1934 CE

The Night of the Long Knives sees Hitler purge SA leaders and rivals, solidifying his dictatorship; the Assassination of Alexander I of Yugoslavia shocks Europe as the king and French Foreign Minister Barthou are killed; the 1934 FIFA World Cup in Italy ends with the hosts defeating Czechoslovakia, boosting Mussolini’s propaganda; the Long March begins as Chinese Communists retreat across thousands of kilometers from Nationalist forces; the Austrian Civil War erupts as Social Democrats clash with the Austrofascist government, ending in authoritarian consolidation; and the Revolution of 1934 sparks uprisings across Spain by workers and leftist factions, foreshadowing wider political conflict.

In the 1930s, the 20th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • 24 January – new constitution in effect.Estoniasource
  • February 9 – Gaston Doumergue forms a new government in France.source
  • February 9 – Greece, Romania, Turkey and Yugoslavia form the Balkan Pact.source
  • February 16 – The Commission of Government is sworn in, as a form of direct rule for the Dominion of Newfoundland.source
  • March 1 – Manchukuo, the Japanese puppet state in Manchuria established in 1932, proclaimed a monarchy under Puyi.source
  • March 4 - Argentine legislative election, 1934Argentinasource
  • March 24 – The Tydings–McDuffie Act is passed, allowing the Philippines a greater degree of self-government from the United States.source
  • 24 April – In a debate in the Parliament of Northern Ireland, the Prime Minister, Lord Craigavon, states "All I boast of is that we are a Protestant Parliament and a Protestant State." (often misquoted as "A Protestant Parliament for a Protestant People").Northern Irelandsource
  • May 1 – The May Constitution of 1934 heralds the beginning of the Austrofascist Federal State of Austria.source
  • May 15 – Kārlis Ulmanis establishes an authoritarian government in Latvia.source
  • June 14 – Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet for the first time, at the Venice Biennale.source
  • June 18 – The Indian Reorganization Act is enacted.source
  • June 27 – Imam Yahya of Yemen and Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia conclude a peace treaty.source
  • June 27 - North Yemen and Saudi Arabia conclude a peace treaty.Saudi Arabiasource
  • August 2 – Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany, or head of state combined with that of Chancellor, following the death of President Paul von Hindenburg.source
  • August 19 – 1934 German referendum: In a referendum, 90% of the German population approves of Hitler's assumption of presidential powers, as Führer and Reichskanzler.source
  • 28 August – Maximiliano Hernández Martínez resigned as President in order to run in the 1935 Salvadoran presidential election. Andrés Ignacio Menéndez became Provisional President.El Salvadorsource
  • September 15 – 1934 Australian federal election: Joseph Lyons' UAP government is re-elected with a decreased majority, defeating the Labor Party, led by former Prime Minister James Scullin. Consequently, Lyons is forced to resume the Coalition with the Country Party, and include them in his government. Scullin steps down from the Labor leadership shortly after; he is replaced by future Prime Minister John Curtin.source
  • September 18 — Soviet Union joins the League of Nations as a permanent Board memberSoviet Unionsource
  • September 19 – The Soviet Union joins the League of Nations.source
  • September 28 – Afghanistan joins the League of Nations.source
  • October 6 – Events of October the 6th: the President of Catalonia, Lluís Companys, declares the Catalan State of the Spanish Federal Republic, but Spanish troops swiftly crush the Catalan forces, and arrest him and the members of the Catalan government. The autonomy of Catalonia is suspended until 1936.source
  • 2 November – Edmond James de Rothschild (born 1845), French-born Jewish philanthropist and a major supporter of Zionism during the First Aliyah period.Mandatory Palestinesource
  • November 27 – Daniel Salamanca Urey, President of Bolivia, is deposed in a military coup, and replaced by José Luis Tejada Sorzano.source
  • December 27 – Persia becomes Iran.source
  • December 29 – Japan renounces the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930.source
  • The Australian frontier wars end, after 146 years.source
  • Abidjan becomes the capital of the French colony of Ivory Coast.source
  • Ruling party – Republican People's Party (CHP)Turkeysource

