WHAT ALL HAPPENED JANUARY TO DECEMBER 1940
Find out what all happened January to December 1940

World War II: The Soviet Union formally annexes Latvia. (5. August 1940)

Doodlebug Disaster: A doodlebug train in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio collides with a multi-car freight train heading in the opposite direction, killing 43 people. (31. July 1940)

World War II: In response to the leveling of Coventry by the German Luftwaffe two days before, the Royal Air Force bombs Hamburg. (16. November 1940)

World War II: Romania becomes a signatory of the Tripartite Pact, officially joining the Axis Powers. (23. November 1940)

Three trains on the Sakurajima Line, in Osaka, Japan, collide and explode while approaching Ajikawaguchi Station. 181 people are killed. (29. January 1940)

The first edition of the Ernest Hemingway novel For Whom the Bell Tolls is published. (21. October 1940)

The Lahore Resolution (Qarardad-e-Pakistan or the then Qarardad-e-Lahore) is put forward at the Annual General Convention of the All India Muslim League. (23. March 1940)

Holocaust: In occupied Poland, the Nazis close off the Warsaw Ghetto from the outside world. (16. November 1940)

World War II: Battle of Taranto – The Royal Navy launches the first aircraft carrier strike in history, on the Italian fleet at Taranto. (11. November 1940)

World War II: Alsace-Lorraine is annexed by the Third Reich. (7. August 1940)

France is forced to sign the Second Compiègne armistice with Germany. (22. June 1940)

The 1940 Summer Olympics are cancelled due to war. (1. May 1940)

World War II: The Tripartite Pact is signed in Berlin by Germany, Japan and Italy. (27. September 1940)

Chad becomes the first French colony to join the Allies under the administration of Félix Éboué, France's first black colonial governor. (26. August 1940)

World War II: Himarë is captured by the Greek army. (22. December 1940)

World War II: The First Slovak Republic becomes a signatory to the Tripartite Pact, officially joining the Axis powers. (24. November 1940)

The Russo-Finnish Winter War ends. (13. March 1940)

Acting on the orders of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, NKVD agent Iosif Grigulevich orchestrates an unsuccessful assassination attempt on exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky in Coyoacán, Mexico. (24. May 1940)

World War II: the McCollum memo proposes bringing the United States into the war in Europe by provoking the Japanese to attack the United States. (7. October 1940)

World War II: Battle of Dunkirk – In France, Allied forces begin a massive evacuation from Dunkirk, France. (26. May 1940)