1938 CE

The Anschluss sees Nazi Germany annex Austria, escalating Hitler's expansionist agenda; Kristallnacht erupts across Germany and Austria, with Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues destroyed, thousands of Jewish people killed or arrested; the Munich Agreement is signed as Britain and France appease Hitler by allowing the annexation of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia; the 1938 FIFA World Cup is held in France, with Italy winning their second consecutive title; the 1938 Yellow River flood in China, caused by intentional dike breaches during the Second Sino-Japanese War, displaces millions; and Orson Welles broadcasts "The War of the Worlds", causing panic among listeners.

In the 1930s, the 20th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • February 4 – Adolf Hitler abolishes the War Ministry and creates the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (High Command of the Armed Forces), giving him direct control of the German military. In addition, he dismisses political and military leaders considered unsympathetic to his philosophy or policies. General Werner von Fritsch is forced to resign as Commander of Chief of the German Army following accusations of homosexuality, and replaced by General Walther von Brauchitsch. Foreign Minister Baron Konstantin von Neurath is dismissed, and replaced by Joachim von Ribbentrop.source
  • 24 February – election sees National Front winning 63 seats and all the opposition winning 17 seats.Estoniasource
  • 1 March – Sir Harold MacMichael assumes office as the High Commissioner of Palestine.Mandatory Palestinesource
  • March 3 – Sir Nevile Henderson, British Ambassador to Germany, presents a proposal to Hitler for an international consortium to rule much of Africa (in which Germany would be assigned a leading role), in exchange for a German promise never to resort to war to change her frontiers; Hitler rejects the British offer.source
  • March 17 – Poland presents an ultimatum to Lithuania, to establish normal diplomatic relations that were severed over the Vilnius Region.source
  • 30 March – The right-wing National Christian Party and Romanian Front are dissolved.Romaniasource
  • April 10 – Édouard Daladier becomes prime minister of France. He appoints as Foreign Minister a leading advocate of the policy of appeasement, Georges Bonnet, effectively negating Blum's reassurances of March 14.source
  • April 10 – In a result that astonishes even Hitler, the Austrian electorate in a national referendum approves Anschluss by an overwhelming 99.73%.source
  • June 25 – Dr. Douglas Hyde takes office as the first President of Ireland.source
  • July 5 – The Non-Intervention Committee reaches an agreement to withdraw all foreign volunteers from the Spanish Civil War. The agreement is respected by most Republican International Brigades, notably those from England and the United States, but is ignored by the governments of Germany and Italy.source
  • July 22 – Britain rejects a proposal from its ambassador in Berlin, Nevile Henderson, for a four-power summit on Czechoslovakia consisting of Britain, France, Germany and the U.S.S.R., as London will under no circumstances accept the U.S.S.R. as a diplomatic partner.source
  • 2 September – Soviet Ambassador to Britain Ivan Maisky calls on Winston Churchill, telling him that Soviet Foreign Commissar Maxim Litvinov has expressed to the French chargé d'affaires in Moscow that the Soviet Union is willing to fight over the territorial integrity of Czechoslovakia.Soviet Unionsource
  • 2 September – The Hatay Republic was founded, Tayfur Sökmen was elected as the Hatay presidentTurkeysource
  • September 5 – Czechoslovak President Edvard Beneš invites mid-level representatives of the Sudeten Germans Hradčany Palace, to tell them he will accept whatever demands they care to make, provided the Sudetenland remains part of the Republic of Czechoslovakia.source
  • September 16 – Lord Runciman is recalled to London from Prague, in order to brief the British government on the situation in the Sudetenland.source
