1940s

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

## 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 – 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.

### 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
- Rita Hayworth, American actress

### Composer

- Aram Khachaturian, Armenian composer

### Footballer

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

### 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