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19th century
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20th century
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21st century
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1937
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1938
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1939
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1940
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1941
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1942
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1943
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1910s
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1920s
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1930s
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1940s
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1950s
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1960s
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1970s
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(''' MCMXL ''') was a Leap Year Starting On Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar).
- March 3 - In Sweden, a Time Bomb destroys the office of '' Norrskenflamman '' newspaper of Swedish Communists - 5 dead
- , Molotov , Lazar Kaganovich , Mikhail Kalinin , Kliment Voroshilov and Lavrenty Beria , signed an order, prepared by Beria, for the execution of 25,700 Polish intelligentsia, including 14,700 Polish POWs. The action is known as the Katyn Massacre .
- March 12 - Soviet Union and Finland sign a peace treaty in Moscow ending the Winter War . Finns, and world opinion, shocked by the harsh terms.
- - Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet at Brenner Pass in the Alps and agree to form an alliance against France and the United Kingdom .
- March 21 Édouard Daladier resigns as prime minister of France. He is replaced by Paul Reynaud .
- begin - German forces invaded France and Low Countries .
- invaded by the United Kingdom .
- May 10 - With the resignation of Neville Chamberlain , Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister Of The United Kingdom
- May 13 - Winston Churchill , in his first address as Prime Minister, tells the House Of Commons , "I have nothing to offer you but blood, toil, tears, and sweat."
- at Sedan .
- May 14 - Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and her government flee to London ; Rotterdam subjected to savage terror bombing by the Luftwaffe - 980 killed, 20,000 buildings destroyed.
- for a home defense force - the Local Defence Volunteers , later known as the Home Guard .
- surrenders.
- May 16 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt , addressing a joint session of Congress , asks for an extraordinary credit of approximately $900 million to finance construction of at least 50,000 airplanes per year.
- May 18 - Marshal Henri Petain named vice-premier of France .
- May 19 - General Maxime Weygand replaces Maurice Gamelin as commander-in-chief of all French forces.
- opens in Poland .
- May 22 - World War II - British Parliament passes Emergency Powers Act giving the government full control over all persons and property.
- of British Expeditionary Force starts.
- surrenders.
- May 28 - Winston Churchill warns the House Of Commons to, "...prepare itself for hard and heavy tidings."
- September - U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division (previously a National Guard Division in Arizona , Colorado , New Mexico , and Oklahoma ), activated and ordered into federal service for one year to engage in a training program in Ft. Sill and Louisiana prior to serving in World War II .
- and Great Britain announced. Fifty U.S. destroyers needed for escort work transferred to Britain . In return, the United States gains 99-year leases on British bases in the North Atlantic, West Indies and Bermuda .
- loses Southern Dobrudja to Bulgaria .
- - Nazi Germany begins to rain bombs on London . This will be the first of 57 consecutive nights of Strategic Bombing .
- September 12 - French children discover Lascaux caves.
- September 12 - The Hercules Munitions Plant in Kenvil, New Jersey explodes, killing 55 people.
- signed into law by Franklin D. Roosevelt , creating the first peacetime draft in U.S. history.
- , Italy and Japan sign Tripartite Pact .
- incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats Republican challenger Wendell Willkie and becomes the United States ' first third-term president.
- November 7 - In Washington , the middle section of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapses in a windstorm, a mere four months after the bridge's completion (it opened to traffic on July 1 , 1940 as the third-longest Suspension Bridge in the world).
- November 9 - Premiere of Joaquin Rodrigo 's Concierto De Aranjuez in Barcelona , Spain .
- - The Royal Navy launches the first Aircraft Carrier strike in history, on the Italian fleet at Taranto .
- Hilfskreuzer (cruiser) '' Atlantis '' captures Top Secret British mail, and sends it to Japan
- kills 144 in U.S. Midwest .
- , the city of Coventry is destroyed by 500 German Luftwaffe bombers (150,000 Fire Bomb s, 503 tons of high explosives, 130 parachute mines leveled 60,000 of the city's 75,000 buildings; 568 people were killed).
- leveling Coventry two days before, the Royal Air Force begins to bomb Hamburg (by war's end, 50,000 Hamburg residents died from Allied attacks).
- November 16 - Unexploded Pipe Bomb founded in Consolidated Edison office building (only years later the culprit, George Metesky , is apprehended
- leader Adolf Hitler and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano meet to discuss Benito Mussolini 's disastrous invasion of Greece .
- , Romania and Slovakia join the Axis Powers .
- November 27 - In Romania , coup leader General Ion Antonescu 's Iron Guard arrests and executes over 60 of exiled king Carol II Of Romania 's aides. Among the dead is former minister and acclaimed historian Nicolae Iorga .
- and Regia Marina fight the Battle Of Cape Spartivento .
- ". The City Of Sheffield is badly damaged by German air-raids.
- December 26 - The film version of '' The Philadelphia Story '', starring Katharine Hepburn , Cary Grant and James Stewart , premieres at Radio City Music Hall in New York City .
- December 29 - Franklin D. Roosevelt , in a Fireside Chat to the nation, declares that the United States must become, "...the great arsenal of democracy."
