Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries, which are the most common cause of surgical treatment after sports injuries, have attracted the attention of anatomists and surgeons since the 19th century. The ideal treatment for ACL injuries, whose relationship with knee instability has been investigated since Hippocrates, continues to be investigated. The aim of this study is to summarize the historical development of ACL injuries and their treatment. ACL injuries started with conservative treatment trials, then primary repair techniques were started in the 1900`s and finally reconstruction trials have started in 1914. Although conservative treatment was recommended at the beginning due to the failure of surgical treatment, surgical treatment came to the fore in the last 30 years with the development of arthroscopic methods and the improvement of physical therapy protocols. After trying many options such as synthetic grafts, meniscus, allografts, fascia lata grafts, quadriceps tendon, the most preferred hamstring tendons and patellar tendon grafts are preferred today. ACL reconstruction started with extra-articular techniques and techniques with double wide incisions for isometry purposes were used and then one-incision techniques were started. After understanding that the important thing is the anatomy of the graft, the techniques in which the graft was placed with correct orientation towards the footprint were started. Although ultimately double bundle reconstructions were developed, the ideal treatment is still being questioned today.