date: February 26

text: February 26 – February 26 Incident (二・二六事件, Niniroku Jiken): The Imperial Way Faction engineers a failed coup against the Japanese government; some politicians are killed.


date: April 15

section: Conflict & Security

text: April 15 – The Tulkarm shooting, followed by Jewish retaliation, begins the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine against British administration, and stokes opposition to Jewish immigration.

source_section: Events › March–April


date: May 5

text: May 5 – March of the Iron Will: Italian forces occupy Addis Ababa unopposed.

source_section: Events › May–June


date: July 17

text: July 17 – The Spanish Army of Africa launches a coup d'état against the Republican Second Spanish Republic, beginning the Spanish Civil War.

source_section: Events › July–August


date: July 19

text: July 19 – The first of hundreds of concentration camps open in Francoist Spain in the Alcazaba of Zeluán.


date: July 24

text: July 24 – Carmelite Martyrs of Guadalajara: 3 nuns are shot dead by the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War).


date: August 4

text: August 4 – A self-coup is staged by Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas, marking the beginning of the authoritarian 4th of August Regime, which will rule Greece until the Axis occupation of Greece in 1941.


date: September 5

text: September 5 – Spanish Civil War: Robert Capa's photograph The Falling Soldier is taken.

source_section: Events › September–October


date: September 9

text: September 9 – 1936 Naval Revolt (Portugal): The crews of Portuguese Navy frigate NRP Afonso de Albuquerque and destroyer Dão mutiny while anchored in Lisbon Harbour. Opposed to the Salazar dictatorship's support of General Franco's coup in Spain, they declare their solidarity with the Second Spanish Republic.


date: September 4

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: September 4–5 – English-born aviator Beryl Markham becomes the first woman to make an east-to-west solo transatlantic flight, from Abingdon-on-Thames, England, to Baleine, Nova Scotia.


date: March 1

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: March 1 – Construction of Hoover Dam is completed in the United States.


date: June 26

text: June 26 – Focke-Wulf Fw 61, the first fully controllable helicopter, makes its maiden flight.


date: November 2

text: November 2 – The BBC launches the world's first regular television service in high-definition (according to contemporary standards).

source_section: Events › November–December


text: November 2 – The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) begins radio in Canada.


date: November 12

text: November 12 – In California, the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opens to traffic.


date: February 4

section: Science & Discovery

text: February 4 – Radium E (bismuth-210) becomes the first radioactive element to be made synthetically.

source_section: Events › January–February


date: May 28

text: May 28 - Alan Turing submits "On Computable Numbers", proving the undecidability of the Halting problem and the decision problem for logic. Computer scientist Avi Wigderson called this paper "easily the most influential math paper in history".


date: June 19

text: June 19 – The total solar eclipse of June 19, 1936 is visible in Greece, Turkey, Russia and Japan. It is part of Solar Saros 126; Gamma is a value of 0.53889.


date: July 4

text: July 4 – First publication recognizing stress as a biological condition.


date: October 19

text: October 19 – H. R. Ekins, reporter for the New York World-Telegram, wins a race to travel around the world on commercial airline flights, beating Dorothy Kilgallen of the New York Journal and Leo Kieran of The New York Times. The flight takes 18½ days.


text: Nestlé introduce the white chocolate Milkybar (called Galak in Continental Europe and elsewhere).

source_section: Events › Date unknown


date: September 13

section: Health & Medicine

text: September 13 – In response to a polio outbreak, Chicago Public Schools launches a distance education program which constitutes the first large-scale use of radio broadcasts to facilitate distance education.


date: December 7

text: December 7 – Streptococcous meningitis (a condition previously 99% fatal) is successfully treated for the first time with a sulfonamide.


date: November 19

section: Crime & Justice

text: November 19 and 20 – Buenaventura Durruti, a major Spanish anarchist, is fatally shot in Madrid, dying the following day.


date: December 12

text: December 12 – Xi'an Incident: Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek of the Republic of China is kidnapped by Marshal Zhang Xueliang.


text: The Viking Age craftsman's Mästermyr chest is discovered in the Mästermyr mire (after which it is later named), west of Hemse, on the island of Gotland, Sweden.


text: Joseph Stalin's Great Purge begins in the Soviet Union.


date: May 25

section: Disasters & Accidents

text: May 25 – The Remington Rand strike of 1936–37 begins, spawning the notorious Mohawk Valley formula, a corporate plan for strikebreaking.


date: November 20

text: November 20 – A levee failure and continued massive rain at the Mitsubishi Osarizawa mine, Kazuno, northeastern Akita, Japan, results in at least 375 deaths.


date: November 30

text: November 30 – A spectacular fire destroys The Crystal Palace in London, originally built for the 1851 Great Exhibition.


date: April 5

section: Climate & Environment

text: April 5 – A tornado hits Tupelo, Mississippi, United States, killing 216 people and injuring over 700 (the 4th deadliest tornado in U.S. history).


text: June 19 – Per Albin Hansson resigns as Prime Minister of Sweden, over the issue of defence policy. He is replaced by the leader of the Farmer's League (Bondeförbundet) Axel Pehrsson-Bramstorp, who also becomes Minister of Agriculture.


date: November 3

text: November 3 – 1936 United States presidential election: Franklin D. Roosevelt is reelected to a second term, in a landslide victory over Kansas Governor Alf Landon; farmers support Roosevelt.


text: West China Famine: An estimated five million people die.


date: January 28

section: Culture & Society

text: January 28 – State funeral of George V of the United Kingdom. After a procession through London, he is buried at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.


date: February 5

text: February 5 – Modern Times, widely considered one of the greatest films ever, premieres in New York City.


date: February 6

text: February 6 – The IV Olympic Winter Games open in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.


date: August 1

text: August 1 – The 1936 Summer Olympics open in Berlin, Germany, and mark the first live television coverage of an international sports event in world history (John Logie Baird had broadcast the Derby horse race in Britain in 1931).


date: August 3

text: August 3 – 1936 Summer Olympics: African-American athlete Jesse Owens wins the 100-meter dash.


date: August 14

text: August 14 – 1936 Summer Olympics: The Junior Varsity Rowing Crew from the University of Washington surprises the world listening on radio when they come from behind to win Olympic Gold.


date: September 10

text: September 10 – The first World Speedway Championship is held at Wembley Stadium in London, England. It is won by Australian Lionel Van Praag, with Englishman Eric Langton second and Australian Bluey Wilkinson third.


date: November 23

text: November 23 – Cover date of the first issue of Life, a weekly news magazine launched in the United States under the management of Henry Luce.


date: December 24

text: December 24 – The first filmed Ukrainian opera, Natalka Poltavka, is released in Ukraine.


date: February 17

section: Births

text: February 17 – Jim Brown, African-American football player and actor (d. 2023)

source_section: Births › February


date: March 6

text: March 6 – Marion Barry, African-American civil rights activist and politician (d. 2014)

source_section: Births › March


date: March 10

text: March 10 – Sepp Blatter, Swiss sports administrator, president of FIFA


date: March 11

text: March 11 – Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 2016)


date: March 28

text: March 28 – Mario Vargas Llosa, Peruvian writer, politician, journalist and essayist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2025)


date: April 9

text: April 9 – Valerie Solanas, American feminist writer who attempts to kill Andy Warhol (d. 1988)

source_section: Births › April


date: June 23

text: June 23 – Costas Simitis, Greek politician, 78th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2025)

source_section: Births › June


date: June 25

text: June 25 – B. J. Habibie, Indonesian politician, 3rd President of Indonesia (d. 2019)


text: August 1 – Yves Saint Laurent, Algerian-born French fashion designer (d. 2008)

source_section: Births › August


date: August 29

text: August 29 – John McCain, American politician, U.S. Senator (R-Az.) (d. 2018)


date: September 14

text: September 14 – Walter Koenig, American actor (Star Trek: The Original Series)

source_section: Births › September


date: September 24

text: September 24 – Jim Henson, American puppeteer, filmmaker and television producer (The Muppets) (d. 1990)


date: September 29

text: September 29 – Silvio Berlusconi, 50th Prime Minister of Italy, media entrepreneur (d. 2023)


date: December 13

text: December 13 – Prince Karim Al-Husseini, Aga Khan IV, Swiss-born 49th imam of Nizari Isma'ilis, businessman, philanthropist and racehorse owner (d. 2025)

source_section: Births › December


date: January 18

section: Deaths

text: January 18 – Rudyard Kipling, British writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)

source_section: Deaths › January


date: January 20

text: 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.


date: February 8

text: February 8 – Charles Curtis, 31st Vice President of the United States (b. 1860)

source_section: Deaths › February


date: February 19

text: February 19 – Billy Mitchell, American general, military aviation pioneer (b. 1879)


date: February 27

text: February 27 – Ivan Pavlov, Russian psychologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1849)


date: March 18

text: March 18 – Eleftherios Venizelos, Greek statesman, several times Prime Minister (b. 1864)

source_section: Deaths › March


date: April 3

text: April 3 – Richard Hauptmann, German killer of Charles Lindbergh Jr. (executed) (b. 1899)

source_section: Deaths › April


date: June 11

text: June 11 – Robert E. Howard, American pulp fiction writer (suicide) (b. 1906)

source_section: Deaths › June


date: July 23

text: July 23 – Anna Abrikosova, Soviet Roman Catholic religious sister and servant of God (b. 1882)

source_section: Deaths › July


date: September 7

text: September 7 – The last known thylacine ("Tasmanian tiger"), named Benjamin, dies in Hobart Zoo in Tasmania.