  • September 18 – During a meeting between Neville Chamberlain, the recently elected Premier of France, Édouard Daladier, and Daladier's Foreign Minister, Georges Bonnet, it becomes apparent that neither the British nor the French governments are prepared to go to war over the Sudetenland. The Soviet Union declares it will come to the defence of Czechoslovakia only if France honours her commitment to defend Czechoslovak independence.source
  • September 21 – In the early hours of the day, representatives of the French and British governments call on Czechoslovak President Edvard Beneš, to tell him France and Britain will not fight Hitler if he decides to annex the Sudetenland by force. Late in the afternoon, the Czechoslovak government capitulates to the French and British demands.source
  • September 24 – At 1:30 AM, Adolf Hitler and Neville Chamberlain conclude their talks on the Sudetenland. Chamberlain agrees to take Hitler's demands, codified in the Godesberg Memorandum, personally to the Czech Government. The Czech Government rejects the demands, as does Chamberlain's own cabinet. The French Government also initially rejects the terms and orders a partial mobilization of the French army.source
  • September 28 – As his self-imposed October 1 deadline for occupation of the Sudetenland approaches, Adolf Hitler invites Italian Duce Benito Mussolini, French Premier Édouard Daladier, and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to one last conference in Munich. The Czechs themselves are not invited.source
  • September 29 – Munich Agreement: German, Italian, British and French leaders agree to German demands regarding annexation of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia. The Czechoslovak government is largely excluded from the negotiations, and is not a signatory to the agreement.source
  • 30 September – Munich Agreement is signed by France, Germany, Britain and Italy permitting German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.Francesource
  • October 2 – Disgusted with Neville Chamberlain's conduct at Munich, Duff Cooper resigns his post as First Lord of the Admiralty. With his resignation, formal debate begins in the Parliament of the United Kingdom on the Munich Agreement, but with Chamberlain at the peak of his popularity, there can be little doubt His Majesty's Government will receive a vote of confidence.source
  • October 5 – Edvard Beneš, president of Czechoslovakia, resigns.source
  • October 24 – At a "friendly luncheon" in Berchtesgaden, German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop tells Józef Lipski, the Polish ambassador to Germany, that the Free City of Danzig must return to Germany, that the Germans must be given extraterritorial rights in the Polish Corridor, and that Poland must sign the Anti-Comintern Pact.source
  • November 2 – Arising from The Munich Agreement, Hungary is "awarded" the Felvidek region of South Slovakia and Ruthenia.source
  • November 8 to November 11. Polish legislative election,Polandsource
  • November 25 – French Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet informs Léon Noël, the French Ambassador to Poland, that France should find an excuse for terminating the 1921 Franco-Polish alliance.source
  • November 30 – The Czechoslovak parliament elects Emil Hácha as the new president of Czechoslovakia.source
  • November 30 – Benito Mussolini and his Foreign Minister, Count Galeazzo Ciano, order "spontaneous" demonstrations in the Italian Chamber of Deputies, demanding that France cede Tunisia, Nice, Corsica and French Somaliland to Italy. This begins an acute crisis in Franco-Italian relations, that lasts until March 1939.source
  • December 6 – German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop visits Paris, where he is allegedly informed by French Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet that France now recognizes all of Eastern Europe as being in Germany's exclusive sphere of influence. Bonnet's alleged statement (he subsequently always denies making the remark) to Ribbentrop is a major factor in German policy in 1939.source
  • December 24 – The Lima Declaration is approved by 21 American countries, affirming the sovereignty of Latin American states.Perusource
  • December – Adolf Hitler is Time magazine's "Man of the Year", as the most influential person of the year.source
  • In a result, the Austrian electorate in a national referendum approved Anschluss by an 99.73%.Austriasource

