What happened in 1948

World10

• Jan 7Mantell UFO incident: Kentucky Air National Guard pilot Thomas Mantell crashes while in pursuit of an unidentified flying object.
• Apr 51947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine: Haganah launches Operation Nachshon, provoking the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight.
• Apr 9The Deir Yassin massacre takes place in British Mandatory Palestine.
• May 9Solar eclipse of May 9, 1948: An annular solar eclipse is visible in Japan and South Korea, and is the 32nd solar eclipse of Solar Saros 137. This eclipse is very short, lasting just 0.3 seconds. The path width is just about 200 meters wide (approximately 218 yards).
• May 14The Israeli Declaration of Independence is made. David Ben-Gurion becomes the first prime minister, a provisional position that will become formalized on February 14, 1949.
• May 16Chaim Weizmann is elected as the first President of Israel
• Jun 24Cold War: The Berlin Blockade begins.
• Jun 26The Berlin Airlift begins.
• Aug 10The Herrenchiemsee convention prepares the draft for the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany.
• Dec 10The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Japan2

• Jun 28The 6.8 Fukui earthquake strikes Fukui, Japan; 3,769 are killed, 22,203 injured.
• Nov 12In Tokyo, an international war crimes tribunal sentences seven Japanese military and government officials to death, including General Hideki Tojo, for their roles in World War II.

North America18

• Mar 17The Hells Angels motorcycle gang is founded in California.
• Mar 20The 20th Academy Awards Ceremony is held in Los Angeles. Gentleman's Agreement wins the Academy Award for Best Picture.
• Apr 3United States President Harry S. Truman signs the Marshall Plan, which authorizes $5 billion in aid for 16 countries.
• Apr 30The Organization of American States (OAS) is founded.
• AprChildren's Bargain Town, a predecessor of toy and child-related retailer Toys "R" Us, is founded in Washington, D.C., United States.
• May 26The United States Congress passes Public Law 557 which permanently establishes the Civil Air Patrol as the auxiliary of the United States Air Force.
• MayThe RAND Corporation is established, as an independent nonprofit policy research and analysis institution, in the United States.
• Jul 26U.S. President Truman signs Executive Order 9981, ending racial segregation in the United States Armed Forces.
• Aug 3Whittaker Chambers appears under subpoena before the HUAC and alleges that several former U.S. Federal officials were communists, including Harry Dexter White and Alger Hiss.
• Aug 13Harry Dexter White and Donald Hiss refute allegations of Communism by Whittaker Chambers, before the HUAC.
• Aug 27Whittaker Chambers states that Alger Hiss was a communist on Meet the Press radio.
• Oct 20Brandeis University is formally founded in Massachusetts.
• Oct 26Donora Smog of 1948: A killer smog settles into Donora, Pennsylvania.
• Nov 21948 United States presidential election: Democratic incumbent Harry S. Truman defeats Republican Thomas E. Dewey, "Dixiecrat" Strom Thurmond and Progressive party candidate Henry A. Wallace.
• The Fresh Kills Landfill, the world's largest, opens on Staten Island, New York.

3 more in the app

Europe26

• Jan 1The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated.
• Jan 1The current Constitutions of Italy and of New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) go into effect.
• Jan 22British foreign secretary Ernest Bevin proposes the formation of a Western Union between Britain, France and the Benelux countries to stand up against the Soviet Union. The Treaty of Brussels is signed March 17 as a consequence, a predecessor to NATO.
• Jan 31The British crown colony of the Malayan Union, Penang and Malacca form the Federation of Malaya.
• Feb 251948 Czechoslovak coup d'état: Edvard Beneš, President of Czechoslovakia, cedes control of the country to the Communist Party, a day celebrated by that regime as "Victorious February" (; ) until November 1989.
• Mar 17The Treaty of Brussels is signed by Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, providing for economic, social and cultural collaboration and collective self-defence.
• Apr 7The World Health Organization is established by the United Nations.
• Apr 16The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is founded, as the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC).
• Jun 1Puma, a global sports goods brand, is founded in Bavaria, West Germany, by Rudolf Dassler, having split from his brother "Adi".
• Jun 21The Deutsche Mark becomes the official currency of the future Federal Republic of Germany.
• Jun 24The first World Health Assembly of the World Health Organization is held in Geneva.
• Jun 28The Cominform Resolution marks the beginning of the Informbiro period in Yugoslavia and the Soviet/Yugoslav split.
• Jul 5The National Health Service in the United Kingdom begins functioning, giving the right to universal healthcare, free at point of use.
• Aug 23The World Council of Churches is established in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
• Dec 9The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Genocide Convention.

