Explore 3060 historical events from 1940–1949.
Edwin DuBose Heyward was an American author best known for his 1925 novel Porgy. He and his wife Dorothy, a playwright, adapted it as a 1927 play of the same name. The couple worke…
DuBose Heyward, American author (born 1885)
Sir Arthur Harden, FRS was a British biochemist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1929 with Hans Karl August Simon von Euler-Chelpin for their investigations into the ferm…
Arthur Harden, English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1865)
Maurice Jaubert was a prolific French composer who scored some of the most important films of the early sound era in France, including Jean Vigo’s Zero for Conduct and L'Atalante, …
Maurice Jaubert, French composer and conductor (born 1900)
Major General Smedley Darlington Butler was a United States Marine Corps officer. During his 34-year military career, he fought in the Philippine–American War, the Boxer Rebellion,…
Smedley Butler, American general, Medal of Honor recipient (born 1881)
Jean-Édouard Vuillard was a French painter, decorative artist, and printmaker. From 1891 through 1900, Vuillard was a member of the avant garde artistic group Les Nabis, creating p…
Édouard Vuillard, French painter (born 1868)
Montague Alfred Noble was an Australian cricketer who played for New South Wales and Australia. A right-hand batsman, right-handed bowler who could deliver both medium pace and off…
Monty Noble, Australian cricketer and sportscaster (born 1873)
Italo Balbo was an Italian fascist politician and Blackshirts' leader who served as Italy's Marshal of the Air Force, Governor-General of Italian Libya and Commander-in-Chief of It…
Italo Balbo, Italian air marshal and politician (born 1896)
Paul Klee was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism.
Paul Klee, Swiss painter and illustrator (born 1879)
Robert Pershing Wadlow, also known as the Alton Giant and the Giant of Illinois, was an American man known for being the tallest person in recorded history for whom there is irrefu…
Robert Wadlow, American giant, 8"11' 271 cm (born 1918)
Sir George Warburton Fuller was an Australian politician who served as the 22nd Premier of New South Wales, in office from 1922 to 1925 and for one day in December 1921. He previou…
George Fuller, Australian politician, 22nd Premier of New South Wales (born 1861)
Paul Eugen Bleuler was a Swiss psychiatrist and eugenicist most notable for his influence on modern concepts of mental illness. He coined several psychiatric terms including schizo…
Eugen Bleuler, Swiss psychiatrist and physician (born 1857)
Albert Young was an American welterweight boxer who competed in the early twentieth century. He won a gold medal in boxing at the 1904 Summer Olympics.
Albert Young, American boxer and promoter (born 1877)
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: A squad of 250 Norwegian volunteers defending Hegra Fortress surrendered to a superior Nazi force after a
The Norway Debate, sometimes called the Narvik Debate, was a momentous debate in the British House of Commons from 7 to 9 May 1940, during the Second World War. The official title …
A three-day debate began in the House of Commons that resulted in British prime minister Neville Chamberlain being repla
Arthur Neville Chamberlain was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940 and Leader of the Conservative Party from May 1937 …
British prime minister Neville Chamberlain resigned and formally recommended Winston Churchill as his successor
Franz Rademacher was a German lawyer and diplomat. As an official in the Nazi government of the Third Reich during World War II, he was known for initiating action on the Madagasca…
Franz Rademacher, a Nazi official, proposed that the island of Madagascar be made available as a destination for the res
Benjamin Sumner Welles III was an American government official and diplomat. He was a major foreign policy adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and served as Under Secretary …
Sumner Welles, U.S. Under Secretary of State, issued a declaration that the U.S. government would not recognize the…
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: German forces commenced their invasion of Belgium
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 bulk of Dutch forces surrendered to the German Wehrmacht, ending the Battle of the Netherlands
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…
Second World War: German troops captured Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, forcing British forces to evacuate via Dunkirk
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…
Second World War: The Allies began a mass evacuation of British, French and Belgian troops cut off by the German army du
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: Ninety-seven soldiers of the British Royal Norfolk Regiment were killed after surrendering to German force
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…
Second World War: Belgium surrendered to Nazi Germany, ending the Battle of Belgium
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…
Second World War: HMS Cambrian was sunk by a mine in The Solent, with the loss of 23 lives