Contemporary
Salk Polio Vaccine (1955): The Field Trial That Beat Polio
The inactivated polio vaccine was declared safe and effective and licensed in 1955, and polio cases in the United States fell sharply within a few years.
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
Warsaw Pact (1955): The Soviet Bloc's Military Alliance
The Soviet Union and seven Eastern European states formed a military alliance that lasted until its dissolution in July 1991.
Contemporary
Vietnam War (1955–1975): Causes, Course and Consequences
North Vietnam and the Viet Cong won; Saigon fell on 30 April 1975 and Vietnam was reunified under communist rule in 1976.
Contemporary
Bandung Conference 1955: Asia and Africa Meet after Empire
The 29 participating states adopted a final communiqué with ten principles on peace and cooperation, a landmark for decolonisation and non-alignment.
Contemporary
Murder of Emmett Till (1955): The Lynching That Shocked America
Two white men were acquitted of the murder by an all-white jury; the case became a catalyst for the civil rights movement.
Contemporary
Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956): Rosa Parks and a City's Buses
After 381 days the boycott ended when a Supreme Court-backed ruling in Browder v. Gayle declared bus segregation in Montgomery unconstitutional.
Contemporary
Austrian State Treaty (1955): Austria Regains Independence
The four occupying powers restored Austria as a sovereign state; their troops left by October 1955 and Austria declared permanent neutrality.
Contemporary
Khrushchev's Secret Speech (1956): Stalin Denounced in Moscow
Stalin's crimes were officially acknowledged for the first time, opening the Khrushchev Thaw and triggering unrest in Poland and Hungary.
Contemporary
Hungarian Revolution of 1956: Uprising Against Soviet Rule
The revolution was crushed by Soviet forces; about 200,000 Hungarians fled abroad and Imre Nagy was executed in 1958.
Contemporary
Moroccan Independence 1956: The End of the French Protectorate
France and then Spain recognised Morocco's independence, Tangier was reintegrated, and Mohammed V ruled as king of a sovereign state.
Contemporary
Hundred Flowers Campaign 1956-1957: Mao Invites Criticism
A brief burst of free criticism was followed by the Anti-Rightist Campaign, in which more than 550,000 people were labelled rightists.
Contemporary
Suez Crisis 1956: Nasser, the Canal and the End of Empire
Military success for the invaders turned into political defeat; under US, Soviet and UN pressure Britain and France withdrew and Egypt kept the canal.