1.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
2.
United States Army
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The United States Armed Forces are the federal armed forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, from the time of its inception, the military played a decisive role in the history of the United States. A sense of unity and identity was forged as a result of victory in the First Barbary War. Even so, the Founders were suspicious of a permanent military force and it played an important role in the American Civil War, where leading generals on both sides were picked from members of the United States military. Not until the outbreak of World War II did a standing army become officially established. The National Security Act of 1947, adopted following World War II and during the Cold Wars onset, the U. S. military is one of the largest militaries in terms of number of personnel. It draws its personnel from a pool of paid volunteers. As of 2016, the United States spends about $580.3 billion annually to fund its military forces, put together, the United States constitutes roughly 40 percent of the worlds military expenditures. For the period 2010–14, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found that the United States was the worlds largest exporter of major arms, the United States was also the worlds eighth largest importer of major weapons for the same period. The history of the U. S. military dates to 1775 and these forces demobilized in 1784 after the Treaty of Paris ended the War for Independence. All three services trace their origins to the founding of the Continental Army, the Continental Navy, the United States President is the U. S. militarys commander-in-chief. Rising tensions at various times with Britain and France and the ensuing Quasi-War and War of 1812 quickened the development of the U. S. Navy, the reserve branches formed a military strategic reserve during the Cold War, to be called into service in case of war. Time magazines Mark Thompson has suggested that with the War on Terror, Command over the armed forces is established in the United States Constitution. The sole power of command is vested in the President by Article II as Commander-in-Chief, the Constitution also allows for the creation of executive Departments headed principal officers whose opinion the President can require. This allowance in the Constitution formed the basis for creation of the Department of Defense in 1947 by the National Security Act, the Defense Department is headed by the Secretary of Defense, who is a civilian and member of the Cabinet. The Defense Secretary is second in the chain of command, just below the President. Together, the President and the Secretary of Defense comprise the National Command Authority, to coordinate military strategy with political affairs, the President has a National Security Council headed by the National Security Advisor. The collective body has only power to the President
3.
Coastal artillery
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Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications. The advent of 20th-century technologies, especially aviation, naval aviation, jet aircraft, and guided missiles, reduced the primacy of cannon, battleships. In countries where coastal artillery has not been disbanded, these forces have acquired amphibious capabilities, in littoral warfare, mobile coastal artillery armed with surface-to-surface missiles still can be used to deny the use of sea lanes. Land-based guns also benefited in most cases from the protection of walls or earth mounds. The Martello tower is an excellent example of a widely used coastal fort which mounted defensive artillery, during the 19th century China also built hundreds of coastal fortresses in an attempt to counter Western naval threats. Coastal artillery could be part of the Navy, or part of the Army, in English-speaking countries, certain coastal artillery positions were sometimes referred to as Land Batteries, distinguishing this form of artillery battery from for example floating batteries. In the United Kingdom, in the later 19th and earlier 20th Centuries, then, following the Spanish–American War and the report of the Endicott Board, U. S. harbor defenses were greatly strengthened and provided with new, rifled artillery and minefield defenses. Shortly thereafter, in 1907, Congress split the field artillery, the first decade of the 20th Century, the United States Marine Corps established the Advanced Base Force. The force was used for setting up and defending advanced bases, during the Siege of Port Arthur, Japanese forces had captured the vantage point on 203 Meter Hill overlooking Port Arthur harbor. The battleship Sevastopol, although hit 5 times by 11-inch shells, after 3 weeks, the Sevastopol was still afloat, having survived 124 torpedoes fired at her while sinking two Japanese destroyers and damaging six other vessels. The Japanese had meanwhile lost the cruiser Takasago to a mine outside the harbor, the Blücher had entered the narrow waters of the Oslofjord, carrying 1,000 soldiers and leading a German invasion fleet. The first salvo from the Norwegian defenders, fired from Oscarsborg Fortress about 1 mile distant, disabled Blüchers main battery, fire from the smaller guns swept her decks and disabled her steering, and she received several torpedo hits before the fires reached her magazines and doomed her. Singapore was defended by its famous large-caliber coastal guns, which included one battery of three 15-inch guns and one with two 15-inch guns, AP shells were designed to penetrate the hulls of heavily armoured warships and were ineffective against personnel. The Japanese defended the island of Betio in the Tarawa atoll with numerous 203 mm coastal guns, in 1943, these were knocked out early in the battle with a combined USN naval and aerial bombardment. Nazi Germany fortified its conquered territories with the Atlantic Wall, the intent was to destroy the Allied landing craft before they could unload. During the Normandy Landings in 1944, shore bombardment was given a high importance, using ships from battleships to destroyers, for example, the Canadians at Juno beach had fire support many times greater than they had had for the Dieppe Raid in 1942. In addition, there were modified landing-craft, eight Landing Craft Gun, twenty-four Landing Craft Tank carried Priest self-propelled howitzers which also fired while they were on the run-in to the beach. Similar arrangements existed at other beaches, on June 25,1944 the American battleship Texas engaged German shore batteries on the Cotentin Peninsula
4.
