1945

Events in 1945 74

• 1866 – 1945 Thomas Hunt Morgan (1866-1945) Died 4 December 1945, aged 79 Morgan was an American geneticist whose experiments with fruit flies established the chromosomal theory of heredity. He won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1933 for demonstrating how genes are carried on chromosomes. His work founded modern experimental genetics.
• 1871 – 1945 Paul Valéry (1871-1945) Died 20 July 1945, aged 73 Valéry was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher regarded as one of the leading figures of French symbolist literature. His works include the long poem "Le Cimetière marin" and extensive philosophical notebooks. He was a member of the Académie française.
• 1874 – 1945 Ernst Cassirer (1874-1945) Died 13 April 1945, aged 70 Cassirer was a German-Jewish philosopher known for his work on symbolic forms, epistemology, and the philosophy of the Enlightenment. He fled Nazi Germany in the 1930s and taught in exile in Britain, Sweden, and the United States. He died of a heart attack in New York shortly before the war's end.
• 1879 – 1945 Alla Nazimova (1879-1945) Russian-born actress and producer, a star of Ibsen on Broadway and of silent film, and owner of the Garden of Allah.
• 1881 – 1945 Béla Bartók Hungarian modernist composer Hungarian composer and ethnomusicologist who fused folk music with modernism in his string quartets, Concerto for Orchestra and piano works.
• 1882 – 1945 Robert H. Goddard (1882-1945) Died 10 August 1945, aged 62 Goddard was an American physicist who built and launched the world's first liquid-fueled rocket in 1926. His pioneering work laid the theoretical and practical groundwork for later spaceflight technology, though he received little recognition in his own lifetime. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is named in his honor.
• 1882 – 1945 Franklin D. Roosevelt 32nd President — New Deal, WWII, four terms Franklin D. Roosevelt (Jan 30, 1882 – Apr 12, 1945) was the 32nd President 1933-1945, the only president elected four times. He led the US through the Great Depression (New Deal) and World War II, dying in office months before VE Day.
• 1883 – 1945 Anton Webern (1883-1945) Died 15 September 1945, aged 61 Webern was an Austrian composer and a central figure of the Second Viennese School, known for his concise, atonal and twelve-tone compositions. He was accidentally shot and killed by an American soldier during the occupation of Austria after stepping outside to smoke a cigar. His work strongly influenced postwar avant-garde music.
• 1883 – 1945 Pierre Laval (1883-1945) Died 15 October 1945, aged 62 Laval served as Prime Minister of Vichy France and collaborated closely with Nazi Germany, including in the deportation of Jews. He was convicted of treason after the war and executed by firing squad. His trial was widely seen as a summary proceeding against wartime collaboration.
• 1883 – 1945 Benito Mussolini Il Duce The dictator who led Italy into WWII alongside Nazi Germany; he was executed by Italian partisans in 1945.
• 1887 – 1945 Vidkun Quisling (1887-1945) Died 24 October 1945, aged 58 Quisling led a Norwegian fascist party and headed a puppet government installed under German occupation. His name became a lasting synonym for a traitor who collaborates with an occupying power. He was convicted of treason after the war and executed by firing squad.
• 1887 – 1945 Wilhelm Canaris (1887-1945) Died 9 April 1945, aged 57 Canaris headed the Abwehr, Nazi Germany's military intelligence service, while secretly aiding resistance efforts against Hitler. He was implicated in the July 1944 assassination plot and executed at Flossenbürg concentration camp. His double role remains a subject of historical debate.
• 1889 – 1945 Hitler Nazi Germany dictator Adolf Hitler led Nazi Germany, instigating World War II and the Holocaust, resulting in the deaths of six million Jews and millions of others.
• 1897 – 1945 Joseph Goebbels (1897-1945) Died 1 May 1945, aged 47 Goebbels served as Nazi Germany's Minister of Propaganda, directing the regime's media, censorship, and antisemitic messaging. He killed his six children and himself along with his wife in the Berlin Führerbunker the day after Hitler's suicide. He had briefly succeeded Hitler as Chancellor.
