What happened in 1958

53 events　World 8, Japan 2, North America 15, Europe 13, USSR / Russia 1, Asia 4, Middle East 3, Latin America 4, Africa 3

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Highlights of 1958

World8

  • Jan 1The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being.
  • Mar 17The United States launches the Vanguard 1 satellite.
  • Apr 1The Treaty of Angra de Cintra is signed by Spain and Morocco, ending the Spanish protectorate in Morocco.
  • Apr 13The Soviet satellite Sputnik 2 (launched November 3, 1957) disintegrates during reentry from orbit.
  • Jul 26Explorer program: Explorer 4 is launched in the United States.
  • Dec 14The 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition becomes the first ever to reach the Southern Pole of Inaccessibility.
  • Dec 18The United States launches SCORE, the world's first communications satellite.
  • Dec 19A message from U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower is broadcast from the SCORE satellite.

Japan2

  • Sep 27Typhoon Ida kills at least 1,269 people in Honshū, Japan.
  • OctThe Tale of the White Serpent releasedMade by Toei Doga, Japan's first color feature-length animated film. It was made with the aim of becoming the Disney of the East.

North America15

  • Feb 51958 Tybee Island mid-air collision: A U.S. B-47 bomber jettisons a hydrogen bomb into Wassaw Sound off Tybee Island, Georgia; it is never recovered.
  • Mar 111958 Mars Bluff B-47 nuclear weapon loss incident: A U.S. B-47 bomber accidentally drops an atom bomb on Mars Bluff, South Carolina. Without a fissile warhead, its conventional explosives destroy a house and injure six people.
  • Mar 26The 30th Academy Awards Ceremony takes place in Hollywood; The Bridge on the River Kwai wins 7 awards, including Academy Award for Best Picture.
  • May 12A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada.
  • May 18A U.S. Lockheed F-104 Starfighter sets a world speed record of.
  • Jul 91958 Lituya Bay megatsunami: A 7.8 strike-slip earthquake in Southeast Alaska causes a landslide that produces a megatsunami. The runup from the waves reaches on the rim of Lituya Bay.
  • Jul 29The U.S. Congress formally creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
  • Aug 14KLM Flight 607-E, a Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation, crashes into the Atlantic with 99 people aboard, all of whom are killed.
  • Aug 17The first Thor-Able rocket is launched, carrying Pioneer 0, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 17. The launch fails due to a first stage malfunction.
  • Sep 18BankAmericard, the first credit card to be widely offered, is launched in Fresno, California in what becomes known as the "Fresno Drop".
  • Oct 1NASA starts operations and replaces the NACA in the United States.
  • Oct 11Pioneer 1, the second and most successful of the 3 project Able space probes, becomes the first spacecraft launched by the newly formed NASA.
  • Oct 18Tennis for Two, a game invented by William Higinbotham and considered to be the first pure entertainment computer game, is introduced at the Brookhaven National Laboratory Visitors' Day Exhibit in the United States.
  • Oct 26A Pan American World Airways Boeing 707 makes its first transatlantic flight.
  • Nov 20The Jim Henson Company is founded as Muppets, Inc. in the United States.

Europe13

  • Jan 3The West Indies Federation is formed.
  • Feb 6Seven Manchester United footballers are among the 21 people killed in the Munich air disaster in West Germany, on the return flight from a European Cup game in Yugoslavia. 23 people survive; manager Matt Busby and players Johnny Berry and Duncan Edwards are in a serious condition. Berry will never play again and Edwards dies a fortnight later, as does the co-pilot.
  • Feb 25Bertrand Russell launches the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in the United Kingdom, initiated at a meeting called by Canon John Collins on January 15. The campaign peace symbol has been launched on 21 February by Gerald Holtom. Protests will focus on the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston.
  • Apr 17King Baudouin of Belgium officially opens the world's fair in Brussels, also known as Expo 58. The Atomium forms the centrepiece.
  • May 13Crisis in France: French Algerian protesters seize government offices in Algiers, leading to a military coup.
  • Jun 16Imre Nagy and other leaders of the failed Hungarian Revolution of 1956 are hanged for treason, following secret trials.
  • Jul 24Fourteen life peerages, the first under the Life Peerages Act 1958, are created in the United Kingdom.
  • Sep 1The first Cod War begins between the United Kingdom and Iceland.
  • Sep 28In the 1958 French constitutional referendum, a majority of 79% says yes to the constitution of the Fifth Republic.
  • Oct 4The new Constitution of France is signed into law, establishing the French Fifth Republic.
  • Oct 28Pope John XXIII succeeds Pope Pius XII, as the 261st pope.
  • Nov 3The new UNESCO building, World Heritage Centre, is inaugurated in Paris.
  • Nov 25French Sudan gains autonomy as a self-governing member of the French colonial empire.

USSR / Russia1

  • May 15The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3.

Asia4

  • Feb 14The Hashemite Kingdoms of Iraq and Jordan unite in the Arab Federation, with King Faisal II of Iraq as head of state.
  • Aug 23The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis begins with the People's Republic of China's People's Liberation Army shelling the island of Kinmen (Quemoy) which is controlled by the Republic of China (Taiwan)'s Kuomintang forces.
  • Sep 2China's first television broadcasts start at Beijing Television Station, a predecessor of China Central Television.
  • OctGoldStar, predecessor of LG Electronics, is founded in South Korea.

Middle East3

  • Feb 1Egypt and Syria unite to form the United Arab Republic.
  • Jul 14July 14 Revolution in Iraq: King Faisal II and several family members are executed. Abd al-Karim Qasim assumes power.
  • Jul 151958 Lebanon crisis: 5,000 United States Marines land in the Lebanese capital Beirut in support of the pro-Western government.

Latin America4

  • Feb 24In Cuba, Fidel Castro's Radio Rebelde begins broadcasting from Sierra Maestra.
  • Jun 29Brazil beats Sweden 5–2 in the final game to win the football World Cup in Sweden.
  • Sep 4Jorge Alessandri is the winner of Chile's presidential election.
  • Dec 29Battle of Santa Clara: Rebel troops under Camilo Cienfuegos and Che Guevara begin to invade Santa Clara, Cuba.

Africa3

  • Jan 13Battle of Edchera: The Moroccan Army of Liberation ambushes a Spanish patrol.
  • Jun 30The 1957–58 Ifni War ends in Spanish Sahara.
  • Oct 2Guinea declares itself independent from France, rejecting that nation's new constitution.