Turning points in British or American history

I would like to speak about the topic Turning points in American history. First I will say some info about the first inhabitants and first Europeans in America, then I will mention the War for Independence and A Civil War. I’d like to end with World Wars and modern history.

Should I speak about the first inhabitants, I’d firstly mention Indians, now called as Native Americans. They came about 40 000 thousand years ago from Asia and they crossed the Bering Strait. Much more years later- about the year 1000-the Vikings discovered American continent. They were the first Europeans that saw this continent. After that, Columbus landed on Bahamas in 1492. That was the start of the European colonization of the America.

In addition, I’d like to say few words about the War for Independence. 13 American colonies were under the rule of the British government. The government increased taxes, however, the colonists didn’t want to pay it, so the British soldiers were sent to Boston and there was the first conflict. Colonists dressed up as Indians and threw all the British tea into Boston Harbour. This event is known as the Boston Tea Party. The war itself began in 1775. On 4 July 1776, the colonists declared their independence from Britain and the United States of America was founded. The first president of US was George Washington.

As for A Civil War, this war began in 1861 between the North and the South. The President Abraham Lincoln wanted freedom for all Americans including slaves. The southern farmers disagreed because they needed slaves for work on their farms. In 1863 Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which granted freedom to all slaves. The war ended in 1865 when Lincoln was assassinated. However, black people remained completely segregated in US society until the Civil Right movement led by Martin Luther King.

Should I speak about the turning points in modern history, I’d definitely mention World Wars and The Cold War. As to First World Wars, the US became the part of this war in 1917, when the war almost ended. Nevertheless, the US helped to finish the war. In Second World War the US took part as well. They got involved in 1941 after the attack on Pearl Harbour. In the end of the war, the Americans dropped the atomic bombs on the city of Hiroshima and on Nagasaki. After this war the USA became one of the two superpowers with The Soviet Union, which leads to The Cold War. It lasted over 40 years. Sometimes it looked like it came the Third World War, but the Cold War ended with the collapse of the USSR in 1991. During the Cold War there were some conflicts such as Korea’s Wat or the War in Vietnam.

In conclusion I would like to say, that USA has very interesting history, even though this country was founded about 250 hundred years ago. And thanks to the wars in 20^th century, the US became the only superpower in the world.

Structure:

• American history- 1^st inhabitants, War For Independence, A Civil War, Modern history
• 1^st inhabitants- Indians, Vikings, Columbus
• The War For Independence- big taxes, Boston Tea Party, Declaration of Independence- 1776
• A Civil War- 1861-1865, Abraham Lincoln, North vs. South, freedom for slaves
• Modern history- World Wars (1^st in 1917, 2^nd in 1941), The Cold War (USSR)
• Conclusion- interesting history, the only superpower