source_section: Events › September–October


date: October 19

text: October 19 – Lu Xun, leading figure of modern Chinese literature (b. 1881)

source_section: Deaths › October


date: December 9

text: December 9 – Juan de la Cierva, Spanish civil engineer, aviator and aeronautical engineer, inventor of the autogyro (b. 1895)

source_section: Deaths › December


date: December 10

text: December 10 – Luigi Pirandello, Italian dramatist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1867)


date: December 18

text: December 18 – Leonardo Torres Quevedo, Spanish engineer, a pioneer of computing and radio control, inventor of El Ajedrecista (The Chess Player) (b. 1852)


date: January 1

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua.

source_section: Events › January


text: February 19 – The red, white and blue colours of the flag of the Netherlands are confirmed by royal decree.

source_section: Events › February


date: April 1

text: April 1 – Aden becomes a British crown colony.

source_section: Events › April


date: May 28

text: May 28 – Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, following the retirement of Stanley Baldwin.

source_section: Events › May


date: June 8

text: June 8 – The Dáil Éireann passes the Executive Authority (Consequential Provisions) Act, 1937, which abolishes the office of Governor-General of the Irish Free State, retrospectively dated to December 1936.

source_section: Events › June


date: June 21

text: June 21 – The coalition government of Léon Blum resigns in France.


date: June

text: June–July – The Dáil Éireann debates and passes the new draft Constitution of Ireland, which is then submitted for public approval by plebiscite.


date: July 1

text: July 1 – In a referendum the people of the Irish Free State accept the new Constitution by 685,105 votes to 527,945.

source_section: Events › July


date: July 7

text: July 7 – The Peel Commission proposes partition of the British Mandate of Palestine into separate Arab and Jewish states.


date: July 21

text: July 21 – Éamon de Valera is elected President of the Executive Council (prime minister) of the Irish Free State, by the Dáil (parliament).


date: July 22

text: July 22 – New Deal: The United States Senate votes down President Franklin D. Roosevelt's proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court of the United States.


date: September 5

text: September 5 – Roberto Ortiz is elected president of Argentina.

source_section: Events › September


date: September 10

text: September 10 – Nine nations meet in the Nyon Conference, led by the United Kingdom and France, to address international piracy in the Mediterranean.


date: October 11

text: October 11 – Duke and Duchess of Windsor's 1937 tour of Germany: The Duke and Duchess of Windsor arrive in Berlin to begin a 12-day tour of Nazi Germany, meeting Adolf Hitler on the 22nd.

source_section: Events › October


date: October 13

text: October 13 – Germany, in a note to Brussels, guarantees the inviolability and integrity of Belgium so long as the latter abstains from military action against Germany.


date: October 23

text: October 23 – 1937 Australian federal election: Joseph Lyons' UAP/Country Coalition government is re-elected with a slightly increased majority, defeating the Labor Party led by John Curtin.


date: October 25

text: October 25 – Celâl Bayar forms the new (ninth) government of Turkey.


date: November 6

text: November 6 – Italy joins the Anti-Comintern Pact.

source_section: Events › November


date: November 10

text: November 10 – Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas announces the Estado Novo ("New State"), thence becoming dictator of Brazil until 1945.


date: December 29

text: December 29 – The new Constitution of Ireland (Bunreacht na hÉireann) comes into force. The Irish Free State becomes "Ireland", and Éamon de Valera becomes the first Taoiseach (prime minister) of the new state. A Presidential Commission (made up the Chief Justice, the Speaker of Dáil Éireann, and the President of the High Court) assumes the powers of the new presidency, pending the popular election of the first President of Ireland in June 1938. The new constitution prohibits divorce.

source_section: Events › December


text: Slavery in Bahrain is abolished.

source_section: Events › Date unknown


date: January 15

text: January 15 – Spanish Civil War: The Second Battle of the Corunna Road ends inconclusively.


date: January 23

text: January 23 – Moscow Trials: Trial of the Anti-Soviet Trotskyist Center – In the Soviet Union 17 leading Communists go on trial, accused of participating in a plot led by Leon Trotsky to overthrow Joseph Stalin's regime, and assassinate its leaders.


date: February 8

text: February 8–27 – Spanish Civil War – Battle of Jarama: Nationalist and Republican troops fight to a stalemate.


date: February 21

text: February 21 – The League of Nations Non-Intervention Committee prohibits foreign nationals from fighting in the Spanish Civil War.


date: March 21

text: March 21 – Ponce massacre: A police squad, acting under orders from Governor of Puerto Rico Blanton Winship, opens fire on peaceful demonstrators protesting at the arrest of Puerto Rican Nationalist Party leader Pedro Albizu Campos, killing 17 people and injuring over 200.

source_section: Events › March


date: April 1

text: April 1 – The Bombing of Jaén is carried out in Spain, by the Condor Legion of the Nazi German Luftwaffe.


date: April 26

text: April 26 – Spanish Civil War: The Bombing of Guernica is carried out in Spain, by the Condor Legion of the Nazi German Luftwaffe, in support of the Francoists. Three-quarters of the town is destroyed and hundreds killed.


date: May 7

text: May 7 – Spanish Civil War: The German Condor Legion Fighter Group, equipped with Heinkel He 51 biplanes, arrives in Spain to assist Francisco Franco's forces.


date: May 21

text: May 21 – As one of the reprisals for the attempted assassination of Italian viceroy Rodolfo Graziani, a detachment of Italian troops massacres the entire community of Debre Libanos in Ethiopia, killing 297 monks and 23 laymen.


date: May 30

text: May 30 – Memorial Day massacre of 1937: The Chicago Police Department shoot and kill 10 unarmed demonstrators in Chicago.


date: July 25

text: July 25–31 – Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Beiping–Tianjin, a series of actions fought around Beiping and Tianjin, result in Japanese victory.


date: July 29

text: July 29 – Tongzhou Mutiny: Units of the East Hebei Army mutiny and kill Japanese troops and civilians in Tongzhou.


date: August 5

text: August 5 – The Soviet Union commences one of the largest campaigns of the Great Purge, to "eliminate anti-Soviet elements". Within the following year, at least 724,000 people are fired on order of the troikas, directed by Joseph Stalin. This is an offensive that targets social classes (such as the kulaks or nobles) and Stalin's personal opponents from the Communist Party and their sympathizers.

source_section: Events › August


date: August 13

text: August 13 – Second Sino-Japanese War: The Battle of Shanghai opens.


date: August 24

text: August 24 – Spanish Civil War: The government of the autonomous Basque Country agrees to surrender to the nationalists.


date: September 5

text: September 5 – Spanish Civil War: The city of Llanes falls to the Falangists.


date: September 25

text: September 25 – Second Sino-Japanese War - Battle of Pingxingguan: The Communist Chinese Eighth Route Army defeats the Japanese.


date: September 30

text: September 30 – Hedy Lamarr, an Austrian-born actress of Jewish descent, arrives in New York City to flee from her possessive husband, Friedrich Mandl, who made arms agreements with the Nazis, and to begin her Hollywood career.


date: October 2

text: October 2–8 – Parsley Massacre: Under the orders of President Rafael Trujillo, Dominican troops kill thousands of Haitians living in the Dominican Republic.


date: October 3

text: October 3 – Second Sino-Japanese War: Japanese troops advance toward Nanjing, capital of the Republic of China.


date: October 18

text: October 18–21 – Spanish Civil War: The whole Spanish northern seaboard falls into the Falangists' hands; Republican forces in Gijón, Spain, set fire to petrol reserves prior to retreating before the advancing Falangists.


date: November 5

text: November 5 – World War II: In the Reich Chancellery, Adolf Hitler holds a secret meeting and states his plans for acquiring "living space" for the German people (recorded in the Hossbach Memorandum).


date: December 1

text: December 1 – Second Sino-Japanese War: The Battle of Nanjing begins.


date: December 13

text: December 13 – Second Sino-Japanese War: The Battle of Nanjing ends with the Japanese occupying the city. In the Nanjing Massacre which follows, Japanese soldiers kill over 200,000 Chinese in 3 months. A few days previously, the Nationalist government of China had moved its capital to the southwestern city Chongqing.


text: May 21 – A Russian manned ice station becomes the first scientific research settlement to operate on the drift ice of the Arctic Ocean.


date: July 2

text: July 2 – Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappear after taking off from New Guinea, during Earhart's attempt to become the first woman to fly around the world.


date: February 19

section: Religion & Belief

text: February 19 – Yekatit 12: During a public ceremony at the Viceregal Palace (the former Imperial residence) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, two Eritrean nationalists attempt to kill viceroy Rodolfo Graziani with a number of grenades. Italian security guards fire into the crowd of Ethiopian onlookers. Authorities exact further reprisals, which include indiscriminately slaughtering native Ethiopians over the next 3 days, detaining thousands of Ethiopians at Danan and slaughtering almost 300 monks at the Debre Libanos Monastery.


date: March 10

text: March 10 (dated March 14 (Passion Sunday)) – The encyclical Mit brennender Sorge ("With burning concern") of Pope Pius XI is published in Germany in the German language. Largely the work of Cardinals von Faulhaber and Pacelli, it condemns breaches of the 1933 Reichskonkordat agreement signed between the Nazi government and the Catholic Church, and criticises Nazism's views on race and other matters incompatible with Catholicism.


date: March 19

text: March 19 – The encyclical Divini Redemptoris of Pope Pius XI, critical of communism, is published.


date: May 12

text: May 12 – George VI and Elizabeth are crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor and Empress of India at Westminster Abbey, London.


