1940s
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{{Unreferenced|date=April 2007}}
{{Decadebox|194}}
The '''1940s''' decade ran from 1940 to 1949.
==Events and trends==
The 1940s was a period between the radical 1930s and the conservative 1950s, which also leads the period to be divided in two halves:
The first half of the decade was dominated by [[World War II]], the widest and most destructive armed conflict in human history. So consequential was this event and its brutal aftermath that it laid the foundation for other major world events and trends for decades to follow. This war was also the first modern civilian war.
The second half of the 1940s marked the beginning of the [[Cold War]].
* [[Nazi Germany]] loses the [[Battle of Britain]] 1940
* [[Nazi Germany]] invades [[Denmark]], [[Norway]], [[Benelux]], [[France]], and the [[Soviet Union]] from 1940-1941.
* The [[United States]] enter [[World War II]] after the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] on [[December 7]], [[1941]].
* Germany and Japan suffer defeats at [[Battle of Stalingrad|Stalingrad]], [[Battle of El Alamein|El Alamein]], and [[Battle of Midway|Midway]] in 1942 and 1943.
* [[Subash Chandra Bose]] escapes from house-arrest and founds the [[Indian National Army|INA]] in [[Singapore]]. The INA made of Indian POWs held by the Japanese accompanies the Japanese to the borders of India. However, Axis defeat results in the annihilation of the INA and surrender following Nethaji's death in 1945.
* [[D-Day]] ([[June 6]], [[1944]])
* [[Germany]] surrenders [[May 7]], [[1945]]
* [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]] ([[August 6]] and [[August 9]], [[1945]]); Japan surrenders on [[August 15]].
* [[World War II]] officially ends on [[September 2]], [[1945]].
* The [[Holocaust]] (the [[shoah]])
* [[United Nations]] established in 1945
* In 1946, former British PM Winston S. Churchill gives his famous "[[Iron Curtain]]" speech with US President Harry S Truman present.
* Beginning of the [[Cold War]] (generally thought of as somewhere from 1946-1949)
* [[Independence]] for some former [[colonialism|colonies]] (including [[India]] and [[Pakistan]] in 1947, [[Israel]] in 1948, and [[Indonesia]] in 1949)
* [[1948 Arab-Israeli War]]
* The [[Irish Free State]] becomes a republic in 1948
* [[NATO]] founded in 1949
* The [[Chinese Civil War]] ends in victory for the [[Communist Party of China|Communists]] in 1949. The [[Kuomintang|Nationalists]] government retreat to [[Taiwan]].
* The [[Berlin Blockade|Berlin blockade]] in 1948.
* [[Informbiro]] period in [[Yugoslavia]] begins
* [[Truman Doctrine]] is created.
* Soviets tested their first nuclear bomb in 1949 ([[Soviet atomic bomb project]]). This is seen by some as the beginning of the [[Cold War]].'''
== Culture ==
===Sports===
*''[[Jackie Robinson]]''
*''[[Jesse Owens]]''
*''[[Joe DiMaggio]]''
*''[[Ted Williams]]''
*''[[Joe Louis]]''
*''[[Stan Musial]]''
*''[[Hank Greenberg]]''
*''[[Otto Graham]]''
===Movies===
*''[[Pinocchio (1940 film)|Pinocchio]]'' (1940)
*''[[The Grapes of Wrath (film)|The Grapes of Wrath]]'' (1940)
*''[[Citizen Kane]] (1941)
*''[[Sergeant York]] (1941)
*''[[Dumbo]]'' (1941)
*''[[How Green Was My Valley]]'' (1941)
*''[[The Wolf Man (1941 film)|The Wolf Man]]'' (1941)
*''[[Casablanca (film)|Casablanca]]'' (1942)
*''[[Road to Morocco]]'' (1942)
*''[[Bambi]]'' (1942)
*''[[Mrs. Miniver]]'' (1942)
*''[[Lassie Come Home]]'' (1943)
*''[[The Ox-Bow Incident]]'' (1943)
*''[[Going My Way]]'' (1944)
*''[[Meet Me in St. Louis]]'' (1944)
*''[[Since You Went Away]]'' (1944)
*''[[Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo]]'' (1944)
*''[[A Tree Grows In Brooklyn (film)|A Tree Grows In Brooklyn]]'' (1945)
*''[[The Lost Weekend (film)|The Lost Weekend]]'' (1945)
*''[[Mildred Pierce (film)|Mildred Pierce]]'' (1945)
*''[[Anchors Aweigh (film)|Anchors Aweigh]]'' (1945)
*''[[My Darling Clementine]]'' (1946)
*''[[It's a Wonderful Life]]'' (1946)
*''[[The Best Years of Our Lives]]'' (1946}
*''[[Duel in the Sun (film)|Duel in the Sun]]'' (1947)
*''[[Gentleman's Agreement]]'' (1947)
*''[[Miracle on 34th Street]]'' (1947)
*''[[Anna Karenina (1948 film)|Anna Karenina]]'' (1948)
*''[[Hamlet]]'' (1948)
*''[[The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (film)|The Treasure of the Sierra Madre]]'' (1948)
*''[[The Three Musketeers (1948 film)|The Three Musketeers]]'' (1948)
*''[[Sands of Iwo Jima]]'' (1949)
