1940s
Centuries:
19th century - 20th century - 21st century Decades:
1910s 1920s 1930s - 1940s - 1950s 1960s 1970sYears:
1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
Events and trends
The 1940s were seen as a transition period between the radical 1930s and the conservative 1950s, which also leads the period to be divided in two halves:The first half of the decade was dominated by World War II, the widest and most destructive armed conflict in history. So consequential was this event and its brutal aftermath that it laid the foundation for other major world events and trends for decades to follow.
The second half period marked the beginning of the East-West conflict and the Cold War, together with major social upheaval caused by the destruction of the war, the large number of refugees, and soldiers returning home and demanding government recognition for their sacrifice.
Technology
- First nuclear bomb that dramatically altered international relationships
- First Cruise missile, the V1 flying bomb and the first Ballistic missile, the V-2 rocket
- First Transistor
- Colossus, the world's first totally electronic computer. See History of computing hardware
- First supersonic Flight by Chuck Yeager on October 14, 1947
- ENIAC invented
Science
- Quantum electrodynamics developed by Feynman, Dyson, Schwinger, and Tomonaga
- Mathematics: Game theory, cryptology
- TRIZ
War, peace and politics
- World War II ends in 1945
- The Shoah (Holocaust)
- United Nations established in 1945
- Beginning of the Cold War
- Independence for some former colonies
- 1948 Arab-Israeli War
- The Irish Free State becomes a republic in 1948
- NATO founded in 1949
- The Chinese Civil War ends in victory for the Communists
- Informbiro period in Yugoslavia begins
- Indian independence and Independence of Pakistan
- US Air Force civilian auxiliary the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) formed
Economics
- The Marshall Plan is implemented by the United States, giving billions of dollars in aid to reconstruct the war-devastated economies of Europe
- International Monetary Fund
- World Bank
Culture, religion
- Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life
- The NBA begins to play, in 1947
- Rhythm and blues emerges
- Rock and roll emerges
Others
People
World leaders
- Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King (Canada)
- President Lin Sen (Republic of China)
- President Chiang Kai-shek (Republic of China)
- Adolf Hitler (Germany)
- Mohandas Gandhi (India) († 1948)
- Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose (India)
- Mohammad Ali Jinnah (Pakistan)
- Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion (Israel)
- King Victor Emmanuel III (Italy)
- Prime Minister Benito Mussolini (Italy)
- Emperor Hirohito (Japan)
- Pope Pius XII
- Taoiseach Eamon de Valera (Éire)
- Taoiseach John A. Costello (Republic of Ireland)
- Joseph Stalin (Soviet Union)
- Prime Minister Winston Churchill (United Kingdom)
- Prime Minister Clement Attlee (United Kingdom)
- President Franklin D. Roosevelt (United States)
- President Harry S. Truman (United States)
- Governor Luis Muñoz Marín (Commonwealth of Puerto Rico)
- President Getúlio Vargas (Brazil)
Sports figures
- Alec Bedser
- Denis Compton
- Don Bradman
- Joe Louis
- Jackie Robinson
- Joe DiMaggio
- Keith Miller
- Len Hutton
- Ray Lindwall
- Sammy Baugh
- Satchel Paige
- Steve Van Buren
- Sugar Ray Robinson
- Ted Williams