• 1900 – 1945 Ernie Pyle (1900-1945) Died 18 April 1945, aged 44 Pyle was an American journalist whose columns brought the day-to-day experience of ordinary soldiers to millions of newspaper readers during World War II. He was killed by Japanese machine-gun fire on the island of Ie Shima during the Okinawa campaign. He had won the Pulitzer Prize for his wartime reporting in 1944.
• 1900 – 1945 Heinrich Himmler (1900-1945) Died 23 May 1945, aged 45 Himmler led the SS and Gestapo and was the chief architect of the Holocaust's administrative machinery. Captured by British forces after fleeing in disguise, he killed himself with a cyanide capsule while in custody. He was among the most powerful and feared figures in Nazi Germany.
• 1906 – 1945 Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) Died 9 April 1945, aged 38 Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran theologian and vocal opponent of Nazism who was implicated in a plot to assassinate Hitler. He was executed by hanging at Flossenbürg concentration camp weeks before the camp was liberated. His theological writings on faith and resistance remain widely influential.
• 1912 – 1945 Eva Braun (1912-1945) Died 30 April 1945, aged 32 Eva Braun was Adolf Hitler's longtime companion and, for less than 40 hours, his wife. She died alongside him by suicide in the Führerbunker as Soviet forces closed in on Berlin. Her relationship with Hitler was kept largely secret from the German public during the war.
• 1929 – 1945 Anne Frank (1929-1945) Died March 1945, aged 15 Anne Frank was a Jewish girl who hid with her family in Amsterdam for two years before being discovered and deported. She died of typhus at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp shortly before its liberation. Her wartime diary, published after her death, became one of the most widely read accounts of the Holocaust.
• 1933 – 1945 Adolf Hitler Dictator of Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler established a totalitarian dictatorship, initiated World War II, and orchestrated the Holocaust.
• 1933 – 1945 F.D. Roosevelt presidency 32nd President — 1933 to 1945 Franklin D. Roosevelt served as the 32nd President from March 4, 1933 until his death on April 12, 1945. He implemented the New Deal to combat the Great Depression and led the Allied powers through most of World War II.
• 1937 – 1945 Second Sino-Japanese War Japan invades China — the Nanjing Massacre and 15 million dead Japan launched a full-scale invasion of China in July 1937. The Nanjing Massacre (December 1937) saw Japanese forces kill an estimated 200,000–300,000 civilians and prisoners of war. The war merged with World War II in 1941 and ended with Japan's surrender in 1945. An estimated 15 million Chinese died. The war accelerated the Chinese Communist Party's rise to power.
• 1939 – 1945 Manhattan Project Atomic bomb developed The secret US-led Manhattan Project developed the world's first nuclear weapons, tested at Trinity in New Mexico in July 1945.
• 1939 – 1945 World War II Deadliest conflict ever The deadliest conflict in human history, killing an estimated 70–85 million people and reshaping the entire global political order.
• 1939 – 1945 World War II under George VI Britain during World War II King George VI became a symbol of British resistance during the war.
• 1940 – 1945 Mobile neurosurgical units North Africa and Europe Cairns designed and trained surgical teams that worked within miles of the fighting, so that head wounds were operated on in hours rather than days. British army death rates from such injuries fell below those of any other army.
• 1940 – 1945 The Nutcrackers Suite Oxford, United Kingdom St Hugh's College was requisitioned and became the Military Hospital for Head Injuries, the most important neurological unit in the country. Its records are still held in the college archive.
• 1940 – 1945 German occupation of the Netherlands World War II occupation Nazi Germany occupied the Netherlands during World War II while Queen Wilhelmina led the government-in-exile.
