1932 CE

The Chaco War erupts between Bolivia and Paraguay over control of the Gran Chaco, becoming one of South America’s deadliest conflicts of the 20th century; the Siamese revolution of 1932 peacefully ends centuries of absolute monarchy in Siam and establishes a constitutional government; the 1932 Summer Olympics are held in Los Angeles, showcasing athletic achievement amid the hardships of the Great Depression; the January 28 incident in Shanghai sees Japanese forces clash with Chinese troops, heightening tensions in East Asia and foreshadowing broader conflict; the Colombia–Peru War breaks out over disputed Amazonian territory, leading to months of fighting before a negotiated settlement; and the May 15 incident in Japan results in the assassination of Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi by young naval officers, signaling a shift toward militarism in Japanese politics.

In the 1930s, the 20th century.

1932 at a glance

World population
about 2.11 billion Our World in Data
United States
Herbert Hoover (President) Wikipedia rev. 1377869146
United Kingdom
George V (King); Ramsay MacDonald (Prime minister) Wikipedia rev. 1377869146
Soviet Union
Joseph Stalin (General Secretary); Mikhail Kalinin (Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Congress of Soviets); Vyacheslav Molotov (Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars) Wikipedia rev. 1377869146
Republic of China (1916–1949)
Chen Mingshu, then Wang Jingwei (Premier) Wikipedia rev. 1377869146
French Third Republic
Paul Doumer, then Albert François Lebrun (President); André Tardieu (Acting President); Pierre Laval, then André Tardieu, then Édouard Herriot, then Joseph Paul-Boncour (President of the Council of ministers) Wikipedia rev. 1377869146
Weimar Republic of Germany
Paul von Hindenburg (President); Heinrich Brüning, then Franz von Papen, then Kurt von Schleicher (Chancellor) Wikipedia rev. 1377869146
$1 in 1932
$24.70 in September 2026 dollars BLS CPI-U

Who led every country in 1932 →Born in 1932? What it cost, who led, what was No. 1 →

