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.
Region
Europe
Contemporary
Tito-Stalin Split (1948): Yugoslavia Breaks with Moscow
Yugoslavia was expelled from the Cominform and went on to build a communist state independent of Soviet control.
Contemporary
Czechoslovak Coup of 1948: The Communist Takeover in Prague
President Beneš accepted a communist-dominated government on 25 February 1948, and Czechoslovakia became a one-party state in the Soviet bloc until 1989.
Contemporary
Berlin Airlift (1948–1949): Supplying a Blockaded City by Air
The Western powers supplied West Berlin entirely by air for over ten months; the Soviet Union lifted the blockade in May 1949 and Germany was divided into two states.
Contemporary
1948 London Olympics: The Austerity Games After World War II
The first Olympics since 1936 were staged successfully on a small budget, with 59 nations and about 4,100 athletes.
Contemporary
Stoke Mandeville Games (1948): The Origins of the Paralympics
A small archery competition for spinal injury patients grew into the International Stoke Mandeville Games and then the Paralympic movement.
Contemporary
Empire Windrush Arrival (1948): Caribbean Migration to Britain
The arrival of more than 800 Caribbean passengers became the symbolic start of large-scale post-war Commonwealth migration to Britain.
Contemporary
Wirtschaftswunder: West Germany's Postwar Economic Miracle
West Germany achieved rapid growth, near full employment and rising living standards, becoming Western Europe's largest economy by the 1960s.
Contemporary
Marshall Plan (1948): American Aid That Rebuilt Western Europe
Around 13 billion US dollars in aid helped restore Western European production, trade and political stability, and deepened the Cold War division of Europe.
Contemporary
Founding of NATO (1949): The North Atlantic Treaty Signed
Twelve Western countries formed a collective defence alliance; the treaty entered into force on 24 August 1949.
Contemporary
The Second Sex (1949): Simone de Beauvoir's Feminist Landmark
The two-volume study caused a scandal in France and became a founding text of second-wave feminism and gender theory.
Contemporary
Council of Europe (1949): Founding of Europe's Human Rights Body
Ten Western European states created an intergovernmental organisation for democracy, human rights and the rule of law, which later produced the European Convention on Human Rights.