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Indian Independance
India attained independence following an Independence Movement noted for largely nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience led by the Indian National Congress (INC). -
Creation of Israel
On 29 November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly recommended the adoption and implementation of the Partition Plan for Mandatory Palestine. This UN plan specified borders for new Arab and Jewish states and also specified an area of Jerusalem and its environs which was to be administered by the UN under an international regime. -
Berlin Airlift
Soviets placed a blockade on the allied sector of Berlin to starve the population into Soviet support. The allied response was a unbelievably massive air supply- flying night and day to feed the city. -
Formation of NATO
The prospect of further Communist expansion prompted the United States and 11 other Western nations to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). -
Formation of the Warsaw Pact
The Soviet Union and seven of its European satellites sign a treaty establishing the Warsaw Pact, a mutual defense organization that put the Soviets in command of the armed forces of the member states. -
Launch of Sputnik
Sputnik was the first unmanned space satalite to be launched into space. The Soviets were behind this launch and this started the space race. -
Arab Israeli Conflicts 1967
Relations between Israel and its neighbours had never fully normalized following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and in the period leading up to June 1967 tensions became dangerously heightened. As a result, following the mobilisation of Egyptian forces along the Israeli border in the Sinai Peninsula, Israel launched a series of preemptive airstrikes against Egyptian airfields on June 5. This is also known as the six day war. -
Assassination of Egyptian President Sadat
While Sadat and the whole of Egypt was still celebrating their accomplishments of defeating Israel in a surprise attack, a troop of French Mirage jet fighters soared past overhead as a part of the pageantry and at the same moment, several soldiers moved towards the reviewing stands, jumped off from the trucks they were riding in and opened fire and threw grenades at the reviewing stand. -
Strategic Defense Initiative
The SDI was intended to defend the United States from attack from Soviet ICBMs by intercepting the missiles at various phases of their flight. This was also known as Reagan's "Star Wars". -
Tiananmen Square Protest
The Tiananmen Square massacre took place in the spring of 1989 and received broad support from city residents, exposing deep splits within China's political leadership. The protests were forcibly suppressed by hardline leaders who ordered the military to enforce martial law in the country's capital.