View source for 1940s

{{short description|Decade of the Gregorian calendar (1940–1949)}}
{{Redirect|'40s|decades comprising years 40–49 of other centuries |List of decades}}

<imagemap>File:1940s decade montage.png|'''Above title bar:''' events during '''[[World War II]]''' (1939–1945): From left to right: Troops in an LCVP landing craft approaching [[Omaha Beach]] on '''[[Normandy landings|D-Day]]'''; [[Adolf Hitler]] visits [[Paris]], soon after the '''[[Battle of France]]'''; '''[[The Holocaust]]''' occurs as [[Nazi Germany]] carries out a programme of systematic state-sponsored [[genocide]], during which approximately six million [[History of the Jews in Europe#World War II and the Holocaust|European Jews]] are killed; The [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] '''[[Attack on Pearl Harbor|attack on the American naval base of Pearl Harbor]]''' launches the [[United States]] into the war; An [[Royal Observer Corps|Observer Corps]] spotter scans the skies of [[London]] during the '''[[Battle of Britain]]''' and '''[[The Blitz]]'''; The creation of the [[Manhattan Project]] leads to the '''[[atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]]''', the first uses of [[nuclear weapon]]s, which kill over a quarter million people and lead to the [[Surrender of Japan|Japanese surrender]]; Japanese Foreign Minister [[Mamoru Shigemitsu]] signs the '''[[Japanese Instrument of Surrender|Instrument of Surrender]]''' on behalf of the Japanese Government, on board {{USS|Missouri|BB-63|6}}, effectively ending the war. <br />'''Below title bar:''' events after World War II: From left to right: The '''[[Israeli Declaration of Independence|Declaration of the State of Israel]]''' in 1948; The '''[[Nuremberg trials]]''' are held after the war, in which the prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany are prosecuted; After the war, the United States carries out the '''[[Marshall Plan]]''', which aims at rebuilding Western Europe; '''[[ENIAC]]''', the world's first general-purpose electronic [[computer]].|335px|thumb
rect 1 1 224 195 [[D-Day]]
rect 227 1 407 195 [[Battle of France]]
rect 409 1 488 195 [[The Holocaust]]
rect 490 1 572 195 [[Auschwitz concentration camp]]
rect 1 198 148 383 [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|Pearl Harbor]]
rect 151 198 288 383 [[The Blitz]]
rect 291 198 420 288 [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|Hiroshima and Nagasaki]] 
rect 291 290 420 383 [[Manhattan Project]]
rect 424 198 572 383 [[Surrender of Japan]]
rect 0 384 572 411 [[World War II]]
rect 1 412 125 599 [[Israeli Declaration of Independence]]
rect 128 412 290 599 [[Nuremberg trials]]
rect 294 412 438 599 [[Marshall Plan]]
rect 441 412 572 599 [[ENIAC]]
</imagemap>
{{Decadebox|194}}
The '''1940s''' (pronounced "nineteen-forties" and commonly abbreviated as "'''the '40s'''" or "'''the Forties'''") was a [[decade]] that began on January 1, 1940, and ended on December 31, 1949.

Most of [[World War II]] took place in the first half of the decade, which had a profound effect on most countries and people in [[Europe]], [[Asia]], and elsewhere. The consequences of the war lingered well into the second half of the decade, with a war-weary Europe divided between the jostling [[sphere of influence|spheres of influence]] of the [[Western world]] and the [[Soviet Union]], leading to the beginning of the [[Cold War]]. To some degree internal and external tensions in the [[post-war]] era were managed by new institutions, including the [[United Nations]], the [[welfare state]], and the [[Bretton Woods system]], facilitating the [[post–World War II economic expansion]], which lasted well into the 1970s. The conditions of the post-war world encouraged [[decolonization]] and the emergence of new states and governments, with [[India]], [[Pakistan]], [[Israel]], [[Vietnam]], and others declaring independence, although rarely without bloodshed. The decade also witnessed the early beginnings of new technologies (such as [[computer]]s, [[nuclear power]], and [[jet engine|jet propulsion]]), often first developed in tandem with the war effort, and later adapted and improved upon in the post-war era.

The world population increased from about 2.25 to 2.5 billion over the course of the decade, with about 850 million births and 600 million deaths in total.

{{TOC limit|3}}

==Politics and wars==
{{See also|List of sovereign states in the 1940s}}
[[File:Flag-map of the world (1942).png|thumb|750px|center|Flag map of the world from 1942, during World War II]]

