In history, year 1940 has its own importance and known for many memorable events like famous birthdays, inventions, natural disaster, treaties, change of rulers, special days etc. Find below a list of important historical events which happened during the year 1940.
| Date/Month | Event / Incidence / Incident |
|---|
| 07 january | Winter War-The Finnish 9th Division stopped and completely destroyed the overwhelming Soviet forces on the Rate-Suomussalmi road. |
| 07 february | Walt Disney's Pinocchio, the first animated motion picture to win a competitive Academy Award, was released to theaters by RKO Pictures. |
| 16 february | Second World War-The British Royal Navy boarded and captured the German tanker Altmark and freed 299 captured British sailors. |
| 27 february | American biochemists Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discovered the radioactive isotope carbon-14, which today is used extensively as the basis of the radiocarbon dating method to date archaeological, geological, and hydrogeological samples. |
| 23 march | Pakistan Movement-During its three-day general session, the Muslim League drafted the Lahore Resolution, calling for greater autonomy in British India. |
| 30 march | Second Sino-Japanese War-Wang Jingwei was officially installed by Japan as head of a puppet state in China. |
| 07 april | Educator Booker T. Washington became the first African American To be featured on a U.S. postage stamp. |
| 09 april | During the German invasion of Norway, Vidkun Quisling seized control of the government in a Nazi-backed coup d'état. |
| 01 may | The Summer Olympic, formally known as the Games of the XII Olympiad, was cancelled on 1 May 1940 due to the outbreak of World War II, which was originally scheduled to be held from 21 September to 6 October 1940 in Tokyo, Japan. |
| 05 may | World War II-A squad of 250 Norwegian volunteers in HegraFortress finally surrendered to a vastly superior Nazi force after a25-day siege. |
| 07 may | A debate in the British House of Commons began, and culminated in the replacement of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain with Winston Churchill several days later. |
| 10 may | British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigned andformally recommended Winston Churchill as his successor. |
| 14 may | World War II-The bulk of Dutch forces surrendered to the Wehrmacht, ending the Battle of the Netherlands. |
| 15 may | McDonald, World’s largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, opened its first restaurant in San Bernardino, California on May 15, 1940 founded by Richard and Maurice McDonald. It is also the world’s second largest private employer after Wal-Mart. |
| 24 may | Igor Sikorsky performed the first successful single-rotor helicopter flight. Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky was a Russian American aviation pioneer in both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. He designed and flew the world's first multi-engine fixed-wing aircraft, the Russky Vityaz in 1913, and the first airliner, Ilya Muromets, in 1914. |
| 25 may | Second World War-A German Panzer division captured Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, forcing the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force through Dunkirk. |
| 26 may | Second World War-A flotilla of 'little ships' began a massevacuation of British, French and Belgian troops cut off by the German army during the Battle of Dunkirk. |
| 28 may | World War II-On the same day that Belgium surrendered toGermany, Allied forces gained their first major victory on land whenthey recaptured Narvik, Norway. |
| 03 june | Franz Rademacher, a Nazi government official, proposed thatMadagascar should be made available for the resettlement of the Jews ofEurope. |
| 04 june | Second World War:The remaining Allied forces protecting the Dunkirk evacuation surrendered, giving the Germans a tactical victory in the Battle of Dunkirk. |
| 10 june | Norway surrendered before German Nazi Forces during 2nd World War. German forces attacked Norway by sea and air as Operation Weserübung was put into action. Unprepared Norwegian forces failed to resist the powerful attack and officially surrendered before Germany. |
| 13 june | Revolutionary leader Udham Singh was hanged for charges of assassinating Micheal Odair, who was the Governor General of Punjab at the time of Jalianwala Baugh massacre. Singh is a prominent figure of the Indian independence struggle. He is sometimes referred to as Shaheed-i-Azam Sardar Udham Singh. |
| 14 june | World War II-Four days after the French government fled Paris, German forces occupied the French capitad, essentially endingthe Battle of France. |
