1st January » Sudan achieves independence from Egypt and the United Kingdom.
1st January » A new year event causes panic and stampedes at Yahiko Shrine, Yahiko, Niigata, Japan, killing at least 124 people.
3rd January » A fire damages the top part of the Eiffel Tower.
8th January » Operation Auca: Five U.S. missionary known as missionaries are killed by the Huaorani people or Huaorani of Ecuador shortly after making contact with them.
16th January » President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt vows to reconquer Palestine.
28th January » Elvis Presley makes his first US television appearance
20th February » The United States Merchant Marine Academy becomes a permanent Service Academy.
25th February » In his speech 'On the Personality Cult and its Consequences', Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union denounces the cult of personality of Joseph Stalin.
1st March » The International Air Transport Association finalizes a draft of the Radiotelephony spelling alphabet for the International Civil Aviation Organization.
2nd March » Morocco gains its independence from France.
15th March » 'My Fair Lady' receives its premiere performance on Broadway at the Mark Hellinger Theatre.
20th March » Tunisia gains independence from France.
23rd March » Pakistan becomes the first Islamic republic in the world. (Republic Day March 23rd in Pakistan or Republic Day in Pakistan)
2nd April » 'As the World Turns' and 'The Edge of Night' premiere on CBS-TV. The two soaps become the first daytime dramas to debut in the 30-minute format.
3rd April » Hudsonville-Standale Tornado of April 1956 named Hudsonville-Standale Tornado: The western half of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan is struck by a deadly Fujita scale e.g F5 tornado.
5th April » Fidel Castro declares himself at war with President of Cuba called Cuban President Fulgencio Batista.
5th April » In Sri Lanka, the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna win the general elections in a landslide and Solomon Bandaranaike e.g S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike is sworn in as the Prime Minister.
7th April » Spain relinquishes its Spanish Morocco called protectorate in Morocco.
14th April » In Chicago, Quadruplex videotape named videotape is first demonstrated.
19th April » Actress Grace Kelly marries Rainier III, Prince of Monaco known as Prince Rainier of Monaco.
30th April » Former Vice President and Senator Alben Barkley dies during a speech in Virginia. He collapses after proclaiming "I would rather be a servant in the house of the lord than sit in the seats of the mighty."
1st May » The polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk is made available to the public.
1st May » A doctor in Japan reports an "epidemic of an unknown disease of the central nervous system", marking the official discovery of Minamata disease.
18th May » First ascent of Lhotse 8,516 meters, by a Switzerland known as Swiss team.
20th May » In Operation Redwing, the first United States airborne hydrogen bomb is dropped over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
24th May » The first Eurovision Song Contest is held in Lugano, Switzerland.
5th June » Elvis Presley introduces his new single, "Hound Dog (song) e.g Hound Dog", on 'The Milton Berle Show', scandalizing the audience with his suggestive hip movements.
11th June » Start of Gal Oya riots, the first reported ethnic riots that target minority Sri Lankan Tamil people known as Sri Lankan Tamils in the Eastern Province. The total number of deaths is reportedly 150.
20th June » A Venezuelan Lockheed Constellation named Super-Constellation Linea Aeropostal Venezolana Flight 253 (June 1956) known as crashes in the Atlantic Ocean off Asbury Park, New Jersey, killing 74 people.
23rd June » The French National Assembly takes the first step in creating the French Community by passing the Loi Cadre, transferring a number of powers from Paris to elected territorial governments in French West Africa.
28th June » in Poznań, workers from H. Cegielski – Poznań or HCP factory went to the streets, sparking one of the Poznań 1956 protests or first major protests against communist government both in Poland and Europe.
29th June » The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 is signed, officially creating the United States Interstate Highway System.
30th June » A Trans World Airlines TWA Lockheed Constellation Super Constellation and a United Airlines Douglas DC-7 DC-7 1956 Grand Canyon mid-air collision collide above the Grand Canyon in Arizona and crash, killing all 128 on board both airliners.
7th July » Fritz Moravec and two other Austrian mountaineers make the first ascent of Gasherbrum II (8,035 m).
16th July » Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus closes its very last "Big Tent" show in Pittsburgh named Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, due to changing economics all subsequent circus shows will be held in arenas.
25th July » Forty-five miles south of Nantucket Nantucket Island, the Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria collides with the MS Athena MS 'Stockholm' in heavy fog and sinks the next day, killing 51.