• 1943 – 1945 Coca-Cola supplied to WWII troops 64 bottling plants built near front lines Robert Woodruff pledged that every US soldier would get a Coca-Cola for 5 cents wherever they were in the world, regardless of cost to the company. The US government supported this as a morale booster, and 64 bottling plants were built near the front lines, introducing Coke to the world.
• 1944 – 1945 The Lapland War Conflict with Germany Following the armistice with the USSR, Finland fought to expel German forces from northern Finland.
• 1945 – 2012 Davy Jones (1945-2012) Died 29 February 2012, aged 66 British singer and actor best known as a member of the pop group the Monkees. He died of a heart attack in Florida.
• 1945 – 2023 Terence Davies (1945-2023) Died 7 October 2023, aged 77 British director whose Distant Voices, Still Lives and The Long Day Closes turned Liverpool memory into cinema.
• 1945 The Computer ENIAC The first general-purpose electronic digital computer.
• 1945 United Nations founded United Nations founded The United Nations was established to maintain international peace and security, replacing the failed League of Nations.
• 1945 – present Volkswagen People’s car manufacturer expands globally Volkswagen emerged after World War II as a major German automaker centered around the iconic Beetle. The company later became one of the largest automotive groups in the world, owning brands such as Audi, Porsche, Bentley and Lamborghini.
• 1945 – 2025 Raila Odinga (1945-2025) Died 15 October 2025, aged 80 Kenyan businessman and politician who served as prime minister from 2008 to 2013 and was a central figure in Kenyan politics for decades.
• 1945 – present John Tavener British spiritual minimalist British composer known for his deeply spiritual works including Song for Athene, performed at Princess Diana's funeral.
• 1945 Liberation of Auschwitz Soviet troops free the largest Nazi death camp The Red Army entered Auschwitz-Birkenau on 27 January 1945, finding roughly 7,000 surviving prisoners. The camp had been the site of the murder of over a million people, mostly Jews, during the Holocaust. The date is now marked internationally as Holocaust Remembrance Day.
• 1945 Yalta Conference Allied leaders plan the postwar order Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin met in Crimea to negotiate the reorganization of Europe after Germany's defeat. They agreed on the division of Germany into occupation zones and Soviet entry into the war against Japan. The conference shaped the emerging Cold War division of the continent.
• 1945 – 1981 Bob Marley (1945-1981) Died 11 May 1981, aged 36 Jamaican singer-songwriter Bob Marley, the most influential figure in reggae music, died of cancer in Miami on 11 May 1981. He had brought reggae to a worldwide audience with albums such as Exodus and songs including "No Woman, No Cry" and "One Love". He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
• 1945 Bombing of Dresden Allied firebombing destroys the German city British and American bombers dropped incendiary and high-explosive bombs on Dresden over three days, creating a firestorm that destroyed most of the historic city center. Estimates of civilian deaths range from about 25,000 upward. The raid remains one of the most controversial Allied actions of the war.
• 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima US Marines capture a fortified Pacific island American forces landed on the volcanic island to secure airfields for the bombing campaign against Japan, facing fierce Japanese resistance from fortified tunnels. The flag-raising on Mount Suribachi became one of the most famous photographs of the war. The battle cost roughly 26,000 American and nearly all 21,000 Japanese defenders.
• 1945 Founding of the Arab League Six Arab states form a regional organization Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria signed the pact establishing the League of Arab States in Cairo. The organization aimed to coordinate political, economic, and cultural policy among Arab nations. It grew to include most Arab states in the following decades.
• 1945 – present Eric Clapton English rock & blues guitarist Eric Clapton (born 1945) is one of the most influential guitarists in rock history — nicknamed "Slowhand" — known for his work with The Yardbirds, Cream and Derek and the Dominos, and for solo classics including "Layla", "Wonderful Tonight" and "Tears in Heaven". Three-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and eighteen-time Grammy winner.
