along the Avenue of Eternal Peace near Tiananmen Square during protests for freedom of speech and of press from the Chinese government. (Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

Brian Dunleavy

Brian Dunleavy Archives - History.com

Home

History.com

America’s Founding Fathers decided that one elected civilian - the U.S. president - would lead the executive branch of the federal government, a governmental structure that has remained in place for more than 200 years.

U.S. Presidents

World War I pitted Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire against Great Britain, the United States, France, Russia, Italy and Japan. New military technology resulted in unprecedented carnage. By the time the war was over and the Allied Powers claimed victory, more than 16 million people—soldiers and civilians alike—were dead.

World War I

Protests

America: Our Defining Hours

Crime has been a dark and powerful undercurrent in human society throughout history. Uncover the facts behind some of the most daring robberies, brazen scams and brutal murders ever committed.&nbsp;

Crime

Communism

The Civil War was America's bloodiest and most divisive conflict, pitting the Union Army against the Confederate States of America. The war resulted in the deaths of more than 620,000 people, with millions more injured and the South left in ruins.

Civil War

<a href="https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/world-war-ii-history">World War II</a> was the biggest and deadliest war in history, involving more than 30 countries. Sparked by the 1939 Nazi invasion of Poland, the war dragged on for six bloody years until the Allies defeated the Axis powers of Nazi Germany, Japan and Italy in 1945. Explore the battles, leaders and atrocities from the war and its impact on geopolitics and humankind.

World War II

China

Disease

The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world, lasting from 1929 to 1939. Explore topics on the era, from the stock market crash of 1929, to the Dust Bowl, to FDR’s response to the economic calamity—the New Deal.&nbsp;

Brian Dunleavy ‑ Stories

Did New Deal Programs Help End the Great Depression?

How McKinley’s Assassination Spurred Secret Service Presidential Protection

Who Was the Tank Man of Tiananmen Square?

Did Ted Kaczynski’s Transformation Into the Unabomber Start at Harvard?

Life in the Trenches of World War I