*''[[All the King's Men (1949 film)|All the King's Men]]'' (1949)
*''[[Twelve O'Clock High|Twelve O' Clock High]]'' (1949)
*''[[On the Town (film)|On the Town]]'' (1949)
===Fashion===
Many fashion houses closed during occupation of Paris during [[World War II]], including the [[Madeleine Vionnet|Maison Vionnet]] and the [[Maison Chanel]]. Several designers, including Mainbocher, permanently relocated to [[New York]]. In the enormous moral and intellectual re-education program undertaken by the French state couture was not spared. In contrast to the stylish, liberated Parisienne, the [[Vichy France|Vichy regime]] promoted the model of the wife and mother, the robust, athletic young woman, a figure who was much more in line with the new political criteria. Germany, meanwhile, was taking possession of over half of what [[France]] produced, including high fashion, and was also considering relocating French haute couture to the cities of [[Berlin]] and [[Vienna]], neither of which had any significant tradition of fashion. The archives of the [[Fédération française de la couture|Chambre Syndicale de la Couture]] were seized, most consequentially the client list. The point of all this was to break up a monopoly that supposedly threatened the dominance of the Third Reich.
Due to the difficult times, the number of models in shows was limited to seventy-five, evening wear was shortened and day wear was much skimpier, made using substitute materials whenever possible. From 1940 onward, no more than thirteen feet (four meters) of cloth was permitted to be used for a coat and a little over three feet (one meter) was all that allowed for a blouse. No belt could be over one and a half inches (four centimeters) wide. Despite this, haute couture tried to keep its flag flying. Humor and frivolity became a way of defying the occupying powers and couture somehow survived. Although some have argued that the reason it endured was because of the patronage of the wives of rich Nazis, in actuality, records reveal that, aside from the usual wealthy Parisiennes, it was the wives of foreign ambassadors, clients from the black market, and a whole eclectic mix of people who carried on to frequent the salons, among whom German women were but a minority.
In spite of the fact that so many fashion houses closed down or moved away during the war, several new houses remained open, including [[Jacques Fath]], [[Maggy Rouff]], [[Rochas|Marcel Rochas]], [[Jeanne Lafaurie]], [[Nina Ricci]], and [[Madeleine Vramant]]. During the Occupation, the only true way for a woman to flaunt her extravagance and add to color to a drab outfit was to wear a hat. In this period, hats were often made of scraps of material that would have otherwise been thrown away, sometimes incorporating butter, bits of paper, and woodchucks. Among the most innovative milliners of the time were Pauline Adam, Simone Naudet, Rose Valois, and Le Monnier.
Paris' isolated situation in the 1940s enabled the Americans to exploit the ingenuity and creativity of their own designers. During the [[Second World War]], [[Vera Maxwell]] presented co-ordinates in plain, simply cut outfits and also introduced innovations to men's work clothes. [[Bonnie Cashin]] transformed boots into a major fashion accessory, and, in 1944, started to produce original and imaginative sportswear. [[Claire McCardell]], [[Anne Klein]], and [[Tina Leser]] formed a remarkable trio of women who were to lay the foundations of American sportswear, ensuring that [[ready-to-wear]] was not simply thought of as second best, but as an elegant and comfortable way for modern women to dress.
Among young men in the War Years the [[zoot suit]] (and in [[France]] the [[zazou]] suit) became popular. Many actresses of the time, including [[Rita Hayworth]], [[Katharine Hepburn]], and [[Marlene Dietrich]], had a significant impact on popular fashion.
The couturier [[Christian Dior]] created a tidal wave with his first collection in February 1947. The collection contained dresses with tiny waists, majestic busts, and full skirts swelling out beneath small bodices, in a manner very similar to the style of the [[Belle Époque]]. The extravagant use of fabric and the feminine elegance of the designs appealed greatly to a post-war clientèle and ensured Dior's meteoric rise to fame. The sheer sophistication of the style incited the all-powerful editor of the American [[Harper's Bazaar]], [[Carmel Snow]], to exclaim 'This is a new look !'.
