What happened in the 1940s?
The Second World War shaped the 1940s, which ended with the atomic age, the United Nations and the first computers.
73 events, oldest first.
Timeline of The 1940s
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1940
Bugs Bunny makes his official debut
His first line was 'Eh, what's up, Doc?'
Pop culture history
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1940
Fanta is created in wartime Germany
It was made from leftovers like whey and apple pulp when Coca-Cola syrup couldn't be imported.
Food & brand history
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1940
Nylon stockings go on sale across America
About four million pairs sold within days, and some shoppers queued for hours to buy them.
Food & brand history
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1940
The Battle of Britain
Churchill said of the RAF pilots: 'Never was so much owed by so many to so few.'
Modern history
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1940
The Dunkirk evacuation
Hundreds of civilian 'little ships' helped rescue more than 330,000 troops.
Modern history
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1940
The Lascaux cave paintings are discovered
Four teenagers found the paintings, which are around 17,000 years old.
History of exploration
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1940
The McDonald brothers open their first restaurant
Their first restaurant in San Bernardino was a barbecue drive-in.
Food & brand history
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1940
Tom and Jerry first appear
In their first cartoon, the cat was called Jasper.
Pop culture history
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1941
Citizen Kane is released
Orson Welles was only 25 when he made it.
Pop culture history
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1941
Germany invades the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa was the largest invasion in history.
Modern history
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1941
Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak
It is still Major League Baseball's record.
History of sport
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1941
M&M's chocolate candies go on sale
Forrest Mars got the idea after seeing soldiers in Spain eat chocolate in a hard sugar shell that would not melt.
Food & brand history
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1941
Mount Rushmore is completed
Each president's face is about 18 metres tall.
Art & literature history
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1941
Pearl Harbor is attacked
The attack brought the United States into the Second World War.
Modern history
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1941
Wonder Woman first appears
Her creator also helped develop an early lie detector.
Pop culture history
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1942
Albert Camus publishes The Stranger
Its famous opening line, 'Mother died today', is one of the most debated sentences in French literature.
Art & literature history
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1942
Casablanca is released
The line 'Play it again, Sam' is never actually said in the film.
Pop culture history
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1942
Edward Hopper paints Nighthawks
Hopper's wife Jo posed for the woman at the diner counter.
Art & literature history
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1942
The Battle of Midway
US codebreakers knew where the Japanese fleet would strike.
Modern history
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1942
The first nuclear reactor goes critical
Chicago Pile-1 was built in a squash court under the stands of a football stadium.
Science & technology history
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1943
A professional women's baseball league is founded
The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League later inspired the film A League of Their Own.
History of sport
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1943
Cousteau co-invents the Aqua-Lung
It made modern scuba diving possible.
History of exploration
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1943
IKEA is founded
Founder Ingvar Kamprad was just 17 years old.
Food & brand history
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1943
Oklahoma! opens on Broadway
The musical ran for more than 2,200 performances, and before opening night it was called Away We Go!
Art & literature history
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1943
The Battle of Stalingrad ends
It is often seen as the turning point of the war in Europe.
Modern history
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1943
The Little Prince is published
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote it while living in New York.
Art & literature history
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1944
Iceland becomes an independent republic
It declared itself a republic while Denmark was occupied during the Second World War.
Politics & society history
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1944
The Bretton Woods conference reshapes world finance
Delegates from 44 countries met at a New Hampshire hotel and created the IMF and what became the World Bank.
Modern history
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1944
The D-Day landings
It was the largest seaborne invasion in history.
Politics & society history
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1945
French women vote for the first time
France gave women the vote in 1944, and they first used it in municipal elections in 1945.
Politics & society history
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1945
George Orwell's Animal Farm is published
Several publishers turned it down, including T. S. Eliot at Faber, who doubted its politics.
Art & literature history
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1945
The microwave oven is invented
Percy Spencer noticed a chocolate bar melting in his pocket next to a radar magnetron.
Food & brand history
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1945
The Nuremberg trials begin
They were the first international trials for war crimes.
Modern history
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1945
The Second World War ends
Japan's formal surrender was signed aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
Politics & society history
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1945
The Slinky goes on sale
Engineer Richard James got the idea after watching a spring tumble off a shelf.
Pop culture history
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1945
The United Nations is founded
Its charter was signed by 50 countries in San Francisco.
Politics & society history
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1946
Churchill's 'Iron Curtain' speech
He gave it at a small college in Fulton, Missouri.