date: September 17

text: September 17 – Abraham Lincoln's head is dedicated at Mount Rushmore.


date: August 2

section: Economy & Finance

text: August 2 – The Marijuana Tax Act in the United States is a significant bill on the path that will lead to the criminalization of cannabis. It was introduced to the U.S. Congress by Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics Harry Anslinger.


date: August 28

text: August 28 – Toyota was incorporated and founded on this day.


date: December 11

text: December 11 – Italy withdraws from the League of Nations.


text: The Vibora Luviminda sugar plantation trade unions strike on Maui island, Hawaii.


date: February 16

text: February 16 – Wallace H. Carothers receives a patent for nylon in the United States.


date: April 9

text: April 9 – The Kamikaze arrives at Croydon Airport in London; it is the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly to Europe.


date: April 12

text: April 12 – Frank Whittle ground-tests the world's first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at Rugby, England.


date: July 7

text: July 7 – In the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, Japanese and Chinese forces exchange fire near Beijing, beginning the Second Sino-Japanese War.


date: July 20

text: July 20 – The Geibeltbad Pirna water sports facility is opened in Dresden, Germany.


date: September 7

text: September 7 – CBS broadcasts a two-and-a-half hour memorial concert nationwide on radio in memory of George Gershwin, live from the Hollywood Bowl. Many celebrities appear, including Oscar Levant, Fred Astaire, Otto Klemperer, Lily Pons and members of the original cast of Porgy and Bess. The concert is recorded and released complete years later in what is excellent sound for its time, on CD. The Los Angeles Philharmonic is the featured orchestra.


date: December 12

text: December 12 – Mae West makes a risqué guest appearance on NBC's Chase and Sanborn Hour, which eventually results in her being banned from radio.


text: The Allen Organ Company, builder of church, home and theatre organs, is founded in Macungie, Pennsylvania.


text: Switzerland begins construction of its Border Line defences.


text: Soviet industry produces about four times as much as it had in 1928.


date: June 8

text: June 8 – The first total solar eclipse to exceed 7 minutes of totality, in over 800 years, is visible in the Pacific and Peru.


date: December 4

text: December 4 – The Dandy comic is first published in Scotland; it continued until 2012 as a physical publication, then online until 2013.


date: March 18

text: 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.


date: October 5

text: October 5 – Roosevelt gives his famous Quarantine Speech in Chicago.


text: Italian psychiatrist Amarro Fiamberti is the first to document a transorbital approach to the brain, which becomes the basis for the controversial medical procedure of transorbital lobotomy.


date: January 30

text: January 30 – The Moscow Trial initiated on January 23 is concluded. Thirteen of the defendants are sentenced to death (including Georgy Pyatakov, Nikolay Muralov and Leonid Serebryakov), while the rest, including Karl Radek and Grigory Sokolnikov are sent to labor camps and later murdered. They were initially spared for implicating others, including Rykov, Bukharin and Tukhachevsky, setting the stage for further trials


date: July 1

text: July 1 – The Gestapo arrests pastor Martin Niemöller in Germany.


date: July 31

text: July 31 – NKVD Order No. 00447 "Об операции по репрессированию бывших кулаков, уголовников и других антисоветских элементов" ("The operation for repression of former kulaks, criminals and other anti-Soviet elements") is approved by the decision of the Politbureau of the CC of the VKP(b) of the Soviet Union, initially as a 4-month plan for 75,950 people to be executed and an additional 193,000 to be sent to the Gulag.


date: August 9

text: August 9 – The Polish Operation of the NKVD (1937–38) is signed by Nikolai Yezhov as a continuation of the Great Purge.


date: October 1

text: October 1 – The Marihuana Tax Act becomes law in the United States.


date: February 19

text: February 19 – Airliner VH-UHH (Stinson) goes down over Lamington National Park, bound for Sydney, killing 5 people.


date: April 20

text: April 20 – A fire in an elementary school in Kilingi-Nõmme, Estonia, kills 17 students and injures 50.


date: May 6

text: 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.


date: July 9

text: July 9 – 1937 Fox vault fire: The silent film archives of Fox Film Corporation are destroyed


date: November 11

text: November 11 – The Kogushi Sulfur Mine collapse, in western Gunma, Japan, kills at least 245 people.


text: December 12 – USS Panay incident: Japanese bombers sink the American gunboat on the Yangtze in China; the United States accepts the Japanese statement that this was unintentional.


date: January 5

text: January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into February, leaving 1 million people homeless and 385 people dead.


date: September 2

text: September 2 – The Great Hong Kong Typhoon kills an estimated 11,000 persons.


date: February 25

text: February 25 – Hergé's Tintin adventure The Broken Ear (L'Oreille cassée) concludes serialization in the Belgian weekly newspaper supplement Le Petit Vingtième, and soon afterwards is published as a book in black and white.


date: May 8

text: May 8 – Wydad Athletic Club (WAC)(Arabic: نادي الوداد الرياضي; Berber: Wydad Dar al-Beida; commonly: Wydad al ouma) is established in Casablanca, Morocco; it will be best known for its Casablanca Association football team.


date: June 3

text: June 3 – Wallis Simpson marries the Duke of Windsor, the former Edward VIII, in France.


date: June

text: June – Picasso completes his painting Guernica.


date: September 19

text: September 19 – Swiss professional ice hockey club HC Ambrì-Piotta is founded.


date: September 21

text: September 21 – George Allen & Unwin, Ltd. of London publishes the first edition of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.


date: October 15

text: October 15 – Ernest Hemingway's novel To Have and Have Not is first published, in the United States.


date: December 16

text: December 16 – The original production of the musical Me and My Girl opens at the Victoria Palace Theatre, in London's West End. A later revival will win an award.


date: December 21

text: December 21 – Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the world's first feature-length cel animated film, premieres at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles.


date: December 25

text: December 25 – At the age of 70, conductor Arturo Toscanini conducts the NBC Symphony Orchestra on radio for the first time, beginning his successful 17-year tenure with that orchestra. This first concert consists of music by Vivaldi (at a time when he is seldom played), Mozart, and Brahms. Millions tune in to listen, including U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.


date: January 18

text: January 18 – John Hume, Northern Irish politician, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (d. 2020)

source_section: Births › January


date: March 6

text: March 6 – Valentina Tereshkova, Russian cosmonaut, first woman in space

source_section: Births › March


date: April 19

text: April 19 – Joseph Estrada, Filipino actor and politician, 13th President of the Philippines

source_section: Births › April


date: April 20

text: April 20 – George Takei, Japanese-American actor, director and author (Star Trek)


date: May 15

text: May 15 – Madeleine Albright, Czech-born American politician and diplomat (d. 2022)

source_section: Births › May


date: June 16

text: June 16 – Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Tsar of Bulgaria (1943–1946), 48th Prime Minister of Bulgaria (2001–2005)

source_section: Births › June


date: June 23

text: June 23 – Martti Ahtisaari, 10th President of Finland, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 2023)


date: July 2

text: July 2 – Richard Petty, American stock car racer, 7-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion

source_section: Births › July


date: July 12

text: July 12 – Bill Cosby, African-American actor, comedian, educator and convicted sex offender


date: July 18

text: July 18 – Hunter S. Thompson, American author and journalist (d. 2005)


date: July 22

text: July 22 – Adrienne Hill, British actress appeared in 199 Park Lane and Doctor Who (d. 1997)


date: September 15

text: September 15 – Fernando de la Rúa, Argentine politician, 43rd President of Argentina (d. 2019)

source_section: Births › September


date: October 20

text: October 20 – Wanda Jackson, American singer, songwriter, pianist and guitarist

source_section: Births › October


date: December 29

text: December 29 – Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, President of the Maldives (1978–2008)

source_section: Births › December


date: February 7

text: February 7 – Elihu Root, American statesman, diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize recipient (b. 1845)

source_section: Deaths › February


date: March 15

text: March 15 – H. P. Lovecraft, American writer (b. 1890)

source_section: Deaths › March


date: March 16

text: March 16 – Sir Austen Chamberlain, British statesman, Nobel Peace Prize recipient (b. 1863)


date: April 14

text: April 14 – Ned Hanlon, American baseball manager, MLB Hall of Famer (b. 1857)

source_section: Deaths › April


date: April 27

text: April 27 – Antonio Gramsci, Italian Communist writer, politician (b. 1891)


date: June 4

text: June 4 – Keke Geladze, mother of Joseph Stalin, Leader of the Soviet Union (b. 1858)

source_section: Deaths › June


date: June 10

text: June 10 – Sir Robert Borden, Canadian lawyer, politician and 8th Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1854)


date: June 18

text: June 18 – Gaston Doumergue, 60th Prime Minister of France, 13th President of France (b. 1863)


date: August 26

text: August 26 – Andrew Mellon, American banker, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1855)

source_section: Deaths › August


date: September 26

text: September 26 – Edward Filene, American businessman, philanthropist (b. 1860)

source_section: Deaths › September


date: October 19

text: October 19 – Ernest Rutherford, New Zealand physicist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry recipient (b. 1871)

source_section: Deaths › October


date: November 16

text: November 16 – Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark, wife of Hereditary Grand Duke Georg Donatus of Hesse, and sister of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (b. 1911)

source_section: Deaths › November


date: November 20

text: November 20 – Metropolitan Joseph (Petrovykh) of the Soviet Union (b. 1872)


date: December 21

text: December 21 – Frank B. Kellogg, United States Secretary of State, Nobel Peace Prize recipient (b. 1856)

source_section: Deaths › December


date: February 4

text: 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_section: Events › February


date: March 3

text: 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_section: Events › March


date: March 17

text: March 17 – Poland presents an ultimatum to Lithuania, to establish normal diplomatic relations that were severed over the Vilnius Region.


