United Kingdom Timeline of Events

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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

Timeline of Events

1943

5.19.1943

World War II: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt set Monday, May 1, 1944 as the date for the Normandy landings ("D-Day"). It would later be delayed over a month due to bad weather.

6.1.1943

British Overseas Airways Corporation Flight 777 is shot down over the Bay of Biscay by German Junkers Ju 88s, killing actor Leslie Howard and leading to speculation the downing was an attempt to kill British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

6.23.1943

World War II: The British destroyers HMS Eclipse and HMS Laforey sink the Italian submarine ''Ascianghi'' in the Mediterranean after she torpedoes the cruiser HMS Newfoundland.

7.24.1943

World War II: Operation Gomorrah begins: British and Canadian aeroplanes bomb Hamburg by night, those of the Americans by day. By the end of the operation in November, 9,000 tons of explosives will have killed more than 30,000 people and destroyed 280,000 buildings.

8.17.1943

World War II: The U.S. Seventh Army under General George S. Patton arrives in Messina, Italy, followed several hours later by the British 8th Army under Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery, thus completing the Allied conquest of Sicily.

1944

9.4.1944

World War II: the British 11th Armoured Division liberates the Belgian city of Antwerp.

9.18.1944

World War II: The British submarine HMS Tradewind torpedoes Junyō Maru, 5,600 killed.

11.26.1944

World War II: A German V-2 rocket hits a Woolworth's shop on New Cross High Street, United Kingdom, killing 168 shoppers.

1945

1.7.1945

World War II: British General Bernard Montgomery holds a press conference in which he claims credit for victory in the Battle of the Bulge.

2.14.1945

World War II: On the first day of the bombing of Dresden, the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces begin fire-bombing Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony.

2.23.1945

World War II: The German town of Pforzheim is completely destroyed in a raid by 379 British bombers.

3.4.1945

In the United Kingdom, Princess Elizabeth, later to become Queen Elizabeth II, joins the Women's Auxiliary Territorial Service as a driver.

3.16.1945

Ninety percent of Würzburg, Germany is destroyed in only 20 minutes by British bombers. 5,000 are killed.

3.21.1945

World War II: British troops liberate Mandalay, Burma.

5.5.1945

World War II: Canadian and UK troops liberate the Netherlands and Denmark from Nazi occupation when Wehrmacht troops capitulate

5.9.1945

World War II: The Channel Islands are liberated by the British after five years of German occupation.

5.23.1945

World War II: The Flensburg government under Reichspräsident Karl Dönitz is dissolved when its members are captured and arrested by British forces at Flensburg in Northern Germany.

1946

10.1.1946

Mensa International is founded in the United Kingdom.

1947

1.1.1947

The American and British occupation zones in Germany, after the World War II, merge to form the Bizone, that later became the Federal Republic of Germany.

11.25.1947

New Zealand ratifies the Statute of Westminster and thus becomes independent of legislative control by the United Kingdom.

1948

1.4.1948

Burma regains its independence from the United Kingdom.

3.17.1948

Benelux, France, and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Brussels, a precursor to the North Atlantic Treaty establishing NATO.

1950

1.6.1950

The United Kingdom recognizes the People's Republic of China. The Republic of China severs diplomatic relations with the UK in response.

12.28.1950

The Peak District becomes the United Kingdom's first National Park.

1952

2.21.1952

The British government, under Winston Churchill, abolishes identity cards in the UK to "set the people free".

2.26.1952

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill announces that his nation has an atomic bomb.

10.3.1952

The United Kingdom successfully tests a nuclear weapon.

1953

4.8.1953

Mau Mau leader Jomo Kenyatta is convicted by Kenya's British rulers.

1955

9.22.1955

In the United Kingdom, the television channel ITV goes live for the first time.

11.23.1955

The Cocos Islands are transferred from the control of the United Kingdom to Australia.

12.20.1955

Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom.

1956

1.1.1956

The Republic of the Sudan achieves independence from the Egyptian Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

10.31.1956

Suez Crisis: The United Kingdom and France begin bombing Egypt to force the reopening of the Suez Canal.

11.7.1956

Suez Crisis: The United Nations General Assembly adopts a resolution calling for the United Kingdom, France and Israel to immediately withdraw their troops from Egypt.

1957

2.16.1957

The "Toddlers' Truce", a controversial television close down between 6.00pm and 7.00pm is abolished in the United Kingdom.

3.6.1957

United Kingdom colonies Gold Coast and British Togoland become the independent Republic of Ghana.

5.15.1957

At Malden Island in the Pacific, Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb in Operation Grapple. The device fails to detonate properly.

8.31.1957

The Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia) gains its independence from the United Kingdom.

10.10.1957

The Windscale fire in Cumbria, U.K. is the world's first major nuclear accident.

11.8.1957

Operation Grapple X, Round C1: Britain conducts its first successful hydrogen bomb test over Kiritimati in the Pacific.

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