WHAT ALL HAPPENED APRIL TO OCTOBER 1940
Find out what all happened April to October 1940

The Norway Debate in the British House of Commons begins, and leads to the replacement of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain with Winston Churchill three days later. (7. May 1940)

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

World War II: The Battle of Britain ends – the United Kingdom prevents a possible German invasion. (31. October 1940)

World War II: Battle of Cape Spada – The Royal Navy and the Regia Marina clash; the Italian light cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni sinks, with 121 casualties. (19. July 1940)

A Communist government is installed in Lithuania. (16. June 1940)

The Rhythm Night Club fire at a dance hall in Natchez, Mississippi, kills 198 people. (23. April 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)

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

World War II: Italian forces begin the invasion of British Somaliland. (3. August 1940)

Ip Massacre: The Hungarian Army, supported by local Hungarians, kill 158 Romanian civilians in Ip, Sălaj, a village in Northern Transylvania, as part of attempts to ethnic cleansing. (14. September 1940)

World War II: the Vichy government is established in France. (10. July 1940)

World War II: Norwegian, French, Polish and British forces recapture Narvik in Norway. This is the first allied infantry victory of the War. (28. May 1940)

Vidkun Quisling seizes power in Norway. (9. April 1940)

World War II: The climax of the Battle of Britain, when the Royal Air Force shoots down large numbers of Luftwaffe aircraft. (15. September 1940)

George Stibitz pioneers the first remote operation of a computer. (9. September 1940)

California opens its first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway. (20. July 1940)

Meeting between Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini at the Brenner Pass. (4. October 1940)

The Second Vienna Award re-assigns the territory of Northern Transylvania from Romania to Hungary. (30. August 1940)

World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler surveys newly defeated Paris in now occupied France. (23. June 1940)

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