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1958
• On 1 February, the presidents of Egypt and Syria sign documents creating a union between them to be known as the United Arab Republic (UAR), with Egypt's President Nasser as head of state. • On 28 May, the French government collapses, sparked by protests by French settlers in Algiers at the possibility that the government would negotiate with nationalist rebels. Five days later, Charles de Gaulle returns to form government; he is elected president on 21 December. • Mao Zedong instigates the Great Leap Forward, which aims to speed up China's industrial development. • Revolution in Iraq brings General Abdul Karim Qassem to power on 14 July. • The USS Nautilus is the first submarine to travel under the North Pole ice cap. • Modernist architects Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson design the Seagram skyscaper in New York. • Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe publishes Things Fall Apart, a novel about an African tribe's reaction to the arrival of colonisers. • The first stereo records become available in the US. • British playwright Harold Pinter's menacing The Birthday Party is first performed. |
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