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.