- January 8
- Dutch Queen Wilhelmina signs death sentence against Ans van Dijk for treason. [1]
- January 12
- Mohandas Mahatma Gandhi begins his final fast. [1]
- January 14
- Anna "Ans" van Dike, Dutch Jewish Nazi-collaborator, executed at age 42. [1]
- January 16
- 35 Haganah members are ambushed and killed in Gush Etzyon. [1]
- January 17
- Netherlands and Indonesia agree to a cease fire. [1]
- January 18
- First courses begin at University of Ibadan, Nigeria. [1]
- January 24
- Dutch Liberal Party forms - People's party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). [1]
- January 27
- First locomotive to carry 1,000,000 pounds (450,000kg) operates. [1]
- January 30
- Death of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, India spiritual and political leader, assassinated in New Delhi by a militant Hindu nationalist, at age 78. [1] [129] [1113.50] [1394.8]
- January 31
- Magnetic tape recorder developed by Wireway. [1]
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- February 1
- Federation Malaysia forms from nine sultanates. [1]
- Palestine Post building in Jerusalem is bombed. [1]
- February 4
- Ceylon becomes independent as a self-governing state within the British Commonwealth. [700.47A] [781.108]
- February 10
- Greek General Markos' guerrilla army bombs Saloniki. [1]
- February 11
- John Costello follows Eamon Da Valera as premier of Ireland. [1]
- February 15
- Mao Zedong's army occupies Yenan. [1]
- February 16
- NBC-TV presents the first daily newsreel telecast Camel Newsreel Theatre made up of footage from 20th Century Fox - Movietone News. [1] [457]
- February 20
- Czechoslovakia's non-communist minister resigns. [1]
- February 22
- Arabs bomb attack in Jerusalem, 50 die. [1]
- February 25
- Communists seize Czechoslovakia; C Gottwald becomes premier. [1]
- February 29
- Stern-group bomb Cairo-Haifa train, 27 British soldiers killed. [1]
- March 5
- US rocket flies record 4800kph to 126km height. [1]
- March 9
- Provisionary Indonesian government installed in Batavia. [1]
- March 10
- First civilian to exceed speed of sound - Herb H Hoover, Edwards Air Force Base California. [1]
- Jan Masaryk, Czechoslovakian Foreign minister, commits suicide or is murdered. [1]
- March 11
- Jewish Agency of Jerusalem bombed. [1]
- March 15
- Sixteen nations plus the American, British, and French zones of Germany draft a convention for economic cooperation. (This leads to the setting up of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation.) [7]
- March 18
- France, Great Britain, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg sign Treaty of Brussels. [1]
- March 23
- John Cunningham sets world altitude record (54,492 feet (18,133 metres)). [1]
- April 3
- Armistice signed in Arab-Israeli war. [244.4]
- US President Harry Truman signs Marshall Plan (US$5 billion aid to 16 European countries). [1]
- April 7
- World Health Organization established by United Nations. [1]
- April 10
- Jewish Hagana repels an Arab attack on Mishmar HaEmek. [1]
- April 13
- 75 scientists ambushed on way to Mount Scopus. [1]
- April 14
- A flash of light is observed in the crater Plato on the Moon. [1]
- US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak. [1]
- April 15
- First modern Jewish-Arab military battle, Arabs defeated. [1]
- Indian territory of Himachal Pradesh is created. [1]
- April 16
- Organization for European Economic Cooperation (EEC) forms in Paris, France. [1]
- April 18
- International Court of Justice opens at The Hague, Netherlands. [1]
- April 19
- Chiang Kai-shek elected President of Nationalist China. [1]
- April 26
- The XP-86 prototype for the US Sabre Jet first "officially" breaks the sound barrier. (The first operational F-86A Sabres enters service in May.) [1]
- April 27
- Arab legion attacks Gesher bridge on Jordan River. [1]
- April 30
- Organization of American States charter signed at Bogotá, Colombia. [1]
- US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak. [1]
- May 1
- Christos Ladas, Greek minister of Justice, is murdered. [1]
- North Korea proclaims itself People's Democratic Republic of Korea. [1]
- Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Auspicia quaedam. [1]