Conflict & Security

  • 10 February – Carol II stages a self-coup, deposes Octavian Goga as Prime Minister and cancels the elections planned for March in an attempt to create a royal authoritarian dictatorship.Romaniasource
  • February 12 – Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg of Austria meets Adolf Hitler at Berchtesgaden and, under threat of invasion, is forced to yield to German demands for greater Nazi participation in the Austrian government.source
  • February 22 – The Battle of Teruel ends in a Nationalist victory with recapture of the city, a turning point in the Spanish Civil War.source
  • March 12 – Anschluss: German troops occupy Austria; annexation is declared the following day.source
  • March 12 – Anschluss: On March 11–13, 1938, Nazi Germany annexed the neighboring country of Austria (Österreich). This event is known as the Anschluss. “Anschluss” is a German word that means “connection” or “joining.”German troops occupy Austria; annexation is declared the following day. German troops occupy Austria; annexation is declared the following day.Austriasource
  • March 28 – At a meeting with Hitler in Berlin, Konrad Henlein is instructed to make increasing demands concerning the status of the Sudetenland, but to avoid reaching an agreement with Czechoslovak authorities.source
  • 24 April – Eberhardt Bohnstedt, a Wehrmacht general, was appointed as director of the Salvadoran military school.El Salvadorsource
  • May 5 – General Ludwig Beck, Chief of the German Army's General Staff, submits a memorandum to Hitler opposing Fall Grün (Case Green), the plan for a war with Czechoslovakia, under the grounds that Germany is ill-prepared for the world war likely to result from such an attack.source
  • May 21 – Tsuyama massacre: Matsuo Toi kills 30 people in a village in Okayama, Japan, in the world's worst spree killing by an individual until 1957.source
  • May 23 – No evidence of German troop movements against Czechoslovakia is found, and the May Crisis subsides. Germany is, nevertheless, perceived to have backed down in the face of Czechoslovak mobilization and international diplomatic unity, but the issue of the future of the Sudetenland is far from resolved.source
  • June 22 – Heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis knocks out Max Schmeling in the first round of their rematch, at Yankee Stadium in New York City.source
  • July 3 – The last reunion of the Blue and Gray commemorates the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.source
  • 5 July – Turkish army in Hatay (by treaty)Turkeysource
  • July 6 – The Evian Conference on Refugees is convened in France. No country in Europe is prepared to accept Jews fleeing persecution, and the United States will take only 27,370.source
  • July 25-November 16 - Battle of the EbroSpainsource
  • July 28 – 1938 Greek coup d'état attempt: A revolt against the Ioannis Metaxas dictatorship in Greece is put down in Chania.source
  • 29 July–11 August – Battle of Lake KhasanSoviet Unionsource
  • August 18 – Colonel General Ludwig Beck, convinced that Hitler's decision to attack Czechoslovakia will lead to a general European war, resigns his position as Chief of the Army General Staff in protest.source
  • August 23 – Hitler, hosting a dinner on board the ocean liner Patria in Kiel Bay, tells the Regent of Hungary, Admiral Horthy, that action against Czechoslovakia is imminent and that "he who wants to sit at the table must at least help in the kitchen", a reference to Horthy's designs on Carpathian Ruthenia.source
  • August – In the face of overwhelming Japanese military pressure, Chiang Kai-shek withdraws his government to Chungking.source
  • 5 September – Seguro Obrero massacreChilesource
  • September 13 – The followers of Konrad Henlein begin an armed revolt against the Czechoslovak government in Sudetenland. Martial law is declared and after much bloodshed on both sides order is temporarily restored. Neville Chamberlain personally sends a telegram to Hitler, urgently requesting that they both meet.source
  • September 21 – Winston Churchill warns of grave consequences to European security, if Czechoslovakia is partitioned. The same day, Soviet Foreign Commissar Maxim Litvinov makes a similar statement in the League of Nations.source
  • September 22 – Neville Chamberlain arrives in the city of Bad Godesberg, for another round of talks with Hitler over the Sudetenland crisis. Hitler raises his demands to include occupation of all German Sudeten territories by October 1. That night after a telephone conference, Chamberlain reverses himself and advises the Czechoslovaks to mobilize.source
  • September 29 – Colonel Graham Christie, former British military attaché in Berlin, is told by Carl Friedrich Goerdeler that the mobilization of the Royal Navy has badly damaged the popularity of the Nazi regime, as the German public realizes that Fall Grün is likely to cause a world war.source
  • September 29 – The Republic of Hatay is declared in Syria; it lasts for less than a year.source
  • September – The European crisis over German demands for annexation of the Sudeten borderland of Czechoslovakia becomes increasingly severe.source
  • October 1 – German troops march into the Sudetenland. The Polish government gives the Czech government an ultimatum, stating that Trans-Olza region must be handed over within twenty-four hours. The Czechs have little choice but to comply; Polish forces occupy Trans-Olza.source
  • 2 October – 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine: In the 1938 Tiberias massacre, Arab rioters kill 19 Jews in the city of Tiberias, eleven of whom are children. During the massacre, 70 armed Arabs set fire to Jewish homes and the local synagogue.Mandatory Palestinesource
  • October 16 – Winston Churchill, in a broadcast address to the United States, condemns the Munich Agreement as a defeat, and calls upon America and western Europe to prepare for armed resistance against Hitler.source
  • October 21 – In direct contravention of the recently signed Munich Agreement, Adolf Hitler circulates among his high command a secret memorandum stating that they should prepare for the "liquidation of the rest of Czechoslovakia" and the occupation of Memel.source
  • October 24 – French Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet carries out a major purge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dismissing or exiling a number of anti-appeasement officials such as Pierre Comert and René Massigli.source
  • October 30 – Orson Welles's radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds (with script by Howard Koch) is broadcast, causing panic in various parts of the United States.United Statessource

