Welcome to TheHistoryJunkie.com and I hope you are ready to learn about history. Whether you are a student that is trying to finish a report or a casual historian I believe you will find my website informative and full of fun facts that will help you along the way. TheHistoryJunkie.com actually began as a website that was dedicated to the American Revolutionary War about 4 years ago, except that it was called something different. Eventually I did not want to limit myself to just one era and began expanding. This led to the creation of TheHistoryJunkie.com which began in June of 2011. TheHistoryJunkie.com is going to be an ambitious project that will never be finished and will continually be updated. My objective is to cover most of American History as well as Medieval and Ancient Histories. Which means that the information is endless. As of right now the site is only over 100 pages, but with the addition of the U.S Presidents and the completion of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence the site will range quickly be over 200 pages. That is exciting and I hope that everyone will benefit from the information I provide. Also visit the Best History Websites page to find a few other exceptional websites.
I am also expanding the site to talk about the wars that the United States were involved in. I am not going to focus much on the minor skirmishes we had, but rather on the big boys such as: American Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Mexican-American War, American Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, First War in Iraq known as Operation Desert Storm and the War on Terror. I will also be featuring various videos on the different topics. My goal is to make each page on this website very detailed and informative. I also want those who learn better by seeing visuals to be able to watch videos that summarize the different articles on this website.
Here are the topics that I am currently covering:
Age of Exploration
Europe emerged from the Dark Ages through the Reformation and the Renaissance. Famous Explorers soon began to emerge from their respective nation-states and sail across the ocean in search of a vast amount of riches. Spanish Conquistadors, Portuguese Explorers, French Explorers and English Colonization began to create global empires. Men like Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, Samuel de Champlain and Hernando Cortez began colonizing and annihilating New and Old World cultures. Soon the Caribbean became known as the Spanish Main, Canada was known as New France, The coast of America was known as the British Colonies and Portugal had forged a global empire around the coasts of Africa and established trade with Asia.
13 Original Colonies
The 13 original colonies were each founded by different founders for different reasons. Some were founded to further build an empire, some for religious persecution and some for debtors. Each colony that was established viewed themselves as separate nations and created their own culture. In the New England Colonies the economy was primarily made of industry, while the Middle Colonies had a mix of industry and agriculture and the Southern Colonies were known for their large plantations. The Great Awakening would begin to unite the colonies as did the French and Indian War. However, British oppression would become the great unifier as the 13 original colonies would declare their Independence and go to war.
U.S. Wars
The United States of America has not always been a world power. In fact, we did not become a world power until after World War II. I know many Americans are proud of their country, as am I, but contrary to what many people believe during most of our history England and France were the dominant military powers in the world. After the American Revolutionary War the founders forged a new nation and did their best to avoid war with England and France. During the Napoleonic Wars, President James Madison declared war on England and in doing so almost subjected America to British rule again. Under the Presidency of James Polk, The United States expanded their territory by defeating Mexico in the Mexican-American War. At this point America had begun to rise as one of the premier powers in the world, but the country was extremely divided. The result was the American Civil War which devastated the southern economy.
U.S. Presidents
George Washington became the first President of the United States of America thus establishing the executive branch of the United States government. The story of the United States Presidency is bloody. From the beginning it has destroyed friendships, caused a death to a wife and divided the country multiple times. The job of the Presidency, regardless of the party, takes its toll on their health. The stress of the job, the criticism and the decisions that have to be made usually ages a President 10 years. The President gets too much credit when things are great and too much criticism when things go wrong. Regardless, the United States still survives through multiple changes in power.