Alternate Timeline of the 20th Century Part II (1921-1939)

[break=1920's]
1/1/1921 – Australia’s new constitution comes into effect, with the first Australian Head of State (Isaac Isaacs) being sworn in on 5/1/1921.

6/2/1921 - The Democratic Republic of Georgia is occupied by Bolshevist Russia during the Red Army invasion of Georgia.

4/3/1921 – Calvin Coolidge is sworn in as the 29th President of the United States, with Charles Dawes of Illinois becoming Vice-President.

23/3/1921 - A plebiscite in Silesia, which has a large Polish population, asking voters to choose between Germany and Belarus votes for staying with Germany.

11/4/1921 - The Emirate of Transjordan is officially created, with Abdullah I as emir.

5/5/1921 - Only 13 spectators attend the soccer match between Leicester City and Stockport County, the lowest attendance in The Football League's history.

30/6/1921 – The Australian Air Force is established after the Australian Flying Corps separates from the Army.

11/7/1921 - The Red Army captures Mongolia from the White Army and establishes the Mongolian People's Republic.

5/8/1921 - The first radio baseball game is broadcast; Harold Arlin announces the Pirates-Phillies game from Forbes Field over Westinghouse KDKA, in Pittsburgh.

8/9/1921 - In Atlantic City, New Jersey, the first Miss America Pageant is held. It is won by sixteen-year-old Margaret Gorman.

19/10/1921 - A massacre in Lisbon claims the lives of Portuguese Prime Minister António Granjo and other politicians.

9/11/1921 - Albert Einstein awarded Nobel Prize in Physics for his work with the photoelectric effect.

31/12/1921 – Economic stagnation and a slow rebuilding after the horrors of the Great War lead to high inflation, high unemployment and a continuing exodus from Europe to America, Australia and New Zealand. The latter two countries double their population over the next 10 years – Australia’s population increases from just over 4 million to just over 10 million, while New Zealand reaches nearly 2 million people by 1930. The unpleasant economic situation also leads to an increase of anti-Semitism, particular in Eastern Europe and the Balkans, with the result that many Jews flee to Western Europe and on to America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

22/1/1922 – Pope Benedict XV dies in Rome, aged 67. He is succeeded a few days later by Pope Pius XI.

2/2/1922 – President Coolidge introduces radio to the White House.

18/3/1922 – In India, Mohandas Gandhi is sentenced to six years in prison for sedition. He would serve only two years.

23/4/1922 – Sporadic unrest by the large Greek minority turns into a full, armed revolt against the rule of Kemal Ataturk. Attempts to quash the revolt using military force fail, with large casualties on both sides. With the League of Nations unable to intervene, Greece suggests a population exchange with Greece’s large Turkish minority moving to Turkey in exchange for Turkish Greeks moving to Greece. After some deliberation, Turkey agrees to the deal.

1/5/1922 – Large numbers of Turkish Greeks begin to board ferries for Greece. Greece’s Turkish minority mostly travel to Turkey via Thrace. By the end of 1922, the population exchange is virtually complete, with only tiny minorities remaining in the two countries.

22/6/1922 – Another independence revolt begins, this time in Ireland when Irish Republican Army agents assassinate British field marshal Henry Hughes Wilson in Belgravia and a full scale civil war erupts.

24/7/1922 – Right-wing extremists assassinate German foreign minister Walter Rathenau. The murderers are captured on August 17 and hanged in November.

23/8/1922 – In a crackdown on political extremists, the German army occupies Saxony and crushes the short-lived, self-proclaimed Soviet Republic of Saxony.

11/9/1922 - The Irish War of Independence comes to an end when a truce is signed between the British Government and Irish forces. Britain proposes a referendum on Irish independence.

15/10/1922 – 92-year-old Emperor Franz Josef of Austria dies. His great-nephew Charles succeeds him as Charles III.

11/11/1922 – The referendum on Irish independence results in all but 6 provinces leaving the U.K. and forming the Republic of Ireland. The 6 mostly Protestant provinces join to form the Constituent region of Northern Ireland and remain part of the United Kingdom.

5/12/1922 – The British parliament enacts the Irish Free State Constitution Act, by which it legally sanctions the new Constitution of the Irish Free State. The Irish Free State officially comes into existence the next day. George V becomes the Free State's monarch. Tim Healy is appointed first Governor-General of the Irish Free State and W. T. Cosgrave becomes President of the Executive Council.