| 14 june | The Soviet Union issued an ultimatum to Lithuania, demandingthat the Red Army be allowed to enter the country and form a new pro-Soviet government. |
| 17 june | The three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania fell under the occupation of the Soviet Union. The Soviet occupation of the Baltic States covers the period from the Soviet–Baltic mutual assistance pacts in 1939, to their invasion and annexation in 1940, to the mass deportations of 1941. |
| 17 june | Second World War-Britain's worst maritime disaster occurredwhen at least 3, 000 people were killed as a result of the troopship RMS Lancastria's sinking by the Luftwaffe near Saint-Nazaire, France. |
| 22 june | Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose established the 'Forward Block' after differences with Congress leaders. Netaji had resigned from the presidency of the Indian National Congress after being outmanoeuvred by Mohandas K. Gandhi. The formation of the Forward Bloc was announced to the public at a rally in Calcutta. Bose said that who all were joining, they had to never turn their back to the British and must fill the pledge form by cutting their finger and signing it with their blood. |
| 25 june | World War II: France officially surrendered to Germany. In the Second World War, the Battle of France, also known as the Fall of France, was the successful German invasion of France and the Low Countries, defeating primarily French forces. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb (Case Yellow), German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes and then along the Somme valley to cut off and surround the Allied units that had advanced into Belgium. |
| 25 june | Second World War: The evacuation of nearly 200, 000 Allied soldiers from French ports was completed. |
| 02 july | Indian independence leader Subhash Chandra Bose was arrested and detained in Calcutta. Subhash Chandra Bose known throughout India as Neta was an Indian nationalist and prominent figure of the Indian independence movement. Bose was the twice elected President of the Indian National Congress and the founder and President of the All India Forward Bloc. |
| Date/Month | Name / Profession / Country |
|---|
| 02 August | Will Tura / Guitarist / Belgium |
| 04 March | David Plante / Novelist / United States of America |
| 04 August | Robin Harper / Politician / Scotland |
| 04 August | Timi Yuro / Writer / United States of America |
| 05 May | Michael Lindsay-Hogg / Producer / United States of America |
| 07 July | Ringo Starr / Writer / United Kingdom |
| 07 November | Dakin Matthews / Actor / United States of America |
| 08 January | Mark Bretscher / Academic / United Kingdom |
| 12 March | M. A. Numminen / Writer / Finland |
| 13 April | Mike Beuttler / Racing Car Driver / United Kingdom |
| 16 October | Ivan Della Mea / Writer / Italy |
| 17 May | Alan Kay / Scientist / United States of America |
| 17 February | Gene Pitney / Writer / United States of America |
| 24 August | Keith Savage / Rugby Player / United Kingdom |
| 26 August | Michael Cockerell / Journalist / United Kingdom |
| 27 January | Ahmet Kurtcebe Alptemoçin / Politician / Turkey |
| 28 February | Joe South / Writer / United States of America |
| 30 May | Gilles Villemure / Ice Hockey Player / United States of America |
| 31 December | Mani Neumeier / Drummer / Germany |
| 31 August | Roger Newman / Actor / United States of America |
| Year | Name / Profession / Country |
|---|
| 06 January | Narendra Kohli / Writer / India |
| 26 April | Molvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari / Politician / India |
| 28 December | A. K. Antony / Politician / India |
| 12 November | Amjad Khan / Actor / India |
| 01 November | Ramesh Chandra Lahoti / Lawyer / India |
| 21 July | Shankarsinh Vaghela / Politician / India |
| 30 May | Jagmohan Dalmiya / Cricket Administrator / India |
| 28 December | A. K. Antony / Politician / India |
| 25 November | Shyamal Kumar Sen / Politician / India |
| 20 August | Rex Sellers / Cricketer / India |
| NA NA | Mubarak Begum / Singer / India |
| 12 December | Sharad Pawar / Politician / India |
| 15 April | Ustad Sultan Khan / Singer / India |
| 15 December | Ravinder Kapoor / Actor / India |
| 13 December | Sanjaya Lall / Academic / India |
| 05 December | Sundararajan Padmanabhan / Soldier / India |
| 13 April | Najma Heptullah / Politician / India |
| 30 May | Jagmohan Dalmiya / Industrialist / India |
| 05 October | Nar Bahadur Bhandari / Politician / India |
| 24 September | Aarti Saha Gupta / Player / India |