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • 4 January – Soviet–Estonian Non-Aggression Pact was signed.Estoniasource
  • January 12 – Hattie W. Caraway of Arkansas becomes the first woman to be elected to the United States Senate, succeeding her late husband, Thaddeus Caraway, in a special election,source
  • February 2 – A general World Disarmament Conference begins in Geneva. The principal issue at the conference is the demand made by Germany for Gleichberechtigung ("equality of status" i.e. abolishing Part V of the Treaty of Versailles, which had disarmed Germany) and the French demand for sécurité ("security" i.e. maintaining Part V).source
  • February 18 – Japan declares Manchukuo (Japanese name for Manchuria) formally independent from China.source
  • February 25 – Adolf Hitler obtains German citizenship by naturalization, opening the opportunity for him to run in the 1932 German presidential election.source
  • April 11 – 1932 German presidential election: Paul von Hindenburg is re-elected as Reichspräsident, defeating Hitler.source
  • May 6 – The politically powerful General Kurt von Schleicher meets secretly with Adolf Hitler. Schleicher tells Hitler that he is scheming to bring down the Brüning government in Germany and asks for Nazi support of the new "presidential government" Schleicher is planning to form. Schleicher and Hitler negotiate a "gentlemen's agreement" where in exchange for lifting the ban on the SA and SS and having the Reichstag dissolved for early elections this summer, the Nazis will support Schleicher's new chancellor.source
  • May 10 – Albert Lebrun becomes the new president of France.source
  • May 13 – The Premier of New South Wales, Jack Lang, is dismissed by the State Governor, Sir Philip Game.source
  • May 26 – Judgement in Donoghue v Stevenson handed down in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom, creating the modern concept of a duty of care in British law.source
  • May 30 – German chancellor Heinrich Brüning is dismissed by President von Hindenburg. President Hindenburg asks Franz von Papen to form a new government, known as the "Government of the President's Friends", which is openly dedicated to the destruction of democracy and the Weimar Republic. The downfall of Brüning is largely the work of Schleicher, who has been scheming against him since the beginning of May. Schleicher takes the position of Defense Minister in his friend Papen's government.source
  • June 4 – The Papen government in Germany dissolves the Reichstag for elections on July 31 in the full expectation that the Nazis will win the largest number of seats.source
  • June 14 – The Papen government lifts the ban against the SS and SA in Germany.source
  • 24 June – Siamese revolution of 1932, King Prajadhipok forced to accept demands by the Khana Ratsadon (or the People's party) to change the system of government from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy.source
  • July 31 – July 1932 German federal election sees the Nazis become the largest party in the Reichstag, winning 37% of the vote.source
  • 7 August – The Law of Spikelets is enacted.Soviet Unionsource
  • August 11 – To celebrate Constitution Day in Germany, Chancellor Franz von Papen and his interior minister Baron Wilhelm von Gayl present proposed amendments to the Weimar constitution for a "New State" to deal with the problems besetting Germany.source
  • August 30 – Hermann Göring is elected as Speaker of the German Reichstag.source
  • September 9 – The Cortes Generales (Parliament) of the Second Spanish Republic approves the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia which grants full autonomy for Catalonia for the first time in modern history.source
  • September 12 – The very unpopular Papen government in Germany is defeated on a massive motion of no-confidence in the Reichstag. With the exceptions of the German People's Party and the German National People's Party, every party in the Reichstag votes for the no-confidence motion. Papen has Hindenburg dissolve the Reichstag for new elections in November.source
  • September 23 – The Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd is proclaimed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, concluding the country's unification under the rule of King Abdulaziz.source
  • September 24 – After his party's victory in the election to the Swedish Riksdag's second chamber, Social Democrat Per Albin Hansson becomes the new prime minister of Sweden, after Felix Hamrin.source
  • 25 September – The result of the Greek legislative election is an ambivalent one for the two leading parties, the Liberal Party of Eleftherios Venizelos and the People's Party. The People's Party receives a plurality of votes in the Lower House elections, but wins fewer seats than the Liberal Party; the Liberals also win the most seats in the Senate.Greecesource
  • October 1 – Gyula Gömbös becomes Prime Minister of Hungary, the first time a member of the radical right has become the country's head of government.source
  • October 3 – Iraq becomes an independent kingdom under Faisal, ending the British mandate.source
  • November 21 – German president Hindenburg begins negotiations with Adolf Hitler about the formation of a new government.source
  • 22 November – The new Northern Ireland Parliament Buildings at Stormont are officially opened.Northern Irelandsource
  • December 1 – Germany returns to the World Disarmament Conference after the other powers agree to accept gleichberechtigung "in principle". Henceforward, it is clear that Germany will be allowed to rearm beyond the limits imposed by the Treaty of Versailles.source
  • December 8 – Gregor Strasser resigns as the chief of the NSDAP's organizational department in protest against Hitler's "all or nothing" strategy.source
  • 10 December – Promulgation of the first permanent constitution by the king at the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall. The National Assembly of Siam was established.source
  • 26 December – El Salvador denounced the 1923 Central American Treaty of Peace and Amity.El Salvadorsource
  • Iraq received its independence on 3 October, ending the British Mandate which began in 1920Iraqsource
  • The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was formed.Saudi Arabiasource

