1940s

The 1940s (also known as the '40s) was the decade that began on January 1, 1940 and ended on December 31, 1949.

• 1940 – Retreat at Dunkirk
• 1941; Attack on Pearl Harbor, which followed by U.S. join the war then.
• 1944 – Normandy invasion
• 1945 (August 6 and 9) – first use of the atomic bomb in warfare.
• 1945 – World War II ends
• 1945 – Founding of the United Nations.
• 1945 – Start of the Cold War
• 1945-1946 – Nuremberg Trials
• 1946 – baby boom begins in the United States.
• 1947 – Independence for India and other colonies.
• 1947-1949 – Indo-Pakistani War
• 1948-1949 – Arab-Israeli War
• 1949 – Communists take power in China.

• Cary Grant, British-American actor
• Charles Boyer, French actor
• Dana Andrews, American actor
• Fred Astaire, American actor
• Fred MacMurray, American actor
• Gene Reynolds, American actor
• Humphrey Bogart, American actor
• James Stewart, American actor
• Kirk Douglas, American actor
• Lionel Barrymore, American actor
• Melvyn Douglas, American actor
• Robert Taylor, American actor
• Spencer Tracy, American actor
• Toshirō Mifune, Japanese actor
• William Holden, American actor

• Audrey Hepburn, British-Belgian actress
• Ava Gardner, American actress
• Barbara Stanwyck, American actress
• Bibi Ferreira, Brazilian actress
• Deborah Kerr, British actress
• Donna Reed, American actress
• Doris Day, American actress
• Fay McKenzie, American actress
• Gene Tierney, American actress
• Ginger Rogers, American actress
• Gloria Swanson, American actress
• Grace Kelly, American actress
• Greta Garbo, Swedish-American actress
• Ingrid Bergman, Swedish actress
• Janet Leigh, American actress
• Judy Garland, American actress
• Katharine Hepburn, American actress
• Lana Turner, American actress
• Lauren Bacall, American actress
• Machiko Kyō, Japanese actress
• Mai Zetterling, Swedish actress
• Marilyn Monroe, American actress
• Mary Pickford, Canadian-American actress
• Muriel Pavlow, British actress
• Olivia de Havilland, American actress
• Peggy Stewart, American actress
• Rita Hayworth, American actress

• Aram Khachaturian, Armenian composer

• Adolfo Pedernera Argentine footballer
• Alfredo Di Stéfano, Argentine-Spanish footballer
• Ferenc Puskás, Hungarian footballer
• Stanley Matthews, English footballer

• Albert Einstein, German-born American scientist
• Enrico Fermi, Italian-American physicist
• Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist
• Niels Bohr, Danish physicist
• Paul Dirac, English theoretical physicist

• Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Communist Party of China
• José Figueres Ferrer, President of Costa Rica (until 1948)
• Adolf Hitler, Führer of Germany
• Karl Dönitz, 4th President of Germany
• Wilhelm Pieck, Leadership of East Germany
• Otto Grotewohl, Leadership of East Germany
• Theodor Heuss, President of Germany
• Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of Germany
• Mahatma Gandhi, leader of India
• Hirohito, Emperor of Japan
• Pope Pius XII, Pope in the 1930s
• Ananda Mahidol, King of Siam (until 1946)
• Rhee Syng-man, President of South Korea
• Bhumibol Adulyadej, King of Thailand
• Pridi Banomyong, Prime Minister of Thailand
• George VI, King of the United Kingdom
• Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of United Kingdom
• Clement Attlee, Prime Minister of United Kingdom
• Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States (until 1945)
• Harry S. Truman, President of the United States
• Joseph Stalin, leader of the USSR