4/1/1923 – Opposition Leader Stanley Bruce kicks off campaigning for the 1923 Australian election by announcing large funding increases for all levels of education, investment in technology development and financial help for mining companies to help develop Australia’s natural and human resources. Prime Minister Hughes counters by promising an increase in social security and stricter import tariffs to enable Australian industry to better compete.

30/1/1923 – Anti- Jewish riots in Belarus and Ukraine reach extreme proportions, with Jewish businesses and synagogues being destroyed and Jews being killed, raped and injured by mobs who blame them for the economic woes in Belarus and Ukraine. Thousands of Jews begin fleeing to Germany and Austria who are struggling to cope.

8/2//1923 – Stanley Bruce and the Liberal/National Party coalition defeat Labours Billy Hughes in the Australian election and Hughes’ eight-year reign as Prime Minister comes to an end. Hughes retires from politics.

14/3/1923 – At the League of Nations, Britain proposes that the Jewish refugees be sent to the British protectorate of Palestine which covers the same territory as ancient Judea, the ancestral homeland of the Jews. After some debate (and pressure from Germany and Austria), the suggestion is accepted.

26/4/1923 – The younger son of King George V, the Duke of York, marries Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in Westminster Abbey. Their Union would produce a future Queen of England.

29/5/1923 – In a military coup in Bulgaria Prime Minister Aleksandar Stamboliyski is ousted (he is killed June 14).

24/6/1923 – China’s emperor Pu Yi dies without an heir. Prime Minister Chiang Zse Xing is elected President by everyone except the Chinese Communist party who refuse to accept the result.

24/7/1923 - The Treaty of Lausanne, settling the boundaries of modern Turkey, is signed in Switzerland by Greece, Bulgaria and other countries that fought in the First World War.

18/8/1923 – The first boatloads of Jews arrive in Palestine. Thousands more follow over the next few months and begin to spread to old Biblical cities and towns like Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth.

9/9/1923 – Telephone link between Sydney and Brisbane officially opened.

10/10/1923 - Lenin falls ill and slowly begins to withdraw from political and public life in the Soviet Union. A power struggle to fill the gap begins amongst Lenin’s subordinates, namely Josef Stalin (the Agriculture secretary) and Mikhail Beria (head of the secret police).

23/11/1923 – After failing to bring inflation under control, Chancellor Gustav Stresemann’s Coalition government collapses. Kaiser Wilhelm II appoints centrist Wilhelm Marx to form a new government which is endorsed by voters the following April.

29/12/1923 – The Ottoman Empire officially ceases to exist as Turkey becomes a republic and the capital moves from Istanbul to Ankara.

24/1/1924 – Lenin dies of cancer and is interred in a mausoleum in Red Square.

16/2/1924 – Mikhail Beria is killed in a car accident. Two days later, Josef Stalin is elected unanimously to the posts of Communist Party Chairman and General Secretary of the Politbureau.

31/3/1924 – Josef Stalin begins to consolidate his power by imprisoning, murdering or exiling his opponents to Siberian labour camps. He purges the military by forcing Great War generals to retire and appointing “left-thinking” generals to leading positions. He does the same with the judiciary. By the end of the year Stalin wields absolute power in the USSR and begins to send communist agitators into the neighbouring countries of Belarus and Ukraine.

30/4/1924 – While Stalin cements his power in the Soviet Union, the rest of Europe begins to drag itself out of the post-war economic depression. Unemployment and inflation falls, productivity, wealth and exports rise. In German elections the centre-left social democrat government narrowly loses to a centre-right party called the Christian Democrats led by Wilhelm Marx who was appointed Chancellor by Wilhelm II the previous November. The two opposing parties, SPD and CDU, take most of the seats in parliament along with a number of smaller parties along the political spectrum, including the extreme right wing National Socialist, or Nazi Party, led by a former corporal from the Great War, named Adolf Hitler. Hitler soon becomes notorious for his fiery speeches, but most Germans dismiss him as a clown.

22/5/1924 - Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President of the United States to deliver a radio broadcast from the White House.

2/6/1924 - U.S. President Calvin Coolidge signs the Indian Citizenship Act into law, granting citizenship to all Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the United States.

