- January 16
- Albert Fish, mass murderer, executed. [1]
- Comic strip Superman debuts in the USA. [1]
- January 20
- Adolf Hitler proclaims to German parliament to exterminate all European Jews. [1]
- January 22
- Uranium atom first split, at Columbia University, New York, USA. [1]
- January 24
- 30,000 killed by earthquake in Concepcion Chile. [1]
- Spanish government moves to Figueras. [1]
- January 25
- Earthquake hits Chillán, Chile, 10,000 killed. [1]
- January 26
- Spanish General Franco conquers Barcelona. [1]
- Professor Cristescu, Romania's iron guard leader, is murdered. [1]
- January 30
- Heavy earthquake aftershocks destroy some of Chile. [1]
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- Adolf Hitler addresses the Reichstag, saying that if Jews lead the world into war, it would cause the destruction of Jews in Europe. [10]
- February 6
- Spanish government flees to France. [1]
- February 9
- Belgian Spaak government falls. [1]
- February 10
- Pius XI [Ambrogio D A Ratti], Italian Pope (1922-39), dies of a heart attack at age 81. [1] [861.129]
- February 14
- The German battleship Bismarck is launched, at Hamburg. [10] [129]
- February 18
- Golden Gate International Exposition opens on Treasure Island, San Francisco, California. [1] [606.15]
- February 21
- Belgian government of Pierlot forms. [1]
- February 22
- Netherlands recognizes Franco-regime in Spain. [1]
- February 23
- The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awards an Oscar (Special Award) to Walt Disney for screen innovation for the film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Disney is presented one statuette and seven miniature statuettes. [6]
- February 25
- First Anderson bomb shelter in Britain erected in an Islington garden. [1]
- February 27
- Belgian government of Pierlot falls. [1]
- English Spook house Borley Rectory destroyed in a fire. [1]
- February 28
- Great Britain recognizes Franco-regime in Spain. [1]
- March 2
- Eugenio Pacelli chosen as Pope Pius XII. [1]
- March 10
- Seventeen villages damaged by hailstones in Hyderabad, India. [1]
- Josef Stalin makes a speech to the Eighteenth Party Congress in Moscow. He says Russia would look after her own affairs, not fight anyone else's battles. [10]
- March 12
- Pope Pius XII crowned in Vatican ceremonies. [1]
- March 14
- Slovakia and Ruthenice declare their independence from the Czech government in Prague. [10]
- March 15
- German troops occupy the Czech parts of Bohemia and Moravia. [10]
- Czech president Emil Hacha accepts Adolf Hitler's demand to surrender the entire country. [10]
- German troops enter the capital of Czechoslovakia, Prague. Adolf Hitler declares "Czechoslovakia has ceased to exist". [10]
- March 16
- Hungary annexes republic of Karpato-Ukraine. [1]
- March 18
- The Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Maxim Litvinov, suggests to British Ambassador Sir William Seeds that delegates from the United Kingdom, Soviet Union, France, Poland, and Romania should meet to discuss collective action in the event of war with Germany. [10]
- American President Franklin Roosevelt imposes punitive tariffs on imports from Germany. [10]
- March 20
- 7,000 Jews flee German occupied Memel Lithuania. [1]
- March 21
- Germany demands Gdansk (Danzig) from Poland. [1]
- March 22
- Lithuania surrenders Memel to Germany. [10]
- March 23
- Poland partially mobilizes its armed forces. [10]
- March 28
- Poland rejects Adolf Hitler's demand that Danzig be ceded to Germany. [10]
- Spanish Civil War ends, Madrid falls to Francisco Franco. [1]
- March 30
- The British and French governments guarantee Poland's independence. [10]
- April 1
- German battleship Tirpitz launched at Wilhelmshaven. [10]
- US recognizes Franco government in Spain at end of Spanish civil war. [1]
- Pope Pius XII congratulates Generalissimo Franco's victory in Spain. [1]
- Canada begins regular transcontinental air passenger service. [242.4]
- April 3
- German Chancellor Adolf Hitler issues a directive to the Army High Command to prepare for an attack on Poland, code named Fall Weiss (Case White), to be ready to implement by September 1. [10]
- King Ghazi of Iraq drives car into lamppost, dying instantly. [1] [1215.811]
- April 4
- Faisal II ascends to throne of Iraq at age 4, with regent his uncle Abd al-llah. [1] [626.220] [1215.811]
- April 5
- Membership in Hitler Youth becomes obligatory in Germany. [1]
- April 6
- Great Britain and Poland sign military pact. [1]
- US and United Kingdom agree on joint control of Canton and Enderbury Islands (Pacific Ocean). [1]
- April 7
- Italy invades and begins occupation of Albania. [10] [995.37] [1377.34]
- King Zog of Albania flees into exile. [446.16] [494.15]
- April 10
- Colijn's Dutch government opens camp Westerbork for German Jews. [1]