Conflict & Security

  • January 8 – 77 persons die and 74 are hurt, when many families and troop members are pushing each other on the platform, before entering the extra troop train in Kyoto station, according to Japanese government official confirmed report.Japansource
  • February 5 – the bandera militar flag of Mexico is adopted.Mexicosource
  • February 6 – French political crisis: The French far-right leagues rally in front of the Palais Bourbon, in an attempted coup d'état against the Third Republic.source
  • February 12–15 – Austrian Civil War: The Fatherland Front consolidates its power in a series of clashes across the country.source
  • March 12 – Prime Minister Konstantin Päts stages a self-coup by declaring a state of emergency in Estonia, with the approval of the parliament, beginning the country's Era of Silence.source
  • April 10 — Fifth Encirclement Campaign against the Jiangxi Soviet: Nationalists begin the attack on the Communist stronghold of Guangchang.Chinasource
  • May 10–25 - Battle of Cañada StrongestBoliviasource
  • May 19 – Kimon Georgiev stages a coup d'état in Bulgaria.source
  • June 30 – The Nazi Party SA camp Oranienburg becomes a national camp, taken over by the Schutzstaffel (SS).source
  • 30 June – The Nazi SA camp Oranienburg becomes a national camp, taken over by the SS.Germanysource
  • June to July – Ranquil massacreChilesource
  • July 25 – July Putsch: Austrian Nazis assassinate chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss, during a failed coup attempt.source
  • August 8 – The Wehrmacht swears a personal oath of loyalty to Adolf Hitler.source
  • August 26 – 1934 Swiss Grand Prix takes place in SwitzerlandSwitzerlandsource
  • September 5–10 – The 6th Nuremberg Rally is staged by the German Nazi Party.source
  • October 16 – The Long March of the People's Liberation Army of the Chinese Communist Party begins.source
  • November 23 – An Anglo-Ethiopian boundary commission in the Ogaden discovers an Italian garrison at Walwal, which lies well within Ethiopian territory. This encounter leads to the Abyssinia Crisis.source
  • December 5 – Abyssinia Crisis: Ethiopian and Italian troops exchange gunfire. Reported casualties for the Ethiopians are 150, and for the Italians 50.source
  • The Organized illegal Jewish immigration to Palestine begins in 1934, following the deteriorating situation of the German Jews after the Nazi Party rise to power in 1933 and also as a result of the adoption of anti-Semitic policies in other European countries which included pogroms, persecutions and restrictions.Mandatory Palestinesource

Exploration & Expansion

  • 25 February - Mahatma Gandhi visits Udupi.Indiasource
  • 21 March to 14 June – The Australian Eastern Mission, led by deputy prime minister John Latham, visited a number of countries in East Asia and South-East Asia, the first Australian diplomatic mission outside the British Empire.Australiasource
  • 12 April and 13 April - Adolf Hitler, Erich Raeder and Werner von Blomberg sailed through western Norway aboard the German Panzerschiff Deutschland sailing through the Sognefjord and Hardangerfjord. The voyage was Adolf Hitler's first journey abroad since becoming Chancellor in January 1933. During the visit Hitler and Blomberg were observed having a lengthy private conversation. Alan Bullock speculated that discussions regarding concerns about Ernst Röhm and the SA may have taken place during the visit. The visit was documented in contemporary Norwegian newspapers including Bergens Tidende.Norwaysource
  • June 4 – USS Ranger is commissioned.United Statessource
  • 18 July – The founding of settlement Kiryat Bialik by Jewish German immigrants of the Fifth Aliyah.Mandatory Palestinesource
  • 29 July – Transvaal – Germiston to Elsburg, 2 mi 49 ch.South Africasource
  • August 15 – The United States Marine Corps leaves Haiti.source
  • October 20–November 3 – Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first eastward crossing of the Pacific Ocean, from his native Brisbane, Australia, to San Francisco, in the Lockheed Altair Lady Southern Cross. The November 3 Hawaii–San Francisco leg is the first eastward flight from Hawaii to North America.source
  • En la tierra del Guarán, directed by LumitonArgentinasource
  • Yr Ail Fordaith Gymraeg (Second Welsh Cruise), a silent film made by Ifan ab Owen Edwards focusing on the activities of Urdd Gobaith Cymru (with Welsh-language titles)Walessource

