Politicians assassinated in the 1940s

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British rule. He inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahātmā (from Sanskrit 'great-souled, venerable'), first applied to him in South Africa in 1914, is now used throughout the world.

Lev Davidovich Bronstein (7 November [O.S. 26 October] 1879 – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky (), was a Russian revolutionary, political theorist and politician. Ideologically a communist, he developed a variant of Marxism known as Trotskyism.

Seyyed Ahmad Kasravi Tabrizi (Persian: سید احمد کسروی تبریزی‎, Seyyed Ahmad-e Kasravi-ye Tabrizi;‎ 29 September 1890 – 11 March 1946), Commonly known as Ahmad Kasravi (Persian: احمد کسروی‎, Ahmad-e Kasravi), was a leading Iranian linguist, nationalist, religious reformer, historian and former Shia cleric. Born in Hokmabad (Hohmavar), Tabriz, Iran, Kasravi was an Iranian Azeri. Initially, Kasravi enrolled in a seminary. Later, he joined the Iranian Constitutional Revolution. He experienced a sort of conversion to Western learning when he learned that the comet of 1910 had been identified as a reappearance of Halley's comet. He abandoned his clerical training after this event and enrolled in the American Memorial School of Tabriz. Thenceforward he became, in Roy Mottahedeh's words, "a true anti-cleric."

Giovanni Gentile (30 May 1875 – 15 April 1944) was an Italian neo-Hegelian idealist philosopher, educator, and fascist politician. The self-styled "philosopher of Fascism", he was influential in providing an intellectual foundation for Italian Fascism, and ghostwrote part of The Doctrine of Fascism (1932) with Benito Mussolini. He was involved in the resurgence of Hegelian idealism in Italian philosophy and also devised his own system of thought, which he called "actual idealism" or "actualism", which has been described as "the subjective extreme of the idealist tradition".

Walter Edward Guinness, 1st Baron Moyne, DSO & Bar, PC (29 March 1880 – 6 November 1944) was an Anglo-Irish politician and businessman. He served as the British minister of state in the Middle East until November 1944, when he was assassinated by the Jewish terrorist group Lehi. The assassination of Lord Moyne sent shock waves through Palestine and the rest of the world.

Kim Gu (Korean: 김구, August 29, 1876 – June 26, 1949), also known by his pen name Baekbeom (백범; ), was a Korean statesman politician. He was the sixth, ninth and later the last President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, a leader of the Korean independence movement against the Japanese Empire, and a reunification activist after 1945. He was assassinated by Korean lieutenant Ahn Doo-hee in 1949.

Lyuh Woon-hyung or Yo Un-hyung (May 25, 1886 – July 19, 1947) was a Korean politician who argued that Korean independence was essential to world peace, and a reunification activist who struggled for the independent reunification of Korea following its national division in 1945.

Sao San Htun (Burmese: စဝ်စံထွန်း, 30 May 1907 – 20 July 1947) was the hereditary chief of the Shan State of Mongpawn, and Minister of Hill Regions in Myanmar's pre-independence interim government. He was a signatory to the Panglong Agreement that was the basis for the formation of modern Myanmar. On 19 July 1947, Sao San Htun, along with Aung San and seven others, was shot by gunmen during a cabinet meeting at the Secretariat complex in downtown Yangon. He died the next day on 20 July at noon. The date of the assassination, 19 July, is commemorated each year as the Martyrs' Day in Myanmar.

Thakin Mya (Burmese: သခင်မြ, 7 October 1897 – 19 July 1947) was a Burmese lawyer and politician who served as the Minister of Home Affairs and in June 1947 transferred as Minister of Finance in Myanmar's pre-independence government. Mya and six other cabinet ministers (including Prime Minister Aung San) were assassinated on 19 July 1947 in Yangon. He was unofficially considered as Deputy Prime Minister in Aung San 's Cabinet. July 19 is commemorated each year as the Martyrs' Day in Myanmar.

Qazim Koculi (August 22, 1887 – January 2, 1943) was an Albanian politician of the early 20th century and one-day acting Prime Minister of Albania. He was also the principal military commander of the Albanian forces during the Vlora War in 1920. He was honored by the president with the title "Kalores i Urdhrit te Skenderbeut" in August 2020.