Conflict & Security

  • January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort to assassinate Emperor Hirohito of Japan. The Kuomintang's official newspaper runs an editorial expressing regret that the attempt failed, which is used by the Japanese as a pretext to attack Shanghai later in the month.source
  • 15 January: Statue of Honor in Samsun which symbolizes the beginning of Turkish War of Independence.Turkeysource
  • January 22 – The 1932 Salvadoran peasant uprising begins; it is suppressed by the government of Maximiliano Hernández Martínez.source
  • 22 January – Peasants led by Farabundo Martí, Mario Zapata, and Alfonso Luna rise up in western El Salvador against the government of Maximiliano Hernández Martínez, initially killing at least 50 people.El Salvadorsource
  • January 24 – Marshal Pietro Badoglio declares the end of Libyan resistance.source
  • January 28 – January 28 incident: Conflict between Japan and China in Shanghai.source
  • January 28–March 3 – January 28 IncidentJapansource
  • January 31 – Japanese warships arrive in Nanking.source
  • February 27 – The Mäntsälä rebellion occurs in Finland.source
  • March 2 – The Mäntsälä rebellion ends in failure; Finnish democracy prevails. The Lapua Movement is condemned by conservative Finnish president Pehr Evind Svinhufvud in a radio speech.source
  • 26 March – The Iron Guard is declared illegal.Romaniasource
  • April 6 – U.S. president Herbert Hoover supports armament limitations at the World Disarmament Conference.source
  • April 29 – Korean pro-independence paramilitary Yun Bong-gil detonates a bomb at a gathering of Japanese government and military officials in Shanghai's Hongkou Park, killing General Yoshinori Shirakawa and injuring Mamoru Shigemitsu and Vice Admiral Kichisaburō Nomura.source
  • May 10 – There are violent scenes in the German Reichstag building in Berlin as Hermann Göring and other Nazi MRDs attack the Defense Minister General Wilhelm Groener for his lack of belief in a supposed Social Democratic putsch. After the debate, General Schleicher tells Groener that he has lost the confidence of the Army and must resign at once.source
  • June 4 – A military coup occurs in Chile.source
  • June 24 – After a relatively bloodless military rebellion, Siam becomes a constitutional monarchy.source
  • July 9 – The Constitutionalist Revolution starts in Brazil with the uprising of the state of São Paulo.source
  • 9 July – Constitutionalist Revolution: The population of the state of São Paulo revolt against the 1930 coup d'état.Brazilsource
  • July 20 – The Preußenschlag in Germany. The political coup gives Franz von Papen control of Prussia, the most powerful state in Germany, and is a major blow to German democracy.source
  • August – A farmers' revolt begins in the Midwestern United States.source
  • September 7–29 - Battle of BoquerónBoliviasource
  • September 8 – Tannenberg, a Swiss-German war film, is releasedSwitzerlandsource
  • September 9 – Beginning of the Chaco War between Paraguay and Bolivia because of delimitation problems and others.source
  • September 17 – A speech by Laureano Gómez leads to the escalation of the Leticia Incident between Colombia and Peru.source
  • September 17 – Start of the Han–Liu War over Shandong.source
  • September 27 – Ryutin Affair at its height in the Soviet Union. The Politburo meets and condemns the so-called "Ryutin Platform" and agrees to expel those associated with it from the Communist Party, but refuses Stalin's request to execute those associated with the Platform.source
  • October 25 – George Lansbury becomes the leader of the opposition British Labour Party.source
  • November 2 – The Emu War, a nuisance wildlife management military operation, begins in Australia.source
  • November 3 – Strike by transport workers in Berlin. The Nazis and the Communists both co-operate in support of the strike. The Nazi-Communist co-operation damages the Nazis at the upcoming election with many right-wing voters switching back to the German National People's Party.source
  • November 9 – Geneva massacre: Military of Switzerland fire on a socialist anti-fascist demonstration in Geneva leaving 13 dead and 60 injured.source
  • December 10 – The Emu War in Australia ends in failure.source
  • The Ahmed-Mustafa Barzani revolts, which began in 1931, were suppressedIraqsource

Exploration & Expansion

  • 19 February: Halkevleri, a project to educate citizens mostly in rural areas, open.Turkeysource
  • April 5 – The first Alko stores are opened in Finland at 10 in the morning (local time) following the end of Prohibition in that country, resulting in a new mnemonic "543210".source
  • April – Peter Fleming joins the expedition to find missing Englishman Colonel Percy Fawcett; the following year he publishes an account of the expedition, entitled Brazilian Adventure.Brazilsource
  • May 20–21 – Amelia Earhart flies from the United States to County Londonderry, Northern Ireland in 14 hours 54 minutes.source
  • 21 May – Amelia Earhart lands near Culmore, having become the first woman to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic.Northern Irelandsource
  • June 20 – The Benelux customs union is negotiated.source
  • July 15 – Takashimaya Department Store in Osaka Nanba was officially open.Japansource
  • July 21 – The British Empire Economic Conference opens in Ottawa, Canada.source
  • August 18–19 – Scottish aviator Jim Mollison becomes the first pilot to make an East-to-West solo transatlantic flight, from Portmarnock, County Dublin, Ireland to RCAF Station Pennfield Ridge, New Brunswick, Canada, in his de Havilland Puss Moth high-wing monoplane The Heart's Content.source
  • 15 October – J. R. D. Tata flew from Karachi to Madras via a de Havilland Puss Moth.Indiasource
  • November 27 – The Second Eastern Women's Congress opens in Tehran, Iran.source
  • 5 December – The opening of Hayashi Department Store in Tainan Prefecture.Taiwansource
  • Viareggio prize: Antonio Foschini, L’avventura di Villon.Italysource
  • The founding of the moshav Neta'im by residents of other moshavim as part of the Settlement of the Thousand plan.Mandatory Palestinesource

