How do i memorize these history terms?

i have a list of 177 u.s. history-related people and events to memorize for the final. i am a wiz at remembering english definitions and words because the parts of the word almost always make the definition obvious, but history is more abstract than that, at least to me. you could switch the names of every important historical figure in history and it wouldn't make a difference in who did what. i can't retain this information well, but i need to ace the final. i would say i'm an auditory learner, but reading them out loud is not helping much. what else can i do? i don't have time to copy all of the terms down or make flashcards!