- April 11
- Hungary leaves League of Nations. [1]
- April 12
- Benito Mussolini declares Albania an Italian protectorate, with Victor Emmanuel III king of Albania. [995.37]
- April 15
- Albert Lebrun elected President of France. [1]
- April 16
- USSR's Josef Stalin requests British, French and Russian anti-German pact. [1]
- April 17
- USSR's Josef Stalin signs British-France-Russian anti-German pact. [1]
- April 18
- Franz von Papen becomes German ambassador in Turkey. [1]
- Hubert Pierlot forms Belgian government. [1]
- April 19
- Great Britain announces it will defend Denmark, Netherlands, and Switzerland in the event of war. [392.34]
- April 20
- New York World's Fair opens. [1]
- April 28
- Adolf Hitler addresses the Reichstag in the Kroll Opera House in Berlin, Germany. Hitler denounces the ten-year non-aggression pact with Poland (signed in January 1934), and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement of June 1935. Hitler calls the Anglo-Polish Agreement an alliance directed exclusively against Germany. Hitler demands the return of Danzig to Germany. [10]
- April 30
- NBC and RCA give first public television demonstration with US President Franklin Roosevelt at opening of New York World's Fair. [1] [457]
- Tropicana ballet of Havana, Cuba forms. [1]
- May 1
- Pulitzer Prize awarded to Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (The Yearling). [1]
- May 4
- Japanese Prime Minister Kiichiro Hiranuma declares to Adolf Hitler that Japan would support Germany and Italy with political, economic, and military aid if one was attacked by a power other than the Soviet Union, but not right away. [10]
- May 5
- Flash floods kill 75 in Northeast Kentucky, USA. [1]
- May 6
- Two warships escort Britain's King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on a visit to Canada. Each ship carries about 15 million Pounds Sterling in gold for safekeeping in Canada. [10]
- May 7
- Germany and Italy announce an alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis. [1]
- May 9
- Catholic church beatifies the first Native American, Kateri Tekakwitha. [1]
- May 11
- The Japanese army attacks Outer Mongolia at Nomonhan (Khalkin Gol). [10]
- May 12
- Turkey and Great Britain conclude a security pact. [10]
- May 13
- SS Saint Louis departs Hamburg with 937 Jews as fugitives. [1]
- May 17
- Empress of Australia arrives at Wolfe's Cove, Quebec, Canada, where King George VI and Queen Elizabeth become first reigning monarchs to set foot upon the North American continent. [1268.94]
- Sweden, Norway, and Finland reject Germany's nonaggression pact offers. [392.34]
- May 19
- British Winston Churchill signs British-Russian anti-Nazi pact. [1]
- May 20
- Pan Am begins regular transatlantic airmail and passenger service across the North Atlantic. [1]
- May 22
- At the Reich Chancellory in Berlin, Italian Foreign Minister Count Ciano and German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop sign a ten-year political and military alliance, dubbed the Pact of Steel. [10]
- May 23
- British decoration, George Cross, first presented. [1]
- British parliament plans to make Palestine independent by 1949. [1]
- Adolf Hitler proclaims he wants to move into Poland. [1]
- Submarine Squalis sinks off Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 26 die. [1]
- May 27
- DC Comics publishes its second superhero, "Batman". [5]
- June 1
- British submarine Thetis sinks in Liverpool Bay with all 99 aboard. [1]
- June 3
- British Winston Churchill writes in Collier's magazine: "Unless some change of heart or change of regime takes place in Germany she will deem it in her interest to make war, and this is more likely to happen in the present year than later on." [10]
- June 7
- First king and queen of England to visit US, George VI and Elizabeth. [1]
- June 11
- King and Queen of England taste first "hot dogs" at US President Franklin Roosevelt's party. [1]
- June
- Nederland Line's Oranje liner enters service, the world's fastest motor liner maximum 26 knots). The 20,551 gross ton ship can carry 700+ passengers from Holland to the Dutch East Indies. [67.21]
- June 17
- Eugene Weldman is last person guillotined in France. [1]
- June 20
- Test flight of first rocket plane using liquid propellants. [1]
- June 23
- Siam changes its name to Thailand. [1015.288]
- France turns over Sanjak of Alexandretta (the Hatay) to Turkey. [1]
- June 27
- First transatlantic airline service, between Newfoundland and England, by Pan American Airways, 18 hours 42 minutes. Two-way fare is 140 pounds. [1] [55.16]
- June 30
- The Hatay area of Syria is annexed to Turkey. [1841.682]
- Heinkel He. 176 rocket plane flies for first time, at Peenemünde. [1]
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