1940s

The 1940s (pronounced "nineteen-forties" and commonly abbreviated as the "Forties") was a of the  that began on January 1, 1940, and ended on December 31, 1949.

Most of took place in the first half of the decade, which had a profound effect on most countries and people in, , and elsewhere. The consequences of the war lingered well into the second half of the decade, with a war-weary Europe divided between the jostling spheres of influence of the and the, leading to the beginning of the. To some degree internal and external tensions in the era were managed by new institutions, including the, the , and the , facilitating the , which lasted well into the 1970s. The conditions of the post-war world encouraged and the emergence of new states and governments, with, , , , and others declaring independence, although rarely without bloodshed. The decade also witnessed the early beginnings of new technologies (such as s,, and ), often first developed in tandem with the war effort, and later adapted and improved upon in the post-war era.

Wars

 * (1939–1945)
 * invades, , , , and the from 1939 to 1941.
 * invades, , occupies , , and Romanian region of  from 1939 to 1941.
 * Germany faces the in the  (1940). It was the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces, and was the largest and most sustained aerial bombing campaign up until that date.
 * Germany the  (June 22, 1941).
 * The enters  after the  on December 7, 1941. It would face the  in the.
 * Germany and Japan suffer defeats at, , and in 1942 and 1943.
 * in 1943 was the largest Jewish uprising in Nazi-occupied Poland.
 * against Nazis in 1944 in Poland was the single largest military effort taken by any European resistance movement during World War II.The United States Army Air Forces send support for Poles on September 18, 1944 when flight of 110 s of the 3 division Eighth Air Force airdropped supply for soldiers.
 * . The forces of the land on the beaches of  in Northern France (June 6, 1944).
 * , wartime meeting from February 4, 1945 to February 11, 1945 among the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union—, , and  , respectively—for the purpose of discussing Europe's postwar reorganization, intended to discuss the re-establishment of the nations of war-torn Europe.
 * , also known as The Shoah (: השואה, Latinized ha'shoah; : חורבן, Latinized churben or hurban) is the term generally used to describe the of approximately six million European  during, a program of systematic state-sponsored extermination by , under , , and . Some scholars maintain that the definition of the Holocaust should also include the Nazis' systematic murder of millions of people in other groups, including , the , , , , , and . By this definition, the total number of  is between 11 million and 17 million people.
 * The signed (May 7–8, 1945)..
 * (August 6 and August 9, 1945); on August 15.
 * officially ends on September 2, 1945.
 * (Early 20th century–present)
 * (1948–1949) – The war was fought between the newly declared State of Israel and its Arab neighbours. The war commenced upon the termination of the in mid-May 1948. After the Arab rejection of the 1947  (UN General Assembly Resolution 181) that would have created an Arab state and a Jewish state side by side, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria attacked the state of Israel. In its conclusion, Israel managed to defeat the Arab armies.
 * (Early 20th century–present)
 * (1948–1949) – The war was fought between the newly declared State of Israel and its Arab neighbours. The war commenced upon the termination of the in mid-May 1948. After the Arab rejection of the 1947  (UN General Assembly Resolution 181) that would have created an Arab state and a Jewish state side by side, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria attacked the state of Israel. In its conclusion, Israel managed to defeat the Arab armies.

Major political changes

 * Establishment of the (June 26, 1945) effective (October 24, 1945).
 * Establishment of the defence alliance April 4, 1949.

Internal conflicts

 * Victory of led by  in the.
 * Beginning of, which extends from 1946 to 1949.
 * Beginning of, which extends from 1946 to 1949.

Decolonization and independence

 * 1944 – declares independence from.
 * 1945 – declares independence from the Netherlands (effective in 1949 after a ).
 * 1946 – The dissolves to the independent states of  and . The French settlers are forced to evacuate the French colony in Syria.
 * 1947 – The of the  into a secular  and a predominantly Muslim.
 * 1948 – ends. The  is established.
 * 1949 – The is officially proclaimed.