Exploration & Expansion

  • 23 February – The Port of Tel Aviv officially opens, as a competing (Jewish) port to the port in Jaffa, the latter having been crippled by the Arab revolt and general strike since 1936.Mandatory Palestinesource
  • 16 March – Belfast Harbour Airport at Sydenham is opened, with the inaugural commercial flight to Glasgow.Northern Irelandsource
  • 19 March – The 1938 Interstate Grand Prix is staged at the Wirlinga circuit in New South Wales.Australiasource
  • March 27 – Italian mathematician Ettore Majorana disappears suddenly under mysterious circumstances, while travelling by ship from Palermo to Naples.source
  • June 23 – Marineland opens near St. Augustine, Florida.United Statessource
  • July 24 – The north face of the Eiger in the Alps is first ascended.source
  • September 25 – British Royal Navy is ordered to sea.source
  • 27 October – Jan Martin Larsen, cartographer, orienteer and politicianNorwaysource
  • Michel Bernanos visits Brazil for the first time.Brazilsource
  • New Zealand Trotting Cup – MorelloNew Zealandsource
  • The Neolithic settlement of Rinyo on Rousay in Orkney is excavated by V. Gordon Childe.Scotlandsource

Religion & Belief

  • March 30 – Italy's Duce Benito Mussolini is granted equal power over the Italian military to that of King Victor Emmanuel III, as First Marshal of the Empire.source
  • 30 March – Prime minister Benito Mussolini is granted the same level of power over the Italian military as that of King Victor Emmanuel III, taking the title First Marshal of the Empire.Italysource
  • May 20 Romanian prime minister, Patriarch Miron Cristea, comes to Poland. A transport of bears from the Soviet Union comes to Białowieża Forest. Some of Josephine Baker's possessions are stolen during her stay in Lwów,Polandsource
  • 25 September – Paul Olaf Bodding, missionary, linguist and folklorist (born 1865)Norwaysource
  • 1 November – Catalogue wins the Melbourne Cup.Australiasource
  • 9 November – A technical British committee, known as the Woodhead Commission, rejected the Peel Commission partition plan mostly on the grounds that it could not be achieved without a large forced transfer of Arabs. It proposed "a modification of partition which, ...seems, subject to certain reservations, to form a satisfactory basis of settlement", if the U.K is prepared to provide a "sufficient assistance to enable the Arab State to balance its budget".Mandatory Palestinesource
  • 23 November – Opening of the Temple of Peace and Health in Cathays Park, Cardiff.Walessource
  • December 16 – The cornerstone of the Voortrekker Monument is laid.South Africasource
  • Majlis Khuddam-ul Ahmadiyya is established by Khalifat-ul Masih II, Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad, the second Caliph of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.source
  • Iona Community established by Rev. George MacLeod in Glasgow.Scotlandsource

