WHAT ALL HAPPENED FEBRUARY TO SEPTEMBER 1960
Find out what all happened February to September 1960

Côte d'Ivoire becomes independent from France. (7. August 1960)

Congo Crisis: The State of Katanga breaks away from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (11. July 1960)

Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom issues an Order-in-Council, stating that she and her family would be known as the House of Windsor, and that her descendants will take the name "Mountbatten-Windsor". (8. February 1960)

Madagascar gains its independence from France. (26. June 1960)

The U.S. Navy submarine USS Triton completes the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe. (25. April 1960)

Cold War: U-2 incident – Francis Gary Powers, in a Lockheed U-2 spyplane, is shot down over the Soviet Union, sparking a diplomatic crisis. (1. May 1960)

Niger gains independence from France. (3. August 1960)

A New York-bound Alitalia airliner crashes into a cemetery in Shannon, Ireland, shortly after takeoff, killing 34 of the 52 persons on board. (26. February 1960)

The boxer Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) is awarded the gold medal for his first place in the light heavyweight boxing competition at the Olympic Games in Rome. (5. September 1960)

Due to the post-Independence Day admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state on August 21, 1959, the 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, almost ten and a half months later (see Flag Act). (4. July 1960)

Following the 1960 Valdivia earthquake, the largest ever recorded earthquake, Cordón Caulle begins to erupt. (24. May 1960)

Islamabad is declared the federal capital of the Government of Pakistan. (1. August 1960)

Francis Gary Powers is charged with espionage resulting from his flight over the Soviet Union. (8. July 1960)

The United States launches Transit 1-B, the world's first satellite navigation system. (13. April 1960)

Chad declares independence. (11. August 1960)

Hundreds of University of California, Berkeley students congregate for the first day of protest against a visit by the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Thirty-one students are arrested, and the Free Speech Movement is born. (13. May 1960)

The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 4. (15. May 1960)

Dahomey (later renamed Benin) declares independence from France. (1. August 1960)

With the success of a nuclear test codenamed "Gerboise Bleue", France becomes the fourth country to possess nuclear weapons. (13. February 1960)

British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan speaks of "a wind of change", an increasing national consciousness blowing through colonial Africa, signalling that his Government is likely to support decolonisation. (3. February 1960)