Explore 3063 historical events from 1940–1949.
The Cocos (Keeling) Islands, officially the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands, are an Australian external territory located in the Indian Ocean, comprising a small archipelago a…
World War II: Gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebel in the Cocos Islan
The Holocaust saw the systematic mass murder of Jews in the Reichskommissariat Ukraine, the General Government, the Crimean General Government and some areas which were located to …
The Holocaust in Ukraine: The SS executes 588 Jewish residents of the Podolian town of Zinkiv (Khmelnytska oblast
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: Second Battle of Kharkov: In eastern Ukraine, Red Army forces under Marshal Semyon Timoshenko launch a maj
Jon Llewellyn Kyl is an American politician and lobbyist who served as a United States Senator for Arizona from 1995 to 2013. Following the death of John McCain in 2018, Kyl briefl…
Jon Kyl, American lawyer and politician
Svyatoslav Igorevich Belza was a Soviet Russian literary and musical scholar, critic and essayist, and a prominent TV personality who's launched and hosted several TV programs aime…
Svyatoslav Belza, Russian journalist, author, and critic (died 2014)
Sharon Carstairs is a Canadian politician. She was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba for the riding of River Heights, serving as Leader of the Opposition in Manitoba,…
Sharon Carstairs, Canadian lawyer and politician, Leader of the Government in the Senate
The Women's Army Corps was the women's branch of the United States Army. It was created as an auxiliary unit, the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), on 15 May 1942, and converted…
World War II: In the United States, a bill creating the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) is signed into law
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: In the aftermath of the Battle of the Coral Sea, Task Force 16 heads to Pearl Harbor for repairs
The history of Mexico spans over three millennia, with the earliest evidence of hunter-gatherer settlement 13,000 years ago. Central and southern Mexico, known as Mesoamerica, saw …
Mexico enters the Second World War on the side of the Allies
Reinhard Heydrich, the commander of the German Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), the acting Reichsprotektor of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and a principal architect of…
World War II: In Operation Anthropoid, Reinhard Heydrich is fatally wounded in Prague; he dies of his injuries eight day
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: Imperial Japanese Navy midget submarines begin a series of attacks on Sydney, Australia
Michael Kergin is a Canadian career diplomat, who has been a member of the foreign service in some capacity since 1967, when he joined the Department of External Affairs.
Michael Kergin, Canadian diplomat, Canadian Ambassador to the United States
Robert Louis Ridarelli, known by the stage name Bobby Rydell, was an American singer and actor who mainly performed rock and roll and traditional pop music. In the early 1960s, he …
Bobby Rydell, American singer and actor (died 2022)
Jadwiga Staniszkis was a Polish sociologist and political scientist, essayist, a professor at the University of Warsaw and the Wyższa Szkoła Biznesu, a Polish campus of National-Lo…
Jadwiga Staniszkis, Polish sociologist, political scientist, and academic (died 2024)
Ruth Glick is an American writer of cookbooks, romance and young adult novels. She has written novels under the pseudonym Rebecca York; until 1997 these were written in collaborati…
Ruth Glick, American author
James Lee Keltner is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. He was characterized by Bob Dylan biographer Howard Sounes as "the leading session …
Jim Keltner, American drummer
The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the period of Japanese history spanning 79 years, starting with the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 186…
World War II: Japan begins the Aleutian Islands Campaign by bombing Unalaska Island
The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II that took place on 4–7 June 1942, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month…
World War II: The Battle of Midway begins
Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim was a Finnish military commander and statesman. He served as the military leader of the Whites in the Finnish Civil War (1918), as regent of Finla…
World War II: Gustaf Mannerheim, the Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Army, is granted the title of Marshal of Finland
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 United States Navy's victory over the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Battle of Midway is a major turnin
John Michael Brearley is a retired English first-class cricketer who captained Cambridge University, Middlesex, and England to three successive Ashes series wins. He was the captai…
Mike Brearley, English cricketer and psychoanalyst
Richard R. Chrysler is an American businessman and former politician who was a U.S. representative from Michigan from 1995 until 1997.
Dick Chrysler, American politician
Irene Tordoff Fritchie, Baroness Fritchie, DBE, known as Rennie Fritchie, was a British life peer who was a member of the House of Lords.
Rennie Fritchie, Baroness Fritchie, English civil servant and academic
Al-Aminul Karim Sultan Sallehuddin ibni Almarhum Sultan Badlishah is the 29th Sultan of Kedah since ascending to the throne in September 2017 upon the death of his elder half-broth…
Sallehuddin of Kedah, Sultan of Kedah