1948

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• On 20 January, Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated by a Hindu fanatic.

• In February, the Soviet-dominated Eastern Bloc in Europe condemns the independent Communist regime of Tito in Yugoslavia.

• On 14 May, the state of Israel is formed. It is attacked by forces from Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and Syria soon after.

• On 26 May, the Nationalists and the Afrikaner Party win elections in South Africa. They begins passing apartheid laws that severely restrict the rights of black people.

• British colonial troops fight Communist rebels during the Malayan 'emergency', which is declared on 16 June.

• On 24 July, the Soviet Union stops road and rail travel between Berlin and western Germany, forcing the Western powers to organise a massive airlift that continues until 30 September 1949, with a total of 277,264 flights. The blockade greatly heightens Cold War tensions.

• On 9 September, the Democratic People's Republic of [North] Korea is proclaimed, with Kim Il Sung as prime minister.

• On 17 September, Zionist terrorists assassinate Count Folke Bernadotte, the United Nations mediator in Palestine.

• On 2 November, following the presidential election, US president Harry Truman retains office, thus confounding public opinion polls.

• American sexologist Alfred Kinsey publishes Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, one of the earliest books based on research into people's sex lives.

• South African novelist Alan Paton publishes Cry, the Beloved Country, a classic example of anti-apartheid literature.

• English academic F R Leavis publishes The Great Tradition, an influential analysis of the importance of the English novel.

• Italian film-maker Vittorio de Sica makes Ladri di biciclette (The Bicycle Thief), an example of postwar neo-realist cinema.

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