Economics
The was the gathering of 730 delegates from all 44  at the, situated in , , United States, to regulate the  after the conclusion of. The conference was held from July 1–22, 1944. It established the (IBRD) and the  (IMF), and created the.

Assassinations and attempts
Prominent assassinations, targeted killings, and assassination attempts include:


 * August 20, 1940 –, a Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician is attacked by using an ice axe. Trotsky died the next day from  and shock.
 * December 24, 1942 –, French and political figure is assassinated by  in ,.
 * January 30, 1948 –, Indian activist and leader of the Indian independence movement is killed by.

Technology

 * The is now considered one of the first electronic digital computing device built by  and  at  during 1937–1942.
 * Construction in early 1941 of the  & the, which was used by British codebreakers at Bletchley Park and satellite stations nearby to read  encrypted German messages during World War II. This was operational until 1946 when it was destroyed under orders from Winston Churchill. This is now widely regarded as the first operational computer which in a model rebuild still today has a remarkable computing speed.
 * The as world's first working programmable, fully automatic computing machine was built.
 * The first test of technology for an atomic weapon as part of the.
 * The was broken in October, 1947.
 * The was invented in December, 1947 at.
 * The development of.
 * The development of.
 * The development of.
 * The.
 * The development of commercial.
 * The.
 * The.
 * The invention of.
 * The invention of.
 * The invention of the
 * The invention of

Science

 * Physics: the development of and.
 * Mathematics: the development of and.
 * In 1947, 's raft crossed the  from  to  proving the practical possibility that people from  could have settled  in, rather than South-East Asia as it was previously believed
 * developed —a process that revolutionized.
 * The development of the.

Film

 * Oscar winners: ' (1940), ' (1941), ' (1942), ' (1943), ' (1944), ' (1945), ' (1946), ' (1947), ' (1948), ' (1949).
 * Some of Hollywood's most notable of the 1940s include: ' directed by  (1941), ' directed by  (1946), ' directed by  (1944), ' directed by  (1944), ' directed by  (1942), ' directed by  (1941), ' directed by  (1940), ' directed by  (1946), ' directed by  (1941), ' directed by  (1940), ' directed by  (1949), ' directed by  (1942), and ' directed by, (1946). The  released the animated feature films ' (1940), ' (1941), ' (1940), and  (1942).

Although the 1940s was a decade dominated by, important and noteworthy films about a wide variety of subjects were made during that era. Hollywood was instrumental in producing dozens of classic films during the 1940s, several of which were about the war and some are on most lists of all-time great films. survived although obviously curtailed during wartime and yet many films of high quality were made in the, , , the and elsewhere in Europe. The also survived. and other directors managed to produce significant films during the 1940s.

Polish filmmakers in Great Britain created anti-nazi color film Calling mr. Smith (1943) about current nazi crimes in occupied Europe during the war and about lies of nazi propaganda.

, a film style that incorporated crime dramas with dark images, became largely prevalent during the decade. Films such as ' and ' are considered classics and helped launch the careers of legendary actors such as and. The genre has been widely copied since its initial inception.

In France during the war the tour de force  directed by (1945), was shot in Nazi occupied Paris. Memorable films from post-war England include 's ' and ', Carol Reed's '  and ' , and 's ' , '  and ' , 's ', the first non-American film to win the  and   directed by. of the 1940s produced poignant movies made in post-war Italy. ' directed by (1945), ' directed by  (1946), ' directed by Roberto Rossellini (1946), ' directed by  (1948), ' directed by  (1948), and ' directed by  (1949), are some well-known examples.

In Japanese cinema,  is a 1941 black and white two-part directed by. ' (1945), and the post-war ' (1948), and  (1949), directed by are considered important early works leading to his first masterpieces of the 1950s. Drunken Angel (1948), marked the beginning of the successful collaboration between Kurosawa and actor that lasted until 1965.