=== Wars ===
{{Main|List of wars 1900–1944#1930–1944|List of wars 1945–1989#1945–1949}}
[[File:EasternFrontWWIIcolage.png|right|thumb|250px|[[World War II]]]]
[[File:German Reich 1942.svg|220px|thumb|In Green: {{flag|Nazi Germany|name=German Reich}} at its peak (1942):
{{legend|#336733|[[:en:Nazi Germany|Germany]]}}
{{legend|#55c255|Civilian-administered occupied territories ''([[:en:Reichskommissariat|Reichskommissariat]]'' and [[:en:General Government|General Government]])}}
{{legend|#a5dfa5|Military-administered occupied territories ''([[:en:Military Administration (Nazi Germany)|Militärverwaltung]])''}}]]
* [[World War II]] (1939–1945)
** [[Nazi Germany]] invades [[Poland]], [[Denmark]], [[Norway]], [[Benelux]], and the [[French Third Republic]] from 1939 to 1941.
** [[Soviet Union]] invades [[Poland]], [[Finland]], occupies [[Latvia]], [[Estonia]], [[Lithuania]] and Romanian region of [[Bessarabia]] from 1939 to 1941.
** Germany faces the [[United Kingdom]] in the [[Battle of Britain]] (1940). It was the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces, and was the largest and most sustained aerial bombing campaign up until that date.
** Germany [[Operation Barbarossa|attacks]] the [[Soviet Union]] (June 22, 1941).
** [[Continuation War]] (Second Soviet-Finnish War), was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union from 25 June 1941 – 19 September 1944.
** The [[United States]] enters [[World War II]] after the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] on December 7, 1941. It would face the [[Empire of Japan]] in the [[Pacific War]].
** Germany, Italy, and Japan suffer defeats at [[Battle of Stalingrad|Stalingrad]], [[Second Battle of El Alamein|El Alamein]], and [[Battle of Midway|Midway]] in 1942 and 1943.
** [[Warsaw Ghetto Uprising]] in 1943 was the largest Jewish uprising in Nazi-occupied Poland.
** [[Warsaw Uprising]] against Nazis in 1944 in Poland was the single largest military effort taken by any European resistance movement during World War II.The United States Army Air Forces send support for Poles on September 18, 1944, when flight of 110 [[B-17]]s of the 3 division Eighth Air Force airdropped supply for soldiers.
** [[Normandy landings]]. The forces of the [[Allies of World War II|Western Allies]] land on the beaches of [[Normandy]] in Northern France (June 6, 1944).
** [[Yalta Conference]], wartime meeting from February 4, 1945, to February 11, 1945, among the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union—[[President of the United States|President]] [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] [[Winston Churchill]], and [[Premier of the Soviet Union|Premier]] [[Joseph Stalin]], respectively—for the purpose of discussing Europe's postwar reorganization, intended to discuss the re-establishment of the nations of war-torn Europe.
** [[The Holocaust]], also known as The Shoah ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: ''{{lang|he|השואה}}'', Latinized ''ha'shoah''; [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]]: ''{{lang|yi|חורבן}}'', Latinized ''{{transliteration|yi|churben}}'' or ''{{transliteration|yi|hurban}}''<ref name=Britannica>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/269548/Holocaust "Holocaust," ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 2009]: "the systematic state-sponsored killing of six million Jewish men, women, and children and millions of others by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II. The Germans called this "the final solution to the Jewish question ..."</ref>) is the term generally used to describe the [[genocide]] of approximately six million European [[Jews]] during [[World War II]], a program of systematic state-sponsored extermination by [[Nazi Germany]], under [[Adolf Hitler]], [[Axis powers|its allies]], and [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy|collaborators]].<ref name=Niewyk1>Niewyk, Donald L. ''The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust,'' [[Columbia University Press]], 2000, p. 45: "The Holocaust is commonly defined as the murder of more than {{formatnum:5000000}} Jews by the Germans in World War II." Also see "The Holocaust", ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 2007: "the systematic state-sponsored killing of six million Jewish men, women and children, and millions of others, by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II. The Germans called this "the final solution to the Jewish question".</ref> Some scholars maintain that the definition of the Holocaust should also include the Nazis' systematic murder of millions of people in other groups, including [[Nazi crimes against ethnic Poles|ethnic Poles]], the [[Porajmos|Romani]], [[Generalplan Ost|Soviet civilians]], [[Extermination of Soviet prisoners of war by Nazi Germany|Soviet prisoners of war]], [[Action T4|people with disabilities]], [[History of homosexual people in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust|gay men]], and [[Holocaust victims|political and religious opponents]].<ref>Niewyk, Donald L. and Nicosia, Francis R. ''The Columbia Guide to the Holocaust, Columbia University Press'', 2000, pp. 45–52.</ref> By this definition, the total number of [[Holocaust victims]] is between 11 million and 17 million people.<ref>Donald Niewyk suggests that the broadest definition, including Soviet civilian deaths, would produce a death toll of 17 million. [https://books.google.com/books?id=lpDTIUklB2MC&pg=PP1#PPA45,M1] Estimates of the death toll of non-Jewish victims vary by millions, partly because the boundary between death by persecution and death by starvation and other means in a context of [[total war]] is unclear. Overall, about 5.7 million (78 percent) of the 7.3 million Jews in occupied Europe perished ([[Martin Gilbert|Gilbert, Martin]]. ''Atlas of the Holocaust'' 1988, pp. 242–244). Compared to five to 11 million (1.4 percent to 3.0 percent) of the 360 million non-Jews in German-dominated Europe. Small, Melvin and J. David Singer. ''Resort to Arms: International and civil Wars 1816–1980'' and [[Michael Berenbaum|Berenbaum, Michael.]] ''A Mosaic of Victims: Non-Jews Persecuted and Murdered by the Nazis. New York: New York University Press, 1990''</ref>
** The [[German Instrument of Surrender]] signed (May 7–8, 1945). [[Victory in Europe Day]].
** [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]] (August 6 and August 9, 1945); [[Surrender of Japan]] on August 15.
** [[World War II]] officially ends on September 2, 1945.
*[[Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts]]
**[[Indo-Pakistani War of 1947]]
* [[Arab–Israeli conflict]] (Early 20th century–present)
** [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]] (1948–1949) – The war was fought between the newly declared State of Israel and its Arab neighbours. The war commenced upon the termination of the [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate of Palestine]] in mid-May 1948. After the Arab rejection of the 1947 [[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine]] (UN General Assembly Resolution 181) that would have created an Arab state and a Jewish state side by side, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria attacked the state of Israel. In its conclusion, Israel managed to defeat the Arab armies.
*[[Indonesian National Revolution|Indonesian War of Independence]] (1945–1949)
*[[First Indochina War]] (1946–1954)

===Major political changes===
* Establishment of the [[United Nations Charter]] (June 26, 1945) effective (October 24, 1945).
* Establishment of the defence alliance [[NATO]] April 4, 1949.

===Internal conflicts===
* [[1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine]].
* [[Chinese Communist Revolution|Victory]] of [[Chinese Communist Party]] led by [[Mao Zedong]] in the [[Chinese Civil War]].
* Beginning of [[Greek Civil War]], which extends from 1946 to 1949.

===Decolonization and independence===
[[File:Declaration of State of Israel 1948.jpg|thumb|200px|right|[[David Ben-Gurion]] proclaiming Israeli independence from the United Kingdom on May 14, 1948.]]
* 1944 – [[Iceland]] declares independence from [[Denmark]].
* 1945 – [[Indonesia]] declares independence from the Netherlands (effective in 1949 after a [[Indonesian National Revolution|bitter armed and diplomatic struggle]]).
* 1945 - [[Korea]] is liberated after [[Japan]] surrenders.
* 1946 – The [[French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon]] dissolves to the independent states of [[Syria]] and [[Lebanon]]. The French settlers are forced to evacuate the French colony in Syria. The [[Philippines]] declares independence from the US.
* 1947 – The [[Partition of India|Partition]] of the [[Presidencies and provinces of British India]] into a secular [[Dominion of India|Union of India]] and a predominantly Muslim [[Dominion of Pakistan]] leads to the deaths of millions.
* 1948 – [[British rule in Burma]] ends. The [[Israel|State of Israel]] is [[Israeli Declaration of Independence|established]].
* 1949 – The [[People's Republic of China]] is officially proclaimed.
{{clear}}

=== Prominent political events ===
{{expand section|date=July 2018}}
* Postwar occupations of [[Allied-occupied Germany|Germany]] and [[Occupation of Japan|Japan]] from 1945.
* The [[1946 Italian institutional referendum]] replaces the [[Kingdom of Italy|monarchy]] with a republic.
* Dissolution of the [[League of Nations]] on 20 April 1946. Much of its assets were transferred to the [[United Nations]].
{{clear}}

