Major historical events

1. 1945
January 27- Auschwitz lager is finally free : «Never shall I forget that night, the
first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed. Never
shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose
bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky » Elie Wiesel, writer
who survived the Holocaust
February 1 - Right to vote for women in Italy: Thanks to the liberation war,
Italy built the basis for its future democratic life, giving all citizens the right to
choose the Parliament members.
February 4 - Yalta Conference : While World War II was almost finished, allied
powers (except from France) met in Crimea, in order to decide the destiny of the
war and the future structure of an important part of Europe.
April 25 - Milan and Turin liberated from nazifascist occupation: A freedom
cry emerged in the streets. Thousands of men and women, fathers and mothers,
met under the Resistance flag.
June 26- Birth of UN: At its founding, the UN had 51 member states; there are
now 193.
August 6 - The atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki : The United States
dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August
1945, during the final stage of the Second World War
September 2 - End of the Second World War: Having agreed in principle to
unconditional surrender, Japan formally surrenders ending World War II throughout
the rest of the world.
20 November - Nurimberg process starts: The entire world asked for justice for
all those people who were brutally killed during the conflict.
1946
April 23 - Vespa was patented: «It's not just a motorcycle, rather a little two
wheels car ». It is one of the many advertisements that accompanied the birth of
this means of transport, considered one of the most important Italian symbols.
June 2 - Italy become a Republic: In this day there was a referendum that asked
Italian people which state form it wanted to give to the country.

2. July 5 - Introduction of bikini: French designer Louis Reard unveils a daring two-
piece swimsuit at the Piscine Molitor, a popular swimming pool in Paris. Parisian
showgirl Micheline Bernardini modeled the new fashion, which Reard dubbed “bikini,”
inspired by a news-making U.S. atomic test that took place off the Bikini Atoll in the
Pacific Ocean earlier that week.
1947
December 11 - Unicef birth: UNICEF was created by the United Nations General
Assembly to provide emergency food and healthcare to children in countries that
had been devastated by World War II
June 25 - Publishment of the Diary of Anne Frank: it is a book of the writings
from the diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her
family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The diary was retrieved
by Miep Gies, who gave it to Anne's father, Otto Frank, the family's only known
survivor. The diary has since been published in more than 60 different languages.
1948
December 22 - Italian Constitution is approved: The Constitution of the Italian
Republic was enacted by the Constituent Assembly on 22 December 1947, with 453
votes in favour and 62 against. The text, which has since been amended 15 times,
was promulgated in the extraordinary edition of Gazzetta Ufficiale No. 298
April 18 - First elections of the Italian Republic: The elections were eventually
won with a comfortable margin by the Christian Democracy party that defeated the
left-wing coalition of the Popular Democratic Front that comprised the Italian
Communist Party and the Italian Socialist Party.
24 settembre - Honda was created: The idea came from the young S. Honda,
who attached an auxiliary engine to power a bicycle. It had been made into a
commercial product in England and other places, and a few of these products had
been imported into Japan. Moreover, the original concept of the motorcycle had
developed from the notion of adding a power source to a bicycle.
1949
May 4 - Superga tragedy: It occurred when the Fiat G.212 of Avio Linee Italiane,
carrying the entire Torino football team (popularly known as the Grande Torino)
crashed into the retaining wall at the back of the Basilica of Superga, which stands on
the hill of Turin. There were 31 victims.
September 16 - Wile E. Coyote was born: Fast and Furry-ous is a Warner
Bros. Looney Tunes cartoondirected by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese.
Fast and Furry-ous was the debut for Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner. It set the
template for the series, in which Wile E. tries to catch Roadrunner through many
traps, plans and products, although in this first cartoon not all of the products are yet
made by ACME.

3. 1950
March 4 - Cinderella by Disney :animated movie produced by Walt Disney is
based on the fairy tale "Cendrillon" by Charles Perrault. Released on March 4, 1950,
the film received three Academy Award nominations.
1951
January 29 - First edition of the Italian "Festival di Sanremo": "Ladies and
gentlemen, welcome to the Casinò of Sanremo for a wonderful night organized by
RAI, a night of songs with the orchestra of Cinico Angelini"
1952
February 6 - The reign of Elizabeth II begins: «God Save the Queen». On this
day in 1952, after a long illness, King George VI of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland dies in his sleep at the royal estate at Sandringham. Princess Elizabeth, the
oldest of the king’s two daughters and next in line to succeed him, was in Kenya at
the time of her father’s death; she was crowned Queen Elizabeth II on June 2, 1953,
at age 27
September 10 - The first Italian "TG" was born : It's 9 o'clock p.m. and the first
Italian "TG" (newscast) takes place
1953
February 28 - DNA structure is discovered : On this day in 1953, Cambridge
University scientists James D. Watson and Frances H.C. Crick announce that they
have determined the double-helix structure of DNA, the molecule containing human
genes
May 29 - First man who climbed Everest: Hillary
and Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers to
reach the summit of Mount Everest. They were part of the ninth British expedition to
Everest
July 26 - Cuban revolution started: The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt
conducted by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement and its allies against the U.S.
1954
January 3 - Birth of the Italian RAI : « RAI - Radiotelevisione Italiana starts
now». Fulvia Colombo

