- January 22
- French Laval government falls. [1]
- January 23
- Catholic People's Party (KVP) of Curaçao forms. [1]
- February 4
- First radioactive substance produced synthetically (radium E). [1]
- February 8
- Pandit Jawaharlal follows Gandhi as chairman of India Congress Party. [1]
- February 12
- Adolf Hitler decides the time is right for Germany to re-occupy the Rhineland. [10]
- February 15
- Adolf Hitler announces building of Volkswagen automobiles in Germany. [1]
- February 16
- Spanish Frente Popular (People's Front) wins elections. [1]
- February 19
- Manuel Azaña becomes Spanish premier. [1]
- February 23
- First rocket air mail flight, Greenwood Lake, New York, USA. [1]
- February 26
- Adolf Hitler introduces Ferdinand Porsche's "Volkswagen". [1]
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- Military coup in Japan. [1]
- February 27
- The French chamber ratifies the Franco-Soviet pact. [10]
- French ministers decide that in the event of German violation of the Rhineland Zone, they would not act alone, but only with co-signatories of the Locarno Pact. [10]
- February 29
- US President Franklin Roosevelt signs second neutrality act. [1]
- March 2
- Adolf Hitler issues final orders for troops to re-occupy their former garrison posts in Rhineland towns. If French forces take action, the troops are instructed to withdraw. [10]
- March 4
- First flight of airship Hindenburg, Germany. [1]
- March 5
- Spitfire makes its first flight (Eastleigh Aerodrome in Southampton). [1]
- French Foreign Minister Pierre Flandin tells British Anthony Eden that France will not act alone in the event of German violation of the Rhineland Zone. [10]
- March 6
- Belgium ends Locarno-pact. [1]
- March 7
- Adolf Hitler denounces the Rhineland provisions of Treaty of Versailles and Locarno Treaty. 14,500 German troops march in to join with 22,000 local police to re-occupy the Rhineland. [10]
- German representatives inform foreign ministers and ambassadors of the German re-occupation of the Rhineland, and outline a peace plan including 25-year non-aggression pacts for all countries bordering on Germany. [10]
- March 12
- The Soviet Union and the Mongolian People's Republic sign a mutual assistance pact, allowing Russian troops to be posted at key locations. The Soviet Union commits to the defence of Mongolia from aggression. [10]
- March 22
- Quote by Adolf Hitler, regarding the re-occupation of the Rhineland: "We and all nations have a sense that we have come to the turning point of an age.". [10]
- March 23
- Italy, Austria and Hungary sign Pact of Rome. [1]
- March 26
- First parliamentary debate airs on New Zealand radio. [1]
- Corning Glass Works ships a 20-ton, 200-inch cast Pyrex mirror-blank from Corning, New Tork, to Pasadena, California, to be finished for the Hale telescope. [1]
- March 29
- Nazi propaganda claims 99 percent of Germans voted for Nazi candidates. [1]
- April 1
- Orissa constitutes a province of British India. [1]
- April 2
- In Yurtuk, USSR, a building is struck by a falling meteorite. [521]
- April 3
- Bruno Hauptmann, convicted Lindbergh baby killer, executed in electric chair in Trenton, New Jersey, USA. [1] [244.4]
- April 5
- Tupelo, Mississippi, USA virtually annihilated by a tornado, 216 die. [1]
- April 6
- ANP begins telex service in Amsterdam. [1]
- Tornado kills 203 and injures 1,800 in Gainesville, Georgia, USA. [1]
- April 13
- Metaxas proclaims himself dictator of Greece. [1]
- April 19
- Anti-Jewish riots break out in Palestine. [1]
- April 20
- Jews repel an Arab attack in Petach Tikvah, Palestine. [1]
- April 23
- Carl Hubbell's first start of season is his 17th straight win. [1]
- April 28
- Foead I, king of Egypt (1922-36), dies. [1]
- May 1
- Emperor Haile Selassie leaves Ethiopia as Italian soldiers invade. [1]
- May 2
- Emperor Haile Selassie and family flee Abyssinia. [1]
- May 3
- French People's Front wins elections. [1]
- May 4
- Pulitzer prize awarded to Harold L Davis (Honey in the Horn). [1]
- May 5
- Edward Ravenscroft patents screw-on bottle cap with a pour lip. [1]
- Italian troops occupy Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. [1] [1168.212]
- May 9
- Italian King Victor Emmanuel III is proclaimed Emperor of Ethiopia. [1] [1168.212]
- May 10
- Manuel Azaña elected President of Spain. [1]
- Nahas Pasja becomes premier of Egypt. [1]
- May 13
- Quiroga Government takes office in Spain. [1]
- May 24
- Dutch bishops forbid membership of Nazi party. [1]
- May 26
- First Government of Zealand in Belgium ends. [1]
- May 27
- RMS Queen Mary leaves Southampton, England, for New York on its maiden voyage, with 1805 passengers, 1101 crew. [1] [73.42] [274.192]
- June 2
- General Anastasio Somoza takes over as dictator of Nicaragua. [1]
- June 22
- Virgin Islands receives a constitution from US (Organic Act). [1]
- June 26