==Economics==
{{expand section|date=July 2018}}
The [[Bretton Woods Conference]] was the gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 [[Allies of World War II|Allied nations]] at the [[Mount Washington Hotel]], situated in [[Bretton Woods, New Hampshire|Bretton Woods]], [[New Hampshire]], United States, to regulate the [[International monetary systems|international monetary and financial order]] after the conclusion of [[World War II]]. The conference was held from July 1–22, 1944. It established the [[International Bank for Reconstruction and Development]] (IBRD) and the [[International Monetary Fund]] (IMF), and created the [[Bretton Woods system]].<ref>{{Cite book |title= John Maynard Keynes and International Relations: Economic Paths to War and Peace |last= Markwell |first= Donald |publisher= [[Oxford University Press]] |year= 2006 |isbn= 978-0-198-29236-4 |location= Oxford |author-link= Donald Markwell }}</ref>

== Assassinations and attempts ==
Prominent assassinations, targeted killings, and assassination attempts include:
[[File:Leon Trotsky, 1930s.jpg|thumb|100px|[[Leon Trotsky]]]]
[[File:R-Heydrich.jpg|thumb|100px|[[Reinhard Heydrich]]]]
[[File:Yamamoto-Isoroku.jpg|thumb|100px|[[Isoroku Yamamoto]]]]
[[File:Mohandas K. Gandhi, portrait, 1946.jpg|thumb|100px|[[Mahatma Gandhi]]]]

* August 20, 1940 – [[Leon Trotsky]], a Russian revolutionary and Soviet politician is attacked by [[Ramón Mercader]] using an [[ice axe]]. Trotsky died the next day from [[exsanguination]] and shock.
* May 27, 1942 – [[Reinhard Heydrich]], a high-ranking Nazi official who played a key role in the [[Holocaust]], helping to develop the [[Final Solution]], is assassinated with a converted anti-tank mine in an [[Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich|attack]] by two British-trained and equipped Czech paratroopers in Prague, dying of his wounds on June 4.
* December 24, 1942 – [[François Darlan]], French [[Admiral]] and political figure, is assassinated by [[Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle]] in [[Algiers]], [[French Algeria]].
* April 18, 1943 – In a [[Operation Vengeance|targeted killing]], Japanese admiral [[Isoroku Yamamoto]], who oversaw the operation against [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|Pearl Harbor]], is killed when the bomber transporting him is shot down by [[Lockheed P-38 Lightning|P-38]] fighters over [[Bougainville Island|Bougainville]].
* July 20, 1944 – [[Adolf Hitler]], German fascist [[dictator]] is attacked with a bomb by anti-Nazi Colonel [[Claus von Stauffenberg]] and others of the [[German resistance to Nazism|German resistance]] in the [[20th July plot]]. Hitler survives with minor wounds and the suspects are either arrested or executed.
* January 30, 1948 – [[Mahatma Gandhi]], Indian activist and leader of the Indian independence movement is [[Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi|assassinated]] by [[Nathuram Godse]] using a pistol.

==Science and technology==
===Technology===
* The [[Atanasoff-Berry computer]] is now considered one of the first electronic digital computing device built by [[John Vincent Atanasoff]] and [[Clifford Berry]] at [[Iowa State University]] during 1937–1942. 
* Construction in early 1941 of the [[Heath Robinson]] [[Bombe]] & the [[Colossus computer]], which was used by British codebreakers at Bletchley Park and satellite stations nearby to read [[Enigma machine|Enigma]] encrypted German messages during World War II. This was operational until 1946 when it was destroyed under orders from Winston Churchill. This is now widely regarded as the first operational computer which in a model rebuild still today has a remarkable computing speed.
* The [[Z3 (computer)|Z3]] as world's first working programmable, fully automatic computing machine was built.
* The first test of technology for an atomic weapon ([[Trinity (nuclear test)|Trinity test]]) as part of the [[Manhattan Project]].
* The [[sound barrier]] was broken in October, 1947.
* The [[transistor]] was invented in December, 1947 at [[Bell Labs]].
* The development of [[radar]].
* The development of [[ballistic missiles]].
* The development of [[jet aircraft]].
* The [[Willys MB|Jeep]].
* The development of commercial [[television]].
* The [[Slinky]].
* The [[microwave oven]].
* The invention of [[Velcro]].
* The invention of [[Tupperware]].
* The invention of the [[Frisbee]].
* The invention of [[hydraulic fracturing]].
<gallery widths="160px" heights="160px" perrow="4">
File:Two women operating ENIAC.gif|[[ENIAC]], the first general-purpose electronic [[computer]], operated by [[Jean Bartik|Betty Jennings]] and [[Frances Spence|Frances Bilas]]
File:Atanasoff-Berry Computer at Durhum Center.jpg|[[Atanasoff–Berry Computer]] replica at 1st floor of Durham Center, Iowa State University
File:Trinity shot color.jpg|July 16, 1945 - The [[Manhattan Project]] - The atomic age begins with the [[Trinity (nuclear test)|Trinity nuclear test]], during which the United States detonates a nuclear bomb based on plutonium at the Trinity Site in [[New Mexico]]
</gallery>

===Science===
* Physics: the development of [[Quantum mechanics|quantum theory]] and [[nuclear physics]].
* Mathematics: the development of [[game theory]] and [[cryptography]].
* In 1947, [[Thor Heyerdahl]]'s raft ''[[Kon-Tiki]]'' crossed the [[Pacific Ocean]] from [[Peru]] to [[Tahiti]] proving the practical possibility that people from [[South America]] could have settled [[Polynesia]] in [[Pre-Columbian era|pre-Columbian times]], rather than South-East Asia as it was previously believed.
* June 14, 1949, [[Albert II (monkey)|Albert II]] a [[rhesus macaque]] monkey, became the first mammal is space during a U.S. suborbital flight on a [[V-2 sounding rocket]].
* [[Willard Libby]] developed [[radiocarbon dating]]—a process that revolutionized [[archaeology]].
* The development of the [[modern synthesis (20th century)|modern evolutionary synthesis]].
<gallery widths="160px" heights="160px" perrow="4">
File:First photo from space.jpg|October 24, 1946: V-2 rocket takes first picture of Earth from outer space
File:Expedition Kon-Tiki 1947. Across the Pacific. (8765728430).jpg|[[Thor Heyerdahl]]'s raft ''[[Kon-Tiki]]'' crossed the [[Pacific Ocean]] from [[Peru]] to [[Tahiti]] proving the practical possibility that people from [[South America]] could have settled [[Polynesia]] in [[Pre-Columbian era|pre-Columbian times]]
</gallery>
{{clear}}

