istoryworld
All Events
Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes has its premiere in London, at the Sadler's Wells theatre
Jean-Louis Barrault directs and stars in the film Les Enfants du Paradis
Alexander Solzhenitsyn is sentenced to eight years in a Soviet labour camp for critizing Stalin in a private correspondence
Demonstrations in Algeria spark off an uprising against French rule, which is put down with the loss of perhaps 10,000 Muslim lives
Igor Stravinsky's Symphony in Three Movements, premiered in New York, derives from music written for or inspired by films
Achmed Sukarno makes a unilateral declaration of Indonesian independence, and leads the subsequent struggle against the Dutch
Austrian composer Anton Webern is accidentally killed near Salzburg by a soldier in the US occupation force
Juan Perón, professed friend of the poor in Argentina, is arrested by brother officers
A mass demonstration by trade unions in Buenos Aires results in the release of Perón
Russian-born novelist Vladimir Nabokov becomes a US citizen
British chemist Dorothy Hodgkin describes the molecular structure of penicillin
Le Corbusier's use of béton brut (raw concrete) introduces Brutalism
A new constitution strengthens Tito's hold on Yugoslavia, and is soon followed by repressive measures
Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill meet at Yalta to discuss Allied post-war plans
Stalin agrees at Yalta to declare war on Japan after the end of the European war
Stalin, at Yalta, promises free elections in post-war eastern Europe
British bombers launch a devastating raid against Dresden, killing tens of thousands in a firestorm
The Germans surrender Budapest to the Soviets after a costly siege
American marines land on Japanese-occupied Iwo Jima, a volcanic island 650 miles southeast of Tokyo
After a four-month siege of the city Douglas MacArthur returns to Manila, from which he was ejected in 1942 by the Japanese
The Soviets instal a puppet government in Romania while the fight continues against Germany
Tito becomes head of a provisional government in newly liberated Yugoslavia
Napalm, used to bomb a crowded part of Tokyo, creates a firestorm in which 80,000 die
William Slim drives the Japanese from Mandalay and moves on south to take Rangoon
Patton's Third US Army is the first Allied force to cross the Rhine, at Oppenheim, south of Mainz
