Explore 4728 historical events from 1940–1949.
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, with many eng…
World War II: The tanker SS Ohio reached Malta as part of an operation to deliver much-needed supplies during the…
The Holocaust, known in Hebrew as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered ar…
The Holocaust: During the deportation of Jews from Slovakia, President Jozef Tiso gave a speech describing Jews as…
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, with many eng…
World War II: The Imperial Japanese Army lost the Battle of the Tenaru, the first of its three major land offensives…
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, with many eng…
World War II: At the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, bombers from the U.S. aircraft carrier Saratoga sank the Japanese…
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, with many eng…
World War II: Japanese forces attacked the Australian base at Milne Bay on the eastern tip of New Guinea.
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, with many eng…
Second World War: German field marshal Erwin Rommel launched the last major Axis offensive of the Western Desert…
The 1942 Matagorda hurricane was the most intense and costliest tropical cyclone of the 1942 Atlantic hurricane season. The second tropical storm and hurricane, as well as the firs…
The Matagorda hurricane, the most intense and costliest tropical cyclone of the 1942 Atlantic hurricane season,…
The Holocaust, known in Hebrew as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered ar…
The Holocaust: In possibly the first Jewish ghetto uprising, residents of the Łachwa Ghetto in occupied Poland,…
RMS Laconia was a Cunard ocean liner, built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson as a successor of the 1911–1917 RMS Laconia. The new ship was launched on 9 April 1921, and made her…
RMS Laconia was sunk by a U-boat off the coast of West Africa, which then attempted to rescue the passengers as it was…
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, with many eng…
World War II: The Imperial Japanese Army began the Battle of Edson's Ridge in an effort to retake Henderson Field on…
Haile Selassie I was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as the Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia under Empress Zewditu between 1916 and 1930.
Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Addis Ababa; the country commemorates the date as Liberation Day or Patriots' Victory
The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the American company Republic Aviation from 1941 through 1945. One of the main United States Army A…
The first flight of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt
The Gloster E.28/39, was the first British turbojet-engined aircraft, first flying in 1941. It was the third turbojet aircraft to fly after the German Heinkel He 178 (1939) and Hei…
First flight of the Gloster E
Chongqing is a provincial-level direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. It is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of China and the only one located i…
World War II: Four thousand Chongqing residents are asphyxiated in a bomb shelter during the Bombing of Chongqing
Vichy France, also known as the Pétainist regime and Pétainist France, officially the French State, was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, e…
Having defeated forces of Vichy France, Allied forces capture Damascus
The Occupation of Iceland during World War II began with a British invasion in order to occupy the island and deny it to Germany. The military operation, codenamed Operation Fork, …
The US occupation of Iceland replaces the UK's occupation.
The Jedwabne pogrom was a massacre of Polish Jews in the town of Jedwabne, German-occupied Poland, on 10 July 1941, during World War II and the early stages of the Holocaust. Estim…
Jedwabne pogrom: Massacre of Polish Jews living in and near the village of Jedwabne.
After the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the Baltic states were under military occupation by Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1944. Initially, many Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuani…
Whole territory of Estonia is occupied by Nazi Germany.
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The building was construc…
Construction begins on the Pentagon.
Vsevobuch, a portmanteau for "Universal Military Training", was a system of compulsory military training for men practiced in the Russian SFSR governed by the Chief Administration …
World War II: A decree of the Soviet State Committee of Defense restores compulsory military training.
World War II: The Soviet Union introduces conscription for all males between the ages of 16 and 50.
World War II: The Soviet Union introduces conscription for all males between the ages of 16 and 50.
Allan Segal also known as Allan Fear-Segal was a BAFTA-winning documentary film maker. He spent the majority of his career working for Granada Television.
Allan Segal, American director and producer (died 2012)
Lagle Parek is an Estonian politician. She served as the Minister of the Interior in the first post-soviet government, led by the Prime Minister Mart Laar.
Lagle Parek, Estonian architect and politician, Estonian Minister of the Interior
Michael Daniel Higgins is an Irish politician, poet and broadcaster who served as the president of Ireland from November 2011 to November 2025. Entering national politics through t…
Michael D