==Popular culture==
===Film===
{{Main|1940s in film}}
[[File:Orson Welles-Citizen Kane1.jpg|thumb|right|[[Orson Welles]] as Charles Foster Kane in ''[[Citizen Kane]]'' (1941)]]
[[File:Casablanca, Trailer Screenshot.JPG|thumb|[[Humphrey Bogart]] and [[Ingrid Bergman]] as Rick Blaine and Ilsa Lund in the trailer for ''[[Casablanca (film)|Casablanca]]'' (1942)]]
* Oscar winners: ''[[Rebecca (1940 film)|Rebecca]]'' (1940), ''[[How Green Was My Valley (film)|How Green Was My Valley]]'' (1941), ''[[Mrs. Miniver]]'' (1942), ''[[Casablanca (film)|Casablanca]]'' (1943), ''[[Going My Way]]'' (1944), ''[[The Lost Weekend (film)|The Lost Weekend]]'' (1945), ''[[The Best Years of Our Lives]]'' (1946), ''[[Gentleman's Agreement]]'' (1947), ''[[Hamlet (1948 film)|Hamlet]]'' (1948), ''[[All the King's Men (1949 film)|All the King's Men]]'' (1949).
* Some of Hollywood's most notable [[Blockbuster (entertainment)|blockbuster films]] of the 1940s include: ''[[The Maltese Falcon (1941 film)|The Maltese Falcon]]'' directed by [[John Huston]] (1941), ''[[It's a Wonderful Life]]'' directed by [[Frank Capra]] (1946), ''[[Double Indemnity]]'' directed by [[Billy Wilder]] (1944), ''[[Meet Me in St. Louis]]'' directed by [[Vincente Minnelli]] (1944), ''[[Casablanca (film)|Casablanca]]'' directed by [[Michael Curtiz]] (1942), ''[[Citizen Kane]]'' directed by [[Orson Welles]] (1941), ''[[The Great Dictator]]'' directed by [[Charlie Chaplin]] (1940), ''[[The Big Sleep (1946 film)|The Big Sleep]]'' directed by [[Howard Hawks]] (1946), ''[[The Lady Eve]]'' directed by [[Preston Sturges]] (1941), ''[[The Shop Around the Corner]]'' directed by [[Ernst Lubitsch]] (1940), ''[[White Heat]]'' directed by [[Raoul Walsh]] (1949), ''[[Yankee Doodle Dandy]]'' directed by [[Michael Curtiz]] (1942), and ''[[Notorious (1946 film)|Notorious]]'' directed by [[Alfred Hitchcock]], (1946). The [[Walt Disney Pictures|Walt Disney Studios]] released the animated feature films ''[[Pinocchio (1940 film)|Pinocchio]]'' (1940), ''[[Dumbo]]'' (1941), ''[[Fantasia (1940 film)|Fantasia]]'' (1940), and ''[[Bambi]]'' (1942).

Although the 1940s was a decade dominated by [[World War II]], important and noteworthy films about a wide variety of subjects were made during that era. Hollywood was instrumental in producing dozens of classic films during the 1940s, several of which were about the war and some are on most lists of all-time great films. [[European cinema]] survived although obviously curtailed during wartime and yet many films of high quality were made in the [[Cinema of the United Kingdom|United Kingdom]], [[Cinema of France|France]], [[Cinema of Italy|Italy]], the [[Cinema of the Soviet Union|Soviet Union]] and elsewhere in Europe. The [[cinema of Japan]] also survived. [[Akira Kurosawa]] and other directors managed to produce significant films during the 1940s.

Polish filmmakers in Great Britain created anti-nazi color film Calling Mr. Smith (1943) about current nazi crimes in occupied Europe during the war and about lies of nazi propaganda.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.centrepompidou.fr/fr/ressources/oeuvre/cAXbMp|title=Calling Mr Smith|website=Centre Pompidou|access-date=2021-02-13|archive-date=2021-02-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210221202910/https://www.centrepompidou.fr/fr/ressources/oeuvre/cAXbMp|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Film Noir]], a film style that incorporated crime dramas with dark images, became largely prevalent during the decade. Films such as ''[[The Maltese Falcon (1941 film)|The Maltese Falcon]]'' and ''[[The Big Sleep (1946 film)|The Big Sleep]]'' are considered classics and helped launch the careers of legendary actors such as [[Humphrey Bogart]] and [[Ava Gardner]]. The genre has been widely copied since its initial inception.

In France during the war the tour de force ''[[Children of Paradise]]'' directed by [[Marcel Carné]] (1945), was shot in Nazi occupied Paris.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.filmreference.com/Films-Dr-Ex/Les-Enfants-du-Paradis.html|title=Les Enfants du Paradis - Film (Movie) Plot and Review - Publications|website=www.filmreference.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eufs.org.uk/films/les_enfants_du_paradis.html |title=Les Enfants du Paradis |website=www.eufs.org.uk |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090113153911/http://www.eufs.org.uk/films/les_enfants_du_paradis.html |archive-date=2009-01-13 }} Gio MacDonald, Edinburgh University Film Society program notes, 1994–95</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20020106/REVIEWS08/201060301/1023|title=Quoted by Roger Ebert, ''Children of Paradise'', ''Chicago Sun-Times'', 6 January 2002 review of the Criterion DVD release|access-date=27 December 2021|archive-date=20 September 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120920084900/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20020106%2FREVIEWS08%2F201060301%2F1023|url-status=dead}}</ref> Memorable films from post-war England include [[David Lean]]'s ''[[Great Expectations (1946 film)|Great Expectations]]'' ([[1946 in film|1946]]) and ''[[Oliver Twist (1948 film)|Oliver Twist]]'' ([[1948 in film|1948]]), Carol Reed's ''[[Odd Man Out]]'' ([[1947 in film|1947]]) and ''[[The Third Man]]'' ([[1949 in film|1949]]), and [[Powell and Pressburger]]'s ''[[A Matter of Life and Death (film)|A Matter of Life and Death]]'' ([[1946 in film|1946]]), ''[[Black Narcissus]]'' ([[1946 in film|1946]]) and ''[[The Red Shoes (1948 film)|The Red Shoes]]'' ([[1948 in film|1948]]), [[Laurence Olivier]]'s ''[[Hamlet (1948 film)|Hamlet]]'', the first non-American film to win the [[Academy Award for Best Picture]] and ''[[Kind Hearts and Coronets]]'' ([[1949 in film|1949]]) directed by [[Robert Hamer]]. [[Italian neorealism]] of the 1940s produced poignant movies made in post-war Italy. ''[[Roma, città aperta]]'' directed by [[Roberto Rossellini]] (1945), ''[[Sciuscià]]'' directed by [[Vittorio De Sica]] (1946), ''[[Paisà]]'' directed by Roberto Rossellini (1946), ''[[La terra trema]]'' directed by [[Luchino Visconti]] (1948), ''[[The Bicycle Thief]]'' directed by [[Vittorio De Sica]] (1948), and ''[[Bitter Rice]]'' directed by [[Giuseppe De Santis]] (1949), are some well-known examples.

In Japanese cinema, ''[[The 47 Ronin (1941 film)|The 47 Ronin]]'' is a 1941 black and white two-part [[Cinema of Japan|Japanese film]] directed by [[Kenji Mizoguchi]]. ''[[The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail]]'' (1945), and the post-war ''[[Drunken Angel]]'' (1948), and ''[[Stray Dog (film)|Stray Dog]]'' (1949), directed by [[Akira Kurosawa]] are considered important early works leading to his first masterpieces of the 1950s. ''Drunken Angel'' (1948), marked the beginning of the successful collaboration between Kurosawa and actor [[Toshiro Mifune]] that lasted until 1965.

