1950s

The 1950s was the decade spanning from the 1st of January, 1950 to the 31st December, 1959. Some Americans propose a long "Fifties period" going from the end of World War II in 1945 to the Kennedy assassination of November 22, 1963. more...

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Economy

Rebirth of Europe

Recovering from World War II and its aftermath, the economic miracle emerged in West Germany and Italy. Additionally, wartime rationing ended in the United Kingdom.

Ascendancy of the United States

The 1950s in the United States of America were marked with a sharp rise in the economy for the first time in almost 30 years, and a return to the 1920s-type consumer society built on credit and boom-times, as well as the baby boom from returning GIs who went to college under the G.I. Bill and settled in suburban America. Most of the internal conflicts that had developed in earlier decades like women's rights, civil rights, and imperialism were relatively suppressed or neglected during this time as a world returning from the brink hoped to see a more consistent way of life as opposed to the liberalism and radicalism of the 1930s and 1940s. The effect of suppressing social problems in the 1950s would have a significant impact on the rest of the twentieth century.

Social and political movements

Trends

In the West, the generation traumatized by the Great Depression and World War II created a culture with emphasis on normality and conformity.

Korean War

The Korean War, lasting from June 25, 1950 until a cease-fire on July 27, 1953 (as of 2006, there has been no peace treaty signed), started as a civil war between communist North Korea and republican South Korea. When it began, North and South Korea existed as provisional governments competing for control over the Korean peninsula, due to the division of Korea by outside powers. While originally a civil war, it quickly escalated into a Cold War-era conflict and served as a proxy war between the capitalist powers of the United States and its allies and the Communist powers of the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union.

On September 15, General Douglas MacArthur planned a grand strategy to dissect North-Korean-occupied Korea at the city of Incheon (Song Do port) to cut off further invasion by the North Korean army. Within a few days, MacArthur's army took back Seoul (South Korea's capital). The plan succeeded which allowed American and South Korean forces to cut off further expansion by the North Koreans. The war continued until a cease-fire was agreed to by both sides on July 27, 1953. The war left 33,742 American soldiers dead and 92,134 wounded.

Read more at Wikipedia.org