/year

The 1930s

2,174 sourced entries across 10 years, inside the 20th century. Each year below opens its own page; the lines under it are that year’s highest-ranked entries.

1930 CE205 entries

  • February 18 – While studying photographs taken in January, Clyde Tombaugh confirms the existence of Pluto, a celestial body considered a planet until redefined as a dwarf planet in 2006.
  • April 6 – In an act of civil disobedience, Mahatma Gandhi breaks the salt laws of British India by making salt by the sea at the end of the Salt March.
  • July 30 – Uruguay beats Argentina 4–2 to win the first FIFA World Cup final in Association football, at Estadio Centenario in Montevideo.

1931 CE198 entries

  • May 11 – The Creditanstalt, Austria's largest bank, goes bankrupt, beginning the banking collapse in Central Europe that causes a worldwide financial meltdown.
  • June–November – 1931 China flood: the Yangtze and Huai Rivers flood in a populous region, leaving an estimated 422,000 dead (150,000 drowned) with many more dying of consequential starvation and disease in the aftermath.
  • September 18 – The Japanese military stages the Mukden Incident, an explosion blamed on Chinese dissidents and used as a pretext for the Japanese invasion of Manchuria.

1932 CE259 entries

  • 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.
  • September 9 – Beginning of the Chaco War between Paraguay and Bolivia because of delimitation problems and others.
  • The Australian Olympic team wins 3 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medal at the 1932 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles

1933 CE239 entries

  • March 23 – Gleichschaltung: The Reichstag passes the Enabling Act, making Adolf Hitler effectively the dictator of Germany.
  • April 4 – American airship Akron crashes off the coast of New Jersey, killing 73 of its 76 crewmen. It is the worst aviation accident in history up to this date (and until 1950).
  • December 5 – The Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, repealing Prohibition in the United States, making production and sale of alcohol legal in the U.S.

1934 CE191 entries

  • June 10 – Italy beats Czechoslovakia 2–1 after extra time, to win the 1934 World Cup, staged in Italy.
  • 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.
  • October 9 – King Alexander of Yugoslavia and French foreign minister Louis Barthou are assassinated, during the king's state visit in Marseille.

1935 CE201 entries

  • March 1 – 1935 Greek coup d'état attempt: Nikolaos Plastiras, Anastasios Papoulas and other Venizelists lead a coup against the People's Party government in Greece. The attempt is suppressed by March 11, and the leaders condemned to death for treason.
  • September 15 – The Nuremberg Laws go into effect in Germany, removing citizenship from Jews.
  • October 2–3 – The Second Italo-Ethiopian War begins, as Italian General Emilio De Bono invades Ethiopia.

1936 CE192 entries

  • January 20 – The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King Edward VIII, following the death of his father, George V, at Sandringham House.
  • July 17 – The Spanish Army of Africa launches a coup d'état against the Republican Second Spanish Republic, beginning the Spanish Civil War.
  • August 1–August 16 – Japan competes at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Japan wins six gold medals, four silvers, and eight Bronze.

1937 CE225 entries

  • March 18 – New London School explosion: In the worst school disaster in American history in terms of lives lost, the New London School in New London, Texas, suffers a catastrophic natural gas explosion, killing in excess of 295 students and teachers. Mother Frances Hospital opens in Tyler, Texas, a day ahead of schedule, in response to the explosion.
  • May 6 – Hindenburg disaster: In the United States, the German airship Hindenburg bursts into flame when mooring to a mast in Lakehurst, New Jersey. Of the 36 passengers and 61 crew on board, 13 passengers and 22 crew die, as well as one member of the ground crew.
  • July 7 – In the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, Japanese and Chinese forces exchange fire near Beijing, beginning the Second Sino-Japanese War.

1938 CE225 entries

  • 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.
  • 30 September – Munich Agreement is signed by France, Germany, Britain and Italy permitting German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.
  • 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.

1939 CE239 entries

  • August 23 – The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact is signed between Germany and the Soviet Union, a neutrality treaty that also agrees to division of spheres of influence (Finland, Estonia, Latvia, eastern Poland and Bessarabia (modern-day Moldova), north-east province of Romania to the Soviet Union; Lithuania and western Poland to Germany). Its annex reassigns Lithuania to the Soviet Union.
  • 1 September – Invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany. France and Britain deliver ultimatums to Germany and France declares full mobilization.
  • September 18 – WWII: Orzeł incident: Polish submarine ORP Orzeł escapes internment from Tallinn Harbour, Estonia, leading both the Soviet Union and Germany to question Estonia's neutrality.