Curated playlist
United States involvement in regime change
- Spanish–American WarSpain went into the Spanish-American War expecting to lose. Losing a war seemed better than losing the throne.
- Iraq WarThe Iraq War's main reason, weapons of mass destruction, turned out to be false.
- 2003 invasion of IraqThe 2003 invasion of Iraq opened with an airstrike on the Presidential Palace in Baghdad on the 20th of March 2003. It was the first stage of the Iraq War, and it lasted just over a month. A coalition led by the United States carried it…
- War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)The war in Afghanistan lasted from 2001 to 2021, and it became the longest war in United States military history. It ran six months longer than the Vietnam War. A United States-led coalition launched it under the name Operation Enduring…
- Mexican–American WarOn the 25th of April 1846, a Mexican cavalry force of 2,000 men attacked a patrol of 70 American soldiers led by Captain Seth Thornton. The patrol was routed. Eleven Americans were killed and 52 were captured. The clash took place in…
- 1954 Guatemalan coup d'étatA fake jungle radio station helped topple Guatemala's government in 1954.
- Bay of Pigs InvasionKennedy canceled the second air strikes the night before the Bay of Pigs landing.
- United States invasion of GrenadaSoldiers invading Grenada in 1983 navigated with tourist maps. Military grid lines had been drawn on them by hand.
- Operation MongooseOperation Mongoose, a secret U.S. plan to topple Cuba's government, helped set up the Cuban Missile Crisis.
- 2026 United States intervention in VenezuelaOperation Absolute Resolve, the American strike on Venezuela, began around 2 a.m. local time on the 3rd of January 2026, when explosions were observed in the dark above Caracas. By the end of that night, United States forces had captured…
- Occupation of JapanMacArthur refused to put Emperor Hirohito on trial after Japan's surrender.
- United States invasion of PanamaThe United States invasion of Panama began at 12:46 a.m. local time on the 20th of December 1989. Over the following hours, 27,684 American troops and more than 300 aircraft went into action. Washington's stated aim was to remove General…
- 1953 Iranian coup d'étatA tank fired one shell into Iran's prime minister's home in 1953. Mohammad Mosaddegh fled, then surrendered to the army.