1940s

The 1940s was a decade in the Anno Domini and Common Era in the Gregorian calendar. It began on January 1, 1940 and ended on December 31, 1949. It is distinct from the decade known as the 195th decade which began on January 1, 1941 and ended on December 31, 1950.

Events 
 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 – 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.

People

Actor 
 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

Actress 
 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

Composer 
 Aram Khachaturian, Armenian composer

Director

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

Musician

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

World Leaders 
 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