Explore 1392 historical events from 1940–1949.
Byron Joseph LaForest was a Canadian professional baseball player who appeared in 52 games in the major leagues, primarily as a third baseman, for the Boston Red Sox during the lat…
Ty LaForest, Canadian-American baseball player (born 1917)
Harry Gordon Selfridge, Sr. was an American retail magnate who founded the London-based department store Selfridges. The early years of his leadership led to his becoming one of th…
Harry Gordon Selfridge, American-English businessman, founded Selfridges (born 1858)
Sukanta Bhattacharya was a Bengali poet and revolutionary. He was known as "Young Nazrul" and "Kishore Bidrohi Kobi", for his rebellious stance and opposition against the British R…
Sukanta Bhattacharya, Indian poet and playwright (born 1926)
George William Forbes was a New Zealand politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of New Zealand from 28 May 1930 to 6 December 1935. He was the last leader of the remnant o…
George Forbes, New Zealand farmer and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of New Zealand (born 1869)
Harold Homer Chase, nicknamed "Prince Hal", was an American professional baseball first baseman and manager in Major League Baseball, widely viewed as the best fielder at his posit…
Hal Chase, American baseball player and manager (born 1883)
Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins was an English biochemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1929, with Christiaan Eijkman, for the discovery of vitamins. H…
Frederick Gowland Hopkins, English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1861)
Kalle Juhonpoika Hakala was a Finnish newspaper editor, politician and member of the Parliament of Finland, the national legislature of Finland. A member of the Social Democratic P…
Kalle Hakala, Finnish politician (born 1880)
Zhang Lingfu was a high-ranking general of the Chinese National Revolutionary Army. He successfully fought against the Communists and the Imperial Japanese Army. In 1947, his unit …
Zhang Lingfu, Chinese general (born 1903)
Philipp Eduard Anton von Lenard was a Hungarian–German experimental physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1905 for his work on cathode rays. This work led to his exp…
Philipp Lenard, Slovak-German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1862)
Georgios Siantos was a Greek politician and prominent figure of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) who served as acting general secretary of the party, and as a leader of the Nati…
Georgios Siantos, Greek sergeant and politician (born 1890)
Charles Ferdinand Ramuz was a French-speaking Swiss writer.
Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz, Swiss author and poet (born 1878)
Edward Joseph Konetchy, nicknamed "Big Ed" and "the Candy Kid", was an American first baseman in Major League Baseball for a number of teams, primarily in the National League, from…
Ed Konetchy, American baseball player and manager (born 1885)
August Eigruber was an Austrian-born Nazi Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter of Reichsgau Oberdonau and Landeshauptmann of Upper Austria. He was convicted of war crimes at Mauthausen-…
August Eigruber, Austrian-German politician (born 1907)
Georg Ludwig Ritter von Trapp was an officer in the Austro-Hungarian Navy who became the patriarch of the Trapp Family Singers. After their naturalisation as US citizens, the famil…
Georg von Trapp, Austrian captain (born 1880)
John Gretton, 1st Baron Gretton, was a British businessman and Conservative politician. Gretton won two gold medals in the 1900 Olympic Games. He served as a Member of Parliament (…
John Gretton, 1st Baron Gretton, English sailor and politician (born 1867)
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
Salvatore Giuliano was a Sicilian brigand, who rose to prominence in the disorder that followed the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943. In September of that year, Giuliano became an…
Sicilian separatist Salvatore Giuliano and his gang fired into a crowd of May Day marchers near Piana degli Albanesi, Si
The Constitution of Japan is the supreme law of Japan. Written primarily by American civilian officials during the occupation of Japan after World War II, it was adopted on 3 Novem…
A new Constitution of Japan went into effect, providing for a parliamentary system of government, guaranteeing certain f
Chanel No. 5 is the first perfume launched by French couturier Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel in 1921. The scent formula for the fragrance was compounded by French-Russian chemist and per…
After renegotiating a contract with the makers of her signature perfume Chanel No
The National Diet is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives, and an upper house, the House of Councillors. Both ho…
The first session of the National Diet opened in Tokyo, Japan
Independence Day is Syria's National Day commemorating the evacuation of the last French soldier at the end of the French mandate of Syria on 17 April 1946 after Syria's proclamati…
The last French troops are withdrawn from Syria
The Pilbara strike was a landmark strike by Indigenous Australian pastoral workers in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The strike lasted between 1946 and 1949, and was th…
Start of three-year Pilbara strike of Indigenous Australians
San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the cities of San Francisco, San Jo…
In San Francisco Bay, U
Sony Group Corporation, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses variou…
Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) is founded