Fort Stevens (Oregon)
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Fort Stevens was an American military installation that guarded the mouth of the Columbia River in the state of Oregon. Built near the end of the American Civil War, it was named for a slain Civil War general and former Washington Territory governor, the fort was an active military reservation from 1863–1947. It is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the fort was constructed in 1863-64 during the Civil War as an earthwork battery on the south shore of the mouth of the Columbia River, and was known as the Fort at Point Adams. It was later Fort Stevens in 1865, in honor of the territorial governor of Washington. Fort Stevens was the military installation in what became the Three Fort Harbor Defense System at the mouth of the Columbia River. The other forts were the Post at Cape Disappointment, later Fort Cape Disappointment and later Fort Canby, built at the time as Fort Stevens. Both are on the Washington side of the river, in 1906, the crew of the sailing ship Peter Iredale took refuge at Fort Stevens, after she ran aground on Clatsop Spit. The wreck is visible today, within the boundaries of Fort Stevens State Park, the Japanese attack caused no damage to the fort itself, only the backstop of the posts baseball field being destroyed. Fort Stevens was decommissioned in 1947, all the armaments were removed and buildings were auctioned. The grounds were transferred to the Corps of Engineers, until finally being turned over to the Oregon Parks, much of Fort Stevens is preserved within Fort Stevens State Park, part of the Lewis and Clark National and State Historical Parks. The 3,700 acres park includes camping, beach access, swimming at Coffenbury Lake, trails, and a military history museum
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United States Army Coast Artillery Corps
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The U. S. Army Coast Artillery Corps was a corps level organization responsible for coastal, harbor, and anti-aircraft defense of the United States between 1901 and 1950. The CAC also operated heavy and railway artillery during World War I, as early as 1882 the need for heavy fixed artillery for seacoast defense was noted in Chester A. In 1885 the Endicott Board was convened under the subsequent Grover Cleveland administration and this board recommended a large-scale program of harbor defenses at 29 ports, including guns, mortars, and mine fields. Most of their recommendations were implemented and new defenses were constructed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers 1895-1905, as the defenses were constructed, each harbor or rivers installations were controlled by Artillery Districts, renamed Coast Defense Commands in 1913 and Harbor Defense Commands in 1925. An extensive fire control system was developed and provided for the forts of each Coast Artillery District, Army leaders realized that heavy fixed artillery required different training programs and tactics than mobile field artillery. Prior to 1901 each of the seven artillery regiments contained both heavy and light artillery batteries, in February 1901 the Artillery Corps was divided into two types, field artillery and coast artillery. The previous seven artillery regiments were dissolved, and 30 numbered companies of artillery and 126 numbered companies of coast artillery were authorized. 82 existing heavy artillery batteries were designated as coast artillery companies, the company-based organization was for flexibility, as each harbor defense command was differently equipped and a task-based organization was needed. The Coast Artillery would alternate between small unit and regimental organization several times over its history, the head of the Artillery Corps became the Chief of Artillery in the rank of brigadier general with jurisdiction over both types of artillery. The Coast Artillery became responsible for the installation and operation of the mine fields that were planted to be under observation, fired electrically. The mine component was considered to be among the armament of coastal defense works. In 1905, after the experiences of the Spanish–American War, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed a new board on fortifications and they updated some standards and reviewed the progress of the Endicott boards program. Most of the changes recommended by this board were technical, such as adding more searchlights, electrification, the board also recommended fortifications in territories acquired from Spain, Cuba and the Philippines, as well as Hawaii and a few other sites. Defenses in Panama were authorized by the Spooner Act of 1902, due to rapid development of the dreadnought battleship type, a new 14-inch gun was introduced in a few locations, primarily Los Angeles, the Philippines, and Panama. The Taft program fortifications differed slightly in construction and had fewer numbers of guns at a given location than those of the Endicott program. By the beginning of World War I, the United States had a defense system that was equal to any other nation. The rapidity of technological advances and changing techniques increasingly separated coastal defenses from field artillery, officers were rarely qualified to command both, requiring specialization. National Guard coast artillery units were formed by the states to attempt to bring the CAC up to strength in wartime
6.
