Explore 6096 historical events from 1940–1949.
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England.…
World War II: The House of Commons in London is damaged by the Luftwaffe in an air raid
Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was a German politician, convicted war criminal, and a leading member of the Nazi Party in Germany. Appointed Deputy to the Führer in 1933, Hess held tha…
World War II: Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland to try to negotiate a peace deal between the United Kingdom and Nazi
Konrad Ernst Otto Zuse was a German civil engineer, pioneering computer scientist, inventor and businessman. His greatest achievement was the world's first programmable computer; t…
Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin
Lucien Aimar is a French cyclist, who won the Tour de France in 1966 and the national road championship in 1968. He is now a race organizer.
Lucien Aimar, French cyclist
Sir John Robert Madejski is an English businessman, with commercial interests spanning property, broadcast media, hotels, restaurants, publishing and football.
John Madejski, English businessman and academic
Karl Barry Sharpless is an American stereochemist. He is a two-time Nobel laureate in chemistry, known for his work on stereoselective reactions and click chemistry.
Karl Barry Sharpless, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
Irina (Iraida) Volodymyrivna Zhylenko, a Ukrainian poet, was the a wife of Volodymyr Drozd. She was born in Kyiv and died in August 2013 at the age of 72.
Iryna Zhylenko, Ukrainian poet and author (died 2013)
Hanne Darboven was a German conceptual artist, best known for her large-scale minimalist installations consisting of handwritten tables of numbers.
Hanne Darboven, German painter (died 2009)
Stavros Dimas is a Greek politician who was European Commissioner for the Environment from 2004 to 2009. From November 2011 to May 2012, he served in the government of Greece as Mi…
Stavros Dimas, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs
The Battle of Crete, codenamed Operation Mercury, was a major Axis airborne and amphibious operation during World War II to capture the island of Crete. It began on the morning of …
World War II: Battle of Crete: German paratroops invade Crete
The Anglo-Iraqi War was a British-led Allied military campaign during the Second World War against the Kingdom of Iraq, then ruled by Rashid Ali al-Gaylani who had seized power in …
During the Anglo-Iraqi War, British troops take Fallujah
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. Tanks and air…
World War II: German paratroopers start a series of mass executions of Greek civilians in Missiria for their participati
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. Tanks and air…
World War II: Battle of the Atlantic: In the Battle of the Denmark Strait, the German battleship Bismarck sinks the prid
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving US president and the…
World War II: U
Clay Palmer Carroll is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher from 1964 through 1978, most notably as a membe…
Clay Carroll, American baseball player
Nona Gaprindashvili is a Georgian chess Grandmaster. Noted for her aggressive style of play, she was the women's world chess champion from 1962 to 1978, and in 1978 was the first w…
Nona Gaprindashvili, Georgian chess player, Women's World Champion, 1962-1978
George Frederick Will is an American libertarian conservative writer and political commentator. He writes columns for The Washington Post on a regular basis and provides commentary…
George Will, American journalist and author
Bismarck was the first of two Bismarck-class battleships built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine. Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss…
World War II: The German battleship Bismarck is sunk in the North Atlantic, killing almost 2,100 men
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. Tanks and air…
World War II: Manolis Glezos and Apostolos Santas climb the Athenian Acropolis and tear down the German flag
The Anglo-Iraqi War was a British-led Allied military campaign during the Second World War against the Kingdom of Iraq, then ruled by Rashid Ali al-Gaylani who had seized power in …
Anglo-Iraqi War: The United Kingdom completes the re-occupation of Iraq and returns 'Abd al-Ilah to power as regent for
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. Tanks and air…
World War II: The Battle of Crete ends as Crete capitulates to Germany
The Farhud was a pogrom carried out against the Jewish population of Baghdad, Iraq, on 1–2 June 1941, immediately following the British victory in the Anglo-Iraqi War. The riots oc…
The Farhud, a massive pogrom in Iraq, starts and as a result, many Iraqi Jews are forced to leave their homes
William Westwood Lockyer is an American politician and lawyer from the state of California. A Democrat, he served in both houses of the state legislature, having been a member of t…
Bill Lockyer, American academic and politician, 30th Attorney General of California
James Anthony Traficant Jr. was an American politician who served as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio. A staunch economic populist known …
James Traficant, American lawyer and politician (died 2014)