Explore 6096 historical events from 1940–1949.
Gladys Catherine Horton was an American R&B and pop singer, notable for being the founder and lead singer of the all-female vocal group the Marvelettes, the first successful Motown…
Gladys Horton, American singer (died 2011)
Lydia Shum Din-ha or Lydia Sum Tin-ha was a Hong Kong comedian, emcee, actress and singer. Known for her portly figure, signature dark-rimmed glasses and bouffant hairstyle, she wa…
Lydia Shum, Chinese-Hong Kong actress (died 2008)
Frederica von Stade is an American former classical singer. Best known for her work in opera, she was also a recitalist and concert artist, and she recorded more than a hundred alb…
Frederica von Stade, American soprano and actress
Victory over Japan Day is the day on which Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war to an end. The term has been applied to both of the days on which …
A three-day celebration begins in China, following the Victory over Japan Day on September 2.
The Cold War was a period of international geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc …
Cold War: Igor Gouzenko, a Soviet Union embassy clerk, defects to Canada, exposing Soviet espionage in North America,…
Iva Ikuko Toguri D'Aquino was an American citizen visiting Japan when World War II began. Unable to return to the United States, she risked her life smuggling food to American serv…
Iva Toguri D'Aquino, a Japanese American who broadcast under the name Orphan Annie during World War II, is arrested in…
Wake Island, also known as Wake Atoll, is a coral atoll which is a unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the Pacific Ocean. The atoll is comp…
World War II: Japanese forces on Wake Island, which they had held since December 1941, surrender to U.S. Marines.
The division of Korea or the partition of Korea began at the end of World War II on 2 September 1945, with the establishment of a Soviet occupation zone in the north and a US occup…
The division of Korea begins when United States troops arrive to partition the southern part of Korea in response to…
Sir Richard Julian Long is an English sculptor, painter, photographer, and one of the best-known British land artists.
Richard Long, English painter, sculptor, and photographer
Ramón Pereyra Jacinto, best known as RJ Jacinto or the mononym RJ, is a Filipino businessman, musician and radio TV personality. He previously served as Undersecretary for Governme…
Ramon Jacinto, Filipino singer, guitarist, and businessman, founded the Rajah Broadcasting Network
William Tulloch Paterson is a Scottish actor. Throughout his career he has appeared regularly in radio drama and provided the narration for a large number of documentaries.
Bill Paterson, Scottish actor
Daniel Topolski was a British writer, rower, rowing coach and commentator. He studied at the University of Oxford where he represented the Blue boat twice, in 1967 and 1968. In 197…
Daniel Topolski, English rower and coach (died 2015)
The Second Sino-Japanese War, known in China as the War of Resistance Against Japan, was fought between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan and its puppet states between …
Second Sino-Japanese War: The Empire of Japan formally surrenders to China.
Batu Lintang camp at Kuching, Sarawak on the island of Borneo was a Japanese-run internment camp during the Second World War. It was unusual in that it housed both Allied prisoners…
World War II: Batu Lintang camp, a Japanese-run POW and civilian internment camp on the island of Borneo, is liberated…
The 1945 Homestead hurricane, known informally as Kappler's hurricane, was the most intense tropical cyclone to strike the U.S. state of Florida since 1935. The ninth tropical stor…
A hurricane strikes southern Florida and the Bahamas, destroying 366 airplanes and 25 blimps at Naval Air Station…
The Japanese occupation of Hong Kong began when the governor of Hong Kong, Mark Aitchison Young, surrendered the British Crown colony of Hong Kong to the Empire of Japan on 25 Dece…
World War II: The Japanese occupation of Hong Kong comes to an end.
Douglas MacArthur was an American general. He served with distinction in World War I; as chief of staff of the United States Army from 1930 to 1935; as Supreme Commander, Southwest…
General Douglas MacArthur moves his general headquarters from Manila to Tokyo.
Gordon Trueman Riviere Waller was a Scottish guitarist, singer-songwriter and actor, best known as Gordon of the 1960s pop music duo Peter and Gordon, whose biggest hit was the no.…
Gordon Waller, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2009)
Steven John Fromholz was an American singer-songwriter who was selected as the Poet Laureate of Texas for 2007.
Steven Fromholz, American singer-songwriter, producer, and poet (died 2014)
Derek Leslie Underwood was an English international cricketer. In retirement he became president of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in 2008.
Derek Underwood, English cricketer (died 2024)
Patrick Anthony Jennings is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is widely recognised as one of the greatest goalkeepers in the history of…
Pat Jennings, Northern Irish footballer and coach
Louis Whitley Strieber is an American writer best known for his horror novels The Wolfen and The Hunger and for Communion, a non-fiction account of his alleged experiences with non…
Whitley Strieber, American author
Hollywood Black Friday, or Hollywood Bloody Friday, is the name given, in the history of organized labor in the United States, to October 5, 1945. On that date, a six-month strike …
A six-month strike by Hollywood set decorators turns into a bloody riot at the gates of the Warner Brothers studio.
The Double Tenth Agreement, formally known as the Summary of Conversations Between the Government and Representatives of the Communist Party of China, was a pact between the Kuomin…
The Double Tenth Agreement is signed by the Communist Party and the Kuomintang about the future of China.