Economy & Finance

  • January 1 – The Merrie Melodies cartoon short Daffy Duck & Egghead is released, being the first cartoon to give Daffy Duck his continuing name, as well as his second appearance.United Statessource
  • February 6 – Black Sunday at Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia: 300 swimmers are dragged out to sea in 3 freak waves; 80 lifesavers save all but 5.source
  • 12 March – Henri de Man resigns as finance minister after his fiscal proposals are rejected.Belgiumsource
  • March 18 – Mexico nationalizes all foreign-owned oil properties within its borders.Mexicosource
  • 21 March – The founding of the kibbutz HanitaMandatory Palestinesource
  • June 8 – Tokyo Film Production, as predecessor of Toei was founded.Japansource
  • November 12 – French Finance Minister Paul Reynaud brings into effect a series of laws aiming at improving French productivity (thus aiming to undo the economic weaknesses which led to Munich), and undoes most of the economic and social laws of the Popular Front.source
  • 28 December – The Sydney Mail ceases publication.Australiasource
  • December – Announcement that the Ottawa trade agreement would not be continued after 31 March 1939.Indiasource
  • Increase since 31 December 1937: 16,500 (1.03%).New Zealandsource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • January 1 – State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS).source
  • 2 January - The governmental radio program Hora do Brasil begins to be broadcast throughout the country.Brazilsource
  • January 6 – Construction brand, Kumagai Gumi (熊谷組) has founded in Fukui City.Japansource
  • January 27 – The Honeymoon Bridge at Niagara Falls, New York, collapses as a result of an ice jam.source
  • February 24 – A nylon bristle toothbrush becomes the first commercial product to be made with nylon yarn.source
  • March 1 – Lee Byung-chul establishes a trucking business in Daegu, South Korea, which he names Samsung Trading Co, the forerunner to Samsung.source
  • 14 April – Konak Terminal a busy ferry terminal in İzmir was openedTurkeysource
  • 24 May – The new Anti-Partition Party takes eight seats in a Unionist-controlled Londonderry Corporation.Northern Irelandsource
  • June 15 – László Bíró patents the ballpoint pen in Britain.source
  • 1 July — The new town of Wolfsburg in Lower Saxony is set up to serve the Volkswagen car factory, where production of the Beetle people's car had begun the previous year.Germanysource
  • July 3 – The steam locomotive Mallard sets the world speed record for steam, by reaching 125.88 mph on the London and North Eastern Railway.source
  • 14 July – Moshe Safdie, Israeli-American architect and urban designerMandatory Palestinesource
  • July – The Mauthausen concentration camp is built in Austria.source
  • July – The Mauthausen concentration camp is built.Austriasource
  • September 12 – Hitler makes his much-anticipated closing address at Nuremberg, in which he vehemently attacks the Czech people and President Beneš. American news commentator H. V. Kaltenborn begins his famous marathon of broadcast bulletins over the CBS Radio Network, with a summation of Hitler's address.source
  • December 13 – The Neuengamme concentration camp opens near Hamburg.source
  • The first of the Class 15F 4-8-2 Mountain type, at 255 the most numerous steam locomotive class on the South African Railways (SAR).South Africasource

Science & Discovery

  • January 11 – Leading Korean dancer Choi Seung-hee arrives in San Francisco to begin her international tour in the United States. She is the first Korean Wave entertainer.United Statessource
  • 14 January – Norway claims Queen Maud Land in Antarctica.Norwaysource
  • April 18 – Superman first appears in Action Comics #1 (cover date June). The date is established in court documents released during the legal battle over the rights to Superman (on April 18, 2018, DC Comics released Action Comics #1000).source
  • July 14 – Howard Hughes sets a new record, by completing a 91-hour airplane flight around the world.source
  • July 18 – Wrong Way Corrigan takes off from New York, ostensibly heading for California. He lands in Ireland instead.source
  • 27 September – RMS Queen Elizabeth is launched at Clydebank; she is the largest ship in the world at this time.Scotlandsource
  • October 27 – DuPont announces a name for its new synthetic yarn: "nylon".source
  • December 17 – Otto Hahn discovers the nuclear fission of uranium, the scientific and technological basis of nuclear power, which marks the beginning of the Atomic Age.source
  • 17 December — Nuclear fission of heavy elements is discovered by German Otto Hahn and his assistant Fritz Strassmann.Germanysource
  • Herbert E. Ives and G. R. Stilwell execute the Ives–Stilwell experiment, showing that ions radiate at frequencies affected by their motion.source
  • Dan Meyerstein, Israeli chemist and resident of Ariel UniversityMandatory Palestinesource
  • Douglas Roots (Patea), second, top New ZealanderNew Zealandsource
  • first edition of Witold Gombrowicz's Ferdydurke, even though published in October 1937, is dated 1938,Polandsource
  • Emlyn Williams – The Corn is GreenWalessource