===Literature===
* [[Orson Welles]]
* [[George Orwell]]
* [[Evelyn Waugh]]
==People==
* President [[İsmet İnönü]] ([[Turkey]])
* Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] ([[United Kingdom]])
* Prime Minister [[Clement Attlee]] ([[United Kingdom]])
* President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] ([[United States]])
* President [[Harry S. Truman]] ([[United States]])
* General Secretary [[Joseph Stalin]] ([[Soviet Union]])
* Governor [[Luis Muñoz Marín]] ([[Puerto Rico|Commonwealth of Puerto Rico]])
* President [[Getúlio Vargas]] ([[Brazil]])
* President [[Juan Perón]] ([[Argentina]])
* Prime Minister [[William Lyon Mackenzie King]] ([[Canada]])
* Chancellor [[Adolf Hitler]] ([[Germany]])
* Prime Minister [[Benito Mussolini]] ([[Italy]])
* Prime-Minister [[Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru]] ([[India]])
* General [[Aung San]] ([[Burma]])
* Governor-General [[Muhammad Ali Jinnah]] ([[Pakistan]])
===Entertainers===
{{col-begin}}
* [[Fred Astaire]]
* [[Ingrid Bergman]]
* [[Humphrey Bogart]]
* [[James Cagney]]
* [[Cab Calloway]]
* [[Gary Cooper]]
* [[Abbott and Costello]]
* [[Joan Crawford]]
* [[Bing Crosby]]
* [[Bette Davis]]
* [[Olivia de Havilland]]
* [[Marlene Dietrich]]
* [[Walt Disney]]
* [[Duke Ellington]]
* [[Henry Fonda]]
* [[Joan Fontaine]]
* [[Clark Gable]]
* [[Ava Gardner]]
* [[Judy Garland]]
* [[Betty Grable]]
* [[Cary Grant]]
* [[Carl Stuart Hamblen]]
* [[Rita Hayworth]]
* [[Katharine Hepburn]]
* [[Bob Hope]]
* [[Lena Horne]]
* [[Veronica Lake]]
* [[Hedy Lamarr]]
* [[Dorothy Lamour]]
* [[Vivien Leigh]]
* [[Carole Lombard]]
* [[Myrna Loy]]
* [[Vera Lynn]]
* [[Danny Kaye]]
* [[Gene Kelly]]
* [[Fredric March]]
* [[Margaret O'Brien]]
* [[Maureen O'Hara]]
* [[William Powell]]
* [[Edward G. Robinson]]
* [[Ginger Rogers]]
* [[Mickey Rooney]]
* [[Rosalind Russell]]
* [[Barbara Stanwyck]]
* [[Jimmy Stewart]]
* [[Elizabeth Taylor]]
* [[Robert Taylor (actor)|Robert Taylor]]
* [[Spencer Tracy]]
* [[Lana Turner]]
* [[John Wayne]]
* [[Orson Welles]]
* [[Jane Wyman]]
* [[Loretta Young]]
* [[Dorothy Dandridge]]
* [[Anne Frank]]
===Musicians===
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
* [[Louis Armstrong]]
* [[Gene Autry]]
* [[Count Basie]]
* [[Mills Brothers]]
* [[Les Brown (bandleader)|Les Brown]]
* [[Nat King Cole]]
* [[Perry Como]]
* [[Bing Crosby]]
* [[Duke Ellington]]
* [[Ella Fitzgerald]]
* [[Dizzy Gillespie]]
* [[Benny Goodman]]
* [[Dick Haymes]]
* [[Betty Hutton]]
* [[Harry James]]
* [[Al Jolson]]
* [[Sammy Kaye]]
{{col-2}}
* [[Peggy Lee]]
* [[Johnny Mercer]]
* [[Glenn Miller]]
* [[Charles Mingus]]
* [[Vaughn Monroe]]
* [[Charlie Parker]]
* [[Édith Piaf]]
* [[Bud Powell]]
* [[Max Roach]]
* [[Artie Shaw]]
* [[Dinah Shore]]
* [[Frank Sinatra]]
* [[Kate Smith]]
* [[Ink Spots]]
* [[Ernest Tubb]]
* [[Hank Williams]]
* [[Bob Wills]]
* [[The Andrews Sisters]]
{{col-end}}
[[Category:1940s| ]]
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[[zh:1940年代]]