• 1945 Battle of Okinawa The largest amphibious assault of the Pacific War American forces invaded Okinawa in a brutal campaign marked by heavy kamikaze attacks and high civilian casualties, with over 100,000 Japanese and Okinawan civilian deaths. It became a key argument for anticipating catastrophic losses in any invasion of the Japanese home islands. Allied casualties exceeded 65,000.
• 1945 – 1953 Truman presidency 33rd President — 1945 to 1953 Harry S. Truman assumed the presidency on April 12, 1945 after FDR's death. He authorised the atomic bombs on Japan, launched the Marshall Plan, established NATO, and recognised Israel in 1948.
• 1945 Liberation of Bergen-Belsen British troops uncover mass death at a Nazi camp British forces entering Bergen-Belsen found thousands of unburied corpses and tens of thousands of starving, typhus-stricken prisoners. Footage and photographs from the liberation became some of the first widely seen evidence of Nazi atrocities. Thousands more prisoners died even after liberation despite relief efforts.
• 1945 Battle of Berlin Soviet forces capture the German capital The Red Army encircled and stormed Berlin in the final major battle of the European war, fighting street by street against remaining German defenders. The battle ended with Germany's unconditional surrender days later. Soviet, German, and civilian casualties numbered in the hundreds of thousands.
• 1945 – 2005 August Wilson (1945-2005) Died 2 October 2005, aged 60 August Wilson, the American playwright behind the ten-play "Pittsburgh Cycle" chronicling Black life in the 20th century, died on 2 October 2005. He won two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama, for "Fences" and "The Piano Lesson". Wilson's plays are among the most performed works in American theatre.
• 1945 Hitler commits suicide In his Berlin bunker as Soviets close in Adolf Hitler shot himself in his Führerbunker in Berlin on April 30, 1945, as Soviet forces fought less than 500 metres away. Eva Braun, whom he had married the previous day, took cyanide simultaneously.
• 1945 – present Bob Seger Singer-songwriter Detroit rock singer — Night Moves, Turn the Page, Old Time Rock and Roll, Against the Wind.
• 1945 VE Day — Victory in Europe Germany surrenders unconditionally Germany signed its unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945 — Victory in Europe Day. Massive celebrations erupted across Allied nations. The war in Europe was over after nearly six years and an estimated 70-85 million deaths.
• 1945 – 1982 Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1945-1982) Died 10 June 1982, aged 37 German filmmaker and central figure of New German Cinema. He died of a drug overdose in Munich shortly after completing the film Querelle.
• 1945 – present Eddy Merckx The Cannibal Widely considered the greatest cyclist ever; won 11 Grand Tours and all five Monuments. Winner: 5x Tour de France.
• 1945 Trinity nuclear test The first detonation of an atomic bomb Scientists of the Manhattan Project detonated a plutonium implosion device in the New Mexico desert, the first successful test of a nuclear weapon. The explosion confirmed the weapon's viability weeks before atomic bombs were used against Japan. Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer led the effort.
• 1945 Potsdam Conference Allied leaders set terms for postwar Germany and Japan Truman, Churchill (replaced mid-conference by Attlee), and Stalin met near Berlin to finalize occupation policy for Germany and issue an ultimatum demanding Japan's unconditional surrender. The conference also confirmed the Oder-Neisse line as Poland's western border. Disagreements here foreshadowed the Cold War split.
• 1945 Labour landslide and Attlee becomes prime minister Britain votes out Churchill after victory in Europe Despite Churchill's wartime leadership, the Labour Party under Clement Attlee won a decisive general election victory, promising a welfare state and nationalization. The result stunned many observers abroad given Churchill's stature. Attlee's government went on to create the National Health Service.
• 1945 Chinese Civil War resumes Nationalists and Communists renew fighting after Japan's surrender With Japan defeated, the uneasy wartime truce between Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists and Mao Zedong's Communists broke down into open civil war over control of China. Fighting escalated despite American-brokered negotiations. The war would end in 1949 with Communist victory and Nationalist retreat to Taiwan.