Religion & Belief

  • 22 January: First time ezan in Turkish instead of traditional Arabic.Turkeysource
  • February 11 – Pope Pius XI meets Benito Mussolini in Vatican City.source
  • 5 July – The Chapel of the Holy Spirit in St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast is dedicated.Northern Irelandsource
  • September 11 – A bronze statue of Youssef Bey Karam is erected in his memory outside the Cathedral of Saint Georges, Ehden in Lebanon.source
  • December 3 – Hindenburg names Kurt von Schleicher as German chancellor after he ousts Papen. Papen is deeply angry about how his former friend Schleicher has brought him down and decides that he will do anything to get back into power.source
  • December 4 – Chancellor Schleicher meets with Gregor Strasser and offers to appoint him Vice-Chancellor and Reich Commissioner for Prussia out of the hope that if faced with a split in the NSDAP, Hitler will support his government.source
  • December 18: inauguration of Littoria.Italysource
  • Anchieta Entre o Amor e a ReligiãoBrazilsource
  • Iraqi Red Crescent Society was founded in BaghdadIraqsource
  • The founding of kibbutz Afikim by Russian Jews affiliated with the Hashomer Hatzair movement.Mandatory Palestinesource
  • Edinburgh Synagogue is opened.Scotlandsource
  • T. H. Parry-Williams – Canu Rhydd CynnarWalessource

Economy & Finance

  • February 2 – The Reconstruction Finance Corporation begins operations in Washington, D.C.source
  • 25 March – The far-right National Socialist Party (Partidul Național-Socialist din România, PNSR) is founded by Gheorghe Tătărescu.Romaniasource
  • 25 April – Greece decides to abandon the gold standard.Greecesource
  • May 5: in Ferrara, 2. Conference of unionist and corporatist studies; in the debate, socialist idea emerges, as the “owner corporations” proposed by Ugo Spirito.Italysource
  • 11 May - Siam took itself off the gold standard.source
  • May 20 – Federación Obrera de la Industria de la Carne initiates a major strike in the Argentinian meat-packing industry.source
  • June 16– Lausanne conference opens to discuss reparations, which Germany had not paid since the Hoover Moratorium of June 1931.source
  • July 8 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average in the United States reaches its lowest level of the Great Depression, bottoming out at 41.22.source
  • July 9 – Lausanne conference ends, agreeing to cancel World War I reparations against Germany.source
  • August 6 – Carl Gustaf Ekman resigns as Prime Minister of Sweden and is replaced by his Minister of Finance Felix Hamrin.source
  • August 20 – The Ottawa conference ends with the adoption of Imperial Preference tariff, turning the British Empire into one economic zone with a series of tariffs meant to exclude non-empire states from competing within the markets of Britain; the Dominions; and the rest of the empire.source
  • September 20 – Mahatma Gandhi begins a hunger strike in Poona prison, India.source
  • November 6 – November 1932 German federal election: The Nazis remain the largest party in the Reichstag but their share of the seats drops from 37% to 32%. The Communists (KPD) are the second largest party. This will be the last free election for the whole of Germany until 1990.source
  • December 28 – The Cologne banker Kurt von Schröder, who is a close friend of Papen and a NSDAP member, meets with Adolf Hitler to tell him that Papen wants to set up a meeting to discuss how they can work together. Papen wants Nazi support to return to the Chancellorship while Hitler wants Papen to convince Hindenburg to appoint him Chancellor. Hitler agrees to meet Papen on January 3, 1933.source
  • SPAR, the global retail brand, is founded in Zegwaart, Netherlands.source
  • Unemployment in the United States – ca. 33% – 14 million. A similar level of unemployment affects Germany. Many people in depressed countries do not receive unemployment benefit due to governments not being able to afford benefit payments.source
  • Economic Depression in Estonia.Estoniasource
  • Tea District Emigrant Labour ActIndiasource
  • The government stopped issuing Indian Rupees and started issuing Iraqi dinarsIraqsource
  • The founding of the moshav Beer Ganim by former employees of the Dead Sea Works company. The moshav was later on merged with Even Yehuda.Mandatory Palestinesource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • March 19 – The Sydney Harbour Bridge opens in Australia.source
  • 1 April – Cluj Airport is founded by the Romanian Ministry of Industry and Trade.Romaniasource
  • July – ROC (as China team) competed in Olympics for the first timeChinasource
  • August 1 – Forrest Mars produces the first Mars bar in his Slough factory in the UK.source
  • August 6 – In Germany, the world's first Autobahn is opened by Konrad Adenauer (Bundesautobahn 555).source
  • September 10 – The IND Eighth Avenue Line, at this time the world's longest subway line (31 mi), begins operation in Manhattan.source
  • September 11 – Canadian operations end on the International Railway (New York–Ontario).source
  • 8 October – Indian Air Force established.Indiasource
  • October 15 – Tata Airlines (later to become Air India) makes its first flight.source
  • October 22: March on Rome's Decennial. The anniversary is celebrated with a Mussolini's oratory tour in the mayor Italian cities, an Exhibition of the Fascist revolution (opened the 27) and the opening of Via dell’Impero (28) and the Foro Mussolini (November 5).Italysource
  • December 19 – BBC World Service begins broadcasting as the BBC Empire Service using a shortwave radio facility at its Daventry transmitting station in England.source
  • December 25 – IG Farben files a patent application in Germany for the medical application of the first sulfonamide oral antibiotic, which will be marketed as Prontosil, following Gerhard Domagk's laboratory demonstration of its properties as an antibiotic.source
  • December 25 – King George V delivers the first Royal Christmas Message on the new BBC Empire Service radio from Sandringham House; the text has been written by Rudyard Kipling.source
  • 25 December – A patent is filed for Prontosil, an antibacterial drug discovered in Wuppertal.Germanysource
  • December 27 – The Radio City Music Hall is opened in New York City.source
  • Avondale Gold Cup – Bronze TrayNew Zealandsource
  • Opening of the Memorial Bridge by King Prajadhipok.source
  • Radio Ourense begins transmitting in Ourense.Spainsource