===Music===
{{expand section|date=July 2018}}
{{Main|1940s in music}}
[[File:Frank Sinatra in Till the Clouds Roll By.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Frank Sinatra]] gained massive popularity during the decade, becoming one of the first [[teen idol]]s, and one of the pop artists who sold the most records in the 1940s]]
* [[Bing Crosby]] was the best selling pop artist of the 1940s. Crosby was the leading figure of the crooner sound as well as its most iconic, defining artist. By the 1940s, he was an entertainment superstar who mastered all of the major media formats of the day, movies, radio, and recorded music.
* The most popular music style during the 1940s was [[swing music|swing]], which prevailed during World War II. In the later periods of the 1940s, less swing was prominent and crooners like [[Frank Sinatra]], along with genres such as bebop and the earliest traces of rock and roll, were the prevalent genre.

===Literature===
{{Main|List of years in literature|List of years in poetry}}
* ''[[For Whom the Bell Tolls]]'' by [[Ernest Hemingway]] in 1940.
* ''[[The Myth of Sisyphus]]'' by [[Albert Camus]] in 1942.
* ''[[The Stranger (Camus novel)|The Stranger]]'' by [[Albert Camus]] in 1942.
* ''[[The Little Prince]]'' by [[Antoine de Saint-Exupéry]] in 1943.
* ''[[Anti-Semite and Jew]]'' by [[Jean-Paul Sartre]] in 1943.
* ''[[The Fountainhead]]'' by [[Ayn Rand]] in 1943.
* ''[[No Exit]]'' by [[Jean-Paul Sartre]] in 1944.
* ''[[Pippi Longstocking (book)|Pippi Longstocking]]'' by [[Astrid Lindgren]] in 1945.
* ''[[The Diary of a Young Girl|The Diary of Anne Frank]]'' by [[Anne Frank]] in 1947.
* ''[[Death of a Salesman]]'' by [[Arthur Miller]] in 1949.
* ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'' by [[George Orwell]] in 1949.
* ''[[The Glass Menagerie]]'' by [[Tennessee Williams]] in 1944.

===Fashion===
[[File:Katharine Hepburn publicity photograph.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Katharine Hepburn]] {{Circa|1941}}, who popularized [[trousers]] for women]]
Because fashion items and fabrics were [[Rationing|rationed]] due to [[World War II]], fashion became more utilitarian. Women's fashion started including suits, which were feminized with straight knee-length skirts and accessories. There were challenges imposed by shortages in rayon, nylon, wool, leather, rubber, metal (for snaps, buckles, and embellishments), and even the amount of fabric that could be used in any one garment.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}} After the fall of France in 1940, Hollywood drove fashion in the United States almost entirely, with the exception of a few trends coming from wartorn London in 1944 and 1945, as America's own rationing hit full force. The idea of function seemed to overtake fashion, if only for a few short months until the end of the war. Fabrics shifted dramatically as rationing and wartime shortages controlled import items such as silk and furs.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}} Floral prints dominated the early 1940s, with the mid-to-late 1940s also seeing what is sometimes referred to as "atomic prints" or geometric patterns and shapes. In response to the war effort, patriotic nautical themes and dark greens and khakis dominating the color palettes, as trousers and wedges slowly replaced the dresses and more traditional heels due to shortages in stockings and gasoline. The most common characteristics of this fashion were the straight skirt, pleats, front fullness, squared shoulders with v-necks or high necks, slim sleeves and the most favorited necklines were sailor, mandarin and scalloped.

<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.womeninwwii.com/fashion/1940sfashion.asp |title=1940's Fashion Trends |access-date=2011-03-01 |archive-date=2011-07-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718075216/http://www.womeninwwii.com/fashion/1940sfashion.asp |url-status=dead }}</ref>
{{See also|1930–1945 in fashion|1945–1960 in fashion}}

==People==
===Military leaders===
<gallery widths="140" heights="125" perrow="5">
File:General Dwight D. Eisenhower.jpg|[[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], American General who led the Allied forces during the [[Normandy landings|Normandy invasion]].
File:Zhukov-LIFE-1944-1945.jpg|[[Georgy Zhukov]], Soviet Union Field Marshal who led the Red Army during the [[Battle of Berlin]].
File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1977-018-13A, Erwin Rommel(brighter).jpg|[[Erwin Rommel]], German Field Marshal who led the Nazis during the [[North African Campaign]].
File:Portrait of Yamamoto Isoroku.jpg|[[Yamamoto Isoroku]], Japanese Fleet Admiral who led the Imperial Army during the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]].
</gallery>
* {{flagicon|Nazi Germany}} Field Marshal [[Erwin Rommel]]
* {{flagicon|Nazi Germany}} Reichsmarschall [[Hermann Göring]]
* {{flagicon|Nazi Germany}} Field Marshal [[Erich von Manstein]]
* {{flagicon|Nazi Germany}} Field Marshal [[Gerd von Rundstedt]]
* {{flagicon|Finland}} Field Marshal [[Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim]]
* {{flagicon|Romania}} Marshal [[Ion Antonescu]]
* {{flagicon|Empire of Japan|naval}} General [[Hideki Tōjō]]
* {{flagicon|Empire of Japan|naval}} General [[Kuniaki Koiso]]
* {{flagicon|Empire of Japan|naval}} Field Marshal [[Hajime Sugiyama]]
* {{flagicon|Empire of Japan|naval}} [[Gensui (Imperial Japanese Navy)|Fleet Admiral]] [[Isoroku Yamamoto]]
* {{flagicon|Empire of Japan|naval}} [[Gensui (Imperial Japanese Navy)|Fleet Admiral]] [[Osami Nagano]]
* {{flagicon|Soviet Union|1936}} Field Marshal [[Georgy Zhukov]]
* {{flagicon|Soviet Union|1936}} Field Marshal [[Ivan Konev]]
* {{flagicon|USA|1912}} General [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]
* {{flagicon|USA|1912}} General [[George C. Marshall|George Marshall]]
* {{flagicon|USA|1912}} General [[Douglas MacArthur]]
* {{flagicon|USA|1912}} General [[Omar Bradley]]
* {{flagicon|USA|1912}} General [[George S. Patton]]
* {{flagicon|USA|1912}} [[Fleet admiral (United States)|Fleet Admiral]] [[Chester W. Nimitz]]
* {{flagicon|USA|1912}} [[Fleet admiral (United States)|Fleet Admiral]] [[Ernest J. King]]
* {{flagicon|UK}} Field Marshal [[Harold Alexander]]
* {{flagicon|UK}} Field Marshal [[Bernard Montgomery]]
* {{flagicon|France|1794}} [[Army general (France)|Général d'Armée]] [[Jean de Lattre de Tassigny]]
* {{flagicon|France|1794}} [[Brigadier general (France)|Brigadier general]] [[Charles de Gaulle]]
* {{flagicon|Netherlands}} General [[Henri Winkelman]]
* {{flagicon|Netherlands}} General [[Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld|Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld]]

===Activists and religious leaders===
<gallery widths="140px" heights="125px" perrow="5">
File:MKGandhi.jpg|[[Mohandas Gandhi]] during the 1940s
File:Raoul Wallenberg.jpg|[[Raoul Wallenberg]], c. 1944
File:Jinnah Gandhi.jpg|[[Muhammed Ali Jinnah]] with Gandhi, 1944.

