Explore 1392 historical events from 1940–1949.
Pekka Antero Vasala is a retired Finnish middle-distance athlete who won an Olympic gold medal in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. Vasala had a brilliant three-month period in 1…
Pekka Vasala, Finnish runner
The 1st Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt Field, Florida is one of three United States Air Force active duty Special Operations wings and falls under the Air Force Special Operat…
The 1st Air Commando Group using Sikorsky R-4 helicopters stage the first use of helicopters in combat with combat searc
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and air…
World War II: The Doolittle Raid on Japan: Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe and Nagoya are bombed
Pierre Jean Marie Laval was a French politician. He served as Prime Minister of France three times: 1931–1932 and 1935–1936 during the Third Republic, and 1942–1944 during Vichy Fr…
Pierre Laval becomes Prime Minister of Vichy France
The United States Army is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is designated as the army of the United States in the United States Constitution. As a part …
The United States Army liberates Nazi Sonderlager (high security) prisoner-of-war camp Oflag IV-C (better known as Coldi
The International Court of Justice, or colloquially the World Court, is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN). It settles legal disputes submitted to it by states…
The International Court of Justice holds its inaugural meeting in The Hague, Netherlands
Bernard Mannes Baruch was an American financier and statesman.
American financier and presidential adviser Bernard Baruch first described the post–World War II tensions between the So
Montese is a town in the province of Modena, Emilia-Romagna, Italy.
World War II: Montese, Italy, is liberated from Nazi forces
The Italian Resistance, or simply La Resistenza, consisted of all the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of…
Italian resistance movement: In Turin, despite the harsh repressive measures adopted by Nazi-fascists, a great pre-insur
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world t…
The Organization of European Economic Co-operation is formed
The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued interm…
Chinese Civil War: Establishment of the People's Liberation Army Navy
Aeroflot Flight 17 was an aviation accident involving an Ilyushin Il-12 aircraft operated by Aeroflot on May 13, 1949 near Novosibirsk. The crash resulted in the deaths of all 25 p…
Aeroflot Flight 17 crashes on approach to Severny Airport in Novosibirsk, killing 25
The Republic of Ireland Act 1948 is an Act of the Oireachtas which declares that the description of Ireland is the Republic of Ireland, and vests in the president of Ireland the po…
The Republic of Ireland Act comes into force, declaring Éire to be a republic and severing Ireland's "association" with
Veronica Cartwright is an English actress based in Los Angeles, California. She appeared in science fiction and horror films, and has three Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Her yo…
Veronica Cartwright, English-American actress
Toller Shalitoe Montague Cranston was a Canadian figure skater and painter. He won the 1971–1976 Canadian national championships, the 1974 World bronze medal and the 1976 Olympic b…
Toller Cranston, Canadian-Mexican figure skater and painter (died 2015)
Jessica Phyllis Lange is an American actress and photographer. With a career spanning over five decades, she is known for her roles on stage and screen. Her accolades include two A…
Jessica Lange, American actress
Patti Ann LuPone is an American actress and singer. After starting her professional career with The Acting Company in 1972, she soon gained acclaim for her leading performances on …
Patti LuPone, American actress and singer
The Amethyst incident, also known as the Yangtze incident, was a historic event that occurred on the Yangtze River for three months in the summer of 1949, during the late phase of …
Amethyst incident: The People's Liberation Army attacks HMS Amethyst (F116) travelling to the British embassy in Nanjing
The Hukbong Bayan Laban sa Hapon, better known by the abbreviation Hukbalahap, was a Filipino communist guerrilla movement formed by the farmers of Central Luzon. They were origina…
The Hukbalahap are accused of assassinating former First Lady of the Philippines Aurora Quezon, while she is en route to
Torino Football Club, colloquially referred to as Toro, is an Italian professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont that currently plays in the Serie A, the highest football …
The entire Torino football team (except for two players who did not take the trip: Sauro Tomà, due to an injury and Rena
The Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC) was an early British computer. Inspired by John von Neumann's seminal First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC, the machine wa…
EDSAC, the first practical electronic digital stored-program computer, runs its first operation
The Cold War was a period of international geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc …
Cold War: The Soviet Union lifts its blockade of Berlin
Spencer Haywood is an American former professional basketball player and Olympic gold medalist. Haywood is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, being inducted…
Spencer Haywood, American basketball player
Sir Paul Collier, is a British development economist who serves as the Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford an…
Paul Collier, English economist and academic
David Cross is an English electric violinist and keyboardist best known for playing with progressive rock band King Crimson from 1972 to 1974.
David Cross, English violinist
John Miles was an English rock singer, guitarist and keyboard player best known for his 1976 top 3 UK hit single "Music", which won an Ivor Novello Award, and his frequent appearan…
John Miles, British rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist (died 2021)
The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the director of national intelligence (DNI). The NSA…
In the United States, the Armed Forces Security Agency, the predecessor to the National Security Agency, is established
The entirety of Germany was occupied and administered by the Allies of World War II, from the Berlin Declaration on 5 June 1945 to the establishment of West Germany on 23 May 1949.…
Cold War: The Western occupying powers approve the Basic Law and establish a new German state, the Federal Republic of G
Massimo D'Alema is an Italian politician and journalist who was the 53rd prime minister of Italy from 1998 to 2000. He was Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Italian Minister of Fo…
Massimo D'Alema, Italian journalist and politician, 76th Prime Minister of Italy
Edward James "Eddie" Hart is an American former track and field sprinter and Olympic champion in the men's 4 × 100 m relay race at the 1972 Summer Olympics.
Eddie Hart, American sprinter
Véronique Marie Line Sanson is a three-time Victoires de la Musique award-winning French singer-songwriter and record producer with an avid following in her native country.
Véronique Sanson, French singer-songwriter and producer
Vicente Alberto Pernía, known as El Tano, is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a defender. He then went on to a second career as a car racing driver.
Vicente Pernía, Argentinian footballer and race car driver
Dominique Gaston André Strauss-Kahn, also known as DSK, is a French economist and politician who served as the tenth managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and…
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, French economist, lawyer, and politician, French Minister of Finance
James Martin Fenton is an English poet, journalist and literary critic. He is a former Oxford Professor of Poetry.
James Fenton, English poet, journalist and literary critic