Science & Discovery

  • March 1 – Japan installs Puyi as puppet emperor of Manchukuo.source
  • March 20 – The Graf Zeppelin airship begins a regular route between Germany and South America.source
  • April 14 – John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton, at the Cavendish Laboratory in the University of Cambridge (England), focus a proton beam on lithium and split its nucleus ("splitting the atom").source
  • May 10 – James Chadwick, working at the Cavendish Laboratory in the University of Cambridge, reports the existence of the neutron.source
  • May 25 – Goofy makes his appearance in the Disney animated short Mickey's Revue.source
  • August 1 – The second International Polar Year, an international scientific collaboration, begins.source
  • August 2 – The first positron is discovered by Carl D. Anderson.source
  • 17 August – Botanist John McConnell Black is awarded the Mueller Medal by the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science.Australiasource
  • August 18 – Auguste Piccard reaches an altitude of 16,197 m with a hot air balloon.source
  • 28 August – Yakir Aharonov, Israeli physicist.Mandatory Palestinesource
  • August 31 – A total solar eclipse is visible from northern Canada through northeastern Vermont, New Hampshire, southwestern Maine and the Capes of Massachusetts.source
  • November 17: new statute of the National Fascisct party.Italysource
  • November 30 – The Polish Cipher Bureau breaks the German Enigma cipher.source
  • British geneticist J. B. S. Haldane publishes The Causes of Evolution, unifying the findings of Mendelian genetics with those of evolutionary science.source
  • Zero-length springs are invented, revolutionizing seismometers and gravimeters.source
  • René Magritte, The Universe UnmaskedBelgiumsource
  • Estonian Encyclopedia was started to be published (until 1937).Estoniasource
  • Gurjar Veer silent film is released.Indiasource
  • I Was Born, But... - directed by Yasujirō OzuJapansource
  • New Zealand Cup – Fast PassageNew Zealandsource

