1940s


The 1940s 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 spheres of influence of the US-led Western world and the Soviet-led Eastern world, including Germany and Berlin, that led to the beginning of the Cold War between the two global superpowers over 46 years, following the defeat of totalitarian organizations, such as Nazi Germany which has annexed Austria into the German Reich and the Empire of Japan which formally annexed Korea and Manchuria that led to the decolonization of Africa and Asia by European colonial powers, The British control of Hong Kong was re-established after the Japanese surrendered which continued over 52 years until 1997, when it returned to Chinese rule. The Belgian Congo remained a "model colony" during the war, the rise of a Western-educated elite and global anti-colonial pressure led to a rapid, often chaotic, independence from Belgium on 30 June 1960. The British reclaimed Singapore on 12 September 1945, but their prestige was permanently damaged by the 1942 surrender, the French colony in Southeast Asia on the other hand declared independence on 2 September 1945 as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, leading to a long struggle against the French by Hồ Chí Minh and the Việt Minh. 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, 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.

Politics and wars

Wars

The Bretton Woods Conference was the gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel, situated in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States, to regulate the 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 and the International Monetary Fund, and created the Bretton Woods system.

Assassinations and attempts

Prominent assassinations, targeted killings, and assassination attempts include:
DateDescription
August 20, 1940Leon 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, 1942Reinhard 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 attack by two British-trained and equipped Czech paratroopers in Prague, dying of his wounds on June 4.
December 24, 1942François Darlan, French Admiral and political figure, is assassinated by Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle in Algiers, French Algeria.
April 18, 1943In a targeted killing, Japanese admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who oversaw the operation against Pearl Harbor, is killed when the bomber transporting him is shot down by P-38 fighters over Bougainville.
July 20, 1944Adolf Hitler, German fascist dictator is attacked with a bomb by anti-Nazi Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and others of the German resistance in the 20th July plot. Hitler survives with minor wounds and the suspects are either arrested or executed.
January 30, 1948Mahatma Gandhi, Indian activist and leader of the Indian independence movement is assassinated by Nathuram Godse using a pistol.

Science and technology

Technology