Explore 4728 historical events from 1940–1949.
Konrad Ernst Otto Zuse was a German civil engineer, pioneering computer scientist, inventor and businessman. His greatest achievement was the world's first programmable computer; t…
Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin
The Battle of Crete, codenamed Operation Mercury, was a major Axis airborne and amphibious operation during World War II to capture the island of Crete. It began on the morning of …
World War II: Battle of Crete: German paratroops invade Crete
The Anglo-Iraqi War was a British-led Allied military campaign during the Second World War against the Kingdom of Iraq, then ruled by Rashid Ali al-Gaylani who had seized power in …
During the Anglo-Iraqi War, British troops take Fallujah
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 paratroopers start a series of mass executions of Greek civilians in Missiria for their participati
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: Battle of the Atlantic: In the Battle of the Denmark Strait, the German battleship Bismarck sinks the prid
Claudine Auger was a French actress best known for her role as a Bond girl, Dominique "Domino" Derval, in the James Bond film Thunderball (1965). She earned the title of Miss Franc…
Claudine Auger, French model and actress (died 2019)
Dilip Kumar Chakrabarti is an Indian archaeologist, Professor Emeritus of South Asian Archaeology at Cambridge University, and a Senior Fellow at the McDonald Institute for Archaeo…
Dilip Kumar Chakrabarti, Indian archaeologist
Lee Roy Jordan was an American professional football player who was a linebacker for 14 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL) from 1963 to 1976. He …
Lee Roy Jordan, American football player
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving US president and the…
World War II: U
Bismarck was the first of two Bismarck-class battleships built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss…
World War II: The German battleship Bismarck is sunk in the North Atlantic, killing almost 2,100 men
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: Manolis Glezos and Apostolos Santas climb the Athenian Acropolis and tear down the German flag
The Anglo-Iraqi War was a British-led Allied military campaign during the Second World War against the Kingdom of Iraq, then ruled by Rashid Ali al-Gaylani who had seized power in …
Anglo-Iraqi War: The United Kingdom completes the re-occupation of Iraq and returns 'Abd al-Ilah to power as regent for
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 Battle of Crete ends as Crete capitulates to Germany
Lucien Aimar is a French cyclist, who won the Tour de France in 1966 and the national road championship in 1968. He is now a race organizer.
Lucien Aimar, French cyclist
Sir John Robert Madejski is an English businessman, with commercial interests spanning property, broadcast media, hotels, restaurants, publishing and football.
John Madejski, English businessman and academic
Karl Barry Sharpless is an American stereochemist. He is a two-time Nobel laureate in chemistry, known for his work on stereoselective reactions and click chemistry.
Karl Barry Sharpless, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
Irina (Iraida) Volodymyrivna Zhylenko, a Ukrainian poet, was the a wife of Volodymyr Drozd. She was born in Kyiv and died in August 2013 at the age of 72.
Iryna Zhylenko, Ukrainian poet and author (died 2013)
Hanne Darboven was a German conceptual artist, best known for her large-scale minimalist installations consisting of handwritten tables of numbers.
Hanne Darboven, German painter (died 2009)
Stavros Dimas is a Greek politician who was European Commissioner for the Environment from 2004 to 2009. From November 2011 to May 2012, he served in the government of Greece as Mi…
Stavros Dimas, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs
The Farhud was a pogrom carried out against the Jewish population of Baghdad, Iraq, on 1–2 June 1941, immediately following the British victory in the Anglo-Iraqi War. The riots oc…
The Farhud, a massive pogrom in Iraq, starts and as a result, many Iraqi Jews are forced to leave their homes
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 paratroopers murder Greek civilians in the villages of Kondomari and Alikianos
The Wehrmacht were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer (army), the Kriegsmarine (navy) and the Luftwaffe. The designation "Wehrmach…
World War II: The Wehrmacht razes the Greek village of Kandanos to the ground and murders 180 of its inhabitants
The Allies, or Allied powers, formally referred to as the United Nations from 1942, were an international military coalition formed during World War II (1939–1945) to oppose the Ax…
World War II: The Allies commence the Syria–Lebanon Campaign against the possessions of Vichy France in the Levant
The June deportation of 1941 was a mass deportation of tens of thousands of people during World War II from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, present-day western Belarus and western Ukra…
June deportation: The first major wave of Soviet mass deportations of Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians from the occu