1940

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Centuries:	19th century - 20th century - 21st century
Decades:	1910s 1920s 1930s - 1940s - 1950s 1960s 1970s
Years:	1937 1938 1939 - 1940 - 1941 1942 1943

1 Events
2 Births
3 Deaths
4 Films Released

[change] Events

March 3 - In Sweden, a time bomb destroys the office of Norrskenflamman newspaper of Swedish communists - 5 dead
March 5- Members of Soviet politburo: Stalin, Molotov, Lazar Kaganovich, Mikhail Kalinin, Kliment Voroshilov and Lavrenty Beria himself, signed prepared by Beria order of execution of 25,700 Polish intelligentsia, including 14,700 Polish POW, known also as Katyn massacre.
March 12 - Soviet Union and Finland sign a peace treaty in Moscow ending the Winter War. Finns, and the World opinion, shocked by the harsh terms.
March 18 - World War II: Axis powers - Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet at Brenner Pass in the Alps and agree to form an alliance against France and the United Kingdom.
March 21 Édouard Daladier resigns as prime minister of France. He is replaced by Paul Reynaud.
April 4 - Prime minister of Greece, Aleksandros Korizis, shoots himself - initial official explanation is "heart attack"
April 7 - Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.
April 9 - World War II: Germany invades Denmark and Norway in operation Weserübung. The British campaign in Norway is simultaneously commenced.
April 23 - Rhythm Night Club burns in Natchez, Mississippi - 198 dead
December 30 - California opens the first freeway.

[change] Births

February 23 - Peter Fonda, actor
March 24 - Bob Mackie, clothing designer
April 16 - Margrethe II of Denmark, Queen of Denmark
April 25 - Al Pacino, American actor
June 7 - Tom Jones, American singer
July 7 - Ringo Starr, British musician, actor
October 8 - John Lennon, British musician
November 21- Doctor John, musican
November 22 - Terry Gilliam, animator, filmaker
December 1 - Richard Pryor
December 12 - Dionne Warwick, American singer
December 26 - Phil Spector, music producer

[change] Deaths

January 4 - Flora Finch, English-born actress and comedienne (b. 1869)
January 18 - Kazimierz Tetmajer, Polish poet and writer (b. 1865)
January 27 - Isaac Babel, Ukrainian writer (b. 1894)
February 11 - John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, Governor General of Canada (b. 1875)
March 10 - Mikhaïl Boulgakov, Russian writer (b. 1891)
March 16 - Selma Lagerlöf, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1858)
March 20 - Alfred Ploetz, German physician, biologist, and eugenicist (b. 1860)
March 31 - Tinsley Lindley, English footballer (b. 1865)
April 26 - Carl Bosch, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874)
May 15 - Menno ter Braak, Dutch writer (b. 1902)
May 20 - Verner von Heidenstam, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)
May 25 - Joe De Grasse, Canadian film director (b. 1873)
May 28 - Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse (b. 1868)
June 10 - Marcus Garvey, Jamaican-born publisher, entrepreneur, and black nationalist (b. 1887)
June 17 - Arthur Harden, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
June 21 - Smedley Butler, U.S. general (b. 1881)
June 29 - Paul Klee, Swiss artist (b. 1879)
July 4 - Robert Pershing Wadlow, tallest man in the world (infection) (b. 1918)
August 8 - Johnny Dodds, American jazz clarinettist (b. 1892)
August 18 - Walter Chrysler, American automobile pioneer (b. 1875)
August 21 - Leon Trotsky, Russian revolutionary (b. 1879)
August 22 - Mary Vaux Walcott, American artist and naturalist (b. 1860)
August 30 - J.J. Thomson, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1856)
October 10 - Berton Churchill, Canadian actor (b. 1876)
November 9 - Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1869)
December 5 - Jan Kubelík, Czech violinist (b. 1880)
December 19 - Kyösti Kallio, President of Finland (b. 1873)
December 21 - F. Scott Fitzgerald, American writer (b. 1896)
December 25 - Agnes Ayres, American actress (b. 1898)