WHAT ALL HAPPENED FEBRUARY TO MAY 1955
Find out what all happened February to May 1955

First ascent of Kangchenjunga (8,586 m.), the third-highest mountain in the world, by a British expedition led by Charles Evans. Joe Brown and George Band reached the summit on May 25, followed by Norman Hardie and Tony Streather the next day. (25. May 1955)

The Air India Kashmir Princess is bombed and crashes in a failed assassination attempt on Zhou Enlai by the Kuomintang. (11. April 1955)

The EOKA rebellion against the British Empire begins in Cyprus, with the goal of obtaining the desired unification ("enosis") with Greece. (1. April 1955)

Cold War: Eight Communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, sign a mutual defense treaty called the Warsaw Pact. (14. May 1955)

Operation Teapot: Teapot test shot "Wasp" is successfully detonated at the Nevada Test Site with a yield of 1.2 kilotons. Wasp is the first of fourteen shots in the Teapot series. (18. February 1955)

The Bandung Conference ends: 29 non-aligned nations of Asia and Africa finish a meeting that condemns colonialism, racism, and the Cold War. (24. April 1955)

Nineteen days after bus workers went on strike in Singapore, rioting breaks out and seriously impacts Singapore's bid for independence. (12. May 1955)

First meeting of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO). (23. February 1955)

Cold War: West Germany joins NATO. (9. May 1955)

The polio vaccine, developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, is declared safe and effective. (12. April 1955)

Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom amid indications of failing health. (7. April 1955)

McDonald's restaurant dates its founding to the opening of a franchised restaurant by Ray Kroc, in Des Plaines, Illinois (15. April 1955)

Austria regains its independence as the Allied occupation following World War II ends. (12. May 1955)

Operation Passage to Freedom, the evacuation of 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam following the end of the First Indochina War, ends. (18. May 1955)

The American Civil Liberties Union announces it will defend Allen Ginsberg's book Howl against obscenity charges. (3. April 1955)

King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia abdicates the throne in favor of his father, King Norodom Suramarit. (2. March 1955)

In the United States, a night-time F5 tornado strikes the small city of Udall, Kansas, killing 80 and injuring 273. It is the deadliest tornado to ever occur in the state and the 23rd deadliest in the U.S. (25. May 1955)

Soviet Union regional elections, 1955. (27. February 1955)

The Canadian Labour Congress is formed by the merger of the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada and the Canadian Congress of Labour. (23. April 1955)

29 nations meet at Bandung, Indonesia, for the first Asian-African Conference. (18. April 1955)