date: April 10

text: 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_section: Events › April


text: April 10 – In a result that astonishes even Hitler, the Austrian electorate in a national referendum approves Anschluss by an overwhelming 99.73%.


date: June 25

text: June 25 – Dr. Douglas Hyde takes office as the first President of Ireland.

source_section: Events › June


date: July 5

text: 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_section: Events › July


date: July 22

text: 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.


date: September 5

text: 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_section: Events › September


date: September 16

text: September 16 – Lord Runciman is recalled to London from Prague, in order to brief the British government on the situation in the Sudetenland.


date: September 18

text: 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.


date: September 21

text: 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.


date: September 28

text: 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.


date: September 29

text: 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.


date: October 2

text: 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_section: Events › October


date: October 5

text: October 5 – Edvard Beneš, president of Czechoslovakia, resigns.


date: October 24

text: 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.


date: November 2

text: November 2 – Arising from The Munich Agreement, Hungary is "awarded" the Felvidek region of South Slovakia and Ruthenia.

source_section: Events › November


date: November 25

text: 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.


date: November 30

text: November 30 – The Czechoslovak parliament elects Emil Hácha as the new president of Czechoslovakia.


text: 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.


date: December 6

text: 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_section: Events › December


date: December 11

text: December 11 – Kingdom of Yugoslavia parliamentary election: The opposition gains votes but not seats.


date: December

text: December – Adolf Hitler is Time magazine's "Man of the Year", as the most influential person of the year.


date: February 10

text: February 10 – Second Sino-Japanese War: Bombing of Chongqing begins.


date: February 12

text: 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.


date: February 22

text: February 22 – The Battle of Teruel ends in a Nationalist victory with recapture of the city, a turning point in the Spanish Civil War.


date: March 12

text: March 12 – Anschluss: German troops occupy Austria; annexation is declared the following day.


date: March 28

text: 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.


date: May 21

text: 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_section: Events › May


date: May 23

text: 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.


date: May 28

text: May 28 – In a conference at the Reich Chancellery, Hitler declares his decision to destroy Czechoslovakia by military force, and orders the immediate mobilization of 96 Wehrmacht divisions.


date: June 22

text: 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.


date: July 3

text: July 3 – The last reunion of the Blue and Gray commemorates the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.


date: July 6

text: 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.


date: July 28

text: July 28 – 1938 Greek coup d'état attempt: A revolt against the Ioannis Metaxas dictatorship in Greece is put down in Chania.


date: August 18

text: 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_section: Events › August


date: August 23

text: 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.


date: August

text: August – In the face of overwhelming Japanese military pressure, Chiang Kai-shek withdraws his government to Chungking.


date: September 13

text: 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.


date: September 21

text: 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.


date: September 29

text: 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.


text: September 29 – The Republic of Hatay is declared in Syria; it lasts for less than a year.


date: September

text: September – The European crisis over German demands for annexation of the Sudeten borderland of Czechoslovakia becomes increasingly severe.


date: October 16

text: 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.


date: October 21

text: 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.


date: October 24

text: 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.


date: November 7

text: November 7 – Ernst vom Rath, the Third Secretary at the German Embassy in Paris, is assassinated by Herschel Grynszpan.


date: March 27

text: March 27 – Italian mathematician Ettore Majorana disappears suddenly under mysterious circumstances, while travelling by ship from Palermo to Naples.


date: July 24

text: July 24 – The north face of the Eiger in the Alps is first ascended.


date: September 25

text: September 25 – British Royal Navy is ordered to sea.


date: March 30

text: 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.


text: 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_section: Events › Date unknown


date: February 6

text: 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.


date: November 12

text: 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.


date: January 1

text: January 1 – State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS).

source_section: Events › January


date: January 27

text: January 27 – The Honeymoon Bridge at Niagara Falls, New York, collapses as a result of an ice jam.


date: February 24

text: February 24 – A nylon bristle toothbrush becomes the first commercial product to be made with nylon yarn.


date: March 1

text: March 1 – Lee Byung-chul establishes a trucking business in Daegu, South Korea, which he names Samsung Trading Co, the forerunner to Samsung.


date: June 15

text: June 15 – László Bíró patents the ballpoint pen in Britain.


date: July 3

text: 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.


date: July

text: July – The Mauthausen concentration camp is built in Austria.


date: September 12

text: 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.


date: December 13

text: December 13 – The Neuengamme concentration camp opens near Hamburg.


date: April 18

text: 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).


date: July 14

text: July 14 – Howard Hughes sets a new record, by completing a 91-hour airplane flight around the world.


date: July 18

text: July 18 – Wrong Way Corrigan takes off from New York, ostensibly heading for California. He lands in Ireland instead.


date: October 27

text: October 27 – DuPont announces a name for its new synthetic yarn: "nylon".


date: December 17

text: 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.


text: Herbert E. Ives and G. R. Stilwell execute the Ives–Stilwell experiment, showing that ions radiate at frequencies affected by their motion.


date: February 10

text: February 10 – Carol II of Romania takes dictatorial powers.


date: September 10

text: 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.


date: October 18

text: 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.


date: November 16

text: November 16 – LSD is first synthesized by Albert Hofmann from ergotamine, at the Sandoz Laboratories in Basel.


date: October 2

text: October 2 – Tiberias massacre: Arab raiders murder 19 Jewish immigrants.


date: October 5

text: 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").


date: November 30

text: 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".


text: The last Schomburgk's deer in the wild is said to have been killed.


date: March 3

text: 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.


date: June 11

text: June 11 – Fire destroys 214 buildings in Ludza, Latvia.


date: July 28

text: July 28 – Pan Am flying boat Hawaii Clipper disappears with 6 passengers and 9 crew members, en route from Guam to Manila.


date: November 9

text: 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.


date: June 5

text: 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.


date: September 21

text: 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.


date: December 23

text: December 23 – A coelacanth, a fish thought to have been extinct, is caught off the coast of South Africa, near the Chalumna River.


date: December 27

text: December 27 – A massive avalanche of snow hits a construction worker dormitory site in Kurobe, Japan, killing 87 people.


date: January 20

text: January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Safinaz Zulficar, who becomes Queen Farida, in Cairo.


date: February 4

text: 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.


date: June 19

text: June 19 – Italy beats Hungary 4–2, to win the 1938 FIFA World Cup.


date: June 27

text: June 27 – Kathryn Beaumont, British actress


date: July 1

text: July 1 – The South African Press Association is established, with offices in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, Bloemfontein and Pretoria.


text: November 30 – A general strike is called in France by the French Communist Party, to protest the laws of November 12.


date: December 24

text: 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.


date: January 14

text: January 14 – Morihiro Hosokawa, Japanese politician, 50th Prime Minister of Japan

source_section: Births › January–February


date: January 25

text: January 25 – Vladimir Vysotsky, Russian singer-songwriter, poet and actor (d. 1980)


date: March 7

text: March 7 – David Baltimore, American biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2025)

source_section: Births › March–April


date: March 17

text: March 17 – Rudolf Nureyev, Russian-born dancer, choreographer (d. 1993)


date: March 30

text: March 30 – Klaus Schwab, German economist, founder of the World Economic Forum


date: May 28

text: May 28 – Jerry West, American basketball player and executive (d. 2024)

source_section: Births › May–June


date: July 21

text: July 21 – Janet Reno, American lawyer, U.S. Attorney General under Bill Clinton (d. 2016)

source_section: Births › July–August


date: August 15

text: August 15 – Stephen Breyer, former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States


date: August 28

text: August 28 – Paul Martin, 21st Prime Minister of Canada


date: September 29

text: September 29 – Wim Kok, Dutch politician, 48th Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1994 until 2002 (d. 2018)

source_section: Births › September–October


date: October 3

text: October 3 – Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, Peruvian entrepreneur and politician, 66th President of Peru


date: October 29

text: October 29 – Ralph Bakshi, Israeli cartoonist, film director, and video producer


date: November 2

text: November 2 – Pat Buchanan, American conservative political operative, journalist, pundit and one-time presidential candidate

source_section: Births › November–December


date: November 19

text: November 19 – Ted Turner, American entrepreneur and cable television pioneer (d. 2026)


date: January 9

text: January 9 – Johnny Gruelle, American cartoonist and children's book author (b. 1880)

source_section: Deaths › January


date: March 15

text: March 15 – Alexei Rykov, Premier of Russia and Premier of the Soviet Union (executed) (b. 1881)

source_section: Deaths › March


date: March 26

text: March 26 – Lakshminath Bezbaroa, Indian writer, dramatist, novelist, poet and editor (b. 1864)


date: April 21

text: April 21 – Sir Muhammad Iqbal, Indian philosopher, poet (b. 1877)

source_section: Deaths › April


date: May 4

text: May 4 – Carl von Ossietzky, German pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1889)

source_section: Deaths › May


date: May 6

text: May 6 – Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire, British politician and Governor General of Canada (b. 1868)


date: June 26

text: June 26 – James Weldon Johnson, American author, politician, and diplomat (b. 1871)

source_section: Deaths › June


date: August 7

text: August 7 – Konstantin Stanislavsky, Soviet theatre practitioner (b. 1863)

source_section: Deaths › August


date: September 6

text: September 6 – Alfonso de Borbón y Battenberg, Prince of Asturias, former heir apparent to the throne of Spain (b. 1907)

source_section: Deaths › September


date: October 2

text: October 2 – Alexandru Averescu, Romanian general, politician, and 24th Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1859)

source_section: Deaths › October


date: October 4

text: October 4 – José Luis Tejada Sorzano, Bolivian lawyer, politician and 34th President of Bolivia (b. 1882)


date: October 5

text: October 5 – Faustina Kowalska, Polish nun and saint, the Secretary of Divine Mercy (b. 1905)


date: November 11

text: November 11 – Mary Mallon (Typhoid Mary), first known (in the United States) asymptomatic carrier of the pathogen associated with typhoid fever (b. 1869)

source_section: Deaths › November


date: November 30

text: November 30 – Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, Romanian fascist politician, leader of the Iron Guard (executed along other Guard activists) (b. 1899)


date: January 1

text: January 1 – Philipp Etter takes over as President of the Swiss Confederation.