Religion & Belief

  • 5 January – Eddy Pieters Graafland, football goalkeeper (died 2020)Netherlandssource
  • 23 February – Leopold III sworn in as King, following the death of his father Albert I, on 17 February.Belgiumsource
  • 29 May-31 May — The Confessional Synod of the German Evangelical Church meets in Barmen, Germany to write the Barmen Declaration.Germanysource
  • May 31 – The Barmen Declaration, largely drafted by Karl Barth, is signed by Christians in Nazi Germany who are opposed to the pro-Nazi German Christian movement.source
  • 11 November – The Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne is dedicated.Australiasource
  • 18 November – Sara Japhet, Israeli biblical scholar.Mandatory Palestinesource
  • December 12 – Guadalupe Robledo (José Lothario), wrestler and manager (NWA, WWE, CWF).(died 2018)Mexicosource
  • 25 December – dedication of the permanent St Columba's Cathedral at Oban, Mother Church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Argyll and the Isles.Scotlandsource
  • Edward Tegla Davies - Y Llwybr ArianWalessource

Economy & Finance

  • 18 January – Qantas and Imperial Airways join forces and establish Qantas Empire Airways.Australiasource
  • February 12–13: Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista merges with Falange Española to form Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-SindicalistaSpainsource
  • 28 March – Socialist savings bank Bank van de Arbeid goes bankrupt.Belgiumsource
  • July 3 - The Bank of Canada is formedCanadasource
  • 16 August – Ed van Thijn, politician (died 2021)Netherlandssource
  • October – The Criterion Association is dissolved, Mircea Vulcănescu citing the rise of fascism for the demise.Romaniasource
  • Banknotes issued by the new Reserve Bank replace those issued by the Trading Banks, see New Zealand pound.New Zealandsource
  • The Swiss Banking Act of 1934 majorly affects bank secrecySwitzerlandsource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established.source
  • 8 January – Piet Dankert, politician (died 2003)Netherlandssource
  • 4 March – Ankara Radio began broadcastingTurkeysource
  • 28 March – Belfast Zoo opens in part of Bellevue Pleasure Gardens.Northern Irelandsource
  • 21 April – Meron Benvenisti, Israeli political scientist and deputy mayor of JerusalemMandatory Palestinesource
  • June 15 – Rubén Aguirre, television actorMexicosource
  • July 1 – The Hays Code begins to be strictly enforced in the Hollywood film industry, lasting until 1968.source
  • 26 September – Ford Romania buy the land on which they will build their factory in Bucharest.Romaniasource
  • Ídolos de la radio, directed by Eduardo MoreraArgentinasource
  • Plans for the new T-34 tank are first drawn upSoviet Unionsource

Science & Discovery

  • January 26 – The Apollo Theater opens in Harlem, New York City.United Statessource
  • 1 September – Body of the "Pyjama Girl" found in Albury, New South Wales.Australiasource
  • October 20–November 5 – The MacRobertson Air Race is flown from RAF Mildenhall in England to Melbourne, Australia, to celebrate the centenary of the state of Victoria. The overall winner is the British de Havilland DH.88 Comet G-ACSS Grosvenor House, flown by C. W. A. Scott and Tom Campbell Black.source
  • 20 November – Willem de Sitter, mathematician, physicist and astronomer (born 1872)Netherlandssource
  • 26 November – Meteorite impact near Roisin.Belgiumsource
  • The sonoluminescence effect is discovered, at the University of Cologne.source
  • Monteiro Lobato - Emília no País da Gramática and Aritmética da EmíliaBrazilsource
  • New Zealand Trotting Cup – IndianapolisNew Zealandsource
  • 28 & 31 July – Gerhard Zucker launches rocket mail experimentally between the Outer Hebridean islands of Scarp and Harris; in both attempts the powder rockets explode.Scotlandsource
  • Harry Parr Davies becomes accompanist to Gracie Fields.Walessource

