1942

From top to bottom, left to right: The Battle of Stalingrad begins, a major turning point on the Eastern Front; the Battle of Midway sees the United States defeat the Empire of Japan in the Pacific; the Internment of Japanese Americans under Executive Order 9066 forces over 100,000 people into camps; the Fall of Singapore results in the capture of around 80,000 Allied troops; the Doolittle Raid becomes the first U.S. air attack on Japan, boosting morale; the Second Battle of El Alamein forces Axis retreat from Egypt; the Manhattan Project formally launches to develop atomic weapons; the Battle of Los Angeles causes anti-aircraft barrages over California after a false alarm; and the Battle of the Coral Sea halts Japan’s advance toward Australia.
1942 in various calendars
Gregorian calendar1942
MCMXLII
Ab urbe condita2695
Armenian calendar1391
ԹՎ ՌՅՂԱ
Assyrian calendar6692
Baháʼí calendar98–99
Balinese saka calendar1863–1864
Bengali calendar1348–1349
Berber calendar2892
British Regnal yearGeo. 6 – 7 Geo. 6
Buddhist calendar2486
Burmese calendar1304
Byzantine calendar7450–7451
Chinese calendar辛巳年 (Metal Snake)
4639 or 4432
    — to —
壬午年 (Water Horse)
4640 or 4433
Coptic calendar1658–1659
Discordian calendar3108
Ethiopian calendar1934–1935
Hebrew calendar5702–5703
Hindu calendars
 - Vikram Samvat1998–1999
 - Shaka Samvat1863–1864
 - Kali Yuga5042–5043
Holocene calendar11942
Igbo calendar942–943
Iranian calendar1320–1321
Islamic calendar1360–1361
Japanese calendarShōwa 17
(昭和17年)
Javanese calendar1872–1873
Juche calendar31
Julian calendarGregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar4275
Minguo calendarROC 31
民國31年
Nanakshahi calendar474
Thai solar calendar2485
Tibetan calendarལྕགས་མོ་སྦྲུལ་ལོ་
(female Iron-Snake)
2068 or 1687 or 915
    — to —
ཆུ་ཕོ་རྟ་ལོ་
(male Water-Horse)
2069 or 1688 or 916

1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1942nd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 942nd year of the 2nd millennium, the 42nd year of the 20th century, and the 3rd year of the 1940s decade.

The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was the deadliest such year. Death toll estimates for both 1941 and 1942 range from 2.28 to 7.71 million each.