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The Popular Liberation Movement of Angola, or MPLA, is founded with the help of the Portuguese Communist Party. Its aim is to liberate Angola from Portuguese control. It has the support of the Soviet Union.
Read a short
history
of Angola here.
Nasser nationalises the Suez Canal Company. He does this in retaliation of the United State's withdrawal of funds previously promised for the construction of the Aswan Dam. This move infuriates the British and French to whom the waterway is very vital.
Read more on the
Suez Canal.
Nasser becomes the president of Egypt.
Diem, the leader of South Vietnam, goes back on his word to hold elections with North Vietnam. In response, the North Vietnamese decide to unify South Vietnam and North Vietnam through military force rather than by political means. The North Vietnamese attack South Vietnam. The United States support non-communist South Vietnam.
Here is an in-depth look at the
Vietnam War
by CNN.
The long-standing dispute over Sudan ends when Sudan announces its independence, recognised by both Egypt and Great Britain.
Nikita Khruschev's de-Stalinization announcement at the 20th Congress of the Soviet Communist Party angers Mao Zedong, bringing antagonism into Sino-Soviet relations. Conflicts develop over domestic, foreign and defence policies, economic relationships, and ideological differences.
At the 20th Party Congress, Khrushchev begins a process of de-Stalinisation. He accuses Stalin of having built a personality cult around himself and having jeopardised peaceful relations with other countries. Pictures of Stalin in public places were removed, and buildings named after Stalin were renamed.
The Cominform is disbanded by Khrushchev as part of his effort to bring about a Soviet-Yugoslav reconciliation. Prior to this, Yugoslavia had been expelled from the Cominform.
After the death of Stalin in 1953, the Polish intelligentsia demand government reforms. A demonstration is staged in June 1956. As a result of the uprising, 53 people lose their lives and several hundred are wounded.
Israel, barred from the canal, attacks Egypt. Britain and France join in on the side of Israel. Israel takes the Gaza Strip and most of the Sinai Peninsula. Britain and France re-occupy the canal zone. Within a week, the United Nations intervenes and requests that the captured lands be returned to Egypt.
Due to popular discontentment with the government, Hungarians revolt against Communist rule and make futile pleas for assistance from the United States. Soviet forces are called in by the government to crush resistance. Hundreds of Hungarians are executed. A new Communist dictatorship is set up with Janos Kadar as the leader.
Read more about the
Hungarian Revolution
of 1956 on this site by Radio Free Europe.
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