Health & Medicine

  • 1 January — Germany passes the "Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring".Germanysource
  • 12 March – Konstantin Päts with the help of General Johan Laidoner set up a virtual dictatorship. Parliament was prorogued and political parties were banned. Many members of the Vaps Movement were arrested.Estoniasource
  • 16 May – Firedamp explosion in Fief-de-Lambrechies and Pâturages kills 57.Belgiumsource
  • May 28 – Near Callander, Ontario, Canada, the Dionne quintuplets are born to Oliva and Elzire Dionne, becoming the first quintuplets to survive infancy.source
  • 24 June – Daoud Hanania, Jordanian heart surgeon.Mandatory Palestinesource
  • July 9 – The Hitler Youth movement is prohibited in South West Africa.South Africasource
  • July 13 – Hitler gives a speech to the Reichstag, justifying his purge.source
  • July 22 — Eric del Castillo, actorMexicosource
  • November 6 – Attempted exclusion of Egon Kisch from Australia begins.source
  • 6 November – The Australian government attempts to stop left-wing writer Egon Erwin Kisch from entering the country, using the language provisions of the Immigration Restriction Act 1901 which allowed a test in any European language. The multi-lingual Kisch was tested in Scottish Gaelic, although the decision to block his entry was later overturned by the High Court.Australiasource
  • Estimated population as of 31 December: 1,558,400.New Zealandsource

Crime & Justice

  • 10 January – Marinus van der Lubbe, communist convicted of setting fire to the Reichstag (executed) (born 1909)Netherlandssource
  • March 13 – John Dillinger and his gang rob the First National Bank in Mason City, Iowa, United States, stealing $52,000.source
  • 27 March – Musa al-Husayni (born 1853), Palestinian Arab politician and leader of the Palestinian Arab national movement from 1922 until 1934. He never recovered from the beating he received from the Palestine Police in Jaffa five months earlier.Mandatory Palestinesource
  • April – Teijin Incident: Ministry of Justice ordered the arrest of the Vice-Minister of Finance, director of the Bank of Taiwan and president of TeijinJapansource
  • May 23 – American outlaws Bonnie and Clyde are ambushed and killed by police in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.source
  • June 30 – July 2 – Night of the Long Knives in Germany: Nazis purge the Sturmabteilung (SA), the left-wing Strasserist faction of the Nazi Party, and prominent conservative anti-Nazis, in a series of political murders.source
  • 30 June – Night of the Long Knives: Nazis purge the SA.Germanysource
  • July 14–July 29 – Zürich 1934 chess tournament took placeSwitzerlandsource
  • September 19 – Bruno Richard Hauptmann is arrested in connection with the Lindbergh kidnapping case in the U.S.source
  • September 21 — Maria Rubio, actress (died 2018).Mexicosource
  • Ayer y Hoy (film), directed by Enrique Telémaco SusiniArgentinasource
  • Ballymena Football Club is renamed Ballymena United F.C.Northern Irelandsource

Disasters & Accidents

  • 3 March – the third Theatre Royal, Dublin, closes.Irelandsource
  • March 20 – The Great Hakodate Fire kills at least 2,166 people in southern Hokkaido, Japan.source
  • March 21 – 1934 Hakodate fire, Japanese government official report, 2166 persons were perished.Japansource
  • May 15 – Nantucket Lightship LV-117 sinks after colliding with RMS Olympic.United Statessource
  • September 8 – Off the New Jersey coast, a fire aboard the passenger liner SS Morro Castle kills 134 people.source
  • September 8 – Off the New Jersey coast, a fire aboard the passenger liner Morro Castle kills 134 people.United Statessource
  • September 22 – A gas explosion at Gresford Colliery in Wrexham, north-east Wales, kills 266 miners and rescuers.source
  • 3 October – Qantas de Havilland DH.50 Atalanta, registration VH-UHE, crashes near Winton, Queensland, killing the pilot and 2 passengers.Australiasource
  • October 4–19: Asturian miners' strike of 1934Spainsource
  • 15 November – Qantas de Havilland DH86 crashes after departing from Longreach Airport during its delivery flight.Australiasource
  • December 28 – An American Airlines aircraft crashes in the Adirondack Mountains.United Statessource