- The Focke-Wulf Fw 61, the first practical helicopter, flies for the first time. [5]
- June 29
- Pope Pius XI issues encyclical to US bishops "On motion pictures". [1]
- July 10
- New Straits Convention allows Turkish rearmament of Dardanelles. [1]
- July 13
- A Midwestern U.S. heat wave sets the all-time highest temperature records for Wisconsin (46 C), Michigan (44 C), and Indiana (47 C). [1] [5]
- July 16
- Irishman Jerome Brannigan points a loaded revolver at King Edward VIII on horseback returning to Buckingham from Hyde Park. Brannigan claims a pro-Nazi group was behind it. [1456.79]
- July 18
- Spanish Civil War begins, General Francisco Franco leads uprising in Spanish Morocco. [1] [500.E5]
- July 29
- RCA shows the first real TV program (dancing, film on locomotives). [1]
- August 24
- Australian Antarctic Territory created. [1]
- August 30
- The ship Queen Mary crosses the Atlantic from Ambrose east to Bishop Rock in record time, 3 days, 23 hours, 57 minutes. [274.199]
- September 2
- First transatlantic round-trip air flight. [1]
- September 30
- International Commission of the Straits (Dardanelles and Bosphorus) ends. [1]
- October 1
- General Francisco Franco establishes the state of Spain. [1]
- October 19
- In Newfoundland, a fisherman's boat is set on fire by a meteorite strike. [521]
- October 21
- Siege of Madrid begins in Spanish Civil War. [500.E5]
- October 27
- American Wallis Simpson (future wife of King Edward VIII) is granted a divorce in Ipswich, England, from Ernest Simpson based on phony adultery claim. [1394.40] [1456.95]
- November 1
- Italian Premier Benito Mussolini coins the term Axis, when referring to the Rome-Berlin axis around which European states may work together. [10]
- November 2
- The Canadian Broadcasting Act creates the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, replacing the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission. [5] [457]
- The British Broadcasting Corporation initiates the BBC Television Service, the world's first regular, high-definition (then defined as at least 200 lines) service (renamed BBC1 in 1964). [1] [5]
- November 6
- RCA displays a 343-line television system for the press as part of NBC's tenth anniversary celebration. [1] [457]
- November 16
- King Edward VIII tells British Prime Minister Baldwin that he intends to marry Wallis Simpson. Baldwin replies that Edward's choices are 1) forget it, 2) the government would resign, or 3) Edward should abdicate the throne. Edward responds that if the country opposed the marriage, he would abdicate. [1456.97]
- November 18
- Germany and Italy recognize Spanish government of Francisco Franco. [1]
- November 25
- Germany and Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact, to cooperate in defense against Communistic International. Germany and Japan will share information on Comintern activities, and invite other states to adopt anti-Comintern defensive measures. Secret clause: both agree that if one is attacked or threatened, the other would not relieve the position of the Soviet Union, and both would not conclude political treaties with the Soviet Union that did not conform with spirit of the pact. The pact is in effect for five years. [10]
- November 30
- London's Crystal Palace (built 1851) is destroyed by fire. [1]
- December 1
- EW Brundin and FF Lyon obtain patent on soilless culture of plants. [1]
- December 5
- Armenian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, Georgian SSR, Kazakhstan SSR and Kirghiz SSR becomes constituent republics of the Soviet Union. [1]
- December 8
- Anastasio Somoza elected President of Nicaragua. [1]
- December 10
- British King Edward VIII makes a public radio address saying he is abdicating as he found it "impossible to do my duty as king and emperor without the help and support of the woman I love." [1456.101]
- Stockholm: physicist PBJ Debije receives Nobel Prize for chemistry. [1]
- December 11
- British King Edward VIII abdicates, after ruling for less than one year (325 days), the first English monarch to voluntarily abdicate the throne. Edward chose to abdicate after condemnation over his decision to marry the American divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson. [1] [5] [129] [420.82] [1456.101]
- British Parliament approves the abdication of Edward VIII. [129]
- December 12
- The British duke of York is proclaimed King George VI. [129]
- Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek declares war on Japan. [1]
- December 20
- Baron De Borchgrave, Belgian ambassador, is murdered in Madrid, Spain. [1]
- December 21
- The Junkers JU-88 bomber prototype first flies. [5]
- December 24
- The first radioactive isotope medicine is administered in Berkeley, California. [1] [5]
- December 25
- Belgian bishops condemn fascism and communism. [1]
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