File:Sugihara b.jpg|[[Chiune Sugihara]] c.1940s
</gallery>
{{See also|List of individuals and groups assisting Jews during the Holocaust|List of Righteous among the Nations by country|Resistance during the Holocaust|Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust}}
* [[Joel Brand]]
* [[Behic Erkin]]
* [[Varian Fry]]
* [[Mohandas Gandhi]]
* [[Billy Graham]]
* [[Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog]]
* [[Muhammad Ali Jinnah]]
* [[Necdet Kent]]
* [[Aristides de Sousa Mendes]]
* [[Pope Pius XII]]
* [[Martha Sharp]]
* [[Waitstill Sharp]]
* [[Chiune Sugihara]]
* [[Raoul Wallenberg]]
* [[Abdullah Nur]]

===Politics===
* [[Abdel Rahman Azzam Pasha]], Secretary-general Arab League
* [[Georgi Mikhailov Dimitrov]], Chairman of the Executive Committee Communist International
* [[Camille Gutt]], Managing Director International Monetary Fund
* [[Jacques Camille Paris]], Secretary-general Council of Europe
* [[Edward Pearson Warner|Edward Warner]], President of the Council International Civil Aviation Organization
* [[John G. Winant]], Director International Labour Organization
=== Scientists and Engineers===
{{Div col|colwidth=18em}}
*[[John Bardeen]]
*[[J. Presper Eckert|John Eckert]]
*[[Enrico Fermi]]
*[[Peter Goldmark]]
*[[Abraham Maslow]]
*[[J. Robert Oppenheimer]]
*[[John von Neumann]]
*[[Harry Nyquist]]
*[[Claude Shannon]]
*[[Alan Turing]]
*[[Robert Watson - What]]
*[[Norbert Wiener]]
{{div col end}}

===Actors / Entertainers===
<gallery widths="140px" heights="125px" perrow="5">
File:Rita Hayworth in Blood and Sand trailer.jpg|[[Rita Hayworth]] as Doña Sol des Muire in ''[[Blood and Sand (1941 film)|Blood and Sand]]'' ([[1941 in film|1941]])
File:Cary Grant 1947 (cropped).jpg|[[Cary Grant]]
File:Clark Gable - publicity.JPG|[[Clark Gable]]
File:Gangs all here trailer.jpg|[[Carmen Miranda]] in ''[[The Gang's All Here (1943 film)|The Gang's All Here]]'' ([[1943 in film|1943]])
File:Annex - Stewart, James (Call Northside 777) 01.jpg|[[Jimmy Stewart]]
</gallery>
{{Div col|colwidth=18em}}
* [[Fred Allen]]
* [[Don Ameche]]
* [[Dana Andrews]]
* [[Edward Arnold (actor)|Edward Arnold]]
* [[Jean Arthur]]
* [[Fred Astaire]]
* [[Mary Astor]]
* [[Lauren Bacall]]
* [[Josephine Baker]]
* [[Lucille Ball]]
* [[Tallulah Bankhead]]
* [[Joseph Barbera]]
* [[Carl Barks]]
* [[Anne Baxter]]
* [[Ralph Bellamy]]
* [[Jack Benny]]
* [[William Bendix]]
* [[Ingrid Bergman]]
* [[Charles Bickford]]
* [[Vivian Blaine]]
* [[Humphrey Bogart]]
* [[Charles Boyer]]
* [[Walter Brennan]]
* [[Fanny Brice]]
* [[Lloyd Bridges]]
* [[Edgar Buchanan]]
* [[James Cagney]]
* [[Cab Calloway]]
* [[Yvonne De Carlo]]
* [[John Carradine]]
* [[Lon Chaney Jr.]]
* [[Charlie Chaplin]]
* [[Montgomery Clift]]
* [[Charles Coburn]]
* [[Claudette Colbert]]
* [[Ronald Colman]]
* [[Gary Cooper]]
* [[Katharine Cornell]]
* [[Abbott and Costello]]
* [[Joseph Cotten]]
* [[Joan Crawford]]
* [[Bing Crosby]]
* [[Arlene Dahl]]
* [[Dorothy Dandridge]]
* [[Linda Darnell]]
* [[Bette Davis]]
* [[Doris Day]]
* [[Olivia de Havilland]]
* [[William Demarest]]
* [[Richard Denning]]
* [[Marlene Dietrich]]
* [[Walt Disney]]
* [[Kirk Douglas]]
* [[Irene Dunne]]
* [[Duke Ellington]]
* [[Alice Faye]]
* [[José Ferrer]]
* [[Larry Fine]]
* [[Barry Fitzgerald]]
* [[Errol Flynn]]
* [[Henry Fonda]]
* [[Joan Fontaine]]
* [[Clark Gable]]
* [[Ava Gardner]]
* [[Judy Garland]]
* [[Greer Garson]]
* [[Lillian Gish]]
* [[Paulette Goddard]]
* [[Betty Grable]]
* [[Gloria Grahame]]
* [[Cary Grant]]
* [[Kathryn Grayson]]
* [[Virginia Grey]]
* [[Sydney Greenstreet]]
* [[Edmund Gwenn]]
* [[Carl Stuart Hamblen]]
* [[William Hanna]]
* [[Olivia de Havilland]]
* [[Helen Hayes]]
* [[Susan Hayward]]
* [[Rita Hayworth]]
* [[Van Heflin]]
* [[Katharine Hepburn]]
* [[William Holden]]
* [[Bob Hope]]
* [[Lena Horne]]
* [[Curly Howard]]
* [[Moe Howard]]
* [[Shemp Howard]]
* [[Walter Huston]]
* [[Pedro Infante]]
* [[Burl Ives]]
* [[Anne Jeffreys]]
* [[Van Johnson]]
* [[Glynis Johns]]
* [[Jennifer Jones]]
* [[Boris Karloff]]
* [[Danny Kaye]]
* [[Gene Kelly]]
* [[Deborah Kerr]]
* [[Alan Ladd]]
* [[Veronica Lake]]
* [[Hedy Lamarr]]
* [[Dorothy Lamour]]
* [[Burt Lancaster]]
* [[Laurel and Hardy]]
* [[Charles Laughton]]
* [[Peter Lawford]]
* [[Janet Leigh]]
* [[Vivien Leigh]]
* [[Norman Lloyd]]
* [[Gene Lockhart]]
* [[June Lockhart]]
* [[Carole Lombard]]
* [[Peter Lorre]]
* [[Myrna Loy]]
* [[Vera Lynn]]
* [[Ida Lupino]]
* [[Fred MacMurray]]
* [[Victor Mature]]
* [[Fredric March]]
* [[Herbert Marshall]]
* [[James Mason]]
* [[Burgess Meredith]]
* [[Ray Milland]]
* [[Carmen Miranda]]
* [[Marilyn Monroe]]
* [[Dennis Morgan]]
* [[Frank Morgan]]
* [[Harry Morgan]]
* [[Jorge Negrete]]
* [[Margaret O'Brien]]
* [[Maureen O'Hara]]
* [[Laurence Olivier]]
* [[Janis Paige]]
* [[Gregory Peck]]
* [[Walter Pidgeon]]
* [[Dick Powell]]
* [[Eleanor Powell]]
* [[Jane Powell]]
* [[William Powell]]
* [[Tyrone Power]]
* [[Robert Preston (actor)|Robert Preston]]
* [[Anthony Quinn]]
* [[Claude Rains]]
* [[Basil Rathbone]]
* [[Ronald Reagan]]
* [[Donna Reed]]
* [[George Reeves]]
* [[Michael Redgrave]]
* [[Dolores del Río]]
* [[Edward G. Robinson]]
* [[Ginger Rogers]]
* [[Roy Rogers]]
* [[Cesar Romero]]
* [[Mickey Rooney]]
* [[Rosalind Russell]]
* [[George Sanders]]
* [[Joseph Schildkraut]]
* [[Lizabeth Scott]]
* [[Randolph Scott]]
* [[Jean Simmons]]
* [[Frank Sinatra]]
* [[Red Skelton]]
* [[Barbara Stanwyck]]
* [[James Stewart]]
* [[Lewis Stone]]
* [[Barry Sullivan (American actor)|Barry Sullivan]]
* [[Ed Sullivan]]
* [[Lyle Talbot]]
* [[Elizabeth Taylor]]
* [[Robert Taylor (American actor)|Robert Taylor]]
* [[Shirley Temple]]
* [[The Three Stooges]]
* [[Gene Tierney]]
* [[Spencer Tracy]]
* [[Lana Turner]]
* [[Robert Walker (actor, born 1918)|Robert Walker]]
* [[John Wayne]]
* [[Orson Welles]]
* [[Richard Widmark]]
* [[Cornel Wilde]]
* [[Jane Wyman]]
* [[Keenan Wynn]]
* [[Loretta Young]]
{{div col end}}

