Tables of History : A.D. 1940 - 1959

Other periods available:
1-99 | 100-199 | 200-299 | 300-399
400-499 | 500-599 | 600-699 | 700-799
800-899 | 900-999 | 1000-1099 | 1100-1199
1200-1299 | 1300-1399 | 1400-1499 | 1500-1599
1600-1699 | 1700-1799 | 1800-1899 | 1900-1919
1920-1939 | 1940-1959 | 1960-1979 | 1980-1999

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1940
  • Germany occupies Denmark and Norway
1941
  • Abyssinian Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Addis Abeba after six years in exile
1942
  • In India, Mahatma Gandhi is jailed for exhorting the British to leave India
1943
  • Military coup overthrows Argentinian government
    Labour minister in the junta government is Colonel Juan Domingo Péron.
  • Bulgarian Czar Boris III dies
    The Czar, possibly poisoned, is succeeded by his son, Simeon II, with the late king's brother, Prince Kyril, as chairman of the regency council.
1944
  • D-Day: Allies land in Normandy
1945
  • Second World War ends
1947
  • In Denmark, King Christian X dies, and is succeeded by his son, Frederik IX
1948
  • UN General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
  • UN founds the World Health Organisation (WHO)
1950
  • Korean War begins
  • Scotland's "Stone of Destiny" stolen
    Scottish nationalists steal the "Stone of Destiny", Scotland's traditional coronation stone, from the chapel at Westminster Abbey, London. The stone, taken by the English in 1296, was traditionally the seat on which kings of Scotland were crowned. The stone was eventually recovered from Arborath Abbey, though the recovered stone was said to be a copy. See also 1996.
1952
  • Polio vaccine created by Jonas Salk
1953
  • Denmark institutes new constitution
    The new constitution abolishes the old bicameral system, leaving all legislative power in the hands of the Folketing, a single-chamber parliament. It also gives greater importance to popular plebiscites.
1954
  • U.S. Supreme Court rules racial segregation unconstitutional
    The United States Supreme Court rules that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional ["Brown v. Board of Education"].
  • Alan Turing commits suicide
1958
  • In Denmark, the Danish Communist Party (DKP) splits
    Expelled from the DKP, former party chairman Aksel Larsen founds a new party, the Socialist People's Party (SF). The new party's platform is more moderate, and it siphons off a great number of voters from the DKP, resulting in the Communists' ouster, two years later, from the Danish Folketing (parliament).

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Last modified: July 20, 2001