date: January 25

text: January 25 – Refik Saydam forms the new (11th) government of Turkey.


date: January 26

text: January 26 – In Paris, French Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet, in response to rumours (which are true) that he is seeking to end the French alliance system in Eastern Europe, gives a speech highlighting his government's commitment to the cordon sanitaire.


date: February 6

text: February 6 – British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain states in the House of Commons that any German attack on France will be automatically considered an attack on Britain.

source_section: Events › February


text: February 6 – In a response to Georges Bonnet's speech of January 26, German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, referring to Bonnet's alleged statement of December 6, 1938, accepting Eastern Europe as being in Germany's exclusive sphere of influence, protests that all French security commitments in that region are "now off limits".


date: March 13

text: March 13 – Adolf Hitler advises Jozef Tiso to declare Slovakia's independence, in order to prevent its partition by Hungary and Poland.

source_section: Events › March


date: March 14

text: March 14 – The Slovak provincial assembly proclaims independence; priest Jozef Tiso becomes president of the independent Slovak government.


date: March 15

text: March 15 – German troops occupy the remaining part of Bohemia and Moravia; Czechoslovakia ceases to exist. The Ruthenian region of Czechoslovakia declares independence as Carpatho-Ukraine.


date: March 17

text: March 17 – The nationalist governments of Spain and Portugal sign the Iberian Pact in Lisbon, pledging mutual defence of the Iberian Peninsula and neutrality in the event of a general European war.


date: March 31

text: March 31 – Neville Chamberlain gives a speech in the House of Commons, offering the British "guarantee" of the independence of Poland.


date: April 3

text: April 3 – Refik Saydam forms the new government in Turkey (12th government; Refik Saydam has served twice as a prime minister).

source_section: Events › April


date: April 4

text: April 4 – Polish Foreign Minister Colonel Józef Beck, in London, signs a treaty designed to bilateralize Neville Chamberlain's "Polish Guarantee" of March 31.


date: April 14

text: April 14 – At a meeting in Paris, French Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet meets with Soviet Ambassador Jakob Suritz, and suggests that a "peace front" comprising France, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, Poland and Romania would deter Germany from war.


date: April 18

text: April 18 – Robert Menzies is elected leader of the United Australia Party, and consequently becomes the 12th Prime Minister of Australia, defeating former Prime Minister Billy Hughes. However, he will not be sworn in until April 26, because of the refusal of Earle Page and his Country Party to serve under him.


date: May 3

text: May 3 – Vyacheslav Molotov succeeds Maxim Litvinov, as Soviet Foreign Commissar.

source_section: Events › May


date: May 23

text: May 23 – The White Paper of 1939 is ratified by the British government, acting as the governing policy for Mandatory Palestine from 1939 to 1948.


date: June 23

text: June 23 – Talks are completed in Ankara between French Ambassador René Massigli and Turkish Foreign Minister Şükrü Saracoğlu, resolving the Hatay dispute in Turkey's favor. Turkey annexes Hatay.

source_section: Events › June


date: August 2

text: August 2 – The Einstein–Szilard letter is signed by Albert Einstein, advising President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt of the potential use of uranium to construct an atomic bomb. It is delivered on October 11 and leads to the first meeting on October 21 of the Advisory Committee on Uranium.

source_section: Events › August


date: August 4

text: August 4 – Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain dismisses the Parliament of the United Kingdom until October 3.


date: August 23

text: 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.


date: September 30

text: September 30 – General Władysław Sikorski becomes Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile.

source_section: Events › September


date: September

text: Chamberlain offers the war cabinet post of First Lord of the Admiralty to Winston Churchill, who returns to government for the first time since June 4, 1929.


date: November 4

text: November 4 – WWII: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the United States Customs Service to implement the Neutrality Act of 1939, allowing cash-and-carry purchases of weapons to non-belligerent nations.

source_section: Events › November


date: December 1

text: December 1 – The Soviet Union establishes the Finnish Democratic Republic puppet state in Terijoki.

source_section: Events › December


date: March 20

text: March 20 – At an emergency meeting in London to deal with the Romanian crisis, French Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet suggests to Lord Halifax that the ideal state for saving Romania from a German attack is Poland.


date: March

text: March – The 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine ends.


date: April 9

text: April 9 – African-American singer Marian Anderson performs before 75,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., after having been denied the use both of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution, and of a public high school by the federally controlled District of Columbia. First Lady of the United States Eleanor Roosevelt resigns from the DAR because of their decision.


date: April 28

text: April 28 – In a speech before the Reichstag, Adolf Hitler renounces the Anglo-German Naval Agreement and the German–Polish declaration of non-aggression.


date: August 25

text: August 25 – 1939 Coventry bombing: An Irish Republican Army bomb explodes in the centre of Coventry, England, killing 5 people.


date: August 26

text: August 26 – The Kriegsmarine orders all German-flagged merchant ships to head to German ports immediately, in anticipation of the invasion of Poland.


date: September 15

text: September 15 – WWII: Diverse elements of the German Wehrmacht surround Warsaw, and demand its surrender. The Poles refuse, and the siege begins in earnest.


date: September 16

text: September 16 – A ceasefire ends the Battles of Khalkhin Gol, the undeclared border war between the Soviet Union (and Mongolian allies) and Japan.


date: September 22

text: September 22 – WWII: A joint victory parade is staged by the Wehrmacht and Red Army in Brest-Litovsk, at the end of the Invasion of Poland.


text: Following the invasion of Poland, the Free City of Danzig (modern-day Gdańsk, Poland) is annexed to Nazi Germany.


text: The Soviet Union invades Poland, and then occupies eastern Polish territories.


text: The United Kingdom, France, New Zealand, Australia and India (by its Viceroy) declare war on Nazi Germany. Prime Minister of Canada Mackenzie King, in English, and Justice Minister Ernest Lapointe, in French, give an international radio address stating the Dominion's intention to declare war also.


date: October 6

text: October 6 – WWII: The Battle of Kock ends the Polish Campaign. Polish resistance moves underground.

source_section: Events › October


date: October 8

text: October 8 – WWII: Germany annexes Western Poland.


date: November 6

text: November 6 – WWII: Sonderaktion Krakau – Germans take action against scientists from the University of Kraków, and other Kraków universities.


date: November 8

text: November 8 – WWII: In Munich, an attempt to kill Adolf Hitler is made by Georg Elser while Hitler is celebrating the 16th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch.


date: November 26

text: November 26 – Shelling of Mainila: The Soviet Union's Red Army shells the Russian village of Mainila, then claims that the fire originated from Finland, giving a casus belli for the Winter War.


date: November 30

text: November 30 – WWII: Winter War – Soviet forces attack Finland and reach the Mannerheim Line, starting the war. Sweden declares itself a non-belligerent in the Winter War.


date: December 6

text: December 6 – WWII: Winter War – The Red Army's advance on the Karelian Isthmus is stopped by Finns at the Mannerheim Line during the Battle of Taipale.


date: December 9

text: December 9 – WWII: The first soldier of the British Expeditionary Force is killed: Corporal Thomas Priday triggers a French land mine.


date: December 13

text: December 13 – WWII – Battle of the River Plate: The German heavy cruiser Admiral Graf Spee is trapped by cruisers , HMNZS Achilles, and after a running battle off the coast of Uruguay. Graf Spee is scuttled by its crew off Montevideo Harbor, on December 17.


date: December 14

text: December 14 – WWII: Winter War – The League of Nations expels the USSR for attacking Finland.


date: December 18

text: December 18 – WWII: Battle of the Heligoland Bight – RAF Bomber Command, on a daylight mission to attack Kriegsmarine ships in the Heligoland Bight, is repulsed by Luftwaffe fighter aircraft.


date: December

text: German submarine U-36 is torpedoed and sunk by British submarine HMS Salmon off Stavanger, the first enemy submarine lost to a British one during the war.


date: February 18

text: February 18 – The Golden Gate International Exposition opens in San Francisco.


date: March 28

text: March 28 – American adventurer Richard Halliburton delivers a last message from a Chinese junk, before he disappears on a voyage across the Pacific Ocean. In 1945, some wreckage identified as a rudder, and believed to belong to the junk, washes ashore in San Diego, California.


date: July 8

text: July 8 – The Pan American Airways Boeing 314 flying boat Yankee Clipper inaugurates the world's first heavier-than-air North Atlantic air passenger service, between the United States (Port Washington, New York) and Britain.

source_section: Events › July


date: October 7

text: October 7 – WWII: British Royal Navy cruiser departs Plymouth in convoy for Halifax, Nova Scotia, carrying £2M in gold bar to be used for purchase of military materiel in North America, a predecessor of Operation Fish.