11 more in the app

USSR / Russia2

• Apr 6The Finno-Soviet Treaty is signed in Moscow.
• Oct 10The R-1 missile on test becomes the first Soviet launch to enter space.

Asia17

• Jan 12Mahatma Gandhi begins his fast-unto-death in Delhi, to stop communal violence during the Partition of India.
• Jan 30Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi: Indian pacifist and leader Mahatma Gandhi is shot by Nathuram Godse in New Delhi.
• Feb 1The Federation of Malaya is proclaimed.
• Apr 3Jeju Uprising: Residents revolt on Jeju Island, South Korea, eventually leading to the deaths of between 14,000 and 30,000.
• Apr 19Burma joins the United Nations.
• Jun 15Chinese newspaper Renmin Ribao (People's Daily) is first published in Pingshan County, Hebei.
• Jun 18Malayan Emergency: A state of emergency is declared in the Federation of Malaya, due to a communist insurgency.
• Aug 12Babrra massacre: About 600 unarmed members of the Khudai Khidmatgar movement are shot dead on the orders of the Chief Minister of the North-West Frontier Province, Abdul Qayyum Khan Kashmiri, on Babrra ground in the Hashtnagar region of Charsadda District, North-West Frontier Province (modern-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Pakistan.
• Aug 15The southern half of Korea is established as the Republic of Korea (South Korea).
• Sep 9The northern half of Korea is formally declared the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), with Kim Il Sung as prime minister.
• Sep 11Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder and first Governor-General of Pakistan, dies. Pakistan is in a state of shock as it mourns the departure of the father of the nation. The day is a public holiday nationwide.
• Sep 13Indian annexation of Hyderabad ("Operation Polo"): The princely state of Hyderabad is invaded by the Indian Armed Forces in a "police action", in the aftermath of Pakistani leader Jinnah's death. The Nizam of Hyderabad surrenders his state, which is amalgamated into the newly independent Dominion of India; thousands are killed as a result of this event.
• Oct 61948 Ashgabat earthquake: A 7.3 earthquake near Ashgabat, Soviet Turkmenistan kills 10,000–110,000.
• Dec 11Malayan Emergency: Batang Kali massacre: Scots Guards shoot 24 Chinese villagers in Malaya.
• Dec 26The last Soviet troops withdraw from North Korea.

2 more in the app

Middle East9

• Apr 13The Hadassah medical convoy massacre takes place, in British Mandatory Palestine.
• Apr 22Civil War in Mandatory Palestine: Battle of Haifa – Jewish paramilitary group Haganah captures Haifa from the Arab Liberation Army.
• May 151948 Arab–Israeli War: The British Mandate of Palestine is officially terminated; expeditionary forces from Egypt, Transjordan, Syria and Iraq invade Israel and clash with Israeli forces after declaring war.
• Oct 291948 Arab–Israeli War: Massacres of Palestinian Arab villagers by the Israel Defense Forces:
• Oct 29Al-Dawayima massacre: Between 30 and 145 are killed.
• Oct 29Safsaf massacre: At least 52 are killed.
• Nov 16Operation Magic Carpet to transport Jews from Yemen to Israel begins.
• Dec 28A Muslim Brotherhood member assassinates Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmud Fahmi Nokrashi.
• Dec 31Arab-Israeli War: Israeli troops drive Egyptians from the Negev.

Latin America4

• Mar 12The Costa Rican Civil War begins.
• Apr 9Liberal politician Jorge Eliécer Gaitán's assassination provokes a violent riot in Bogotá (the Bogotazo) and a further 10 years of violence (La Violencia) across Colombia.
• Apr 24The Costa Rican Civil War ends.
• Nov 16The University of the Andes (Universidad de los Andes) is founded in Bogotá, Colombia.

Africa1

• May 28Daniel François Malan defeats Jan Smuts and becomes Prime Minister of South Africa, which starts the era of apartheid (which is finally dismantled by F. W. de Klerk in 1994).