This article is about the particular significance of the year 1945 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

• Prince of Wales - vacant
• Princess of Wales - vacant
• Archbishop of Wales - David Lewis Prosser
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales - Crwys

Events

• Shortly before his death, former prime minister David Lloyd George is created Earl Lloyd George of Dwyfor and Viscount Gwynedd. He never takes his seat in the House of Lords.
• 18 January - Winds of 113 mph are recorded at St Anne's Head, Pembrokeshire.
• 7 March - The German submarine U-1302 is sunk off St David's Head.
• 10 March - Sixty-seven German prisoners-of-war tunnel to freedom from Island Farm Camp 198 in Bridgend --the biggest escape attempt by German P.O.W.s in the UK during the Second World War.
• 30 April - The German submarines U-242 and U-325 are sunk off the Skerries.
• 15 May - At the Neath by-election, a Trotskyist candidate contests the constituency, the first time in any UK election.
• 5 July - In the United Kingdom general election:
  • For the last time in a General Election, a candidate in Wales is elected unopposed - Will John, Labour MP for Rhondda West.
  • Ambrose Bebb stands as a Plaid Cymru Parliamentary candidate.
  • Hugh Dalton becomes the new Chancellor of the Exchequer.
• 27 July - The cause of an outbreak of typhoid in Aberystwyth is traced to locally-made ice cream.
• 8 October - Rudolf Hess is flown to Nuremberg to stand trial, ending his three-year internment at Maindiff Court Military Hospital, Abergavenny.
• Closure of the Benallt manganese mine, near Aberdaron.
• Clement Davies becomes leader of the Liberal Party.
• Newspaper publisher Gomer Berry is created Viscount Kemsley.
• Explorer Edward Evans is created Baron Mountevans.
• Broadcaster Wynford Vaughan-Thomas is awarded the Croix de Guerre for his exploits in following the invading troops into France during 1944.

Arts and literature

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Rhosllanerchrugog)

• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - Tom Parri Jones
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - withheld
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - withheld

New books

• Idris Davies - Tonypandy and other poems
• D. Gwenallt Jones - Detholiad o Ryddiaith Gymraeg R. J. Derfel
• Huw Menai - The Simple Vision

Music

• Ivor Novello - Perchance to Dream

Film

• Ray Milland wins an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in The Lost Weekend.

Broadcasting

Sport

• Football - The first post-war match between Wales and England ends in a 1 - 0 victory for Wales.

Births

• 6 January - Barry John, rugby player
• 7 February - Gerald Davies, rugby player
• 12 February - Gareth Thomas, actor
• 19 February - Huw Llywelyn Davies, broadcaster
• 31 March - Myfanwy Talog, actress (died 1995)
• 3 April - Gary Sprake, footballer
• 7 April - Martyn Lewis, TV journalist
• 8 May - Mike German AM, politician
• 9 May - Malcolm Nash, cricketer
• 13 August - Howard Marks, drug trafficker
• 29 August (in Cromford) - Sue Essex AM, politician
• 7 September - Max Boyce, entertainer
• 21 December - Alan Wynne Williams MP, politician

Deaths

• 3 January - Sir William Thomas, Baronet, industrialist, 77
• 11 January - Caradoc Evans, author, 66
• 17 January - Reginald Clarry MP, politician, 62
• 6 February - Edward Prosser Rhys, journalist and poet, 43
• 17 March - Sir Thomas Lewis, cardiologist, 63
• 26 March - David Lloyd George MP, politician, 82
• 11 June - Owen Evans MP, politician, 69
• 15 November - John Lloyd Williams, botanist, 91
• 26 December - George Travers, Wales international rugby union player, 68