date: March 2

text: March 2 – Pope Pius XII (Cardinal Pacelli) succeeds Pope Pius XI to become the 260th pope, holding office until 1958.


date: May 18

text: May 18 – The Hòa Hảo religious sect is established in Vietnam, by Huỳnh Phú Sổ.


date: September 8

text: September 8 – The Little Sisters of Jesus is founded in Algeria, by Little Sister Magdeleine.


date: September

text: The Reichstag passes a statement, stating that Adolf Hitler's second-in-command Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring should be appointed as Hitler's successor as Führer, should Hitler die during the war. Rudolf Hess is to be appointed in Göring's place, should anything befall Göring.


date: January 30

text: January 30 – Hitler gives a speech before the Reichstag calling for an "export battle" to increase German foreign exchange holdings. The same speech also sees "Hitler's prophecy", where he warns that if "Jewish financiers" start a war against Germany, "the result will be the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe".

source_section: Events › January


date: January 1

text: January 1 – With his traditional call to the New Year in Nazi Germany, Führer and Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler addresses the members of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP).


text: January 1 – The Hewlett-Packard technology and scientific instruments manufacturing company is founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard, in a garage in Palo Alto, California, considered the birthplace of Silicon Valley.


date: January 27

text: January 27 – Adolf Hitler orders Plan Z, a 5-year naval expansion programme intended to provide for a huge German fleet capable of crushing the British Royal Navy by 1944. The Kriegsmarine is given the first priority on the allotment of German economic resources.


date: April 30

text: April 30 – The 1939 New York World's Fair opens.


date: May 20

text: May 20 – Pan American Airways begins transatlantic mail service with the inaugural flight of its Boeing 314 flying boat Yankee Clipper from Port Washington, New York, to Marseille.


date: June 29

text: June 29 – The Ford 9N tractor, with the Ferguson hydraulic three-point hitch, is first demonstrated at Dearborn, Michigan.


date: August 26

text: August 26 – The first televised Major League Baseball games are shown on experimental station W2XBS in the United States: a double-header between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field.


date: August 27

text: August 27 – A Heinkel He 178, the first turbojet-powered aircraft, flies for the first time, with Captain Erich Warsitz in command.


text: The first bombing of Wilhelmshaven in World War II is carried out, by the British Royal Air Force (RAF).


text: United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt advocates neutrality, in a nationwide radio address.


date: November 8

text: November 8 – CBS television station W2XAB resumes test transmission, with an all-electronic system broadcast from the top of the Chrysler Building in New York City.


text: Enzo Ferrari founds Auto Avio Construzioni, the company that becomes Ferrari in 1947.

source_section: Events › Date unknown


text: January 1 – The Protection of Young Persons Act, passed on April 30, 1938, the Working Hours Regulations.


date: January 6

text: January 6 – Otto Hahn's discoveries in the field of nuclear fission are published in Naturwissenschaften.


date: January 7

text: January 7 – French physicist Marguerite Perey identifies francium, the last chemical element first discovered in nature.


date: January 14

text: January 14 – Norway claims Queen Maud Land in Antarctica.


date: July 27

text: July 27 – The first recorded snow falls in Auckland, New Zealand, since records began in 1853.


date: November 1

text: November 1–2 – WWII: Physicist Hans Ferdinand Mayer writes the Oslo Report on German weapons systems, and passes it to the British Secret Intelligence Service.


text: Kirlian photography is invented by Semyon Kirlian.


text: January 1 – Coming into effect in Nazi Germany of:


text: January 1 – The Third Soviet Five Year Plan is launched.


text: January 1 – The small businesses obligation to maintain adequate accounting.


date: May 14

text: May 14 – Lina Medina, a 5-year-old Peruvian girl, gives birth to a baby boy, becoming the youngest confirmed mother in medical history.


date: May 17

text: May 17 – The British government issues the White Paper of 1939, sharply restricting Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine.


date: November 16

text: November 16 – Al Capone is released from Terminal Island, due to deteriorating health caused by syphilis.


date: January 5

text: January 5 – Pioneering U.S. aviator Amelia Earhart is officially declared dead, eighteen months after her disappearance.


date: May 29

text: May 29 – Albanian fascist leader Tefik Mborja is appointed as member of the Italian Chamber of Fasces and Corporations.


date: June 17

text: June 17 – In the last public execution in France, 6-times murderer Eugen Weidmann is guillotined.


date: November 4

text: November 4 – Stewart Menzies is appointed head of the British Secret Intelligence Service.


date: November 9

text: November 9 – WWII: Venlo Incident: Two British agents of SIS are captured by the Germans.


date: November 17

text: November 17 – WWII: To punish protests against the Nazi occupation of the Czech homeland, the Nazis storm the University of Prague and murder 9 Czech graduate students, send over 1,200 to concentration camps, and close all Czech universities, an event which will be commemorated as International Students' Day.


date: March 1

text: March 1 – An Imperial Japanese Army ammunition dump explosion on the outskirts of Osaka kills 94.


date: June 4

text: June 4 – The St. Louis, a ship carrying 907 Jewish refugees, is denied permission to land in Florida; only a few passengers have been allowed to enter Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, many of its passengers later die in Nazi death camps during The Holocaust.


date: July 6

text: July 6 – The last remaining Jewish enterprises in Germany are closed by the Nazis.


date: September

text: Ocean liner becomes the first British civilian casualty of the war, when she is torpedoed and sunk by in the eastern Atlantic. Of the 1,418 aboard, 98 passengers and 19 crew are killed.


date: October 14

text: October 14 – sinks the British battleship at anchor in Scapa Flow (Scotland), with the loss of 833 crew.


date: December 12

text: December 12 – WWII: sinks after a collision with off the coast of Scotland, with the loss of 124 men.


date: December 26

text: December 26 – Miners strike in Borinage, Belgium.


date: January 24

text: January 24 – 1939 Chillán earthquake: An earthquake in Chile kills an estimated 30,000 people and razes about 50,000 sqmi km2 of land.


date: December 27

text: December 27 – The 7.8 Erzincan earthquake shakes eastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XII (Extreme), causing $20 million in damage, and leaving 32,700–32,968 dead.


date: March 30

text: March 30 – The superhero Batman debut for Detective Comics (issue #27) (cover date of May).


date: April 25

text: April 25 – The Federal Security Agency (FSA) is founded in the United States, along with the Civilian Conservation Corps and Public Health Service.


date: May 17

text: May 17 – King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom arrive in Quebec City, to begin the first-ever tour of Canada by Canada's monarch.


date: May 24

text: May 24 – The first issue of Fashizmi is published in Tirana, Albania.


date: November 6

text: November 6 – Hedda Hopper's Hollywood debuts on radio in the United States with gossip columnist Hedda Hopper as host (the show runs until 1951, making Hopper a powerful figure among the Hollywood elite).


date: November 14

text: November 14 – In Washington, D.C., U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt lays the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial.


date: December 15

text: December 15 – The epic historical romance film Gone with the Wind, starring Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Olivia de Havilland and Leslie Howard, premieres at Loew's Grand Theatre in Atlanta. Based on Margaret Mitchell's best-selling novel of 1936, it is the longest American film made up to this date (at nearly four hours) and rapidly becomes the highest-grossing film up to this time.


date: January 6

text: January 6 – Valeriy Lobanovskyi, Ukrainian footballer, manager (d. 2002)

source_section: Births › January–February


date: February 3

text: February 3 – R. C. Sproul, American Reformed theologian, author and pastor, founder of Ligonier Ministries (d. 2017)


date: April 13

text: April 13 – Seamus Heaney, Irish poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)

source_section: Births › March–April


date: April 19

text: April 19 – Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran (d. 2026)


date: May 7

text: May 7 – Ruud Lubbers, Dutch politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1982–94) (d. 2018)

source_section: Births › May–June


date: June 5

text: June 5 – Joe Clark, 16th Prime Minister of Canada


date: July 15

text: July 15 – Aníbal Cavaco Silva, 113th Prime Minister of Portugal, 19th President of Portugal

source_section: Births › July–August


date: July 17

text: July 17 – Milva, Italian singer, stage and film actress, and television personality (d. 2021)


date: August 9

text: August 9 – Romano Prodi, Italian politician, economist and 52nd Prime Minister of Italy


date: October 7

text: October 7 – Harold Kroto, English organic chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2016)

source_section: Births › October


date: November 26

text: November 26 – Tina Turner, American born Swiss singer and actress (d. 2023)

source_section: Births › November


text: November 26 – Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, 5th Prime Minister of Malaysia (d. 2025)


date: December 17

text: December 17 – Eddie Kendricks, African-American singer (The Temptations) (d. 1992)

source_section: Births › December


date: December 18

text: December 18 – Harold E. Varmus, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine


date: January 28

text: January 28 – W. B. Yeats, Irish writer, 1923 Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)

source_section: Deaths › January


date: February 27

text: February 27 – Nadezhda Krupskaya, Russian Marxist revolutionary, Vladimir Lenin's widow (b. 1869)

source_section: Deaths › February


date: March 6

text: March 6 – Patriarch Miron of Romania, Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian cleric, politician, priest and 38th Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1868)

source_section: Deaths › March


date: April 4

text: April 4 – Faisal II becomes King of Iraq aged three, following the death of his father, Ghazi, in an automobile incident.

source_section: Events › April


date: April 7

text: April 7 – Joseph Lyons, 10th Prime Minister of Australia, dies in office from a heart attack at the age of 59. He is briefly replaced by his deputy Earle Page, who serves as the 11th Prime Minister, until a UAP leadership election is held to replace Lyons.