Salem, Oregon
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Salem /ˈseɪləm/ is the capital of the U. S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, the river forms the boundary between Marion and Polk counties, and the city neighborhood of West Salem is in Polk County. Salem was founded in 1842, became the capital of the Oregon Territory in 1851, Salem had a population of 154,637 at the 2010 census, making it the third largest city in the state after Portland and Eugene. Salem is less than a driving distance away from Portland. Salem is the city of the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area. A2013 estimate placed the population at 400,408. The city is home to Willamette University, Corban University, the State of Oregon is the largest public employer in the city, and Salem Health is the largest private employer. Transportation includes public transit from Salem-Keizer Transit, Amtrak service, major roads include Interstate 5, Oregon Route 99E, and Oregon Route 22, which connects West Salem across the Willamette River via the Marion Street and Center Street bridges. When the Methodist Mission moved to the area, they called the new establishment Chemeketa, although it was widely known as the Mill. When the Oregon Institute was established, the community known as the Institute. When the Institute was dissolved, the decided to lay out a townsite on the Institute lands. The Reverend David Leslie, President of the towns Trustees, also wanted a Biblical name, or, the town may be named after Salem, Massachusetts, where Leslie was educated. There were many names suggested, and even after the change to Salem, some people, such as Asahel Bush, believed the name should be changed back to Chemeketa. The Vern Miller Civic Center, which houses the city offices and it is estimated that the Willamette Valley area has been inhabited for over 10,000 years. The Kalapuya peoples would gather on the plateau east and south of the current downtown area in the winter and they fished and harvested in the streams and fields of the area. One staple of life was the root, and periodically the Kalapuya would set fires that would clear. In the early 1850s, the Kalapuya, along with the native peoples west of the Cascade Mountains, were removed by the U. S. government through a combination of treaties. Most Kalapuya people were moved to the Grande Ronde Reservation somewhat to the west of Salem, with numbers ending up at Siletz Reservation
7.