23/7/1924 – More aviation heroics when American airman Russell L. Maughan flies from New York to San Francisco in 21 hours and 48 minutes on a dawn-to-dusk flight in a Curtiss Pursuit.

11/8/1924 - Mercedes-Benz formed by the merging companies owned by Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz.

28/9/1924 – A rebellion against Soviet rule in Stalin’s home country of Georgia is ruthlessly crushed. Thousands of Georgians lose their lives.

25/10/1924 - British authorities in India arrest prominent independence leader Subhas Chandra Bose and jail him for the next two and half years

6/11/1924 – Calvin Coolidge is re-elected to another term as president, defeating John W. Davis.

1/12/1924 – A communist coup attempt in Estonia in which three parliamentarians are killed is put down by the Estonian army. The communists are hanged three months later.

20/1/1925 – A new mineral, Uranium, is discovered in Australia’s Northern Territory, although its potential benefits remain a mystery at this stage.

12/2/1925 – Sydney university professor Otto Hahn, having read Swiss scientist Albert Einstein’s theories on physics and energy, begins to realise the role Uranium might play in energy production.

4/3/1925 – Calvin Coolidge is inaugurated for his 2nd term as President. He becomes the first President of the United States to have his inauguration broadcasted on radio.

13/4/1925 - Charles Francis Jenkins achieves the first synchronized transmission of pictures and sound, using 48 lines, and a mechanical system. A 10-minute film of a miniature windmill in motion is sent across 5 miles from Anacostia to Washington, DC. The images were viewed by representatives of the National Bureau of Standards, the U.S. Navy, the Commerce Department, and others. Jenkins called this "the first public demonstration of radiovision".

21/5/1925 - In Dayton, Tennessee, high school biology teacher John T. Scopes is found guilty of teaching evolution in class and fined $100.

17/6/1925 - The Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, usually called the Geneva Protocol, a treaty prohibiting the first use of chemical and biological weapons, is signed at the League of Nations in Geneva.

10/7/1925 - A paper by Otto Hahn outlining the potential of Uranium as an energy source is published in a respected science journal. Hahn is contacted by the Australian government and asked to investigate further.

1/8/1925 – Crop failure and inefficient production methods in the USSR result in widespread starvation and secret exports of grain from Belarus and Ukraine to the USSR. This in turn leads to food shortages and unrest in those two countries which communist agitators are quick to exploit. In Germany, Hitler’s Nazi Party thugs engage in violent street brawls with left-wing extremists and anarchists.

3/9/1925 - New York City becomes the largest city in the world, taking the lead from London.

30/10/1925 - John Logie Baird creates Britain's first television transmitter, but the new invention is slow in taking off.

6/11/1925 - British Secret agent Sidney Reilly, rumoured to have spied for four countries, is executed by the Soviet Union.

26/12/1925 – The Great Sphinx of Giza is unearthed after a restoration.

25/1/1926 – Elections in Ukraine result in a communist majority in parliament. The elections are widely regarded as being riddled with fraud, but the League of Nations is powerless to intervene.

1/2/1926 – Turkey switches to the Gregorian calendar.

7/3/1926 – Elections in Belarus follow the same pattern as in Ukraine, that is, widespread fraud and intimidation, followed by a communist majority in parliament. Both countries begin to systematically persecute non-communist political parties and groups. The Baltic States, where elections are due in 1927 and 1928 view these developments with increasing alarm.

21/4/1926 – The second son of King George V, and his wife announce the birth of a daughter, Elizabeth. She is third in line to the throne after her uncle, Edward, and father.

3/5/1926 – A coalminers strike in Britain widens into a general strike. Martial law is declared on May 9 to deal with riots and demonstrations.

13/6/1926 – The UK General strike ends when it is unsuccessful in attempting to force the government to act to prevent wage reduction and worsening conditions for coal miners.

1/7/1926 – In Australia, the CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) is founded. In 1945 this became the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation).

6/8/1926 – American Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman to swim the English Channel from France to England.

2/9/1926 – Otto Hahn and his team present research finding on Uranium to the Australian government. The research includes both productive and destructive uses for Uranium. Hahn emphasises that the potential for Uranium is great, but that it will take 15-20 years to develop this potential. As Australia prepares for an election, Hahn is asked to continue his research on both military and peaceful uses for Uranium.

23/10/1926 – A prosperous economy helps Prime Minister Stanley Bruce to a comfortable victory in the elections.

