1945 - What happened in 1945 ?

January 1945

Friday 05:

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

Sunday 07:

British General Bernard Montgomery holds a press conference in which he claims credit for victory in the Battle of the Bulge.

Thursday 18:

Liberation of the Budapest ghetto by the Red Army

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.

Wednesday 31:

US Army private Eddie Slovik is executed, the first American soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion.

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.

Wednesday 14:

President Franklin D. Roosevelt meets with King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia aboard the USS Quincy, officially starting the US-Saudi diplomatic relationship.

Friday 16:

1945 - American forces recapture the Bataan Peninsula.

Friday 23:

1945 - World War II: The German town of Pforzheim is completely destroyed by a raid of 379 British bombers.

Saturday 24:

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

March 1945

Friday 16:

Würzburg, Germany is 90% destroyed, with 5,000 dead, in only 20 minutes by British bombers.

Monday 19:

World War II: Adolf Hitler issues his "Nero Decree" ordering all industries, military installations, shops, transportation facilities and communications facilities in Germany be destroyed.

Thursday 22:

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

Thursday 29:

World War II: Last day of V-1 flying bomb attacks on England.

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

Thursday 12:

President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies and Harry S. Truman is inaugurated as the 33rd President of the United States.

Wednesday 18:

World War II: Over 1,000 bombers attack the small island of Heligoland, Germany, leaving nothing standing.

Sunday 22:

World War II: After learning that Soviet forces have taken Eberswalde without a fight, Adolf Hitler admits defeat in his underground bunker and states that suicide is his only recourse.

Wednesday 25:

Fifty nations gather in San Francisco, California to begin the United Nations Conference on International Organizations.

Saturday 28:

Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci are executed by members of the Italian resistance movement.

May 1945

Wednesday 02:

1945 - The last postage stamp utilized by Manzhouguo is issued.

Thursday 03:

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

Sunday 06:

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

Tuesday 08:

Thousands of Algerian civilians are killed by French Army soldiers in the Setif massacre.

Monday 21:

American screen legend Humphrey Bogart marries actress Lauren Bacall.

June 1945

Tuesday 05:

Allied Control Council, military occupation governing body of Germany, formally takes power.

Thursday 07:

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

Thursday 21:

World War II: Battle of Okinawa ends.

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.

July 1945

Monday 09:

A forest fire breaks out in the Tillamook Burn, the third fire in that area since 1933.

Sunday 15:

President Harry Truman disembarks the heavy cruiser the USS Augusta (CA-31) in Antwerp en route to Potsdam for the Potsdam Conference.

Tuesday 17:

At Potsdam, the three main Allied leaders begin their final summit of the war. The meeting will end on August 2.

Thursday 26:

The Potsdam Declaration is signed in Potsdam, Germany.

Saturday 28:

A US Army bomber accidentally crashes into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building killing 14 injuring 26.

August 1945

Thursday 02:

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

Monday 06:

World War II: the Atomic bombing of Hiroshima. An atomic bomb codenamed Little Boy is dropped by the American B-29 Enola Gay on the city of Hiroshima in Japan at 8:16 a.m., killing 80,000 outright with another 60,000 dead by the end of the year due to fallout sickness. Ultimately, about 200,000 die due to the atomic bomb.

Wednesday 08:

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

Friday 17:

Indonesia proclaims itself independent from the Netherlands.

Sunday 19:

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

September 1945

Sunday 02:

Vietnam declares its independence, forming the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam).

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.

October 1945

Monday 15:

World War II: Former premier of Vichy France, Pierre Laval, is executed by firing squad for treason.

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.

Wednesday 26:

CFP franc and CFA franc are created

Thursday 27:

1945 - Korea is divided