1945 - What happened in 1945 ?

January 1945

Friday 05:

The Soviet Union recognizes the new pro-Soviet government of Poland.

Wednesday 17:

Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg disappears in Hungary while in Soviet custody.

Friday 19:

World War II: Soviet forces liberate ghetto of Lodz. Out of 230,000 inhabitants in 1940, less then 900 had survived Nazi occupation.

Saturday 27:

World War II: The Red Army arrives at Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland and find the Nazi concentration camp where 1.1-1.5 million people were murdered.

Sunday 28:

World War II: Supplies begin to reach China over the newly reopened Burma Road.

February 1945

Friday 02:

World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill leave to meet with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference.

Monday 05:

World War II: General Douglas MacArthur returns to Manila.

Tuesday 13:

World War II: The Royal Air Force bombers were dispatched to Dresden, Germany (see Bombing of Dresden in World War II).

Monday 19:

about 30,000 United States Marines land on Iwo Jima.

Saturday 24:

Egyptian Premier Ahmed Maher Pasha is killed in Parliament after reading a decree.

March 1945

Saturday 03:

World War II: Hundreds of people die in The Hague after the Royal Air Force mistakenly bombs a civilian area in the city.

Sunday 18:

World War II: 1,250 American bombers attack Berlin.

Thursday 22:

The Arab League is founded when a charter is adopted in Cairo, Egypt.

Tuesday 27:

World War II: Operation Starvation, the aerial mining of Japan's ports and waterways begins.

Friday 30:

World War II: Soviet Union forces invade Austria and take Vienna; Alger Hiss congratulated in Moscow for his part in bringing about the Western betrayal at the Yalta Conference.

April 1945

Monday 09:

The German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer is sunk.

Wednesday 11:

World War II: United States forces liberate Buchenwald concentration camp

Friday 13:

German troops massacre more than 1000 political and military prisoners in Gardelegen Germany. The atrocity is discovered two days later by American forces.

Saturday 21:

World War II: Soviet Union forces south of Berlin at Zossen attack the German High Command headquarters.

Friday 27:

The Völkischer Beobachter, the newspaper of the Nazi Party, ceases publication.

May 1945

Thursday 03:

World War II: Sinking of the floating-jails Cap Arcona, Thielbek and Deutschland by the RAF in the Lübeck Bay.

Friday 04:

World War II: Surrender of the North Germany Army to Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery.

Saturday 05:

A Japanese bomb, launched by balloon and called a fire balloon, explodes near Lakeview, Oregon, United States, killing a woman and five children who were examining it during a church picnic.

Sunday 06:

1945 - World War II: Begun the Prague Offensive (the last major battle of the Eastern Front)

Monday 21:

American screen legend Humphrey Bogart marries actress Lauren Bacall.

June 1945

Thursday 07:

King Haakon VII of Norway returns with his family to Oslo after five years in exile.

Monday 18:

William Joyce (Lord Haw-Haw) is charged with treason

Sunday 24:

The U.S.S.R. capture the Free Republic of Schwarzenberg.

Monday 25:

Seán T. O'Kelly is elected the second President of Ireland.

Tuesday 26:

The United Nations Charter is signed.

July 1945

Thursday 05:

World War II: Liberation of the Philippines declared.

Monday 16:

Manhattan Project: The Atomic Age begins when the United States successfully detonates a plutonium-based test nuclear weapon at the Trinity site near Alamogordo, New Mexico.

Friday 20:

The U.S. Congress approves the Bretton Woods Agreement.

Sunday 29:

The BBC Light Programme radio station was launched for mainstream light entertainment and music.

Monday 30:

World War II: A Japanese submarine sinks the USS Indianapolis, killing 883 seamen in the worst single loss in the history of the United States Navy.

August 1945

Thursday 02:

World War II: Potsdam Conference, in which the Allied Powers discuss the future of defeated Germany, concludes.

Wednesday 08:

The United Nations Charter is ratified by the United States, and that nation becomes the third to join the new international organization.

Thursday 09:

World War II: An atomic bomb nicknamed "Fat Man", with an energy of 92 terajoules (22,000 tons of TNT), is dropped by the B-29 Bockscar on the city of Nagasaki, Japan at 11:02 AM (local time). An estimated 70,000-90,000 are killed and 80,000 more are injured.

Wednesday 15:

World War II: Korean Liberation Day

Sunday 19:

Vietnam War: Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh take power in Hanoi, Vietnam.

September 1945

Tuesday 04:

World War II: Japanese forces surrender on Wake Island after hearing word of their nation's surrender.

Wednesday 05:

Iva Toguri D'Aquino, a Japanese-American suspected of being wartime radio propagandist Tokyo Rose, is arrested in Yokohama.

Sunday 09:

Second Sino-Japanese War: Japan formally surrenders to China.

Saturday 15:

A hurricane in southern Florida and the Bahamas destroys 366 planes and 25 blimps at NAS Richmond.

Wednesday 19:

Lord Haw Haw (William Joyce) sentenced to death in London

October 1945

Saturday 06:

Baseball: Bill Sianis and his pet billy goat are ejected from Wrigley Field during Game 4 of the 1945 World Series (see Curse of the Billy Goat).

Wednesday 17:

A massive number of people gather in the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina to demand Juan Peron's release. This is known to the Peronists as the Día de la lealtad (day of loyalty) or San Perón (Saint Perón). It's considered the birthday of Peronism.

Sunday 21:

Argentine military officer and politician Juan Perón married actress Evita.

Thursday 25:

The Republic of China takes over administration of Taiwan following Japan's surrender to the Allies.

Monday 29:

Getulio Vargas, president of Brazil, resigns.

November 1945

Friday 16:

Cold War: The United States controversially imports 88 German scientists to help in the production of rocket technology.

Tuesday 20:

Nuremberg Trials begin: Trials against 24 Nazi war criminals of World War II start at the Nuremberg Palace of Justice.

Thursday 29:

The Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia is declared , celebrated as Republic Day until 2003).

December 1945

Sunday 09:

American General George S. Patton is injured in an automobile crash in occupied Germany. He dies twelve days later.

Saturday 15:

General Douglas MacArthur orders end of Shinto as state religion of Japan

Wednesday 19:

Austria becomes a republic for the second time, the first having been founded in 1918 and interrupted by the Austro-fascist dictatorship from 1934 onwards and the Nazi invasion of Austria in 1938.

Thursday 27:

1945 - Korea is divided

Friday 28:

The U.S. Congress officially recognizes the Pledge of Allegiance