- May 3
- Pulitzer prize awarded to James Michener and Tennessee Williams. [1]
- May 4
- The Hague Court of Justice convicts Hans Rauter (German SS) and sentenced him to the death penalty. [1]
- May 5
- Belgian Government of Spaak resigns. [1]
- May 6
- 43 communist rebels executed in Athens, Greece. [1]
- May 7
- Nazi collaborator V-Mann Antonius van de Waals sentenced to death. [1]
- The Council of Europe is founded. [5]
- May 10
- First attack by Egyptian irregular forces at Kfar Darom, Israel. [1]
- May 11
- Haganah takes control of Safed and port of Haifa. [1]
- Luigi Einaudi is elected President of Italy. [1]
- May 12
- Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands resigns. [1]
- May 14
- Britain withdraws from the Palestine territory as its mandate expires. The State of Israel is proclaimed by Jewish Agency Chairman David Ben Gurion. [129] [240.212] [278.58] [406.76] [407.18]
- US President Harry Truman recognizes the state of Israel. [1] [407.18]
- Israeli Radio Station Kol Yisrael's first broadcast. [1]
- US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak. [1]
- Jordan's Arab League captures Atarot, north of Jerusalem. [1]
- May 15
- 28-year-old British Mandate over Palestine ends. [1]
- Forces from Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq attack and invade Israel. [1] [129]
- May 16
- Botvinnik wins 5-player tournament to determine world chess champion. [1]
- Chaim Weizmann elected Chairman of Provisional State Council (President of Israel). [1]
- Egyptians enter the Gaza. [1]
- May 17
- Israel liberates Acre, Nebi Yusha and Telel-Kadi. [1]
- Soviet Union recognizes Israel. [1]
- May 18
- Arab Legion captures fort on Mount Scopus. [1]
- Saudi Arabia joins invasion of Israel. [1]
- May 20
- First use of Israeli Air Force and first war victory, defeating Syrian army. [1]
- May 23
- Ramat Rahel gateway to Jerusalem is repossessed by Israel. [1]
- May 26
- Israeli prime minister David Ben-Gurion creates the Israel Defence Forces. [1673.43]
- South Africa elects a nationalist government with apartheid policy. [1]
- May 27
- Arabs blow up Jewish synagogue Hurvat Rabbi Yehudah he-Hasid. [1]
- May 28
- Iraq captures Ge'ulim settlement. [1]
- June 18
- United Nations Commission on Human Rights adopts International Declaration of Human Rights. [1]
- June 20
- West German Finance Minister Ludwig Erhard eliminates most price controls and introduces a new currency, the "Deutsche mark". [46.96] [118.6]
- June 21
- In a lab in Manchester, England, the Small Scale Experimental Machine computer, nicknamed "Baby" is created, the first to contain memory (128 bytes) which could store a program. [1] [57]
- Edward Wallerstein, president of Columbia Records, demonstrates a long-playing record developed by Peter Goldmark of CBS Laboratories. The microgroove record plays at 33-and-a-third revolutions per minute and could contain a maximum of 23 minutes of music a side. [1] [457]
- June 24
- The Soviet Union cuts off all land and sea routes to West Berlin, in an attempt to pressure the Allies to evacuate. [1] [118.6] [129]
- June 25
- US military governor for Germany, General Lucius D. Clay, orders all available transport planes to fly food and supplies into Berlin, beginning Operation Vittles. [988.643]
- June 26
- William Shockley files the original patent for the grown junction transistor, the first bipolar junction transistor. [5]
- US denounces Soviet blockade of Berlin. [1]
- U.S. and British pilots begin delivering food and supplies by airplane to West Berlin after the city is isolated by a Soviet Union blockade. [129]
- June 30
- John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain, and William Shockley of Bell Telephone Laboratories demonstrate their new invention of the transistor as a substitute for radio vaccuum tubes. [1] [457]
- July 1
- The Universal Postal Union becomes a specialized agency of the United Nations. [1188.241]
- July 5
- Britain launches the universal, tax-funded National Health Service. [1] [222.70]
- July 12
- First jets to fly across the Atlantic (6 RAF de Havilland Vampires). [1]
- July 17
- Proclamation of the constitution of the Republic of (South) Korea. [1]