Health & Medicine

  • 6 February – Three hundred beachgoers are dragged out to sea when three freak waves strike Bondi Beach in Sydney in an event known as "Black Sunday". A team of eighty surf lifesavers manage to rescue all but five people.Australiasource
  • February 10 – Carol II of Romania takes dictatorial powers.source
  • 31 March – First public statement about Atatürks's healthTurkeysource
  • June 25 – Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act is signed into law by president Franklin D. Roosevelt.United Statessource
  • September 10 – Hermann Göring, in a speech at Nuremberg, calls the Czechs a "miserable pygmy race" who are "harassing the human race". That same evening, Edvard Beneš, President of Czechoslovakia, makes a broadcast in which he appeals for calm.source
  • 10 September — Hermann Göring, in a speech at Nuremberg, calls the Czechs a "miserable pygmy race" who are "harassing the human race." That same evening, Edvard Beneš, President of Czechoslovakia, makes a broadcast in which he appeals for calm.Germanysource
  • 16 October – Nils Yngvar Ustvedt, medical doctor and politician (born 1868)Norwaysource
  • October 18 – The German government expels 12,000 Polish Jews living in Germany; the Polish government accepts 4,000 and refuses admittance to the remaining 8,000, who are forced to live in the no-man's land on the German-Polish frontier.source
  • November 16 – LSD is first synthesized by Albert Hofmann from ergotamine, at the Sandoz Laboratories in Basel.source
  • Vaccination for tuberculosis (the leading cause of death in young people) is introduced.Canadasource
  • José Rubén Romero — La vida inútil de Pito PérezMexicosource
  • Estimated population as of 31 December: 1,618,500.New Zealandsource

Crime & Justice

  • 24 January- Han Fuju was sentenced to death and executed in Wuchang at 7 pm.Chinasource
  • 15 March – The Soviet Union announces officially that Nikolai Bukharin has been executed.Soviet Unionsource
  • 16 April – Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, the leader of the Iron Guard, along with other members of the party, is arrested. He is sentenced to ten years prison but shot while allegedly trying to escape on 30 November.Romaniasource
  • 28 July – Folk hero Lampião and his band are ambushed in one of his hideouts, the Angicos farm, in the state of Sergipe.Brazilsource
  • October 2 – Tiberias massacre: Arab raiders murder 19 Jewish immigrants.source
  • October 5 – Nuremberg Laws: In Nazi Germany, Jews' passports are invalidated, and those who need a passport for emigration purposes are given one marked with the letter J ("Jude" – "Jew").source
  • 28 October — Some 17,000 Polish Jews are arrested by Nazis and deported to Poland, which refuses them entry and leaves them stranded on the border of the two countries.Germanysource
  • 29 October – Ralph Bakshi, Israeli-American director of animated and live-action filmsMandatory Palestinesource
  • The last Schomburgk's deer in the wild is said to have been killed.source
  • René Magritte, La Durée poignardéeBelgiumsource
  • Bunt Rojstów by Józef Mackiewicz,Polandsource