• 1945 Hiroshima Atomic bomb dropped On August 6, 1945, the US dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing 80,000 instantly. By year's end, 140,000 had died.
• 1945 Atomic bombing of Nagasaki The second and last use of a nuclear weapon in war Three days after Hiroshima, a US B-29 dropped a plutonium bomb on Nagasaki, killing tens of thousands instantly and many more from injury and radiation. Japan announced its intention to surrender days later. It remains the most recent use of a nuclear weapon in warfare.
• 1945 VJ Day — Japan surrenders Emperor Hirohito announces defeat Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's unconditional surrender in a radio broadcast on August 15, 1945 — the first time most Japanese had heard his voice. The formal surrender was signed on September 2 aboard USS Missouri.
• 1945 Indonesian declaration of independence Sukarno proclaims Indonesia free of colonial rule Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta declared Indonesian independence two days after Japan's surrender, ending Japanese occupation and challenging the return of Dutch colonial rule. The Netherlands did not recognize independence until 1949, following years of armed conflict. Sukarno became Indonesia's first president.
• 1945 – present Van Morrison Singer-songwriter Belfast-born singer who mixed soul, jazz, blues and Irish folk into a style of his own, from Gloria and Brown Eyed Girl to Astral Weeks and Moondance.
• 1945 Vietnamese declaration of independence Ho Chi Minh proclaims the Democratic Republic of Vietnam Ho Chi Minh declared independence from French colonial rule in Hanoi, quoting the American Declaration of Independence in his speech. France refused to accept the declaration, leading to the First Indochina War the following year. The event marked the start of decades of conflict in Vietnam.
• 1945 – 1973 Ron 'Pigpen' McKernan (1945-1973) Grateful Dead founding member Organist, harmonica player and blues singer of the early Grateful Dead. Died of liver disease aged 27.
• 1945 – 2026 Noël Godin L'Entarteur, 1945-2026 - Belgian anarchist and pie thrower Film critic turned entarteur, who spent 57 years putting custard pies in the faces of people he judged to be taking themselves too seriously.
• 1945 – 1988 Divine (1945-1988) Died 7 March 1988, aged 42 Divine, born Harris Glenn Milstead, was an American actor and drag performer known for starring roles in John Waters films including Pink Flamingos and Hairspray. His flamboyant persona made him a countercultural icon. He died suddenly of an enlarged heart shortly after Hairspray's success.
• 1945 – present Neil Young Singer-songwriter, guitarist Canadian musician who moved between gentle folk and roaring guitar rock — Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Crazy Horse and a long solo career.
• 1945 Nuremberg Trials begin Allied tribunal prosecutes surviving Nazi leaders An International Military Tribunal opened in Nuremberg to try senior surviving Nazi officials for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against peace. It was the first trial of its kind establishing that political and military leaders could be held individually criminally responsible. Twelve defendants were later sentenced to death.
• 1945 Charlie Parker records Ko-Ko Savoy session His first session as a leader, with a young Miles Davis.
• 1945 Earl Scruggs joins Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys The classic sound With Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs the bluegrass sound is complete.
• 1945 Patton Heidelberg, Germany Cairns was among the first surgeons called to General George Patton after a car crash left him paralysed from the neck down. Patton died of an embolism twelve days later.
• 1945 – 2020 Herman Cain (1945-2020) Died 30 July 2020, aged 74 Herman Cain was an American businessman and 2012 Republican presidential candidate who later chaired the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. He died of complications from COVID-19 on 30 July 2020.
• 1945 – 2015 Lemmy Kilmister (1945-2015) Died 28 December 2015, aged 70 Lemmy Kilmister was an English musician who founded and fronted the heavy metal band Motorhead for over four decades. His gravelly voice and relentless touring made him one of the most recognizable figures in rock music. Motorhead's song 'Ace of Spades' became a genre-defining anthem.