1940s
Sign in to saveFile:1940s decade montage.png|Above title bar: events during World War II (1939–1945): From left to right: Troops in an LCVP landing craft approaching Omaha Beach on D-Day; Adolf Hitler visits Paris, soon after the Battle of France; The Holocaust occurs as Nazi Germany carries out a programme of systematic state-sponsored genocide, during which approximately six million European Jews are killed; The Japanese attack on the American naval base of Pearl Harbor launches the United States into the war; An Observer Corps spotter scans the skies of London during the Battle of Britain and The Blitz; T
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The 1940s was a decade dominated by World War II (1939–1945), which saw major military events like D-Day, the Battle of France, and the attack on Pearl Harbor, as well as the Holocaust, in which Nazi Germany systematically murdered approximately six million European Jews. This period matters because it fundamentally reshaped the global political order and remains central to understanding modern history.
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34 sectionsContents
- Politics and wars
- Wars
- Major political changes
- Internal conflicts
- Decolonization and independence
- Prominent political events
- Economics
- Assassinations and attempts
- Science and technology
- Technology
- Science
- Popular culture
- Film
- Music
- Literature
- Fashion
- People
- Military leaders
- Activists and religious leaders
- Politics
- Scientists and engineers
- Actors / Entertainers
- Musicians
- Bands
- Sports
- Baseball
- Boxing
- Track and Field
- See also
- Timeline
- Notes
- References
- Further reading
- External links
File:1940s decade montage.png|Above title bar: events during World War II (1939–1945): From left to right: Troops in an LCVP landing craft approaching Omaha Beach on D-Day; Adolf Hitler visits Paris, soon after the Battle of France; The Holocaust occurs as Nazi Germany carries out a programme of systematic state-sponsored genocide, during which approximately six million European Jews are killed; The Japanese attack on the American naval base of Pearl Harbor launches the United States into the war; An Observer Corps spotter scans the skies of London during the Battle of Britain and The Blitz; The creation of the Manhattan Project leads to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the first uses of nuclear weapons, which kill over a quarter million people and lead to the Japanese surrender; Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signs the Instrument of Surrender on behalf of the Japanese Government, on board , effectively ending the war. Below title bar: events after World War II: From left to right: The Declaration of the State of Israel in 1948; The Nuremberg trials are held after the war, in which the prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany are prosecuted; After the war, the United States carries out the Marshall Plan, which aims at rebuilding Western Europe; ENIAC, the world's first general-purpose electronic computer.|335px|thumb rect 1 1 224 195 D-Day rect 227 1 407 195 Battle of France rect 409 1 488 195 The Holocaust rect 490 1 572 195 Auschwitz concentration camp rect 1 198 148 383 Pearl Harbor rect 151 198 288 383 The Blitz rect 291 198 420 288 Hiroshima and Nagasaki rect 291 290 420 383 Manhattan Project rect 424 198 572 383 Surrender of Japan rect 0 384 572 411 World War II rect 1 412 125 599 Israeli Declaration of Independence rect 128 412 290 599 Nuremberg trials rect 294 412 438 599 Marshall Plan rect 441 412 572 599 ENIAC
The 1940s (pronounced "nineteen-forties" and commonly abbreviated as "'''the '40s" or "the Forties'''") was a decade that began on January 1, 1940, and ended on December 31, 1949.