Contemporary
Partition of India 1947: Mass Migration, Violence and Two Nations
British India was divided into India and Pakistan; an estimated 10 to 20 million people were displaced and hundreds of thousands to perhaps 2 million were killed.
Era · 1945 – present
Contemporary
From the Cold War and the Space Race to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the world we live in today.
Contemporary
Hollywood Ten (1947): HUAC Hearings and the Film Blacklist
The ten were convicted of contempt of Congress and imprisoned, and the studios began a blacklist that lasted until about 1960.
Contemporary
Indian Independence 1947: How the British Raj Came to an End
British rule ended and power passed to two independent dominions, India and Pakistan, under the Indian Independence Act 1947.
Contemporary
Truman Doctrine (1947): America's Pledge to Contain Communism
Congress approved $400 million in aid to Greece and Turkey, and containment of communism became the basis of US foreign policy in the Cold War.
Contemporary
Invention of the Transistor (1947): Bell Labs and the Chip Age
The point-contact transistor, demonstrated on 23 December 1947, began the replacement of vacuum tubes and laid the foundation of modern electronics.
Contemporary
Jackie Robinson Breaks Baseball's Color Line (1947)
Robinson became the first Black player in modern Major League Baseball, opening the way for the integration of the sport.
Contemporary
Deir Yassin Massacre 1948: Killings in a Village near Jerusalem
Around 100–120 villagers were killed; news of the killings spread fear among Palestinian Arabs and hardened the 1948 conflict.
Contemporary
Huaihai Campaign 1948-1949: A Decisive Chinese Civil War Battle
Communist victory; Nationalist losses of roughly half a million men left the Yangtze line and Nanjing exposed.
Contemporary
Burmese Independence 1948: Aung San and the End of British Burma
Burma became an independent republic outside the British Commonwealth, with U Nu as prime minister and Sao Shwe Thaik as president.
Contemporary
Operation Polo 1948: India's Annexation of Hyderabad State
The Hyderabad army surrendered within five days and the state was integrated into India, but the operation was followed by widespread communal killings.
Contemporary
Malayan Emergency 1948-1960: Britain's Guerrilla War in Malaya
The communist insurgency was defeated militarily; Malaya became independent in 1957 and the Emergency was declared over in 1960.
Contemporary
1948 Arab-Israeli War: The First War over Israel and Palestine
Israel survived and expanded beyond the UN partition lines; Jordan held the West Bank and Egypt the Gaza Strip; some 700,000 to 750,000 Palestinian Arabs became refugees.