Health & Medicine

  • January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel.source
  • 3–5 January – The 1932 Salvadoran legislative election was held but the results were cancelled by Maximiliano Hernández Martínez due to the Communist Party of El Salvador winning several municipalities.El Salvadorsource
  • March 21–22 – 1932 Deep South tornado outbreak: A series of deadly tornadoes in the United States kills more than 220 people in Alabama, 34 in Georgia and 17 in Tennessee.source
  • 6 April – Ministry of Health encourages local councils to engage in widespread slum clearance.United Kingdomsource
  • April 13 – German Chancellor Heinrich Brüning bans the SA and the SS as threats to public order, arguing that they are chiefly responsible for the wave of political violence afflicting Germany.source
  • c. June – The Republican Citizens Committee Against National Prohibition is established for the repeal of Prohibition in the United States.source
  • December 17: the inscription to the Fascist party is made mandatory for the public employees.Italysource
  • The first family planning clinic in Canada is set up by Elizabeth Bagshaw in Hamilton, Ontario. At the time, providing birth control was illegal.Canadasource
  • Estimated population as of 31 December: 1,534,700.New Zealandsource

Crime & Justice

  • February 11 — Murder of Liu MengyingChinasource
  • March 1 – Lindbergh kidnapping: Charles Lindbergh Jr., the infant son of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, is kidnapped from the family home near Hopewell, New Jersey. On May 12 he is found dead just a few miles away.source
  • April 6 – The trial of fraudulent art dealer Otto Wacker begins in Berlin.source
  • April 19 – German art dealer Otto Wacker is sentenced to 19 months in prison for selling fraudulent paintings he attributed to Vincent van Gogh.source
  • 28 June: The Otago Witness, first published in 1851, produces its last issue.New Zealandsource
  • August 9 – Potempa Murder of 1932: In the eastern town of Potempa, five Nazi "Brownshirts" break into the house of Konrad Pietrzuch, a Communist miner, and proceed to castrate and beat him to death in front of his mother.source
  • August 22 – Potempa murder: The five SA men involved in the torture and murder of Konrad Pietrzuch are quickly convicted and sentenced to death under the new law introduced by the Papen government. The Potempa case becomes a cause célèbre in Germany, where some maintain the death sentences are appropriate given the brutality of the torture and murder, whilst Nazis demonstrate for amnesty for the "Potempa five" on the grounds they are patriotic heroes, justified in killing the Communist Pietrzuch, and should not be executed. Hitler sends a telegram congratulating the five and they are released from jail in 1933 after he becomes Chancellor of Germany.source
  • September 2 – Despite the court's sentence of death against the "Potempa five", Chancellor von Papen in his capacity as Reich Commissioner of Prussia refuses to have them executed under the grounds that they were not aware of the emergency law at the time they committed the murder, but in reality because he is still hoping for Nazi support for his government.source
  • 23 September – Ryutin Affair: Martemyan Ryutin and others in the Union of Marxists-Leninists are arrested.Soviet Unionsource
  • September 28 – The court of Helsinki sentences Vilho Kallio, Ville Saari and Ida Maria Viden to prison for the Tattarisuo mutilation case.source
  • October – Hergé's Tintin in America (Tintin en Amérique) concludes serial publication and is issued in book format (in black and white) in Belgium.source
  • October – Brazilian Integralism, a Fascist movement, is founded by Plínio Salgado.Brazilsource
  • 13 November - Nahum Rakover, Israeli jurist.Mandatory Palestinesource
  • La Nuit du Carrefour (France), Jean Renoir's adaptation of Georges Simenon's La Nuit du carrefour (1931)Belgiumsource
  • Cycling: individual road race (Attilio Pavesi), road race and team pursuit.Italysource
  • Winter – The Japanese Communist Party make a concerted effort to reestablish its central organization during a time of police repressionJapansource

Disasters & Accidents

  • January 26 – British submarine aircraft carrier HMS M2 sinks with the loss of all 60 onboard on exercise in Lyme Bay in the English Channel.source
  • 26 January — British submarine HMS M2 sinks off the Dorset coast with all sixty hands.United Kingdomsource
  • July 7 – French submarine Prométhée sinks with the loss of 62 of 69 onboard on trial out of Cherbourg in the English Channel.source
  • 7 July - French submarine Prométhée sinks off Cherbourg - 66 dead.Francesource
  • 10 October — a mine cage accident at Bickershaw Colliery in the Lancashire Coalfield drowns 19.United Kingdomsource
  • 16 November – a colliery explosion at Cardowan kills 11 miners.Scotlandsource
  • November 16 – New York City's Palace Theatre fully converts to a cinema, which is considered the final death knell of vaudeville as a popular entertainment in the United States.United Statessource
  • December 16 – Shirokiya Department Store fireJapansource
  • December 24 – 1932 Moweaqua Coal Mine disastersource
  • December 24 – Moweaqua Coal Mine disaster: a methane gas explosion claims 54 lives in Illinois.United Statessource
  • A seven-month miners strike occurs in Alberta's coal mines in Crowsnest PassCanadasource