Music

 * The most popular music style during the 1940s was, which prevailed during World War II. In the later periods of the 1940s, less swing was prominent and crooners like , along with genres such as bebop and the earliest traces of rock and roll, were the prevalent genre.

Literature

 * by in 1940.
 * by in 1942.
 * by in 1942.
 * by in 1943.
 * by in 1943.
 * by in 1943.
 * by in 1944.
 * by in 1945.
 * by in 1947.
 * by in 1949.
 * by in 1949.
 * by in 1944.

Fashion
As the 1940s went through times of hardship during and after WWII, the solution was significant rationing and fashion items and fabrics were no exception. Fashion became more utilitarian or function and comfortability over style. Besides this rationing, as a tribute, women's fashion also changed to reflect that and it was seen in the new silhouette that is featured suits. In order to feminize this, certain elements were added such as the straight knee-length skirts and accessories to complete the look. Even with the challenges imposed by shortages in rayon, nylon, wool, leather, rubber, metal (for snaps, buckles, and embellishments), and even the amount of fabric that could be used in any one garment, the fashion industry's wheels kept chugging slowly along, producing what it could. After the fall of France in 1940, Hollywood drove fashion in the United States almost entirely, with the exception of a few trends coming from war torn London in 1944 and 1945, as America's own rationing hit full force, and the idea of function seemed to overtake fashion, if only for a few short months until the end of the war. Fabrics shifted dramatically as rationing and wartime shortages controlled import items such as silk and furs. Floral prints seem to dominate the early 1940s, with the mid-to-late 1940s also seeing what is sometimes referred to as "atomic prints" or geometric patterns and shapes. The color of fashion seemed to even go to war, with patriotic nautical themes and dark greens and khakis dominating the color palettes, as trousers and wedges slowly replaced the dresses and more traditional heels due to shortages in stockings and gasoline. The most common characteristics of this fashion were the straight skirt, pleats, front fullness, squared shoulders with v-necks or high necks, slim sleeves and the most favorited necklines were sailor, mandarin and scalloped.

World leaders

 * 1st Democratic Prime Minister
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Politics

 * , Secretary-general Arab League
 * , Chairman of the Executive Committee Communist International
 * , Managing Director International Monetary Fund
 * , Secretary-general Council of Europe
 * , President of the Council International Civil Aviation Organization
 * , Director International Labour Organization

Sports
During the 1940s, sporting events were disrupted and changed by the events that engaged and shaped the entire world. The 1940 and 1944 were cancelled because of. During in the United States   and numerous stars and performers from American baseball and other sports served in the armed forces until the end of the war. Among the many baseball players (including well known stars) who served during World War II were, , , , (in 1945), , and. They like many others sacrificed their personal and valuable career time for the benefit and well being of the rest of society. The Summer Olympics were resumed in 1948 in and the Winter games were held that year in,.

In 1947, of the  became the first person of color to play in modern professional basketball, just months after  had broke the color barrier in  for the.

Baseball
During the early 1940s had an enormous impact on Major League Baseball as many players including many of the most successful stars joined the war effort. After the war many players returned to their teams, while the major event of the second half of the 1940s was the 1945 signing of to a players contract by  the general manager of the. Signing Robinson opened the door to the of Major League Baseball finally putting an end to the professional discrimination that had characterized the sport since the 19th century.

Boxing
During the mid-1930s and throughout the years leading up to the 1940s was an enormously popular Heavyweight boxer. In 1936, he lost an important 12 round fight (his first loss) to the German boxer and he vowed to meet Schmeling once again in the ring. Louis' comeback bout against Schmeling became an international symbol of the struggle between the US and democracy against Nazism and Fascism. When on June 22, 1938, Louis knocked Schmeling out in the first few seconds of the first round during their rematch at, his sensational comeback victory riveted the entire nation. Louis enlisted in the on January 10, 1942, in response to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Louis' cultural impact was felt well outside the ring. He is widely regarded as the first to achieve the status of a nationwide hero within the United States, and was also a focal point of anti-Nazi sentiment leading up to and during.