The Indochina War breaks out in Vietnam between the French colonial forces and the Vietminh

Winston Churchill, in a speech in Fulton, Missouri, expresses the harsh truth that an iron curtain has descended across Europe

Batavia reverts to its original name of Jakarta and becomes the capital of Indonesia

An invasion of Guatemala from Honduras, with CIA support, brings to power a right-wing military junta

In an armistice ending the Indochina War, France acknowledges the independence of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam

An armed uprising in Morocco persuades France to accept the principle of independence for the colony

French Morocco and Spanish Morocco win independence from the two colonial powers

Russian and Warsaw Pact troops invade Hungary to end the uprising and arrest Imre Nagy

The Kremlin imposes János Kádár on Hungary as head of a new government

Kwame Nkrumah leads the Gold Coast into independence under a name of historic resonance, Ghana

On his second day in power, de Gaulle visits Algiers to confront the settlers with an unwelcome message

The colony of French Guinea opts for immediate independence as the republic of Guinea, breaking its links with France

Sekou Touré, the first president of Guinea, settles in for twenty-six years of dictatorial rule

Lee Kuan Yew becomes the first prime minister of the newly independent state of Singapore

French Cameroun becomes independent as the republic of Cameroun, with Ahmadou Ahidjo as the first president

French Togo becomes independent as the republic of Togo, with Sylvanus Olympio as president

Cyprus becomes an independent nation, free of British colonial rule, with Archbishop Makarios as president

French Sudan becomes independent as the republic of Mali, with Modibo Keita as president

Madagascar becomes independent (under the name Malagasy republic from till 1975), with Philibert Tsiranana as president

Patrice Lumumba becomes prime minister of the newly independent Democratic Republic of the Congo, previously the Belgian Congo

British and Italian colonies merge as the independent Somali republic, also known as Somalia, with Aden Abdullah Osman as president

The French colony of Dahomey (known from 1975 as Benin) becomes independent but suffers six military coups in its first twelve years

Niger becomes independent, with Hamani Diori as the new nation's first president

The French colony of Upper Volta becomes independent as Burkina Faso, with Maurice Yaméogo as president

Félix Houphouët-Boigny, first president of the newly independent Ivory Coast, begins thirty-three years of relatively peaceful rule