1940s

Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

Decades: 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s - 1940s - 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s

Years: 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949

• World War II
• The shoa
• First nuclear bomb
• Beginning of the Cold War
• Independence for some former colonies
• 1948 Arab-Israeli War
• Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life
• Mathematics: game theory, cryptology

World Leaders

• President Lin Sen (Republic of China)
• President Chiang Kai-shek (Republic of China)
• Adolf Hitler (Germany)
• Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (India)
• Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion (Israel)
• King Victor Emmanuel III (Italy)
• Prime Minister Benito Mussolini (Italy)
• Emperor Hirohito (Japan)
• Pope Pius XII
• Joseph Stalin (Soviet Union)
• King George VI (United Kingdom)
• Prime Minister Winston Churchill (United Kingdom)
• Prime Minister Clement Atlee (United Kingdom)
• President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (United States)
• President Harry S. Truman (United States)

Entertainers

• Abbott and Costello
• Ingrid Bergman
• Humphrey Bogart
• James Cagney
• Bing Crosby
• Bette Davis
• Clark Gable
• Cary Grant
• Katharine Hepburn
• Bob Hope
• Jimmy Stewart
• Spencer Tracy
• Orson Welles