Skip to main content
Low Graphics
Access keys help
Home
Explore the BBC
Themes
Search ON THIS DAY by date
Day
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Month
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Front Page
|
Years
|
Themes
|
Witness
About This Site
|
Text Only
Independence Movements
02 Nov
1951: 6,000 British troops flown into Egypt
08 Apr
1953: Seven years' hard labour for Kenyatta
24 Apr
1954: British crackdown on Kenya rebels
10 Mar
1956: Riots erupt in Cyprus over Archbishop
11 May
1956: Gold Coast to get independence
04 Nov
1956: Soviet troops overrun Hungary
06 Mar
1957: Ghana celebrates independence
11 Apr
1957: Britain agrees to Singapore self-rule
31 Aug
1957: Malaya celebrates independence
01 Jun
1958: De Gaulle returns to tackle Algeria
16 Feb
1959: Castro sworn in as Cuban PM
07 Mar
1959: African activist flees to UK
14 Dec
1959: Makarios elected president of Cyprus
08 Jan
1961: French vote for Algerian freedom
13 Feb
1961: Ex-Congo PM declared dead
27 Apr
1961: Sierra Leone wins independence
25 May
1963: African states unite against white rule
27 May
1963: Kenyatta to be Kenya's first premier
25 Oct
1964: President Kaunda takes power in Zambia
11 Nov
1965: Rhodesia breaks from UK
30 Jun
1969: Nigeria bans Red Cross aid to Biafra
02 Mar
1970: Ian Smith declares Rhodesia a republic
10 Oct
1970: Canadian minister seized by gunmen
13 Jul
1971: Death for Moroccan rebel leaders
13 Jan
1972: Ghana PM ousted in bloodless coup
09 Jul
1973: Bahamas' sun sets on British Empire
24 Sep
1976: White rule in Rhodesia to end
23 May
1977: Dutch children held hostage
01 Jun
1979: End of white rule in Rhodesia
23 Aug
1979: Kurdish revolt grows in Iran
27 Jan
1980: Exiled Mugabe returns to Rhodesia
04 Mar
1980: Mugabe to lead independent Zimbabwe
05 May
1980: SAS rescue ends Iran embassy siege
15 Oct
1987: Fiji one step closer to a republic
09 Oct
1988: Latvia cries freedom from Moscow
24 Nov
1989: New era for Czechoslovakia
03 May
1990: Latvia to declare independence
13 Jan
1991: Bloodshed at Lithuanian TV station
02 Mar
1991: Sri Lankan hardliner among 19 killed in blast
21 May
1991: Bomb kills India's former leader Rajiv Gandhi
22 Sep
1998: Thousands flee fighting in Kosovo
20 Sep
1999: UN force arrives in East Timor
06 Nov
1999: Australia rejects republic
Search ON THIS DAY by date
Day
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Month
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
^^
back to top
Front Page
|
Years
|
Themes
|
Witness
©MMVIII
|
News Sources
|
Privacy & Cookies Policy