30th July » A joint resolution of the United States Congress known as U.S. Congress is signed by President of the United States called President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorizing 'In God we trust' as the U.S. national motto.
31st July » Jim Laker becomes the first man to take all 10 wickets in a Test match innings as he returns figures of 10/53 in the Australian 2nd innings. This combined with his 9/37 in the first innings gave him match figures of 19/90 in the 4th Test at Old Trafford.
6th August » After going bankrupt in 1955, the American broadcaster DuMont Television Network makes its final broadcast, a boxing match from St. Nicholas Rink e.g St. Nicholas Arena in New York in the 'Boxing from St. Nicholas Arena' series.
30th August » The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway opens.
9th September » Elvis Presley appears on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' for the first time.
13th September » The Dike (construction) called dike around the Dutch polder Zuiderzee Works The Flevolands known as East Flevoland is closed.
13th September » The IBM 305 RAMAC is introduced, the first commercial computer to use disk storage.
25th September » TAT-1, the first submarine transatlantic telephone cable system, is inaugurated.
27th September » USAF Captain Milburn G. Apt becomes the first man to exceed Mach number named Mach 3 while flying the Bell X-2. Shortly thereafter, the craft goes out of control and Captain Apt is killed.
14th October » Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, the Indian Dalit (outcaste) named Untouchable caste leader, converts to Buddhism along with 385,000 of his followers (see Neo-Buddhism).
15th October » Fortran, the first modern computer language, is shared with the coding community for the first time.
17th October » The first commercial Nuclear reactor technology called nuclear power station is officially opened by Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom named Queen Elizabeth II in Sellafield,in Cumbria, England.
17th October » Donald Byrne and Bobby Fischer play a famous chess game called The Game of the Century (chess) known as The Game of the Century. Fischer beat Byrne and wins a Brilliancy prize.
19th October » The Soviet Union and Japan sign a Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956 or Joint Declaration, officially ending the state of war between the two countries that had existed since August 1945.
21st October » Mau Mau Uprising: Kenyan rebel leader Dedan Kimathi is captured by the British Army, signalling the ultimate defeat of the rebellion, and essentially ending the British military campaign.
23rd October » Thousands of Hungary Hungarians protest against the government and Soviet Union Soviet occupation. (The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 Hungarian Revolution is crushed on November 4).
29th October » Suez Crisis begins: Israeli forces invade the Sinai Peninsula and push Egyptian forces back toward the Suez Canal.
29th October » The Tangier Protocol is signed: The international city Tangier is reintegrated into Morocco.
31st October » Suez Crisis: The United Kingdom and France begin bombing Republic of Egypt (1953–58) known as Egypt to force the reopening of the Suez Canal.
1st November » The Indian states Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Mysore state are formally created under the States Reorganisation Act.
1st November » In India, Kanyakumari district is joined to Tamil Nadu state from Kerala.
1st November » The Springhill mining disaster in Springhill, Nova Scotia known as Springhill, Nova Scotia kills 39 miners; 88 are rescued.
3rd November » The Khan Yunis killings are perpetrated by the Israel Defense Forces in Egyptian-controlled Gaza, resulting in the deaths of 275 male Arabs.
7th November » Suez Crisis: The United Nations General Assembly adopts a resolution calling for the United Kingdom, France and Israel to immediately withdraw their troops from Egypt.
12th November » Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia join the United Nations.
12th November » In the midst of the Suez Crisis, Palestinian refugees are Rafah massacre named shot dead in the village of Rafah by Israeli soldiers following the invasion of the Gaza Strip.
13th November » The Supreme Court of the United States declares Alabama laws requiring segregated buses illegal, thus ending the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
4th December » The Million Dollar Quartet (Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash) get together at Sun Studios for the first and last time.
6th December » A violent Blood In The Water match called water polo match between Hungary and the USSR takes place during the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, against the backdrop of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.
9th December » Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810, a Canadair North Star, crashes near Hope, British Columbia, Canada, killing all 62 people on board.
19th December » Irish-born physician John Bodkin Adams is arrested in connection with the suspicious deaths of more than 160 patients. Eventually he is convicted only of minor charges.
22nd December » Colo (gorilla) called Colo, the first gorilla to be bred in captivity (animal) named captivity, is born at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Ohio.
28th December » Chin Peng, David Marshall (Singaporean politician) David Marshall and Tunku Abdul Rahman meet in Baling, Federation of Malaya Malaya to Baling Talks try and resolve the Malayan Emergency situation.