Social History Archives | HistoryNet

Read Henry Kissinger’s Secret Message On the Fall of Saigon

by HistoryNet Staff5/17/20235/18/2023

A classified document from the National Archives reveals a very frank message from Kissinger about the impending end of the Vietnam War.

Group of Union officers drinking liquor in camp

Liquor Numbed the Pain, Took the Edge Off Homesickness… and Caused Havoc During the Civil War

by Megan L. Bever4/6/20234/6/2023

When A Spaghetti Tree Hoax Caused A Nationwide Uproar

by Zita Ballinger Fletcher4/1/20233/31/2023

Burials on Antietam battlefield

Antietam’s Gory Aftermath: How the Union Army’s Post-Battle Occupation Devastated Sharpsburg’s Civilians

by Steven Cowie3/30/20232/2/2023

Photo of South Vietnam: Failed Coup In Saigon Against President Ngo Dinh Diem. Saigon- 17 novembre 1960- Lors du coup d'état manqué contre le président NGO DINH DIEM, des jeunes gens (révolutionnaires) accourent dans une rue, lâchant leur bicyclette pour se protéger de coups de feu, un camion militaire derrièer eux dans une rue, une demeure en arrière-plan.

The First Coup: President Diem’s Own Paratroopers Attempted to Overthrow His Regime

by John D. Howard3/21/20233/21/2023

Fighting Over Lobsters, Pigs, and Kettles: Here Are the Top 10 Bloodless Wars in Human History

by Jon Guttman and Alex Griffith3/20/20233/20/2023

See the Real Rosie the Riveters at Work

by Tom Huntington3/8/20233/19/2023

Photo of defused UXO outside a house in Xieng Khouang. Over 30% of the bombs dropped on Laos by the US failed to explode - leaving literally millions of items of ordinance (many of them tiny mine bomblets from cluster bombs) sitting in villages, buried in rice padddies, and scattered over the hillsides. Casualties from UXO are estimated at 12,000 since 1973. A substantial industry in scrap metal has arisen from the abundance of recoverable (but still fused) bombs, both due to its relative lucrativeness (compared with growning rice), and also out of desperation, as thousands of hectares of land has been rendered unfarmable until cleared of UXO. Once defused, much of this war scrap is also put to practical use; cluster bomb casings are used as planters and house stilts, bomb cases for fencing and jettisoned fuel tanks converted into fishing boats.

A Look at the Damage from the ‘Secret’ War in Laos

by Zita Ballinger Fletcher3/2/20233/2/2023

Immerse Yourself in the Chaos of Battle at Gettysburg’s New Museum

by Melissa A. Winn3/2/20233/2/2023

Parisians reading newspapers

The American Civil War Through the Eyes of the French

by Gary W. Gallagher2/16/20232/1/2023