Politics & society history
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1946
Sony is founded
Its first attempt at a product was an electric rice cooker that often burned the rice.
Food & brand history
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1946
The bikini is unveiled in Paris
No regular model would wear it, so designer Louis Réard hired a dancer from the Casino de Paris to show it off.
Pop culture history
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1946
The ENIAC computer is unveiled
The machine weighed about 30 tons and filled a large room, yet it was far less powerful than a pocket calculator.
Science & technology history
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1946
The first photo of Earth from space
It was taken by a camera on a captured German V-2 rocket launched from New Mexico.
History of exploration
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1946
The NBA's first game is played
It was played in Toronto, between the Huskies and the New York Knicks.
History of sport
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1947
A moth becomes the first computer 'bug'
Grace Hopper's team found it in a relay and taped it into their logbook.
Science & technology history
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1947
Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier
He flew with two broken ribs from a horse-riding accident days earlier.
History of exploration
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1947
India gains independence
Independence came at midnight, after Nehru's 'tryst with destiny' speech.
Politics & society history
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1947
Jackie Robinson breaks baseball's colour line
Every MLB player now wears his number 42 on Jackie Robinson Day.
History of sport
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1947
Japan's post-war constitution takes effect
Its Article 9 renounces war as a sovereign right.
Politics & society history
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1947
Kitty Litter is invented
Ed Lowe suggested a neighbour try absorbent clay instead of sand for her cat.
Food & brand history
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1947
The Diary of Anne Frank is published
Her father, Otto, was the only member of the family to survive.
Art & literature history
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1947
The first Dead Sea Scrolls are found
A Bedouin shepherd stumbled on them in a cave, reportedly while searching for a stray goat.
History of exploration
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1947
The transistor is invented
A single smartphone chip today contains billions of them.
Science & technology history
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1947
Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki voyage
His balsa-wood raft drifted about 6,900 km across the Pacific.
History of exploration
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1948
Cheetos are invented
Their creator, Charles Elmer Doolin, also founded Fritos.
Food & brand history
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1948
Don Bradman plays his final Test innings
Out for a duck, he finished with a batting average of 99.94.
History of sport
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1948
Fanny Blankers-Koen wins four Olympic golds
The Dutch mother of two was nicknamed 'the Flying Housewife'.
History of sport
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1948
Gandhi is assassinated
He was killed in Delhi less than six months after India's independence.
Modern history
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1948
In-N-Out Burger opens
It was California's first drive-through hamburger stand.
Food & brand history
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1948
Lamborghini starts building tractors
Ferruccio Lamborghini moved into sports cars after a row with Enzo Ferrari.
Food & brand history
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1948
South Africa introduces apartheid
Apartheid laws stayed in force for more than 40 years.
Politics & society history
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1948
The Berlin Airlift begins
Pilots dropped sweets on tiny parachutes for Berlin's children.
Politics & society history
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1948
The Empire Windrush docks in Britain
It brought hundreds of Caribbean migrants to help rebuild post-war Britain.
Modern history
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1948
The Marshall Plan begins
The US gave around $13 billion to help rebuild Western Europe.
Politics & society history
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1948
The NHS is founded
Britain's National Health Service offered free care to everyone at the point of use.
Politics & society history
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1948
The State of Israel is declared
David Ben-Gurion read the declaration in a Tel Aviv museum.
Politics & society history
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1948
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Eleanor Roosevelt chaired the committee that drafted it.
Politics & society history
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1948
The vinyl LP is introduced
Columbia's long-playing record held over 20 minutes of music per side.
Science & technology history
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1948
Walkers crisps are founded
Walkers was originally a butcher's shop in Leicester.
Food & brand history
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1949
Adidas is founded
Adi Dassler fell out with his brother Rudolf, who founded Puma.
Food & brand history
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1949
NASCAR holds its first top-level race
The driver who crossed the line first was disqualified for illegally modified rear springs, a moonshiners' trick.
History of sport
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1949
NATO is founded
Its 12 founding members agreed that an attack on one was an attack on all.
Politics & society history
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1949
Nineteen Eighty-Four is published
Orwell wrote much of it on the remote Scottish island of Jura.
Art & literature history
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1949
The People's Republic of China is founded
Mao Zedong proclaimed it from Tiananmen Gate in Beijing.
Politics & society history
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1949
West Germany is founded with Bonn as its capital
Bonn was chosen as a temporary capital and kept the role for over four decades.
Modern history
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