American occupation forces are withdrawn from Korea. South Africa signals a hardening of apartheid restrictions by banning mixed marriages and automatic citizenship for immigrants from Commonwealth countries.

5 Aug.

The United States terminates all military and economic assistance to the Nationalist Chinese government of Chiang Kai-shek.

14 Aug.

The conservative Christian Democratic Party, led by Konrad Adenauer, garners 31 percent of the vote in the first postwar parliamentary election conducted in the new Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany).

23 Sept.

American, British, and Canadian officials announce that the Soviet Union has successfully detonated an atomic bomb.

1 Oct.

The Communist People's Republic of China is proclaimed.

7 Oct.

The eastern, Soviet-occupied zone of Germany declares itself the German Democratic Republic.

24 Oct.

In New York the permanent headquarters of the United Nations is dedicated.

8 Nov.

Cambodia becomes an independent nation within the French Union.

26 Nov.

India adopts a federal constitution and opts to remain within...