- July 28
- I.G. Farben chemical plant explodes in Ludwigshafen, Germany, 182 die. [1]
- August 10
- The pound becomes Israel's new legal tender. [518.70]
- August 15
- Republic of Korea (South Korea) proclaimed. [1]
- August 16
- The Israeli pound becomes the legal tender of the new country. [1] [430.68]
- August 20
- US expels Soviet Consul General in New York, Jacob Lomakin. [1]
- August 23
- World Council of Churches formed by 147 churches from 44 countries. [1]
- September 1
- Communists form North China People's Republic. [1]
- United Nations's World Health Organization forms. [1]
- September 4
- Queen Wilhelmina of Netherlands abdicates the throne. [1] [1097.825]
- September 6
- Juliana becomes Queen of the Netherlands. [1] [1097.825]
- September 9
- Democratic People's Republic of Korea is proclaimed in northern Korea, above the 38th parallel of latitude. [1] [1367.239]
- September 14
- Groundbreaking ceremony for the United Nations world headquarters. [1]
- September 15
- Palestine Currency Board coins and bank notes are demonetized in Israel. [549.72]
- F-86 Sabre sets world aircraft speed record of 1080 kph. [1]
- September 17
- In Jerusalem, Palestine, Count Folke Bernadotte, nephew of the Swedish King, is murdered by Jewish extremists while mediating peace between Palestinians and Jews. [1] [7]
- September 18
- Ralph J Bunche confirmed as acting United Nations mediator in Palestine. [1]
- September 24
- The Honda Motor Company is established. [5]
- October 1
- Radio Denmark begins transmitting. [1]
- October 15
- Allies create the Combined Airlift Task Force, under US Major General William H. Turner, to increase the Berlin airlift opertion. [988.644]
- October 21
- The first facsimile (FAX) is demonstrated through high-speed radio transmission, in Washington D.C. [1] [457]
- October 27
- Israel recaptures Nizzanim in the Negev. [1]
- October 28
- Flag of Israel is adopted. [1]
- October 30
- 20 die and 6,000 made ill by smog in Donora, Pennsylvania, USA. [1]
- November 12
- In Tokyo, Japan, the International War Crimes Tribunal announces final verdicts. It sentences former Japanese President Hedeki Tojo and six other Japanese leaders to death. Sixteen others are sentenced to life in prison. [1] [10]
- November 15
- William Lyon Mackenzie King retires as Prime Minister of Canada. [1]
- November 17
- Great Britain's House of Commons votes to nationalize steel industry. [1]
- November 23
- Lens to provide zoom effects patented-FG Back. [1]
- November 25
- Fort Funston's 16-inch coastal guns are removed. [1]
- November 30
- Soviets set up a separate municipal government in East Berlin. [1]
- December 1
- Arabic Congress names Abdullah of Trans Jordan, King of Palestine. [1]
- December 4
- Refugee ship SS Kiangya hits mine in Whangpoo River, China, sinks killing 2,750. [1]
- December 8
- Jordan annexes Arabic Palestine. [1]
- December 9
- United Nations' General Assembly unanimously approves Convention on Genocide. [1]
- December 10
- 48 nations ratify the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. [1738.7]
- December 18
- Indonesia begins its second political election. [1]
- Janet Fay hammered to death by the Honeymoon Killers. [1]
- December 19
- Second political action of Java/Sumatra. [1]
- December 20
- Second Chamber accepts second Police Action in Indonesia. [1]
- James Thomas Mangan of Chicago, Illinois, USA declares creation of the Nation of Celestial Space. [1045.211]
- December 21
- Seishiro Itagaki, Japanese general/Minister of War, hanged. [1]
- State of Eire (formerly Irish Free State) declares its independence. [1]
- December 23
- Hideki Tojo, Japanese Prime Minister, and six other Japanese hanged for war crimes by US. [1]
- December 24
- Greek government disbands due to state of war, press censorship. [1]
- December 28
- Mahmud Nokrashy Pasha, Prime Minister of Egypt, is assassinated. [1]
- Middel-Java as a whole in Dutch hands. [1]
- The Israeli Defence Force crosses the Egyptian border. [1]
- December 29
- Canada recognizes Israel. [1]
- US State Department announces work on placing objects into Earth orbit. [1]
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