Year retrospective · 1940s

1940

1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1940th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 940th year of the 2nd millennium, the 40th year of the 20th century, and the 1st year of the 1940s decade.

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1940s

Defining moment · 1940

World War II: Royal Marines land in Namsos, Norway, preceding a larger force which will arrive two days later.

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, the latter enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the only nuclear weapons used in war.

See april 14 in detail

Timeline

Defining events of 1940

1940 World War II: Royal Marines land in Namsos, Norway, preceding a larger force which will arrive two days later.

1939–1945 global conflict

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, the latter enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the only nuclear weapons used in war.
1940 The Rhythm Club fire at a dance hall in Natchez, Mississippi, kills 198 people.

1940 dance hall fire in Mississippi that killed 209

The Rhythm Club fire was a fire in a dance hall in Natchez, Mississippi on the night of April 23, 1940, which killed 209 people and severely injured many others. Hundreds of people were trapped inside the building. S.
1940 Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.

American educator, author, orator and adviser

Booker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, author, and orator. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the primary leader in the African-American community and of the contemporary Black elite.
1940 The Central Committee of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party elects Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal as General Secretary, marking the beginning of his 44-year-long tenure as de facto leader of Mongolia.

Political party in Mongolia

The Mongolian People's Party (MPP) is a social democratic political party in Mongolia. It was founded as a communist party in 1920 by Mongolian revolutionaries and is the oldest political party in Mongolia.
1940 World War II: Operation Weserübung: Germany invades Denmark and Norway.

1939–1945 global conflict

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, the latter enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the only nuclear weapons used in war.
1940 Vidkun Quisling seizes power in Norway.

Norwegian politician and Nazi collaborator (1887–1945)

Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling was a Norwegian military officer, politician and Nazi collaborator who headed the puppet government of Norway during the country's occupation by Nazi Germany during World War II.
1940 World War II: The German Luftwaffe launches an air operation, codenamed Adlertag, during the Battle of Britain in an attempt to destroy the British Royal Air Force.
1940 An Italian submarine torpedoes and sinks the Greek cruiser Elli at Tinos harbor during peacetime, marking the most serious Italian provocation prior to the outbreak of the Greco-Italian War in October.
1940 World War II: The Hardest Day air battle, part of the Battle of Britain, takes place. At that point, it is the largest aerial engagement in history with heavy losses sustained on both sides.
1940 First flight of the B-25 Mitchell medium bomber.