ENIAC, the first programmable general-purpose electronic digital computer, is unveiled to the public at the University of Pennsylvania.
At Fulton, Missouri, Winston Churchill declares that an "iron curtain" has descended across Europe, a symbolic marker of the early Cold War.
Under the Treaty of Manila, the United States recognises the independence of the Republic of the Philippines.
Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin meet at Yalta to discuss the post-war reorganisation of Europe and the world.
One of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific War, causing heavy losses among soldiers and Okinawan civilians.
The Allies formally accept Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender, ending the Second World War in Europe.
The United States detonates the world's first nuclear weapon in the New Mexico desert as part of the Manhattan Project.