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"'40s" redirects here. For decades comprising years 40–49 of other centuries, see List of decades. 
The 1940s(the forties) ran from January 1, 1940, to December 31, 1949. The Second World War took place in the first half of the decade, which had a profound effect on most countries and people in Europe, Asia and elsewhere. The consequences of the war lingered well into the second half of the decade, with a war weary Europe divided between the jostling spheres of influence of the West and the Soviet Union. To some degree internal and external tensions in the post-war era were managed by new institutions, including the United Nations, the welfare state and the Bretton Woods system, providing to the post-World War II boom which lasted well into the 1970s. However the conditions of the post-war world encouraged decolonialisation and emergence of new states and governments, with China, India, Pakistan, Israel, Vietnam and others declaring independence, rarely without bloodshed. The decade also saw the early beginnings of new technologies (including computers, nuclear power and jet propulsion), often first developed in tandem with the war effort, and later adapted and improved upon in the post-war era.
[edit] Significant eventsMain article: World War II 
[edit] World leaders
[edit] Military leaders  
[edit] Technical innovations[edit] Entertainment[edit] FilmSee also: 1940s in film and Time magazine's "All-TIME" 100 best movies Although the 1940s was a decade dominated by World War II important and noteworthy films about a wide variety of subjects were made during that era. Hollywood was instrumental in producing dozens of classic films during the 1940s, several of which were about the war and some are on most lists of all-time great films. European cinema survived although obviously curtailed during wartime and yet many films of high quality were made in England, France, Italy, Russia and elsewhere in Europe. Akira Kurosawa and other directors managed to produce significant films during the 40s in Japan as well. Some of Hollywood's best films of the 1940s include: The Maltese Falcon directed by John Huston 1941, It's a Wonderful Life directed by Frank Capra 1946, Double Indemnity directed by Billy Wilder 1944, Meet Me in St. Louis directed by Vincente Minnelli 1944, Casablanca directed by Michael Curtiz 1942, Citizen Kane directed by Orson Welles 1941, The Big Sleep directed by Howard Hawks 1946, The Lady Eve directed by Preston Sturges 1941, The Shop Around the Corner directed by Ernst Lubitsch 1940, White Heat directed by Raoul Walsh 1949, Yankee Doodle Dandy directed by Michael Curtiz 1942, and Notorious directed by Alfred Hitchcock, 1946. The Walt Disney Studios released the animated feature films Pinocchio 1940, Dumbo 1941, Fantasia 1941, and Bambi 1942. In France during the war the tour de force Children of Paradise directed by Marcel Carné 1945, was shot in Nazi occupied Paris.[5][6][7] Memorable films from Post-war England include David Lean's Great Expectations (1946) and Oliver Twist (1948), Carol Reed's Odd Man Out (1947) and The Third Man (1949), and Powell and Pressburger's A Matter of Life and Death (1946), Black Narcissus (1946) and The Red Shoes (1948), Laurence Olivier's Hamlet, the first non-American film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture and Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) directed by Robert Hamer. Italian neorealism of the 1940s produced poignant movies made in post-war Italy. Roma, città aperta directed by Roberto Rossellini 1945, Sciuscià directed by Vittorio De Sica 1946, Paisà directed by Roberto Rossellini 1946, La terra trema directed by Luchino Visconti 1948, The Bicycle Thief directed by Vittorio De Sica 1948, and Bitter Rice directed by Giuseppe De Santis 1949, are some well-known examples. In Japanese cinema The 47 Ronin is a 1941 black and white two-part Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi. The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail 1945, and the post-war Drunken Angel 1948, and Stray Dog 1949, directed by Akira Kurosawa are considered important early works leading to his first masterpieces of the 1950s. Drunken Angel 1948, marked the beginning of the successful collaboration between Kurosawa and actor Toshirō Mifune that lasted until 1965.  [edit] Entertainers[edit] Musicians[edit] SportsDuring the 1940s Sporting events were disrupted and changed by the events that engaged and shaped the entire world. During World War II in the United States Heavyweight Boxing Champion Joe Louis and numerous stars and performers from American baseball and other sports served in the armed forces until the end of the war. Among the baseball players (including well known stars) who served during World War II were Moe Berg, Joe Dimaggio, Bob Feller, Hank Greenberg, and Ted Williams. They like many others sacrificed their personal and valuable career time for the benefit and well being of the rest of society. [edit] Boxing
[edit] Baseball See also: History of baseball in the United States and All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
[edit] Activists and religious leaders[edit] See also
[edit] References
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