- December 30 - California 's first modern Freeway , the future California State Route 110 , is opened to traffic in Pasadena, California , as the Arroyo Seco Parkway. It is now called the Pasadena Freeway.
See also
- February 2 - David Jason , English actor
- February 3 - Fran Tarkenton , American football player
- February 4 - George Romero , American film writer, producer, and director
- February 5 - H.R. Giger , Swiss artist
- February 6 - Tom Brokaw , American television news reporter
- February 6 - Jimmy Tarbuck , English comedian
- February 8 - Ted Koppel , American journalist
- February 8 - Joe South , American singer and songwriter
- February 9 - J. M. Coetzee , South African writer, Nobel Prize laureate
- February 12 - Richard Lynch , American actor
- February 19 - Smokey Robinson , American musician
- February 20 - Jimmy Greaves , English footballer
- February 21 - James Wong , Hong Kong composer (d. 2004 )
- February 23 - Peter Fonda , American actor
- February 24 - Denis Law , Scottish footballer
- February 25 - Ron Santo , baseball player
- February 28 - Mario Andretti , American race car driver
- February 29 - Edward Frederic Benson , American writer
- March 3 - Germán Castro Caycedo , Colombian writer and journalist
- March 6 - Willie Stargell , baseball player (d. 2001 )
- March 7 - Rudi Dutschke , German student leader (d. 1979 )
- March 9 - Raúl Juliá , Puerto Rican actor (d. 1994 )
- March 10 - Chuck Norris , American actor and martial artist
- March 12 - Al Jarreau , American singer
- March 15 - Phil Lesh , American musician ( Grateful Dead )
- March 16 - Bernardo Bertolucci , Italian writer and film director
- March 17 - Mark White , Governor of Texas
- March 22 - Haing S. Ngor , Cambodian actor (d. 1996 )
- March 25 - Anita Bryant , American entertainer
- March 26 - James Caan , American actor
- March 26 - Spiridon Louis , Greek runner
- March 27 - Cale Yarborough , American race car driver
- March 29 - Ray Davis , American musician ( P-Funk )
- March 30 - Astrud Gilberto , Brazilian-born singer
- May 1 - Elsa Peretti , Italian jewelry designer
- May 8 - Ricky Nelson , American singer (d. 1985 )
- May 9 - James L. Brooks , American film producer and writer
- May 11 - Juan Downey , Chilean-born video artist (d. 1993 )
- May 17 - Alan Kay , American computer scientist
- May 20 - Stan Mikita , Slovakian-born hockey player
- May 20 - Sadaharu Oh , Japanese baseball player
- May 22 - Bernard Shaw , American journalist and television news reporter
- May 24 - Joseph Brodsky , Russian-born poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996 )
- May 29 - Farooq Leghari , President Of Pakistan
- June - Carole Ann Ford , British actress
- June 1 - René Auberjonois , American actor
- June 2 - King Constantine II Of Greece
- June 16 - Neil Goldschmidt , Governor of Oregon
- June 17 - George Akerlof , American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- June 20 - John Mahoney , English-born actor
- June 21 - Mariette Hartley , American actress
- June 23 - Adam Faith , English singer and actor (d. 2003 )
- June 23 - Lord Irvine Of Lairg , Lord Chancellor Of England
- June 23 - Wilma Rudolph , American athelete (d. 1994 )
- June 25 - A.J. Quinnell , English writer (d. 2005 )
- July 3 - César Tovar , Venezuelan Major League Baseball player (d. 1994 )
- July 7 - Ringo Starr , English drummer ( The Beatles )
- July 10 - Gene Alley , baseball player
- July 10 - Helen Donath , American soprano
- July 13 - Patrick Stewart , English actor
- July 18 - Joe Torre , baseball player and manager
- July 22 - Alex Trebek , Canadian game show host
- July 24 - Stanley Hauerwas , American theologian
- July 26 - Mary Jo Kopechne , American aide to Robert F. Kennedy (d. 1969 )
- July 27 - Bharati Mukherjee , Indian-born novelist
- October 9 - John Lennon , English musician and singer ( The Beatles ) (d. 1980 )
- October 13 - Pharaoh Sanders , American saxophonist
- October 14 - Cliff Richard , English singer
- October 15 - Peter Doherty , Australian immunologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize In Physiology Or Medicine
- October 19 - Michael Gambon , Irish actor
- October 21 - Manfred Mann , South African musician
- October 23 - Pelé , Brazilian footballer
- October 25 - Bobby Knight , American basketball coach
- October 27 - John Gotti , American Gangster (d. 2002 )
- December 1 - Richard Pryor , American actor and comedian (d. 2005 )
- December 4 - Gary Gilmore , American murderer
- December 4 - John Cale , Welsh classical and rock musician and multi-instrumentalist from The Velvet Underground
- December 5 - Peter Pohl , Swedish writer
- December 12 - Sharad Pawar , Indian politician
- December 12 - Dionne Warwick , American singer
- December 21 - Frank Zappa , American musician, composer, and satirist (d. 1993 )
- December 22 - Noel Jones , British Ambassador to Kazakhstan (d. 1995 )
- December 25 - Pete Brown , English poet and lyricist
- December 26 - Edward C. Prescott , American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
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