10/11/1926 - Michinomiya Hirohito is crowned the 124th Emperor of Japan, succeeding his father, Taisho.

20/12/1926 – Followers of the Nazi Party attempt to assassinate the Kaiser, the German Chancellor Marx and the Top Commander of the German Defence Force Hindenburg at a public appearance in Berlin. At the same time, Hitler tries to stage a coup in Munich with the help of his paramilitary. Hindenburg is killed, the Kaiser is severely injured and takes a year to recover, while Chancellor Marx suffers only minor injuries. The coup fails and Hitler and most of his senior associates are arrested. 20 paramilitaries die in clashes with the police and army.

10/1/1927 – The trial of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi associates for High Treason and murder begins in Berlin.

2/2/1927 - British prime minister Stanley Baldwin ends the martial law that had been declared due to the general strike the previous year.

19/3/1927 – Soviet communist infiltrators bomb a political rally in Latvia. The rally was being held in the lead up to Latvian elections in May. The death toll is 19, and in response, Latvia begins a crackdown on foreign nationals with communist leanings. Neighbouring Lithuania, where elections are due in November, follows suit. Both countries ask Germany and Austria-Hungary for help in policing. They also ask the League of Nations for help in monitoring the upcoming elections. The Soviet Union protests against these measures, calling them “persecution of the working class” but as the USSR is not a member of the League, the protests are fruitless. The bombers are caught and hanged, and hundreds of Russians, Belarussians and Ukrainians are deported.

12/4/1927 - The Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 renames the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The change acknowledges that the Irish Free State is no longer part of the Kingdom.

15/5/1927 – Elections in Latvia bring a right-wing coalition to power.

18/6/1927 - The trial of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi associates for High Treason and murder ends. Hitler, Himmler, Hess, Goebbels and Goering are found guilty and executed. Other senior Nazis are found guilty of lesser charges and serve long prison terms. The Nazi Party is banned and its members are expelled from the German Parliament.

15/7/1927 - 85 protesters and 5 policemen are dead after communist protesters and the Austrian police clash in Vienna.

1/8/1927 – The communist governments in Belarus and Ukraine approach the Soviet Union to discuss possible reunification with the Soviet Union.

18/9/1927 – In America, the Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System (later known as CBS) is formed and goes on air with 47 radio stations.

6/10/1927 – The film The Jazz Singer opens in America to huge acclaim. It is the first “talkie” and marks the end of the silent film era.

22/11/1927 – Elections in Lithuania have a similar result as those in Latvia. The Soviet Union vows to “bring all Slav brethren into the fold of socialism”.

12/12/1927 - Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, leaving Joseph Stalin with undisputed control of the Soviet Union. Trotsky eventually flees to Mexico.

4/1/1928 – Unification negotiations between the Soviet, Belarus and Ukraine governments begin in Moscow. The negotiations make surprisingly good progress.

29/2/1928 – Elections in Estonia bring a centre-left Social Democratic government to power. Approaches by the Soviet Union to join the unification talks are given short shrift.

21/3/1928 - Charles Lindbergh is presented the Medal of Honour for his epic trans-Atlantic flight the previous year.

23/4/1928 – The Royal Flying Doctor service commences operations in Australia’s outback.

15/5/1928 - Release of the animated short Plane Crazy, featuring the first appearances of Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

17/6/1928 - Aviator Amelia Earhart starts her attempt to become the first woman to successfully pilot an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean (she succeeded the next day).

31/7/1928 – The governments of Belarus and Ukraine announce that a political, economic and military union with the USSR will commence on January 1, 1929. In effect the two countries will cease to exist as independent Nations and will join the Soviet Union as Socialist republics. Both nations withdraw from the League of Nations effective immediately. The news is greeted with shock by the rest of the world community.

22/8/1928 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt accepts the Democratic presidential nomination, with WGYB simulcasting the event on radio. A few days later, Herbert Hoover wins the republican nomination, with the event also being broadcast.

14/9/1928 – Austria-Hungary’s conservative government wins another term in office.

5/10/1928 – The CDU is returned to power in German elections.

5/11/1928 – Herbert Hoover wins the presidential election against Franklin Roosevelt. The sitting president, Calvin Coolidge, had decided against running for another term.