Climate & Environment

  • 10–12 January – Further elections scheduled for January 10 through 12 were cancelled.El Salvadorsource
  • April 25 – The bodies of Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman and Jabir ibn Abd Allah, two of the companions of Islamic prophet Muhammad, are moved from their graves in Salmaan Paak following a dream of King Faisal I of Iraq that they are affected by water.source
  • July 12 – Hedley Verity establishes a new first-class cricket record by taking all ten wickets for only ten runs against Nottinghamshire on a pitch affected by a storm.source
  • 12 July — Hedley Verity of Yorkshire establishes a new first-class cricket record by taking all ten wickets for only ten runs against Nottinghamshire on a pitch affected by a storm.United Kingdomsource
  • August 10 – A 5.1 kg chondrite-type meteorite breaks into fragments and strikes earth near the town of Archie, Missouri, United States.source
  • 20 September – Mohandas Gandhi begins a hunger strike in Poona prison.Indiasource
  • September 22 – Soviet famine of 1932–33 begins; millions starve to death as a result of forced collectivization and as part of the government's effort to break rural resistance to its policies. The Soviet regime denies the famine and allows the deaths.source
  • 26 September – first contingent of the National Hunger March leaves Glasgow.Scotlandsource
  • November 8 – 1932 United States presidential election: Democratic governor of New York Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats incumbent Republican president Herbert Hoover in a landslide victory, having promised a New Deal and repeal of Prohibition.source
  • November 8 – U.S. presidential election, 1932: Democratic Governor of New York Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats incumbent Republican President Herbert Hoover in a landslide victory, having promised a New Deal and repeal of Prohibition.United Statessource
  • November 9 – A hurricane and huge waves kill about 2,500 in Santa Cruz del Sur in the worst natural disaster in Cuban history.source
  • December 25 – The 7.6 Ms Changma earthquake shakes the Gansu Province in China with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). Two-hundred and seventy-five people are killed.source
  • The heath hen becomes extinct in North America.source
  • Unemployment reached a record high of about 32%.Australiasource
  • Ranfurly Shield held by Canterbury all season, with defenses against Sth Canterbury 11–5, Auckland 14–0, West Coast 5–3, Wellington 9–8, Buller 13–0, Waikato 17–6New Zealandsource
  • Howard Spring – Darkie and Co.Walessource

Culture & Society

  • February 4 – The 1932 Winter Olympics open in Lake Placid, New York.source
  • February 15 – Clara, Lu & Em, generally regarded as the first daytime network soap opera, debuts in its morning time slot over the Blue Network of NBC Radio in the United States, having originally been a late evening program.source
  • March 22 – Tarzan the Ape Man premieres in New York City, first of the classic film series starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan.source
  • 6 April – Chakri dynasty celebrates its 150th anniversary of rule over Siam.source
  • April 17 – Haile Selassie announces an anti-slavery law in Abyssinia.source
  • April 25 – Gladys Elinor Watkins consecrates the carillon of the National War Memorial in New Zealand.source
  • 25 May – The Albanian Nationalistic newspaper Kosova is first published in Bucharest.Romaniasource
  • June 16–July 9 – Lausanne Conference of 1932 is held in SwitzerlandSwitzerlandsource
  • June 25 – India plays its first Test cricket match with England at Lord's.source
  • July 30 – Walt Disney's Flowers and Trees, the first animated cartoon to be presented in full Technicolor, premieres in Los Angeles. It releases in theaters, along with the film version of Eugene O'Neill's Strange Interlude (starring Norma Shearer and Clark Gable); Flowers and Trees goes on to win the first Academy Award for Best Animated Short.source
  • July 30 – The 1932 Summer Olympics open in Los Angeles.source
  • 1 August: Keriman Halis Ece won the title Miss Universe.Turkeysource
  • August 6 – The first Venice Film Festival is held.source
  • October 19 – Prince Gustav Adolf of Sweden marries Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.source
  • November 1 – The Kennedy–Thorndike experiment is published, showing that measured time as well as length is affected by motion, in accordance with the theory of special relativity.source
  • November 7 – Buck Rogers in the 25th Century debuts on American radio. It is the first science fiction program on radio.source
  • 1 December – The Palestine Post (now The Jerusalem Post) is published for the first time.Mandatory Palestinesource
  • Walter B. Pitkin publishes Life Begins at Forty in the United States.source
  • The Australian Olympic team wins 3 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medal at the 1932 Summer Olympics held in Los AngelesAustraliasource
  • Al Shorta SC, multi-sport club based in Rusafa District, was established on 14 NovemberIraqsource
  • 3–14 October – Belfast Outdoor Relief Strike, uniting Catholic and Protestant working class communities.Northern Irelandsource
  • C.F. Estrela da Amadora foundedPortugalsource

