1940s

The **1940s** (also known as the ''''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 – People Republic of China established

## 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
* Rita Hayworth, 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