1950

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• In January, US senator Joe McCarthy warns President Truman that the State Department is 'riddled with Communists' and begins anti-Communist witch-hunt.

• Prime Minister Pandit Nehru begins India's first Five-Year Plan.

• Communist China and the Soviet Union sign a 30-year pact on 14 February.

• On 8 May, the Schumann Plan is announced in Paris. French and German coal industries and iron and steel production are to be placed under a single authority, which can then be joined by other countries. This is the beginning of what will become the European Union.

• On 25 June, North Korean troops invade South Korea, and the Korean War begins (ends 1953). Within three days, the North Koreans capture Seoul and destroy most of the South Korean army. On 1 July, the first UN troops arrive; the vast majority are American. They recapture Seoul on 26 September and soon cross into North Korea.

• On 21 October, Chinese troops occupy Tibet.

• On 26 November, Communist Chinese troops enter the Korean War, forcing UN troops to retreat southwards. By the end of the year, the Chinese have crossed into South Korea.

• The United States gives military aid to French troops in Indochina.

• Antihistamines are introduced as a treatment for allergies.

• American painter Jackson Pollock paints Lavender Mist, which marks the start of abstract expressionism as a leading modern art movement.

• Japanese film-maker Akira Kurosawa makes Rashomon, an innovative piece of cinema that looks at a murder from four points of view.

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