Births

  • 24 January – Jaan Puhvel, linguist (died 2026)Estoniasource
  • February 22 – Ted Kennedy, American politician (died 2009)source
  • February 26 – Johnny Cash, American country singer (died 2003)source
  • February 27 – Dame Elizabeth Taylor, British-American actress (died 2011)source
  • April 4 – Anthony Perkins, American actor (died 1992)source
  • April 4 – Andrei Tarkovsky, Soviet and Russian film director (died 1986)source
  • April 8 – Sultan Iskandar of Johor, 8th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia (died 2010)source
  • May 8 – Sonny Liston, American boxer (died 1970)source
  • 21 May – Leonidas Vasilikopoulos, admiral (died 2014)Greecesource
  • July 9 – Donald Rumsfeld, U.S. Secretary of Defense (died 2021)source
  • August 1 – Meena Kumari, Indian actress (died 1972)source
  • 9 August - Anand Panyarachun born in Bangkok.source
  • September 25 – Glenn Gould, Canadian pianist (died 1982)source
  • September 26 – Manmohan Singh, Indian economist and 13th prime minister of India (died 2024)source
  • October 27 – Sylvia Plath, American poet and author (died 1963)source
  • November 29 – Jacques Chirac, President of France (died 2019)source
  • December 5 – Little Richard, American singer and actor (died 2020)source
  • Shahab Sheikh Nuri, politician and grandson of Mahmud Barzanji, born in SulaymaniyahIraqsource

Deaths

  • 1 February – Farabundo Martí was executed by a firing squad by the Armed Forces in Izalco for his role in the uprising.El Salvadorsource
  • February 10 – Edgar Wallace, British novelist and screenwriter (born 1875)source
  • February 16 – Sir Edgar Speyer, American-born international financier and philanthropist (born 1862)source
  • March 6 – John Philip Sousa, American band leader, conductor, and composer ("The Stars and Stripes Forever") (born 1854)source
  • March 14 – George Eastman, founder of Kodak, commits suicide in Rochester, New York.source
  • April 4 – Wilhelm Ostwald, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1853)source
  • April 27 – Hart Crane, American poet (born 1899)source
  • May 6 – Paul Gorguloff shoots French president Paul Doumer in Paris; Doumer dies the next day.source
  • May 15 – May 15 Incident, an attempted military coup in which Japanese prime minister Tsuyoshi Inukai is assassinated by naval officers. Japanese troops leave Shanghai.source
  • June 21 – Major Taylor, American cyclist (born 1878)source
  • July 2 – King Manuel II of Portugal (born 1889)source
  • July 17 – Altona Bloody Sunday: In Altona, Germany, a bloody clash with heavy police involvement occurs when Nazi marchers enter a working class area with many communist supporters; 18 are killed.source
  • July 22 – Reginald Fessenden, Canadian inventor (born 1866)source
  • July 23 – Alberto Santos-Dumont, Brazilian aviation pioneer (suicide) (born 1873)source
  • 9 November – Nadezhda Alliluyeva, second wife of Joseph Stalin (born 1901)Soviet Unionsource
  • 13 December – Georgios Jakobides, painter (born 1853)Greecesource
  • December 18 – Eduard Bernstein, German socialist (born 1850)source
  • Faisal I of Iraq, King, on 8 September 1933Iraqsource