1958
Great Leap Forward begins in China
Mao ordered peasants to smelt steel in backyard furnaces, pool their farms into gigantic communes, and kill sparrows for eating grain.
Integrated circuit demonstrated
Jack Kilby at Texas Instruments and Robert Noyce at Fairchild independently figured out how to put multiple transistors on a single slice of silicon.
De Gaulle returns to power in France
With Algeria threatening to topple the Fourth Republic and army officers in open revolt, French politicians summoned General Charles de Gaulle back…
Iraqi revolution
Iraqi army officers led by Abdul Karim Qasim overthrew the pro-Western Hashemite monarchy in a bloody coup.
United Arab Republic formed
Egypt and Syria, riding the wave of Arab nationalism, merged into a single state called the United Arab Republic under Gamal Abdel Nasser.
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Frequently asked
What happened in the year 1958?
Saeculum lists 5 events from 1958. The most significant is Great Leap Forward begins in China: Mao ordered peasants to smelt steel in backyard furnaces, pool their farms into gigantic communes, and kill sparrows for eating grain.
What era was 1958 part of?
1958 falls within the Modern Era (1901-2000). World wars, cold war, and the splitting of the atom.
Which regions saw notable events in 1958?
The events from 1958 span East Asia, North America, Europe and Middle East.