14/12/1928 – A large insurance firm in the United States goes bankrupt, and several other finance institutions in the USA and Europe are found to be in serious trouble. Signs that the economic boom is about to end are on the horizon.

1/1/1929 – Belarus and the Ukraine are absorbed into the Soviet Union, eliminating the buffer between it and the old Central powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. To say that Germany and Austria-Hungary are displeased would be putting it mildly. Most Ukrainians and Belarussians accept their fate and the expected flood of refugees fails to materialise.

19/1/1929 – Despite looming economic trouble, the Bruce government in Australia is returned with a small majority.

14/2/1929 - Seven gangsters, rivals of Al Capone, are murdered in the St Valentines Day Massacre in Chicago.

4/3/1929 – Herbert Hoover is sworn in as the 30th President of the United States of America.

14/4/1929 - 1st Academy Awards are presented at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, California, with Wings winning Best Picture.

31/5/1929 – The British general election returns a hung parliament with the Liberals determining who has power. The Conservatives concede power rather than ally with the Liberals and Ramsay MacDonald founds a new Labour government.

5/6/1929 - Scotland Yard seizes 12 nude paintings of D.H. Lawrence from the Mayfair gallery on grounds of indecency.

24/7/1929 - The Kellogg-Briand Pact, renouncing war as an instrument of foreign policy, goes into effect.

8/8/1929 - The German airship Graf Zeppelin begins a round-the-world flight which ends on August 29.

30/9/1929 – The year is marked by company failures as businesses default on their loans due to high interest rates. The failures lead to rising unemployment and lower wages as surviving businesses try to cut costs. Stock markets around the world slowly begin to fall. The only country doing well is the Soviet Union, which is boosted by bumper crops from the newly acquired Ukraine, and an arms buildup and industrial modernisation which employs most of its workforce.

29/10/1929 – After months of pressure, the Dow Jones Index in the United States crashes. The broader New York Stock market follows suit. Both Indices fall by one third of their value. Stock markets in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Prague, Toronto and Sydney suffer a similar fate. Another 10% is wiped off American Stock markets the next day when trading is suspended.

2/11/1929 – Trading resumes on US stock markets with further falls until the US Federal Reserve intervenes to stabilise the markets. European, Canadian and Australian markets follow a similar pattern. The immediate crisis is averted, but the Great Depression has begun.

24/12/1929 – In a Christmas address to the American people, President Herbert Hoover announces that the worst effects of the recent stock market crash are behind the nation and the American people have regained faith in the economy. That pronouncement would prove to be a bit premature.

24/1/1930 – The Kredit Anstalt, one of Austria-Hungary’s largest banks collapses, causing many Austrians to lose their life savings.

8/2/1930 – Rioting in Vienna and Budapest forces the Austrian government to set up an emergency fund to compensate people who have lost their savings in the Austrian bank collapse.

29/3/1930 – Australia records its biggest monthly rise in unemployment for 10 years as the Bruce Government nationalises the two biggest Banks.

16/4/1930 – Work begins on the Empire State Building, soaking up thousands of jobs. In Australia, construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge begins. Similar projects are initiated in European countries.

7/5/1930 – Budgets and mini-budgets in Australia, Canada and Europe allocate large sums of money to social security, unemployment relief and public healthcare.

17/6/1930 – President Hoover signs the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act into law. The Act quadruples tariffs on imports into America. This causes many of Americas trading partners to retaliate and results in a sharp jump in American unemployment.

30/7/1930 - Uruguay beat Argentina 4-2 in the Final of the First World Cup of Football.

19/8/1930 – The democratically elected government in Italy is forced from power as the fascist leader Benito Mussolini seizes power in Rome. Aided and advised by members of the banned German Nazi Party he forces the Italian King to suspend the constitution and declare him the leader (Il Duce) of Italy.

6/9/1930 - José Félix Uriburu carries out a successful military coup, overthrowing Hipólito Yrigoyen, President of Argentina. The coup completes Argentina’s slide from one of the world’s richest countries at the beginning of the century to an economic backwater.

16/10/1930 – In response to skyrocketing unemployment, President Hoover sets up the Committee for Unemployment Relief.

20/11/1930 – After a brief civil war, General Franco seizes power in Spain. As in Italy, the banned German Nazi Party supports and assists the dictator, who, like Mussolini, forces King Alfonso XIII to suspend the constitution and impose a totalitarian government led by Franco.

