The world in
What happened in 1952?
17 events across 7 world regions, each with its sources.
Europe
- Cold War
After World War II, the Western Bloc led by the United States and the Eastern Bloc led by the Soviet Union engaged in a nearly half-century-long political, economic, and military confrontation. Although the two superpowers never fought directly, they competed globally through proxy wars, an arms race, and the Space Race. The Cold War began in the late 1940s and ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
SourcesWikipedia ↗
- Signing of the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR
On December 30, 1922, the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR was signed at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, officially establishing the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Plenipotentiary delegates from the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, and Byelorussian Soviet republics signed the treaty, along with a declaration serving as its preamble. The treaty legally formalized the political union of the Soviet republics that had existed since 1919, creating a new federal government with centralized functions in Moscow. Legislative power was vested in the Congress of Soviets and the Central Executive Committee, while executive power lay with the Council of People's Commissars.
SourcesWikipedia ↗
- Night of the Murdered Poets
On 12 August 1952, Soviet authorities executed 13 Soviet Jews at Moscow’s Lubyanka Prison. Remembered as the Night of the Murdered Poets, it is widely regarded as the peak of Stalin’s postwar repression of Jewish intellectuals.
SourcesWikipedia ↗
- Establishment of Durmitor National Park
Durmitor National Park was established, becoming a national park of Montenegro. Located in the northwestern municipality of Žabljak, it was later inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980.
- Founding of the National Archaeological Museum of Paestum
The National Archaeological Museum of Paestum was established around the mid-20th century in Capaccio-Paestum, Campania, southern Italy. A major on-site museum in Italy, it houses finds from the ancient Greek city of Poseidonia/Paistom, later Paestum, and retraces the history of the Greek, Lucanian, and Roman city through its various sections.
SourcesWikipedia ↗
- Completion of Le Corbusier's Cabanon de vacances
In 1951, the renowned architect Le Corbusier built a vacation home for himself on the French Mediterranean coast, the only such retreat he ever built for his own use. He subsequently spent every summer there. The building was later inscribed, along with other works by Le Corbusier, as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
SourcesWikipedia ↗
East Asia
- Korean War
The Korean War was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula from 1950 to 1953, starting with North Korea's attack on South Korea. The United Nations, led by the United States, supported South Korea, while China and the Soviet Union supported North Korea, turning it into a proxy war of the early Cold War.
SourcesWikipedia ↗
- Treaty of Taipei signed
On 28 April 1952, the Republic of China and Japan signed the Treaty of Peace in Taipei, officially ending the state of war between them dating back to World War II. Taking effect on 5 August 1952, it marked the formal conclusion of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Built upon the San Francisco Treaty, it formalized Japan's renunciation of claims to Taiwan and the Pescadores.
SourcesWikipedia ↗
- Foundation of the Monument to the People's Heroes
In 1952, the foundation of the Monument to the People's Heroes was laid in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, with construction starting in August of that year. The obelisk was commissioned to honor martyrs of China's revolutionary struggles since the 19th century and was the first large-scale monument built by the newly established People's Republic of China.
SourcesWikipedia ↗
- Founding of Beihang University
Beihang University was founded in 1952 in Beijing as China's first higher education and research institution in aeronautics and astronautics. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Construction.
SourcesWikipedia ↗
South Asia
- First Indochina War Erupts
On 19 December 1946, war broke out in French Indochina between France and the Viet Minh and their allies, with most fighting occurring in Vietnam, lasting until 11 August 1954.
SourcesWikipedia ↗
- Malayan Emergency
In 1948, the British colonial government declared an emergency due to an armed struggle by the Malayan Communist Party. The guerrilla war against the independence-seeking Malayan National Liberation Army, with the involvement of Commonwealth forces, lasted until the lifting of the emergency in 1960.
SourcesWikipedia ↗
Oceania
- Establishment of Fiordland National Park
New Zealand established its largest national park in the southwest of the South Island, protecting glacier-carved valleys, primeval forests, and endemic birds. The area later became part of a World Heritage Site.
SourcesWikipedia ↗
- Founding of the University of Guam
The University of Guam was founded in 1952 in the village of Mangilao, Guam, as a public land-grant university.
SourcesWikipedia ↗
North Africa
- 1952 Egyptian Revolution
On 23 July 1952, the Free Officers Movement, led by Mohamed Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser, staged a coup that toppled King Farouk I.
SourcesWikipedia ↗
North America
- Signing of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty
On September 8, 1951, the United States and Japan signed the Security Treaty in San Francisco, alongside the Treaty of San Francisco that ended World War II in Asia. Imposed by the U.S. as a condition for ending the Occupation and restoring Japan's sovereignty, it established a long-lasting military alliance and allowed the U.S. to maintain forces in the Far East.
SourcesWikipedia ↗
Sub-Saharan Africa
- Establishment of the Marojejy Strict Nature Reserve
In 1952, the Marojejy area in northeastern Madagascar was set aside as a strict nature reserve covering about 555 square kilometers, with access restricted to research scientists. This designation laid the groundwork for its later conversion into a national park in 1998 and its inscription as a World Heritage site in 2007.
SourcesWikipedia ↗
Around 1952
These are known only to the century, not to the year. They are listed separately so a rough date is never mistaken for an exact one.
- Emergence of the Green Revolution
- Beginning of the Digital Revolution
- Establishment of Women's Suffrage Worldwide
- Establishment of Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park
- Construction of Grimeton Longwave Radio Station
- Construction of the Trans-Iranian Railway begins
- Construction of the 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright Begins
- Construction of the Historic Monuments of Dengfeng in 'The Centre of Heaven and Earth'