===Musicians===
<gallery widths="140px" heights="125px" perrow="5">
File:Glenn Miller Billboard.jpg|[[Glenn Miller]], 1942
File:BennyGoodmanStageDoorCanteen.jpg|[[Benny Goodman]] performing in ''[[Stage Door Canteen (film)|Stage Door Canteen]]'' (1943)
File:BingCrosbyTheBellsofSaintMarysTrailerScreenshot1945.jpg|[[Bing Crosby]], 1945
File:Piaf Harcourt 1946.jpg|[[Édith Piaf]], 1946
File:Frank Sinatra by Gottlieb c1947- 2.jpg|[[Frank Sinatra]], 1947
</gallery>
{{Div col|colwidth=22em}}
* [[Marian Anderson]]
* [[Louis Armstrong]]
* [[Eddy Arnold]]
* [[Gene Autry]]
* [[Pearl Bailey]]
* [[Benny Carter]]
* [[Ray Charles]]
* [[Charlie Barnet]]
* [[Count Basie]]
* [[Irving Berlin]]
* [[Al Bowlly]]
* [[Les Brown (bandleader)|Les Brown]]
* [[Erskine Butterfield]]
* [[Sammy Cahn]]
* [[Cab Calloway]]
* [[Nat King Cole]]
* [[Perry Como]]
* [[Bing Crosby]]
* [[Bob Crosby]]
* [[Miles Davis]]
* [[Willie Dixon]]
* [[Jimmy Dorsey]]
* [[Tommy Dorsey]]
* [[K. C. Douglas]]
* [[Champion Jack Dupree]]
* [[Billy Eckstine]]
* [[Duke Ellington]]
* [[H-Bomb Ferguson]]
* [[Ella Fitzgerald]]
* [[Ira Gershwin]]
* [[Dizzy Gillespie]]
* [[Benny Goodman]]
* [[Stéphane Grappelli]]
* [[Homer Harris]]
* [[Screamin' Jay Hawkins]]
* [[Richard Hayman]]
* [[Dick Haymes]]
* [[Earl Hines]]
* [[Billie Holiday]]
* [[John Lee Hooker]]
* [[Lena Horne]]
* [[Betty Hutton]]
* [[Sir Lancelot (singer)|Sir Lancelot]]
* [[Big Joe Turner]]
* [[Bull Moose Jackson]]
* [[Mahalia Jackson]]
* [[Harry James]]
* [[Louis Jordan]]
* [[Blind Willie Johnson]]
* [[Al Jolson]]
* [[Kitty Kallen]]
* [[Danny Kaye]]
* [[Sammy Kaye]]
* [[Stan Kenton]]
* [[B.B. King]]
* [[Evelyn Knight]]
* [[Gene Krupa]]
* [[Frankie Laine]]
* [[Mario Lanza]]
* [[Peggy Lee]]
* [[Dean Martin]]
* [[Grady Martin]]
* [[Johnny Mercer]]
* [[Amos Milburn]]
* [[Glenn Miller]]
* [[Roy Milton]]
* [[Charles Mingus]]
* [[Thelonious Monk]]
* [[Vaughn Monroe]]
* [[Benny Moré]]
* [[Ray Noble]]
* [[Charlie Parker]]
* [[Les Paul]]
* [[Édith Piaf]]
* [[Cole Porter]]
* [[Bud Powell]]
* [[Louis Prima]]
* [[Django Reinhardt]]
* [[Pete Johnson (musician)|Pete Johnson]]
* [[Max Roach]]
* [[Marty Robbins]]
* [[Paul Robeson]]
* [[Richard Rodgers]]
* [[Artie Shaw]]
* [[Dinah Shore]]
* [[Frank Sinatra]]
* [[Memphis Slim]]
* [[Kate Smith]]
* [[Billy Strayhorn]]
* [[Maxine Sullivan]]
* [[Art Tatum]]
* [[Martha Tilton]]
* [[Ernest Tubb]]
* [[Sarah Vaughan]]
* [[T-Bone Walker]]
* [[Little Walter]]
* [[Muddy Waters]]
* [[Margaret Whiting]]
* [[Cootie Williams]]
* [[Hank Williams]]
* [[Tex Williams]]
* [[Bob Wills]]
* [[Teddy Wilson]]
{{Div col end}}

