Mass Palestinian displacement deepens into the Nakba

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...

Burma became independent outside the British Commonwealth after a mass nationalist struggle and the wartime resistance led by the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League. Independence did not resolve...

Ceylon gained independence as a Dominion within the Commonwealth. The transfer left substantial constitutional and economic ties to Britain and did not dismantle plantation structures built through...

Britain ended its Mandate over Palestine, and David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the establishment of Israel. The declaration came amid war and the displacement of Palestinian communities, many of whom had...

The UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, affirming rights and dignity for all people. Yet colonial powers continued governing millions without equal political rights,...

The United States, Canada, and ten Western European states signed the North Atlantic Treaty. The alliance institutionalized a Cold War bloc and linked European security to U.S. power. Many governments...

The Basic Law took effect in the western occupation zones, establishing the Federal Republic of Germany. The division of Germany reflected postwar occupation and growing Cold War rivalry. European...

Mao Zedong proclaimed the People’s Republic of China in Beijing after decades of revolution, Japanese invasion, and civil war. The Nationalist government retreated to Taiwan. The new state’s...

The Netherlands transferred sovereignty to the Republic of the United States of Indonesia after four years of revolution and international pressure. The agreement excluded West New Guinea from the...