Disasters & Accidents

  • 13 February – Nineteen people die when Sydney ferry the Rodney, carrying 150 passengers, capsizes in Sydney Harbour while farewelling US Navy cruiser USS Louisville.Australiasource
  • March 3 – The Santa Ana River in California, United States, spills over its banks during a rainy winter, killing 58 people in Orange County, and causing trouble as far inland as Palm Springs.source
  • March 3 – The Santa Ana River in California spills over its banks during a rainy winter, killing 58 people in Orange County and causing trouble as far inland as Palm Springs.United Statessource
  • 27 April – Rolf Olsen, sprint canoer.Norwaysource
  • 20 May – Atatürk's last national tour (to Mersin), he stressed on the Hatay questionTurkeysource
  • June 11 – Fire destroys 214 buildings in Ludza, Latvia.source
  • July 5 – A heavy torrential rain with debris flow hit around Mount Rokko area, Hyogo Prefecture, official death number toll was 715 persons, according to Japanese government confirmed report.Japansource
  • July 28 – Pan Am flying boat Hawaii Clipper disappears with 6 passengers and 9 crew members, en route from Guam to Manila.source
  • 31 July – Tour de France ends, won by Gino Bartali of Italy.Francesource
  • November 9 – Holocaust – Kristallnacht: In Germany, the "night of broken glass" begins as Nazi activists and sympathizers loot and burn Jewish businesses (the all night affair sees 7,500 Jewish businesses destroyed, 267 synagogues burned, 91 Jews killed and at least 25,000 Jewish men arrested). One of several significant events on 9 November in German history.source
  • 9 November — Holocaust – Kristallnacht: In Germany, the "night of broken glass" begins as Nazi activists and sympathizers loot and burn Jewish businesses (the all night affair sees 7,500 Jewish businesses destroyed, 267 synagogues burned, 91 Jews killed, and at least 25,000 Jewish men arrested).Germanysource
  • Mining comes to an end at Dolaucothi Gold Mines.Walessource

Climate & Environment

  • 19 February: 21 people working on the Wairoa-Gisborne railway are drowned when a flash flood hits a works camp at Kopuawhara near Mahia.New Zealandsource
  • 19 April – 1938 Kırşehir earthquakeTurkeysource
  • June 5 & 7 – The 1938 Yellow River flood is created by the Nationalist government in central China, breaching embankments during the early stage of the Second Sino-Japanese War, in an attempt to halt the rapid advance of Japanese forces. The flood kills at least 400,000, covers and destroys thousands of square kilometers of farmland, and shifts the mouth of the Yellow River hundreds of kilometers to the south.source
  • September 21 – The 1938 New England hurricane in the United States strikes Long Island and southern New England, killing over 300 along the Rhode Island shoreline and 600 altogether.source
  • September 21 – The New England Hurricane of 1938 strikes Long Island and southern New England, killing over 300 along the Rhode Island shoreline and approximately 600 in total.United Statessource
  • December 23 – A coelacanth, a fish thought to have been extinct, is caught off the coast of South Africa, near the Chalumna River.source
  • December 23 – A coelacanth, a fish thought to have gone extinct prehistorically, is caught off the east coast near Chalumna River mouth.South Africasource
  • December 27 – A massive avalanche of snow hits a construction worker dormitory site in Kurobe, Japan, killing 87 people.source
  • December 27 – 1938 Unazuki avalanche, 84 persons were fatalities in Toyama Prefecture, according to Japanese government official confirmed report.Japansource
  • Date unknown – Letea Forest is declared the first nature reserve in Romania.Romaniasource
  • unknown date – Family plots produce 22% of all Soviet agricultural produce, on only 4% of all cultivated land.Soviet Unionsource

Culture & Society

  • January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Safinaz Zulficar, who becomes Queen Farida, in Cairo.source
  • February 4 – Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first cel-animated feature in motion picture history, is released in the United States, following a premiere on December 21 of the previous year.source
  • March 24 - National Mobilization LawJapansource
  • April 24 A general meeting of Camp of National Unity takes place in Katowice,Polandsource
  • 2 June – Fisherman's Day, created.Icelandsource
  • June 19 – Italy beats Hungary 4–2, to win the 1938 FIFA World Cup.source
  • 19 June – Italy wins the FIFA World Cup by defeating Hungary, 4–2, in the final game at the Stade Olympique de Colombes in Paris, France.Italysource
  • June 27 – Kathryn Beaumont, British actresssource
  • July 1 – The South African Press Association is established, with offices in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, Bloemfontein and Pretoria.source
  • 24 November – The founding of the kibbutz EilonMandatory Palestinesource
  • November 30 – A general strike is called in France by the French Communist Party, to protest the laws of November 12.source
  • December 24 – Leading Korean dancer Choi Seung-hee arrives in Le Havre, France after her tour in the United States. This is to begin her European tour in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands. She is the first Korean Wave entertainer.source
  • Estonian Academy of Sciences is founded.Estoniasource
  • Beautiful Mexico, musical directed by and starring Ramón Pereda, with Adriana Lamar and Antonio R. FraustoMexicosource
  • The 1938 European Figure Skating Championships take place in St. Moritz.Switzerlandsource