Japanese submarine I-25
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I-25, of 2,369 tonnes, was 108 m long, with a range of 25,928 km, a maximum surface speed of 43.5 km/h and a maximum submerged speed of 15 km/h. She carried a two-seater Yokosuka E14Y reconnaissance floatplane, known to the Allies as Glen and it was disassembled and stowed in a hangar in front of the conning tower. In World War II, I-25 served under the command of Lieutenant Commander Meiji Tagami who had graduated from Class 51 at Etajima, Hiroshima, 26-year-old Lieutenant Tatsuo Tsukudo was the Executive Officer on I-25. I-25 departed Yokosuka on 21 November 1941 in preparation for hostilities, I-25 and three other submarines patrolled a line 222 km north of Oahu during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. After the Japanese aircraft carriers sailed west following the attack, I-25, I-25 patrolled off the mouth of the Columbia River. A scheduled shelling of American coastal cities on Christmas eve of 1941 was canceled because of the frequency of coastal air, I-25 attacked a cargo ship 16 km off the US coast. The ship managed to escape but ran aground at the mouth of the Columbia River, I-25 then returned to Kwajalein, arriving on 11 January 1942 to refuel and be refurbished. I-25 left Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall Islands on 5 February for its next patrol in the south Pacific. Tagamis orders were to reconnoitre the Australian harbours of Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart followed by the New Zealand harbours of Wellington, I-25 travelled on the surface for nine days, but as she approached the Australian coastline, she only travelled on the surface under the cover of night. On 13 February, I-25 sank the United Kingdom merchant ship Derrymore at 05°18′S 166°20′E, on Saturday 14 February, I-25 was within a few miles of the coast near Sydney. The searchlights in Sydney could clearly be seen from the bridge of I-25, Tagami then took I-25 to a position 190 km south east of Sydney. A number of days of rough swell prevented a launch of the Glen floatplane. They stayed submerged during the day and went back to the surface at night, finally on Tuesday,17 February, Warrant Flying Officer Nobuo Fujita took off in the Glen for a reconnaissance flight over Sydney Harbour. The purpose was to look at Sydneys airbase, by 0730, Fujita had returned to I-25 and disassembled the Glen and stowed it in the watertight hangar. Commander Tagami then pointed I-25 southwards on the surface at 26 km/h, by midday on Wednesday 18 February, they were nearly 740 km south east of Sydney still heading southwards. Their next mission was a flight over Melbourne. Tagami decided to launch the aircraft from Cape Wickham at the end of King Island at the western end of Bass Strait about half way between Victoria and Tasmania. The floatplane was launched on 26 February for its flight to Melbourne over Port Phillip Bay
8.
Living history
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Living history is an activity that incorporates historical tools, activities and dress into an interactive presentation that seeks to give observers and participants a sense of stepping back in time. Although it does not necessarily seek to reenact a specific event in history, living history is similar to, Living history approach to gain authenticity is less about replaying a certain event according to a planned script as in other reenactment fields. List, himself a right wing neopagan, asked his staff of landlords and he also asked to have any visitors redressed in costumes and described rituals to signify in-game and out-game status to enhance the immersion experience. E. g. the role of the garment is of interest till today, the term living history describes the performance of bringing history to life for the general public in a rather freewheeling manner. The players are confined in their actions, but often have to stay at a certain place or building. The line between amateur and professional presentations at living history museums can be blurred, same as the border to Live action role-playing games. Such events do not necessarily include a battle but aim at portraying the life. This often includes both military and civilian impressions, occasionally, storytelling or acting sketches take place to involve or explain the everyday life or military activity to the viewing public. More common are craft and cooking demonstrations, song and leisure activities, combat training or duels can also be encountered even when larger combat demonstrations are not present. In the United States, The National Park Service land, NPS policy does not allow for battle reenactments on NPS property, there are exceptions i. e. Saylors Creek, Gettysburg. So e. g. the Peter and Paul festival in Bretten, the Landshut Wedding or the Schloss Kaltenberg knights tournament. The majority of combat reenactment groups are battlefield reenactment groups, some of which have become isolated to some degree because of a focus on authenticity. Events with the professional reenactment-group Ulfhednar lead to a controversy in German archaeology, the German Polish living history group was supported by large museums and scholars and, since 2000 has largely coined the image of early history in Germany and international. Among others, a paper with the programmatic title Under the crocheted Swastika, Germanic Living History and that sort of second hand living history is as well part of western Germany folklore and tries for a high level of authenticity. Activities may be confined to wearing period dress and perhaps explaining relevant historical information, while many museums allow their staff to move in and out of character to better answer visitor questions, some encourage their staff to stay in role at all times. Living history portrayal often involves demonstrating everyday activities such as cooking, cleaning, medical care, or particular skills, considerable research is often applied to identifying authentic techniques and often recreating replica tools and equipment. Historical reenactment groups often attempt to organize such displays in an encampment or display area at an event, during the 1990s, reenactment groups, primarily American Civil War groups, began to show interest in this style of interpretation and began using it at their reenactments. Living history can be a used to bridge the gap between school and daily life to educate people on historical topics