===Bands===
[[File:Ink Spots Billboard 3.jpg|thumb|upright|[[The Ink Spots]] in 1944, a popular [[swing music|swing]] band of the era]]
* [[The Andrew Sisters]]
* [[The Boswell Sisters]]
* [[The Ink Spots]]
* [[The Merry Macs]]
* [[The Mills Brothers]]
* [[The Pied Pipers]]
* [[The Ravens]]
* [[The Robins]]
* [[Sons of the Pioneers|Sons of The Pioneers]]

===Sports===
During the 1940s, sporting events were disrupted and changed by the events that engaged and shaped the entire world. The 1940 and 1944 [[Olympic Games]] were cancelled because of [[World War II]]. During [[World War II]] in the United States [[List of Heavyweight Champions|Heavyweight Boxing Champion]] [[Joe Louis]] and numerous stars and performers from American baseball and other sports served in the armed forces until the end of the war. Among the many baseball players (including well known stars) who served during World War II were [[Moe Berg]], [[Joe DiMaggio]], [[Bob Feller]], [[Hank Greenberg]], [[Stan Musial]] (in 1945), [[Warren Spahn]], and [[Ted Williams]]. They like many others sacrificed their personal and valuable career time for the benefit and well-being of the rest of society. The Summer Olympics were resumed in 1948 in [[London]] and the Winter games were held that year in [[St. Moritz]], [[Switzerland]].

In 1947, [[Wataru Misaka]] of the [[1947–48 New York Knicks season|New York Knicks]] became the first person of color to play in modern professional basketball, just months after [[Jackie Robinson]] had broken the color barrier in [[Major League Baseball]] for the [[Brooklyn Dodgers]].<ref>{{cite news|title=New York Times|date=22 November 2019|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/21/sports/basketball/wat-misaka-dead.html|access-date=November 26, 2019|last1=Goldstein|first1=Richard}}</ref>

====Baseball====
[[File:Baseball. Jack Robinson BAnQ P48S1P12829 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Jackie Robinson]] with the [[Montreal Royals]] in July 1946]]
{{See also|History of baseball in the United States#The war years|All-American Girls Professional Baseball League}}
During the early 1940s [[World War II]] had an enormous impact on Major League Baseball as many players including many of the most successful stars joined the war effort. After the war many players returned to their teams, while the major event of the second half of the 1940s was the 1945 signing of [[Jackie Robinson]] to a players contract by [[Branch Rickey]] the general manager of the [[Brooklyn Dodgers]]. Signing Robinson opened the door to the [[Racial integration|integration]] of Major League Baseball finally putting an end to the professional discrimination that had characterized the sport since the 19th century.
*[[Roy Campanella]]
*[[Joe DiMaggio]]
*[[Bill Dickey]]
*[[Larry Doby]]
*[[Bob Feller]]
*[[Josh Gibson]]
*[[Hank Greenberg]]
*[[Monte Irvin]]
*[[Buck Leonard]]
*[[Johnny Mize]]
*[[Stan Musial]]
*[[Satchel Paige]]
*[[Branch Rickey]]
*[[Jackie Robinson]]
*[[Ted Williams]]

====Boxing====
[[File:Joe Louis by van Vechten.jpg|right|upright|thumb|[[Joe Louis]] in 1941, world [[List of Heavyweight Champions|heavyweight boxing champion]]]]
{{See also|Ring Magazine fighters of the year|List of The Ring world champions}}
During the mid-1930s and throughout the years leading up to the 1940s [[Joe Louis]] was an enormously popular Heavyweight boxer. In 1936, he lost an important 12 round fight (his first loss) to the German boxer [[Max Schmeling]] and he vowed to meet Schmeling once again in the ring. Louis' comeback bout against Schmeling became an international symbol of the struggle between the US and democracy against Nazism and Fascism. When on June 22, 1938, Louis knocked Schmeling out in the first few seconds of the first round during their rematch at [[Yankee Stadium (1923)|Yankee Stadium]], his sensational comeback victory riveted the entire nation. Louis enlisted in the [[U.S. Army]] on January 10, 1942, in response to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Louis' cultural impact was felt well outside the ring. He is widely regarded as the first [[African American]] to achieve the status of a nationwide hero within the United States, and was also a focal point of anti-Nazi sentiment leading up to and during [[World War II]].<ref name=matters>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kC4qYeafQzMC&pg=PA64 |location=New York |title=Sports Matters: Race, Recreation, and Culture |editor=John Bloom |editor2=Michael Nevin Willard |year=2002 |publisher=New York University Press |isbn=978-0-8147-9882-9 |pages=46–47 |author1=Bloom, John |author2=Willard, Michael Nevin}}</ref>
*[[Buddy Baer]]
*[[Ezzard Charles]]
*[[Billy Conn]]
*[[Rocky Graziano]]
*[[Joe Louis]]
*[[Sugar Ray Robinson]]
*[[Max Schmeling]]
*[[Jersey Joe Walcott]]
*[[Tony Zale]]

====Track and Field====

==See also==
{{Portal|1940s}}
* [[List of decades, centuries, and millennia|List of decades]]
* [[1940s in television]]
* [[List of years in literature#1940s|1940s in literature]]
* [[Greatest Generation]] (the remaining members of that generation came of age in the first half of the decade to serve in WW II).
* [[Silent Generation]] (the older members of that demographic had matured in the second half of this decade).

===Timeline===
The following articles contain brief timelines listing the most prominent events of the decade.
*[[1940]] • [[1941]] • [[1942]] • [[1943]] • [[1944]] • [[1945]] • [[1946]] • [[1947]] • [[1948]] • [[1949]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Buchanan, Andrew. "Globalizing the Second World War," ''Past and Present'' no. 258 (February 2023): 246-281. [https://doi.org/10.1093/pastj/gtab042 online]; also see  [https://hdiplo.org/to/AR1180 online review]
*Lewis, Thomas Tandy, ed. ''The Forties in America.'' 3 volumes. Pasadena: Salem Press, 2011.
*Lingeman, Richard. ''The Noir Forties: The American People from Victory to Cold War'' (New York: Nation Books, 2012. xii, 420 pp.)
* Yust, Walter, ed., ''10 Eventful Years'' (4 vol., Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc, 1947), encyclopedia of world events 1937-46

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110223100214/http://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/56211/heroes-of-the-1940s#index/0 Heroes of the 1940s] - slideshow by ''[[Life magazine]]''
* [http://1940s.org 1940s.org]

{{Events by month links}}
{{20th century}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1940s| ]]
[[Category:20th century]]
[[Category:1940s decade overviews]]