4. October 26 - Trieste becomes officially part pf Italy: The city of Trieste, called
Zone A, was handed over to Italy while the southern part of the territory (Zone B)
comprising Istria and some parts of the Carso, was given to Yugoslavia.
1955
February 9 - The first Italian underground is opened : It was created in Rome
and it is today composed by three lines.
August 7 - First Sony radiolines: It is the first example of portable radio.
1956
March 21 - Anna Magnani, the first Italian actress who won the Oscar prize
She won the Academy Award for Best Actress, along with four other international
awards, for her portrayal of a Sicilian widow in The Rose Tattoo.
July 26 - Andrea Doria tragedy SS Andrea Doria was an ocean liner for the Italian
Line home ported in Genoa, Italy, most famous for her sinking in 1956, when 52
people were killed
1957
February 3 - Carosello on air: It was a tv programme that Italian people loved
very much
October 4 - First satellite in the space: The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1
into an elliptical low Earth orbit on 4 October 1957.
1958
February 1- "Nel blu dipinto di blu" is a triumph during the festival of
Sanremo: Domenico Modugno won this edition of the Festival of Sanremo. This song
is now one of the Italian symbols known in the world.
Juy 9 - The tallest freak wave: A terrible earthquake destroyed Lituya Bay -
Alaska.
August 3 - First travel under the North Pole: Nautilus SSN-571 was the first
submarine that crossed the ice cap of the North Pole.

5. 1959
February 21 - Creation of the Peace symbol: The peace symbol is one of the
most recognized symbols around the world. Its history begins in Britain, where it was
designed by Gerald Holtom to be used as a symbol against nuclear arms.
March 28 - Tibet lost its independence from China: In March 1959, the various
Tibetan resistance movements' activities and the growing popular resentment to
Chinese rule culminated in an open revolt in Lhasa and the surrounding areas
1960
July 21 - The first premier woman: Sirimavo Bandaranaike (Sri Lanka) was the
first woman in history who covered the role of First Minister in a country.
August 20 - Birth of Rome Fiumicino Airport: Also simply known as Fiumicino
Airport, is a major international airport in Rome, Italy. It is one of the busiest
airports in Europe by passenger traffic
1961
April 12 - First man in space: Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was
a Russian Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer
space, when his Vostokspacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on 12 April 1961.
May 28 - Birth of Amnesty International: The organization states, "British lawyer
Peter Benenson launches a worldwide campaign, “Appeal for Amnesty 1961”, with
the publication of an article in the Observer newspaper. The article, “The Forgotten
Prisoners”, is written after he learns of two Portuguese students who were
imprisoned for raising a toast to freedom. Reprinted in newspapers across the world,
his appeal marks the beginning of Amnesty International."
August 13 - Berlin Wall: Constructed by the German Democratic Republic
(GDR, East Germany), starting on 13 August 1961, the wall completely cut off (by
land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin.
September 11 - Birth of WWF: On 29 April 1961, in the small town of Morges in
Switzerland, a group of eminent people made a commitment to the natural world.
They called for urgent worldwide action to stop vast numbers of wild animals being
hunted out of existence and habitats destroyed. The 'Morges Manifesto' became the
blueprint for the first global green organisation – the World Wildlife Fund (now called
simply WWF).

6. 1962
October 14 - Cuban missile crisis: It was a 13-day confrontation between the
United States and the Soviet Union over Soviet ballistic missiles deployed in Cuba. It
played out on television worldwide and was the closest the Cold War came to
escalating into a full-scale nuclear war.
October 27 - Mattei case: In a terrible night, the plane where Enrico Mattei (Eni
President) was travelling, tragically collapsed.
1963
August 28 - Martin Luther King pronounced his fampus speech "I have
dream": I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true
meaning of its creed.
October 9 - Vajont disaster: On 9 October 1963, during initial filling, a massive
landslide caused a man-made megatsunami in the lake in which 50 million cubic
metres of water overtopped the dam in a 250-metre wave, leading to the complete
destruction of several villages and towns, and 1917 deaths.
1964
April 20 - Ferrero produces the first jar of Nutella: Pietro Ferrero, who owned
a bakery in Alba, Piedmont, an area known for the production of hazelnuts, sold an
initial batch of 300 kilograms of "Pasta Gianduja" in 1946. This was originally a solid
block, but Ferrero started to sell a creamy version in 1951 as "Supercrema".
In 1963, Ferrero's son Michele Ferrero revamped Supercrema with the intention of
marketing it throughout Europe. Its composition was modified and it was renamed
"Nutella".
1965
July 16 - Opening of Monte Bianco tunnel: It is considered the longest tunnel of
the world. It links Italy and France.
1966
September 8 - First episode of Star Trek: It is an American science
fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry and owned by CBS and
Paramount Pictures

7. 1967
June 12 - First probe on Venus: Venus was the first spatial probe that entered in
the atmosphere of another planet.
June 27 - First automated teller machine in London: It is widely accepted that
the first ATM was put into use by Barclays Bank in its Enfield Town branch in North
London. This machine was inaugurated by English comedy actor Reg Varney.
1968
January 5 - Prague Spring: It was a period of
political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during the era of its domination by
the Soviet Union after World War II. It began on 5 January 1968, when
reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Secretary of the Communist Party of
Czechoslovakia (KSČ), and continued until 21 August when the Soviet Union and
other members of the Warsaw Pact invaded the country to halt the reforms.