Births

  • January 5 – King Juan Carlos I of Spainsource
  • January 25 – Vladimir Vysotsky, Russian singer-songwriter, poet and actor (died 1980)source
  • February 24: Manuel de Novas (died 2009), poet and composerCape Verdesource
  • March 17 – Rudolf Nureyev, Russian-born dancer, choreographer (died 1993)source
  • 22 March – Rein Etruk, Estonian chess playerEstoniasource
  • March 24 – David Irving, English author and Holocaust deniersource
  • April 8 – Kofi Annan, Ghanaian Secretary-General of the United Nations, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (died 2018)source
  • April 29 – Bernard Madoff, American financial fraudster (died 2021)source
  • May 28 – Jerry West, American basketball player and executive (died 2024)source
  • July 28 – Alberto Fujimori, Peruvian politician and dictator, President of Peru (died 2024)source
  • July 28 – Alberto Fujimori, President of Peru 1990–2000 (died 2024)Perusource
  • July 29 – Peter Jennings, Canadian-American journalist (died 2005)source
  • September 1 – Alan Dershowitz, American lawyer and academicsource
  • 9 October – Heinz Fischer, politicianAustriasource
  • October 17 – Evel Knievel, American motorcycle daredevil (died 2007)source
  • October 29 – Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, 24th President of Liberiasource
  • November 17 – Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian folk singer-songwriter (died 2023)source
  • November 19 – Ted Turner, American entrepreneur and cable television pioneer (died 2026)source

Deaths

  • January 21 – Georges Méliès, French film director (born 1861)source
  • March 1 – Gabriele D'Annunzio, Italian writer, war hero, and politician (born 1863)source
  • March 15 – Nikolai Bukharin, Soviet politician (executed) (born 1888)source
  • March 15 – Nikolai Bukharin, Alexei Rykov, Nikolay Krestinsky, Genrikh Yagoda, Arkady Rosengolts, Vladimir Ivanov, Mikhail Alexandrovich Chernov, Hryhoriy Hrynko, Fayzulla Khodzhayev and Vasily SharangovichSoviet Unionsource
  • April 15 - César Vallejo, poet (born 1892)Perusource
  • April 21 – Sir Muhammad Iqbal, Indian philosopher, poet (born 1877)source
  • April 27 – Edmund Husserl, Austrian philosopher (born 1859)source
  • 4 June – Otto Bauer, Social Democrat (born 1881; heart attack)Austriasource
  • July 4 – Suzanne Lenglen, French tennis champion (born 1899)source
  • July 18 – Queen Marie of Romania (born 1875)source
  • August 7 – Konstantin Stanislavsky, Soviet theatre practitioner (born 1863)source
  • August 16 – Robert Johnson, American blues singer (born 1911)source
  • October 17 – Karl Kautsky, Austrian Marxist theoretician (born 1854)source
  • November 7 – Ernst vom Rath, the Third Secretary at the German Embassy in Paris, is assassinated by Herschel Grynszpan.source
  • November 10 – Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, 1st Prime Minister of Turkey, 1st President of Turkey (born c.1881)source
  • 10 November - Kemal Atatürk (born in 1881), President of TurkeyTurkeysource
  • November 30 – Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, Romanian fascist politician, leader of the Iron Guard (executed along other Guard activists) (born 1899)source
  • November 30 – Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, leader of the Romanian fascist Iron Guard, is murdered on the orders of King Carol II of Romania. Officially, Codreanu and the 13 other Iron Guard leaders are "shot while trying to escape".source