Royal Indian Navy sailors launch a strike against colonial rule

Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta proclaimed Indonesian independence after Japan’s surrender. Youth organizers had pressed for an immediate declaration, and Indonesians began building republican...

At a mass gathering in Hanoi, Hồ Chí Minh declared the Democratic Republic of Vietnam independent, invoking anticolonial struggle and universal rights. The declaration followed the August Revolution...

Japanese representatives signed the Instrument of Surrender aboard the USS Missouri, formally ending the war. The signing established Allied occupation authority over Japan and ordered Japanese forces...

The UN Charter came into force, establishing an international body grounded in sovereign equality while hundreds of millions remained under colonial rule. The organization’s early structure gave major...

The International Military Tribunal began prosecuting leading Nazi officials for crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The trials helped establish legal language for mass...

The United States formally recognized Philippine independence after decades of colonial rule and a devastating Japanese occupation. The Bell Trade Act and related arrangements tied reconstruction...

A customs dispute and armed clashes in Haiphong escalated into French naval bombardment and extensive destruction. Casualty estimates vary widely, and contemporaneous colonial reporting minimized...

The end of British rule created the states of India and Pakistan amid hurried border drawing, mass migration, and communal violence. Millions crossed newly imposed borders; many were killed,...

Two days after independence, the Radcliffe boundary awards were made public, dividing Punjab and Bengal between India and Pakistan. Many residents learned which state they would live in only after the...

The UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 181, recommending partition of British-ruled Palestine into Arab and Jewish states with an international regime for Jerusalem. Palestinian Arabs, who made up...