Explore 3967 historical events from 1940–1949.
Dame Patricia Mary W. Barker, is an English writer and novelist. She has won many awards for her fiction, which centres on themes of memory, trauma, survival and recovery. She is k…
Pat Barker, English author
Sir John Vincent Cable is a British politician who was Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2017 to 2019. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Twickenham from 1997 to 2015 and from…
Vince Cable, English economist and politician, former Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
Colin Trevor Pillinger, was an English planetary scientist. He was a founding member of the Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute at The Open University in Milton Keynes;…
Colin Pillinger, English astronomer, chemist, and academic (died 2014)
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, with many eng…
World War II: Operation Tidal Wave, also known as "Black Sunday", was a failed American attempt to destroy Romanian…
The Holocaust, known in Hebrew as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered ar…
The Holocaust: Jewish prisoners stage a revolt at Treblinka, one of the deadliest of Nazi death camps where…
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, with many eng…
World War II: After the Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 is rammed and sunk by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri, Lt. John F.…
The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale…
World War II: The U.S. Eighth Air Force suffers the loss of 60 bombers on the Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission.
The First Quebec Conference, codenamed Quadrant, was a highly secret military conference held during World War II by the governments of the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United S…
World War II: First Québec Conference of Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and William Lyon Mackenzie King…
Nancy Catherine Greene Raine is a former Canadian Senator for British Columbia and an Olympic alpine champion voted as Canada's Female Athlete of the 20th Century. She was born in …
Nancy Greene, Canadian skier and politician
Haydee Raquel Blandón Sandoval was a Guatemalan lawyer, activist, and political leader who served as the first lady of Guatemala from 1986 to 1991, as the wife of President Vinicio…
Raquel Blandón, Guatemalan lawyer and activist, First Lady of Guatemala (died 2024)
Judith Ann Jamison was an American dancer and choreographer. She danced with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater from 1965 to 1980 and was Ailey's muse. She later returned to be…
Judith Jamison, American dancer and choreographer (died 2024)
Mary Esther Wells was an American singer, who helped to define the emerging sound of Motown in the early 1960s.
Mary Wells, American singer-songwriter (died 1992)
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the First World Wa…
World War II: The Royal Air Force begins Operation Hydra, the first air raid of the Operation Crossbow strategic…
Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest city in Ukraine. Located in the northeast of the country, it is the largest city of the historic region of Sloboda Ukraine. Kh…
World War II: Kharkiv is liberated by the Soviet Red Army for the second time after the Battle of Kursk.
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, with many eng…
World War II: Japanese forces evacuate New Georgia Island in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II.
The Luftwaffe was the aerial-warfare branch of the Wehrmacht before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the Luftstreitkräfte of the Imperial Ar…
World War II: Aerial bombardment by the Luftwaffe razes to the ground the village of Vorizia in Crete.
At the outset of World War II in September 1939, Denmark declared itself neutral, but that neutrality did not prevent Nazi Germany from occupying the country soon after the outbrea…
Denmark in World War II: German authorities demand that Danish authorities crack down on acts of resistance. The next…
John Symon Asher Bruce was a Scottish musician. He gained popularity as the primary lead vocalist and bassist of rock band Cream. After the group disbanded in 1968, he pursued a …
Jack Bruce, Scottish-English singer-songwriter and bass player (died 2014)
Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson is an Icelandic politician who was the fifth president of Iceland, serving from 1996 to 2016. He was previously a member of the Icelandic Parliament for the …
Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, Icelandic academic and politician, 5th President of Iceland
Paul Bégin is a former Quebec politician and Cabinet Minister. Member of the Parti Québecois, he served as the province's Justice Minister from 1994 to 1997 and from 2001 to 2002.
Paul Bégin, Canadian lawyer and politician
Richard Allen Epstein is an American legal scholar known for his writings on torts, contracts, property rights, law and economics, classical liberalism, and libertarianism. He is t…
Richard Allen Epstein, American lawyer, author, and academic
Janet Evanovich is an American writer. She began her career writing short contemporary romance novels under the pen name Steffie Hall, but gained fame authoring a series of contemp…
Janet Evanovich, American author
Gail Charles Goodrich Jr. is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is best known for scoring a then record 42 points fo…
Gail Goodrich, American basketball player and coach
Gary Malcolm Wright was an American musician and composer best known for his 1976 hit songs "Dream Weaver" and "Love Is Alive". Wright's breakthrough album, The Dream Weaver (1975)…
Gary Wright, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (died 2023)