text: April 7 – Joseph Lyons, 10th Prime Minister of Australia, Premier of Tasmania (b. 1879)

source_section: Deaths › April


date: May 19

text: May 19 – Ahmet Ağaoğlu, Turkish politician, author and writer (b. 1869)

source_section: Deaths › May


date: May 24

text: May 24 – Witmer Stone, American ornithologist, botanist, and mammalogist (b. 1866)


date: August 23

text: August 23 – Germán Busch, 36th President of Bolivia (b. 1903)

source_section: Deaths › August


date: September 23

text: September 23 – Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychoanalyst (b. 1856)

source_section: Deaths › September


date: November 13

text: November 13 – Lois Weber, American actress (b. 1881)

source_section: Deaths › November


date: November 28

text: November 28 – James Naismith, Canadian inventor of basketball (b. 1861)


date: November 29

text: November 29 – Philipp Scheidemann, German politician, 11th Chancellor of Germany (b. 1865)


date: December 12

text: December 12 – Douglas Fairbanks, American actor, father of Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (b. 1883)

source_section: Deaths › December


text: Decimus Clodius Septimius Albinus Caesar becomes a Roman Consul.

source_section: Events › By place › Roman Empire


text: Battle of Issus: Septimius Severus marches with his army (12 legions) to Cilicia, and defeats Pescennius Niger, Roman governor of Syria. Pescennius retreats to Antioch, and is executed by Severus' troops.


text: Septimius Severus besieges Byzantium (194–196); the city walls suffer extensive damage.


text: Battle of Yan Province: Warlords Cao Cao and Lü Bu fight for control over Yan Province; the battle lasts for over 100 days.

source_section: Events › By place › Asia


text: Irenaeus declares Gnostic doctrines to be heretical (approximate date).

source_section: Events › By topic › Religion


text: Galen writes his manual on pathology, The Art of Curing (approximate date).

source_section: Events › By topic › Art and Science


text: First year of the Xingping era, during the Han Dynasty in China.


text: Sun Huan (or Jiming), Chinese general (d. 234)

source_section: Births


text: Zhu Ju, Chinese official and general (d. 250)


text: Tao Qian, Chinese warlord and governor (b. 132)

source_section: Deaths


text: Liu Yan, Chinese warlord and governor


text: Pescennius Niger, Roman usurper (b. 140)


text: Ma Midi, Chinese official and politician


date: January 27

text: January 27 – WWII: A peace resolution introduced in the Parliament of South Africa is defeated 81–59.

source_section: Events › January


date: March 12

text: March 12 – Moscow Peace Treaty: The Soviet Union and Finland sign a peace treaty in Moscow, ending the Winter War; Finns, along with the world at large, are shocked by the harsh terms.

source_section: Events › March


date: March 30

text: March 30 – WWII: Former Kuomintang member and Chinese foreign minister, Wang Jingwei, announces the creation of the Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China in Nanjing.


date: April 27

text: April 27 – Mandatory Palestine and Lebanon play an association football friendly; it is Lebanon's first official match, and Mandatory Palestine's last before they become Israel in 1948.


date: May 22

text: May 22 – WWII: The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act 1940, giving the government full control over all persons and property.

source_section: Events › May


date: May

text: With the resignation of Neville Chamberlain, Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.


date: June 28

text: June 28 – General Charles de Gaulle is officially recognized by Britain as the "Leader of all Free Frenchmen, wherever they may be."

source_section: Events › June


date: June

text: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt denounces Italy's actions with his "Stab in the Back" speech during the graduation ceremonies of the University of Virginia.


text: Soviet ultimatum to Lithuania: The Soviet Union demands that its Red Army be allowed to enter Lithuania and form a pro-Soviet puppet "People's Government of Lithuania".


text: Occupation of the Baltic states: The Soviet Union occupies Estonia and Latvia.


date: July 3

text: July 3 – WWII: Attack on Mers-el-Kébir: British naval units sink or seize ships of the French fleet anchored in the Algerian ports of Mers-el-Kebir and Oran, to prevent them from falling into German hands. The following day, Vichy France breaks off diplomatic relations with Britain.

source_section: Events › July


date: July 21

text: July 21 – After rigged parliamentary elections in the three occupied countries on July 14–15, the parliaments proclaim the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republics.


date: July 23

text: July 23 – Welles Declaration: United States Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles announces that the U.S. will not accord diplomatic recognition to the Soviet Union's occupation of the Baltic states.


date: July

text: Adolf Hitler makes a peace appeal ("appeal to reason") to Britain, in an address to the Reichstag. BBC German-language broadcaster Sefton Delmer unofficially rejects it at once and Lord Halifax, the British foreign minister, flatly rejects peace terms in a broadcast reply on July 22.


text: Vichy France begins with a constitutional law which only eighty members of the parliament vote against. Philippe Pétain becomes Prime Minister of France.


date: August 3

text: August 3 – The Lithuanian SSR is annexed into the Soviet Union, followed by the Latvian SSR on August 5 and the Estonian SSR August 6, just seven weeks after their occupation. Ethnic Germans will be deported to Germany.

source_section: Events › August


date: August 30

text: August 30 – Second Vienna Award: Germany and Italy compel Romania to cede half of Transylvania to Hungary.


date: September 6

text: September 6 – King Carol II of Romania abdicates and is succeeded by his son Michael.

source_section: Events › September


date: September 7

text: September 7 – Treaty of Craiova: Romania loses Southern Dobruja to Bulgaria.


date: September 21

text: September 21 – 1940 Australian federal election: Robert Menzies' UAP/Country Coalition Government is re-elected as a minority government, narrowly defeating the Labor Party led by John Curtin. It is the last federal election to result in a minority government until 2010.


date: September 27

text: September 27 – WWII: Germany, Italy and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact.


date: November 5

text: November 5 – 1940 United States presidential election: Democrat incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt decisively defeats Republican challenger Wendell Willkie, and becomes the United States' first and only third-term president.

source_section: Events › November


date: December 1

text: December 1 – Manuel Ávila Camacho takes office as President of Mexico.

source_section: Events › December


date: December 29

text: December 29 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a fireside chat to the nation, declares that the United States must become "the great arsenal of democracy."


date: January 6

text: January 6 – WWII: Winter War – General Semyon Timoshenko takes command of all Soviet forces.


date: January 7

text: January 7 – WWII: Winter War: Battle of Raate Road – Outnumbered Finnish troops decisively defeat Soviet forces.


date: January

text: Winter War: Battle of Suomussalmi – Finnish forces destroy the Soviet 44th Rifle Division.


date: February 1

text: February 1 – WWII: Winter War – Soviet forces launch a major assault on Finnish troops occupying the Karelian Isthmus.

source_section: Events › February


date: February

text: February – The last mounted charge by a British cavalry regiment is made when the Royal Scots Greys are called to quell Arab rioters in Mandatory Palestine.


date: March 13

text: March 13 – Indian nationalist Udham Singh assassinates Sir Michael O'Dwyer (in revenge for the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre) at Caxton Hall in London, for which he is hanged on 31 July at HM Prison Pentonville.


date: April 9

text: April 9 – WWII: Germany invades the neutral countries of Denmark and Norway in Operation Weserübung, opening the Norwegian campaign. The British Royal Navy attempts to attack elements of the German fleet off Norway. Vidkun Quisling proclaims a new collaborationist regime in Norway. The German invasion of Denmark lasts for about six hours, before that country capitulates.

source_section: Events › April


date: April 10

text: April 10 – WWII: First naval Battle of Narvik – The British Royal Navy attacks the German fleet in the Ofotfjord. At Bergen, German cruiser Königsberg is sunk by British Fleet Air Arm Blackburn Skua dive bombers, flying from RNAS Hatston in Orkney.


date: April 12

text: April 12 – The Faroe Islands are occupied by British troops, following the German invasion of Denmark. This action is taken to avert a possible German occupation of the islands, with serious consequences for the course of the Battle of the Atlantic.


date: April 16

text: April 16 – In American baseball, the Cleveland Indians, behind Bob Feller's Opening Day no-hitter, defeat the Chicago White Sox, 1–0.


date: May

text: Rotterdam is subjected to savage terror bombing by the Luftwaffe; 980 are killed, and 20,000 buildings destroyed. General Henri Winkelman announces the surrender of the Dutch army (outside Zeeland) to German forces.


text: Zeeland is overrun by German forces, ending the Battle of the Netherlands and beginning full German occupation of the Netherlands (Noord-Beveland surrenders on May 18, and the remaining Dutch troops are withdrawn from Zeelandic Flanders on May 19).


date: June 30

text: June 30 – WWII: German forces land in Guernsey, marking the start of the 5-year Occupation of the Channel Islands.


date: June

text: Winston Churchill tells the House of Commons of the United Kingdom: "The Battle of France is over. The Battle of Britain is about to begin... if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, This was their finest hour."


date: August 4

text: August 4 – U.S. Gen. John J. Pershing, in a nationwide radio broadcast, urges all-out aid to Britain in order to defend the Americas, while Charles Lindbergh speaks to an isolationist rally at Soldier Field in Chicago.


date: August 25

text: August 25 – WWII: The first Bombing of Berlin is carried out, by the British Royal Air Force.


date: September 7

text: September 7 – WWII: The Blitz – Nazi Germany begins to rain bombs on London (the first of 57 consecutive nights of strategic bombing).


