1940 - What happened in 1940 ?
January 1940
Friday 05:
FM radio is demonstrated to the FCC for the first time.
Saturday 06:
Mass execution of Poles, committed by Germans in the city of Poznan, Warthegau.
Friday 12:
World War II: Russia bombs cities in Finland.
February 1940
Friday 02:
Frank Sinatra debuts with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra.
Wednesday 07:
Pinocchio, an Academy Award-winning animated feature based on the story Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, was first released by Walt Disney Productions.
Friday 23:
The animated movie Pinocchio is released.
Wednesday 28:
Basketball is televised for the first time (Fordham University vs. the University of Pittsburgh in Madison Square Garden).
Thursday 29:
Finland initiates Winter War peace negotiations
March 1940
Sunday 03:
Five people are killed in a arson attack on the offices of the communist newspaper Norrskensflamman in Luleå, Sweden.
Tuesday 05:
Members of Soviet politbiuro sign an order for the execution of 25,700 Polish intelligentsia, including 14,700 Polish POW, known also as Katyn massacre.
Wednesday 06:
Winter War: An armistice is signed by Finland and the Soviet Union.
Monday 18:
Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet at Brenner Pass in the Alps and agree to form an alliance against France and the United Kingdom.
Thursday 21:
Paul Reynaud becomes Prime Minister of France
April 1940
Sunday 07:
Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.
Tuesday 09:
World War II: Germany invades Denmark and Norway.
Sunday 14:
Royal Marines land in Namsos, Norway, occupying key points, preparatory to a larger force arriving two days later.
Monday 15:
The Allies start their attack on the Norwegian town of Narvik which was occupied by Nazi Germany.
Wednesday 24:
World War II: Operation Demon – The United Kingdom begins evacuating Greece.
May 1940
Sunday 05:
World War II: In London, a Norwegian government in exile is formed.
Monday 06:
John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath.
Thursday 09:
World War II: The German submarine U-9 sinks French coastal submarine Doris near Den Helder.
Friday 10:
World War II: Winston Churchill appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Monday 13:
Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands flees the Nazi invasion in the Netherlands to Britain. Princess Juliana takes her children to Canada for their safety.
June 1940
Monday 10:
World War II: Norway Surrenders to German forces.
Sunday 16:
A Communist government is installed in Lithuania
Monday 17:
The three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania fall under the occupation of the Soviet Union.
Saturday 22:
France forced to sign armistice with Nazi Germany.
Monday 24:
France and Italy sign an armistice.
July 1940
Wednesday 10:
The German Luftwaffe begin to hit British convoys in the English Channel thus starting the battle (this start date is contested, though).
Thursday 11:
World War II: Vichy France regime formally established. Henri Philippe Pétain becomes Prime Minister of France.
Sunday 14:
World War II: Andrew George Latta McNaughton takes command of the 7th Army Corps consisting of British, Canadian and New Zealand troops.
Friday 19:
World War II: Battle of Cape Spada between the Royal Navy and the Regia Marina; the Italian light cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni sinks, with 121 casualities.
Saturday 27:
Bugs Bunny makes his official debut in the animated cartoon A Wild Hare.
August 1940
Saturday 03:
Second World War: Italy invades British Somaliland.
Tuesday 13:
The Luftwaffe launches a series of attacks on British fighter bases and radar installations.
Tuesday 20:
Exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is fatally wounded in Mexico City by an assassin's ice-ax. He will die the next day.
Friday 23:
World War II: The Germans start bombing London.
Monday 26:
Chad is the first French colony to join the Allies under the administration of Félix Éboué, France's first black colonial governor.
September 1940
Saturday 07:
Treaty of Craiova: Romania loses Southern Dobrudja to Bulgaria.
Wednesday 11:
George Stibitz pioneers the first remote operation of a computer.
Thursday 12:
The Hercules Munitions Plant in Kenvil, New Jersey explodes, killing 55 people.
Tuesday 24:
Baseball: Jimmie Foxx becomes the second member of the 500 home run club with a home run at Shibe Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Friday 27:
The Tripartite Pact is signed in Berlin by Germany, Japan and Italy.
October 1940
Tuesday 01:
The Pennsylvania Turnpike, often considered the first superhighway in the United States, opens to traffic.
Monday 07:
Germany invades Romania.
Tuesday 15:
The Great Dictator, a satiric social commentary film by and starring Charlie Chaplin, is released.
Wednesday 16:
1940 - Warsaw Ghetto established
Monday 28:
World War II: Italy invades Greece.
November 1940
Tuesday 05:
U.S. presidential election, 1940: Democrat incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats Republican challenger Wendell Willkie and becomes the United States' first third-term president.
Thursday 07:
In Washington, the middle section of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapses in a windstorm, a mere four months after the bridge's completion.
Thursday 14:
World War II: In England, the city of Coventry is heavily bombed by German Luftwaffe bombers.
Saturday 16:
New York City's Mad Bomber places his first bomb at a Manhattan office building used by Consolidated Edison.
Wednesday 27:
In Romania, General Ion Antonescu's Iron Guard arrests and executes over 60 of exiled king Carol II of Romania's aides, including former minister and acclaimed historian Nicolae Iorga. Mediterranean Sea: battle of Cape Spartivento between the Royal Navy and the Regia Marina
December 1940
Monday 09:
British Army attacks Italian forces in North Africa
Sunday 29:
Battle of Britain: Luftwaffe firebombs London, killing almost 3000 civilians
Monday 30:
California opens its first freeway: the Arroyo Seco Parkway.
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