1940s

Events

Second World War ( time table ), first use of nuclear weapons , Nuremberg trials .
Genocide of the European Jews , Sinti and Roma by the National Socialists , mass murders of the civilian population of the German-occupied territories by the Wehrmacht and SS all over Europe.
extensive population shifts through displacement and deportation, so large parts of the Polish population mainly by the German rulers, but also by the Soviet Union and, as a result of the Second World War, the expulsion of the German population from ethnically and politically disputed areas in Poland and Czechoslovakia.
Post-war Germany , occupied post-war Austria
Beginning of the Cold War
Decolonization , beginning North-South conflict
Establishment of the State of Israel
Founding of the Free University of Berlin in the western part of the city
Blockade of the western sectors of Berlin by the Soviet Union and supply of the enclosed city via the airlift by the western allies
Foundation of the two German states, the Federal Republic and the GDR

The pop music of the 1940s is swing , in which, during the Second World War, quieter, more harmonious tones from mainly white band leaders like Glenn Miller or Benny Goodman predominate.
In jazz, bebop replaced swing as a progressive and style-defining direction in the early 1940s. Artists such as Dizzy Gillespie , Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk take the development away from the big big bands to smaller ensembles into account, which (especially in small music clubs) has to do with the economic recession during the war, as the operators pay the fee big bands can hardly afford.
In 1948 Miles Davis formed a nonet with Gerry Mulligan , Gil Evans and others . In 1949 the group disbanded, but before that they made 12 recordings for Capitol Records , which were published but only really became famous in 1957 when they were released collectively under the title Birth of the Cool . The record is considered to be the initial spark for “ cool jazz ”.