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Seacoast defense in the United States
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Seacoast defense was a major concern for the United States from its independence until World War II. Before airplanes, Americas enemies could only reach her from the sea, after the 1940s, it was recognized that fixed fortifications were obsolete and ineffective against aircraft and missiles. However, in prior eras foreign fleets were a realistic threat, the defenses heavily depended on fortifications but also included submarine minefields, nets and booms, ships, and airplanes. Therefore, all of the armed forces participated in seacoast defense, designs evolved and became obsolete with changes in the technology available to both the attacking forces and the defenders. At the beginning of the American Revolution, many coastal fortifications already protected the Atlantic coast, prior to independence from Britain, local communities or colonies bore the cost and responsibility for their own protection. Urgency would wax and wane based on the climate in Europe. Most defenses were artillery protected by earthworks, as protection from pirate raids, though seldom used, the forts were a deterrent. Additional forts, called Patriot batteries, were built during the Revolution, when the United States gained independence in 1783, the seacoast defense fortifications were in poor condition. Twenty significant forts at thirteen harbors were approved for construction, mostly with traditional low walled structures with low sloped earthworks protecting wood or brick walls. The conventional wisdom was that soft earth would cushion the effect of fire against the walls. The angled walls also reduced the chance for more destructive straight-on hits from cannonballs, most First System forts were relatively small, and with some exceptions mounted only one tier of cannon, on the roof of the fort. Additional water batteries outside the fort provided more firepower, lacking trained engineers to supervise the work, Secretary of War Henry Knox placed a number of European engineers under contract. Although some fine forts were constructed, for the most part enthusiasm and funding waned, most of the partially finished earthworks and wooden structures deteriorated before they were needed to defend against the British in 1812. In 1802, Congress separated the artillerists and engineers into separate corps and directed the Corps of Engineers to create a military academy at West Point, one of the driving forces for establishing the new academy was the need to divorce the United States from its reliance on foreign engineers. In 1807-1808, new concerns over a war with Great Britain, prompted President Thomas Jefferson to renew fortification programs. One common weakness among the typical low-walled open bastion or star forts was exposure to fire, especially to new devices designed to explode in mid air. Gun emplacements which were at an angle to the sea were vulnerable to a solid shot running parallel to the taking out a row of guns. In the late 1770s, a French engineer, the Marquis de Montalembert and his design protected a forts gunners by placing most of them in covered casemate walls with openings for the guns
10.
Cape Disappointment State Park
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The state parks 1,882 acres encompass a diverse landscape of old-growth forest, freshwater lakes, freshwater and saltwater marshes, and oceanside tidelands. Sights in the include the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center,2 miles of ocean beach, the North Head Lighthouse. Cape Disappointment is one of state parks and sites in Washington and Oregon that make up the Lewis and Clark National. Cape Disappointment earned its name when Captain John Meares failed to cross the bar in 1788. The feat was accomplished in 1792 by American Captain Robert Gray, the Lewis and Clark Expedition arrived at Cape Disappointment in 1805. It was garrisoned by Company A, U. S. 9th Infantry Regiment and Company A, in 1863, its mate Fort Stevens was established on the south bank of the Columbia River. In 1864, the post was renamed Fort Cape Disappointment, some Civil War-era fortifications still exist. They were called the Tower Battery, Left Battery, and Center Battery, Fort Cape Disappointment was expanded and renamed Fort Canby in 1875. Later, Fort Canby became part of the three-fort Columbia River harbor defenses as a subpost of Fort Stevens along with Fort Columbia. After being decommissioned in the years following World War II, the fort was turned over to the state for use as a park in the early 1950s. The Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center features exhibits about the 1803–1806 Lewis and Clark Expedition from St. Louis, there are displays about the parks later history, including the lighthouses, U. S. Coast Guard and military activities, and the areas maritime and natural history. Other facilities include a deck, films and a gift shop. The center sits on a cliff that overlooks the confluence of the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean, Cape Disappointment State Park offers camping and other overnight accommodations,8 miles of hiking trails, watercraft launch sites, picnicking facilities, and tours of the North Head Lighthouse. Cape Disappointment State Park Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission Cape Disappointment State Park Map Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission
United States