date: October 28

text: October 28 – WWII: Greco-Italian War begins when Italian troops invade Greece, meeting strong resistance from Greek troops and civilians. This action signals the start of the Balkan Campaign.

source_section: Events › October


date: November 2

text: November 2–8 – WWII: Greco-Italian War – Battle of Elaia–Kalamas in Epirus: Outnumbered Greek forces repel the Italian Army.


date: November 12

text: November 12 – WWII: The Battle of Gabon, begun on October 27, concludes with Free French Forces taking control of the colony of Gabon and the remainder of French Equatorial Africa from the Vichy regime.


date: November 20

text: November 20–24 – WWII: Hungary, Romania and Slovakia join the Axis powers.


date: November 26

text: November 26–27 – Jilava Massacre: In Romania, coup leader General Ion Antonescu's Iron Guard arrests and executes over 60 of exiled King Carol II of Romania's aides, starting at a penitentiary near Bucharest. Among the dead is former minister and acclaimed historian Nicolae Iorga.


date: November 27

text: November 27 – WWII: Battle of Cape Spartivento: The British Royal Navy and Italian Regia Marina battle to a draw.


date: December 9

text: December 9 – WWII: Operation Compass – British forces in North Africa begin their first major offensive, with an attack on Italian forces at Sidi Barrani, Egypt.


date: March 11

text: March 11 – Ed Ricketts, John Steinbeck and six others leave Monterey, California, United States, for the Gulf of California, on a marine invertebrate collecting expedition.


date: June 24

text: June 24 – WWII: Operation Fish – British Royal Navy cruiser sails from Greenock (Scotland) in convoy for Halifax, Nova Scotia (arriving July 1), carrying a large part of the gold reserves of the United Kingdom and securities for safe keeping in Canada.


date: July 5

text: July 5 – WWII: Operation Fish – A British convoy including HMS Batory sails from Greenock (Scotland) for Halifax, Nova Scotia, carrying gold bar and other valuables worth $1.7 billion for safe keeping in Canada, the largest movement of wealth in history.


date: February 22

text: February 22 – In Tibet, province of Ando, 4-year-old Tenzin Gyatso is proclaimed the tulku (rebirth) of the 13th Dalai Lama.


date: September 25

text: September 25 – Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany: German Reichskommissar Josef Terboven appoints a provisional council of state from the pro-Nazi Nasjonal Samling party, under Vidkun Quisling, as a puppet government for Norway.


date: November 14

text: November 14 – WWII: Coventry Blitz – The city centre of Coventry, England is destroyed by 500 Luftwaffe bombers; 150,000 fire bombs, 503 tons of high explosives and 130 parachute mines level 60,000 of the city's 75,000 buildings; 568 people are killed. The city's cathedral is gutted.


date: June 3

text: June 3 – The Weather Bureau is transferred to the United States Department of Commerce.


date: September 26

text: September 26 – The U.S. government places an embargo on the exportation of scrap iron and steel to any country outside the Western Hemisphere excluding Britain, effective October 16.


date: April 12

text: April 12 – Opening day at Jamaica Race Course features the use of parimutuel betting equipment, a departure from bookmaking heretofore used exclusively throughout New York. Other tracks in the state follow suit later in 1940.


date: May 15

text: May 15 – Women's stockings made of nylon are first placed on sale across the United States. Almost five million pairs are bought on this day.


date: May 16

text: May 16 – President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt, addressing a joint session of the U.S. Congress, asks for an extraordinary credit of approximately $900,000,000 to finance construction of at least 50,000 airplanes per year.


date: May 25

text: May 25 – The Crypt of Civilization time capsule at Oglethorpe University, Brookhaven, Georgia in the United States, is sealed shut, with a projected opening date of 8113 CE.


date: May 26

text: May 26 – The first free flight of Igor Sikorsky's Vought-Sikorsky VS-300 helicopter is made in the United States.


date: May 29

text: May 29 – The Vought XF4U-1, prototype of the F4U Corsair U.S. fighter later used in WWII, makes its first flight.


date: May

text: Winston Churchill, in his first address as Prime Minister, tells the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, "I have nothing to offer you but blood, toil, tears and sweat."


date: June 16

text: June 16 – The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is held for the first time, in Sturgis, South Dakota.


date: June 30

text: June 30 – The Civil Aeronautics Administration is placed under the Department of Commerce.


date: June

text: Appeal of 18 June: General Charles de Gaulle, de facto leader of the Free French Forces, makes his first broadcast appeal over Radio Londres from London, rallying the French Resistance, calling on all French people to continue the fight against Nazi Germany: "France has lost a battle. But France has not lost the war."


date: July 1

text: July 1 – The first Tacoma Narrows Bridge opens for business, built with an 8 ft m girder and 190 ft m above the water, as the third-longest suspension bridge in the world.


date: July 21

text: July 21 – The Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter aircraft enters service, so named as 1940 roughly corresponds to the year 2600 on the Japanese Imperial calendar.


date: September 9

text: September 9 – George Stibitz first demonstrates the remote operation of a computer, in the United States.


date: October 1

text: October 1 – The first section of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the United States' first long-distance controlled-access highway, is opened.


date: October 16

text: October 16 – The draft registration of approximately 16 million men begins in the United States.


date: November 2

text: November 2 – German submarine U-69 is commissioned, the first Type VIIC U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine, which will become its most numerous class, with 568 commissioned during the War.


date: November 7

text: November 7 – In Tacoma, Washington, the 600 ft m-long center span of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge (known as Galloping Gertie) collapses.


date: November 25

text: November 25 – The de Havilland Mosquito and Martin B-26 Marauder military aircraft both make their first flights.


date: December 17

text: December 17 – President Roosevelt, at his regular press conference, first sets forth the outline of his plan to send aid to Great Britain, which will become known as Lend-Lease.


date: December

text: December – Timely Comics' Captain America Comics #1 (cover dated March 1941), first appearance of Captain America and Bucky, hits newsstands in the United States.


text: Walter Knott begins construction of a California ghost town replica, which soon evolves into Knott's Berry Farm.

source_section: Events › Date unknown


date: February 27

text: February 27 – The radioactive isotope carbon-14 is discovered by Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben at the University of California, Berkeley.


text: Plutonium is first synthesized in the laboratory, by a team led by Glenn T. Seaborg and Edwin McMillan, at the University of California, Berkeley.


text: In Korea, the Hunminjeongeum (1446) is discovered, explaining the basis of the Hangul alphabet.


date: January

text: Food rationing in the United Kingdom begins; it will remain in force until 1954.


text: June 30 – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is placed under the Federal Security Agency.


text: A group of 728 Polish political prisoners from Tarnów become the first residents of the Auschwitz concentration camp.


date: August 24

text: August 24 – Howard Florey and a team including Ernst Chain and Norman Heatley at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, publish their laboratory results showing the in vivo bactericidal action of penicillin. They have also purified the drug.


date: February 2

text: February 2 – Vsevolod Meyerhold is executed in the Soviet Union on charges of treason and espionage. He is cleared of all charges fifteen years later, in the first waves of de-Stalinization.


date: July 27

text: July 27 – Eleven British nationals, including Melville James Cox, are arrested on suspicion of spying for military intelligence by the secret police in Japan. Cox commits suicide in Tokyo on July 29, according to a report by the Japanese Foreign Ministry.


date: August 20

text: August 20 – Leon Trotsky is attacked with an ice axe in his Mexico home by NKVD agent Ramón Mercader.


date: September 12

text: September 12 – In Lascaux, France, 17,000-year-old cave paintings are discovered by a group of young Frenchmen hiking through Southern France. The paintings depict animals, and date to the Stone Age.


date: October 9

text: October 9 – The Lead Singer of The Beatles, John Lennon was born.


text: October 16 – Nazi Governor-General Hans Frank establishes the Warsaw Ghetto.


date: November 16

text: November 16 – An unexploded pipe bomb is found in the Consolidated Edison office building (only in 1957 later is the culprit, former employee George Metesky, apprehended).


date: January 29

text: January 29 – Three gasoline-powered trains carrying factory workers crash and explode while approaching Ajikawaguchi Station, Yumesaki Line (Nishinari Line), Osaka, Japan, killing at least 181 people and injuring at least 92.


date: April 4

text: April 4 – Neville Chamberlain, UK Prime Minister, in what proves to be a tragic misjudgment, declares in a major public speech that Hitler has "missed the bus".


date: April 13

text: April 13 – WWII: Second naval Battle of Narvik – The British Royal Navy sinks all 8 defending German destroyers in the Ofotfjord.


date: April 23

text: April 23 – The Rhythm Club fire at a dance hall in Natchez, Mississippi, United States, kills 198 people.


date: May 13

text: May 13–14 – Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and her government are evacuated to London, using the British destroyer .


date: June 1

text: June 1 – WWII: Rear Admiral Sir W. Frederic Wake-Walker's flagship, the destroyer Keith, is sunk by Stukas at Dunkirk.


date: June 7

text: June 7 – King Haakon VII of Norway and his government are evacuated from Tromsø to London, on HMS Devonshire.


date: July 2

text: July 2 – WWII: British-owned , carrying civilian internees and POWs of Italian and German origin from Liverpool to Canada, is torpedoed and sunk by off northwest Ireland, with the loss of around 865 lives.


date: July 6

text: July 6 – WWII: British submarine is sunk.


date: July

text: Battle of Cape Spada: and five destroyers sink the Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni.2


text: British destroyer is torpedoed and sunk by an Italian submarine.


date: August 15

text: August 15 – Italy, without having declared war on Greece, sinks the Greek boat Elli (Έλλη).