Climate & Environment

  • January 15 – The 8.0 Mw Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing an estimated 6,000–10,700 people.source
  • 15 January – The 8.0 Mw Nepal–Bihar earthquake shakes the Himalayas with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), leaving 6,000–10,700 dead.Indiasource
  • 6 February: Treaty house and grounds at Waitangi dedicated as a national reserve.New Zealandsource
  • 5 March: A magnitude 7.6 earthquake strikes Pahiatua, Manawatu-Wanganui, at 11.46pm.New Zealandsource
  • 12 March – An intense cyclone crosses the Queensland coast near Innisfail, 75 people were confirmed dead.Australiasource
  • 7 April – A major rockfall hit Tafjorden in Møre og Romsdal, creating a 64 m flood wave that destroyed the villages of Tafjord and Fjørå, killing 40 people.Norwaysource
  • September 21 – The Muroto typhoon in Honshū, Japan kills 3,036 people, and destroys the temple, schools, and other buildings in Osaka.source
  • September 29–October – Folk song collector John Lomax makes the first recordings of "Rock Island Line" at prison farms in Arkansas.United Statessource
  • October 2 – A typhoon in Osaka and Kyoto, Japan, kills 1,660, injures 5,400, and destroys the rice harvest.source
  • 25 October – Simon Groot, agronomist (died 2025)Netherlandssource
  • 24 November – Atatürk surname for Mustafa KemalTurkeysource

Culture & Society

  • January 26 – February 10 — 17th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)Soviet Unionsource
  • 27 January – Presentation of Belfast Castle to the City of Belfast by the Earl of Shaftesbury is announced.Northern Irelandsource
  • February 23 – King Leopold III of Belgium succeeds to the throne, following the death (February 17) of his father King Albert I.source
  • 20 March – Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont, former queen consort and regent (born 1858)Netherlandssource
  • March 22 – The first Masters Tournament in golf opens at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia (United States).source
  • April 21 – The "surgeon's photograph" of the Loch Ness Monster, taken in Scotland by London gynaecologist Robert Kenneth Wilson and in 1994 admitted to be a hoax, is published in the Daily Mail London national newspaper.source
  • June 9 – Donald Duck makes his film debut in Walt Disney's Silly Symphony cartoon The Wise Little Hen.source
  • June 10 – Italy beats Czechoslovakia 2–1 after extra time, to win the 1934 World Cup, staged in Italy.source
  • June 20 — Rius (Eduardo Humberto del Río García), political cartoonist and writer (died 2017)Mexicosource
  • June 24 - establishment of Centro Social y Recreativo EspañolArgentinasource
  • 4 July – Hayim Nahman Bialik (born 1873), Russian-born Jewish poet and one of the pioneers of modern Hebrew poetry.Mandatory Palestinesource
  • 5 December – Women's suffrage (general and local elections)Turkeysource
  • Winter – Tadj ol-Molouk, Empress consort of Iran, and her daughters appear publicly in Tehran without a veil, leading to its abolition in the country.source
  • The Yomiuri Giants, a successful professional baseball club in Japan, is founded in Tokyo.source
  • FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1934 took place in SwitzerlandSwitzerlandsource

Births

Deaths

  • 18 January – Joseph Devlin, Nationalist politician and MP in the British House of Commons and in Northern Ireland (born 1872).Northern Irelandsource
  • January 29 – Fritz Haber, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1868)source
  • February 21 – Augusto César Sandino is assassinated in Managua, by the National Guard.source
  • February 23 – Sir Edward Elgar, British composer (born 1857)source
  • March 1 – Charles Webster Leadbeater, British author and Theosophist (born 1854)source
  • 5 March – Daniel Kahneman, Israeli-American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2024).Mandatory Palestinesource
  • May 23 – Clyde Barrow, American outlaw, member of Barrow Gang (born 1909)source
  • May 23 – Bonnie Parker, American outlaw, member of Barrow Gang (born 1910)source
  • May 25 – Gustav Holst, British composer (born 1874)source
  • June 10 – Frederick Delius, British composer (born 1862)source
  • 29 June – Zaro Aga (born in 1777), allegedly the World's oldest manTurkeysource
  • Kurt von Schleicher, 23rd Chancellor of Germany (born 1882)source
  • July 4 – Marie Curie, Polish-born scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and physics (born 1867)source
  • July 6 — Nestor Makhno, anarchist (born 1888)Soviet Unionsource
  • July 26 – Winsor McCay, American comic creator and animator (born 1869)source
  • August 2 – Paul von Hindenburg, German general and politician, 2nd President of Germany (born 1847)source
  • October 9 – King Alexander of Yugoslavia and French foreign minister Louis Barthou are assassinated, during the king's state visit in Marseille.source
  • October 9 – King Alexander I of Yugoslavia (born 1888) (assassinated)source