All Events
The UN mediator in Palestine, Folke Bernadotte, proposes a peace plan involving the partition of Palestine
Jewish terrorists, opposed to the partition of Palestine, murder the UN peacemaker Folke Bernadotte
Donald Bradman retires from Test cricket with a tantalizing career average of 99.94 runs
A nine-year civil war begins in Colombia, bringing eventually some 200,000 deaths
French composer Pierre Schaeffer writes the first pieces of musique concrète, and coins the term
Louis St-Laurent succeeds Mackenzie King as Liberal leader and prime minister of Canada
US president Harry S. Truman wins election to the office in his own right
Prime minister Ben Chifley sees Australia's first mass-produced car, the Holden, roll off the production line
The Muslim Brotherhood carries out acts of terrorism against the Egyptian authorities and British troops
Olivier Messiaen completes Turangaîlila-symphonie, a symphony in ten movements for an orchestra including ondes martenot
Frederick Ashton's Cinderella, to music by Prokofiev, is the first full-length ballet by an English choreographer
The Soviet Union imposes a blockade on Berlin by denying the other powers access through the land corridor to the city
The Western powrers respond to the Soviet blockade by launching the Berlin airlift, flying in necessary provisions of every kind
Japanese premier Tojo Hideki is convicted in the Tokyo war crimes trial and is hanged
The first Indo-Pakistani war ends with a Kashmir demarcation line approved by the UN but acceptable to neither state
Defeated by the Communists, Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek) resigns before the final collapse of his regime
Roland Petit's ballet Carmen, starring himself and his wife Zizi Jeanmaire, is a sensation at its London premiere
Egypt controls the Gaza Strip area of Palestine at the end of the Arab-Israeli war
French ex-convict Jean Genet begins his literary career with an autobiographical Thief's Journal
Newfoundland joins Canada as its tenth province, completing the Confederation
Jordan occupies the West Bank area of Palestine af the end of the Arab-Israeli war
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is set up by the USA and Canada, together with Britain and other European countries, for purposes of collective security
Annie Allen, by US author Gwendolyn Brooks, describes in narrative verse the life of a black girl in contemporary USA
Death of a Salesman, by US playwright Arthur Miller, has its first performance in New York
The musical South Pacific, by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, opens on Broadway