Year by year · 20th century

1941

1941 in world history: 38 events, 5 births, 16 deaths, 10 states founded and 7 that came to an end. 716 recorded states existed that year.

Events

  1. 6 January

    Roosevelt sets out the 'Four Freedoms'

    In his State of the Union address, Franklin Roosevelt named freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear as universal rights. The speech shaped Allied war aims and the UN.

  2. 11 March

    Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act

    The act allowed the United States to lend or lease war supplies to nations whose defence was vital to America. Britain, the Soviet Union and China received some 50 billion dollars of aid.

    United StatesUnited StatesSoviet UnionLend-Lease

  3. 28 March

    Virginia Woolf drowns herself in the River Ouse

    Fearing a return of mental illness, the novelist filled her pockets with stones and walked into the river near her Sussex home. Her novels include 'Mrs Dalloway' and 'To the Lighthouse'.

    Virginia

  4. 29 March · Battle

    Battle of Cape Matapan

    The Battle of Cape Matapan was a naval battle fought on 27–29 March 1941 off the south-western coast of the Peloponnese, Greece, between the British Mediterranean Fleet under Admiral Andrew Cunningham and the Italian navy.

  5. 24 May

    Bismarck sinks HMS Hood in the Denmark Strait

    A shell from the German battleship detonated Hood's magazine, and she sank in minutes; only three of her 1,418 crew survived. The Royal Navy hunted Bismarck down three days later.

    British EmpireRoyal NavyDenmark

  6. 27 May

    Royal Navy sinks the battleship Bismarck

    Crippled by a torpedo hit to her rudder, Bismarck was pounded by British battleships and sank in the Atlantic. Only about 114 of her crew of over 2,000 survived.

    British EmpireRoyal Navy

  7. 22 June

    Germany invades the Soviet Union

    Operation Barbarossa sent some three million Axis troops across a front from the Baltic to the Black Sea. The war in the east became the largest and deadliest land conflict in history.

    Soviet UnionBlack Sea

  8. 11 September

    Ground is broken for the Pentagon

    Construction began on the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, to house the War Department. Finished in just 16 months, it remains one of the world's largest office buildings.

    Virginia

  9. 7 December

    Japan attacks Pearl Harbor

    Japanese carrier aircraft struck the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, killing more than 2,400 Americans and sinking or damaging 19 ships. The United States entered the Second World War the next day.

    Second World WarUnited States

  10. 8 December

    The United States and Britain declare war on Japan

    Franklin Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war, calling 7 December 'a date which will live in infamy'. Congress agreed within the hour, and Britain also declared war on Japan.

    United States

  11. 11 December

    Germany and Italy declare war on the United States

    Four days after Pearl Harbor, Hitler and Mussolini declared war on the United States. The decision brought American power fully into the war in Europe.

    United States

  12. Campaign

    Operation Barbarossa

    Operation Barbarossa was the German invasion of the Soviet Union, launched on 22 June 1941 by some three million German troops with Romanian, Finnish and other allied forces.

  13. Battle

    Battle of Zarumilla

    The Battle of Zarumilla was fought in July 1941 near the Zarumilla River on the border between Ecuador and Peru.

  14. Event

    Rumbula massacre

    The Rumbula massacre was the killing of about 25,000 Jews in Rumbula forest near Riga on 30 November and 8 December 1941.

  15. War

    Anglo-Iraqi War

    The Anglo-Iraqi War was a British campaign in May 1941 against the government of Rashid Ali al-Gaylani, which had seized power in Iraq in a pro-Axis coup in April.

  16. Campaign

    Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran

    The Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran took place in August and September 1941, when British and Soviet forces occupied the country to secure its oilfields and a supply route to the Soviet Union during the Second World War.

  17. Battle

    Battle of Keren

    The Battle of Keren was fought from February to March 1941 in the mountains around the town of Keren in Eritrea, between Italian forces and British and Indian troops.

  18. Event

    Farhud

    The Farhud was a violent pogrom against the Jews of Baghdad on 1–2 June 1941, in the power vacuum after the fall of Rashid Ali's pro-Axis government and before British troops entered the city.

  19. Event

    Kragujevac massacre

    The Kragujevac massacre was the mass shooting of some 2,800 men and boys, including schoolboys, by German troops in the Serbian town of Kragujevac in October 1941.

  20. Battle

    Battle of Ko Chang

    The Battle of Ko Chang was a naval engagement fought on 17 January 1941 off the island of Ko Chang in the Gulf of Thailand, during the Franco-Thai War.

  21. Battle

    Battle of Saïo

    The Battle of Saïo was fought in south-western Ethiopia in June and July 1941, during the East African campaign of the Second World War.

  22. War

    Ecuadorian–Peruvian War

    The Ecuadorian–Peruvian War was a border war fought in July 1941 between Ecuador and Peru over disputed Amazonian and coastal territory.

  23. Campaign

    Liberation of Ethiopia (1941)

    The liberation of Ethiopia in 1941 was the defeat of Italian occupation forces by British and Commonwealth troops working with Ethiopian patriots during the Second World War.

  24. Crisis

    US oil embargo against Japan

    The US oil embargo against Japan was the cutting off of American oil exports to Japan in 1941, imposed in response to Japanese expansion in Indochina.

  25. Treaty

    Treaties of Rome (1941)

    The Treaties of Rome were agreements signed on 18 May 1941 between Fascist Italy and the newly created Independent State of Croatia.

ProfileState661 states with a known seat in 1941Open the atlas at 1941 →

In the profiles

  • Empire of JapanUS oil embargo in August pushes Japan towards the attack on Pearl Harbor
  • Italian EmpireBritish and Commonwealth forces end Italian rule in East Africa; Haile Selassie returns
  • Russian SFSRGermany invades; Leningrad is besieged and Moscow threatened
  • Kingdom of YugoslaviaGermany and its allies invade and the army surrenders on 17 April
  • Soviet UnionGermany invades the Soviet Union on 22 June
  • Nazi GermanyOperation Barbarossa: Germany invades the Soviet Union

Wars and longer events

Born in 1941 5

Died in 1941 16

States founded 10

States that came to an end 7

Great speeches

Roosevelt: A Date Which Will Live in InfamyFranklin D. Roosevelt

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). 1941. In The Epoch Institute, Year by Year. https://the-epoch-institute.org/years/1941
MLA
“1941.” The Epoch Institute, Year by Year, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/years/1941. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “1941.” The Epoch Institute, Year by Year. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/years/1941.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘1941’, The Epoch Institute, Year by Year. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/years/1941 (Accessed: ).