31/12/1930 – The Great Depression has hit with full force. Unemployment in most western democracies hovers between 20% and 30%. Businesses and Banks end up bankrupt and many people have lost their life savings. Riots and large demonstrations have broken out in America, Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Canada and Australia as various governments have struggled to cope with the economic disaster. The democratically elected governments in these countries have not fallen, but are severely shaken. In Europe, Canada and Australia, governments have begun to invest large sums of money in the social security and public medicine. President Hoover resists this step, believing that regulation and a boost in public works money is sufficient.
[break=1930's]
7/1/1931 – The American Committee for Unemployment relief finds that between 4 and 5 million Americans are unemployed and that the figure is still rising.

27/2/1931 - More businesses worldwide are nationalised, others subsidised and all are strictly regulated to make financial dealings more transparent.

10/3/1931 – The American, European, Canadian and Australian governments invest large sums of money in public works in order to create jobs and raise demand for manufactured goods.

31/3/1931 – The Davis-Bacon Act, a US federal law requiring union wages to be paid on all federal construction projects is signed into law.

22/4/1931 - The Italian and Spanish economies are slowly turned around but at the cost of the democracies that have existed in Italy and Spain at this point being replaced by authoritarian governments.

1/5/1931 – The 102-Storey Empire State Building, the tallest in the world, is dedicated by President Hoover.

16/6/1931 – The Yellow River floods in China kill between 850,000 and 4,000,000 people - the most deadly historic natural disaster.

10/7/1931 - The civilian government in Japan is sacked by the young Emperor Hirohito and the military takes charge. Japan is militarily strong but lacks natural resources.

15/8/1931 – The Invergordon Mutiny breaks out in Britain when a thousand sailors of the Royal Navy go on strike to protest against decreased salaries. The strike lasts for a week.

1/9/1931 - Japan launches an invasion of China and quickly overruns the resource-rich province of Manchuria. For this act of aggression, Japan is suspended from the League of Nations, which, however does nothing to help China.

11/10/1931 – The US Federal Reserve raises interest rates by a full percentage point from 1.5% to 2.5%. Usually, movements in interest rates amount to only 0.25% either way.

5/11/1931 – The US Federal Reserve moves interest rates by another full percentage point, from 2.5% to 3.5%.

12/12/1931 – One of New Yorks largest banks collapses because, due to the large interest rate hikes in October and November, mortgage holders are defaulting in their hundreds.

31/1/1932 – Governments in Europe begin to pay the price for the Depression at the ballot box as Romania and Bulgaria simultaneously elect communist governments that immediately leave the League of Nations (which is becoming increasingly irrelevant) and forge closer economic and military ties with the Soviet Union.

24/2/1932 - The British Conservative Party led by Stanley Baldwin is swept into office as the Labour Party suffers a crushing defeat at the polls.

19/3/1932 – The right-wing conservative government in France suffers a heavy defeat to the French Social Democrats.

3/4/1932 – Indian serial pest Mohandas Ghandi and a friend, Vallabhai Patel, are arrested and interned in Poona.

16/5/1932 – The German CDU, and a week later, the Austrian Conservatives join their French counterparts on the electoral scrapheap.

6/6/1932 – The US Revenue Act increases the top tax rate from 25% to 63% and lowers tax-exempt thresholds from $1,500 to $1,000 for individuals and from $3,500 to $2,500 for married couples.

17/7/1932 - Bloody Sunday of Altona in Germany when armed communists attack a peaceful demonstration resulting in 18 dead. Many other political street fights follow.

14/8/1932 - In Australia, Prime Minister Stanley Bruce becomes the first sitting Prime Minister to lose his seat at an election as the Australian Labour Party under Joe Lyons is swept into office.

3/9/1932 – In the US, the Norris-LaGuardia Act is passed, protecting unions from anti-trust actions, private damage suits and court injunctions.

20/10/1932 - Mohandas Gandhi begins a hunger strike in Poona prison. He breaks it off a few weeks later.

8/11/1932 - Herbert Hoover loses the presidential election to the democratic candidate Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his “New Deal”.

5/12/1932 – Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge begins.

23/1/1933 – The 20th Amendment to the US Constitution, changing Inauguration Day to January 20, is ratified.

17/2/1933 – The first stage of the Snowy River Hydroelectricity project is opened in Australia.

4/3/1933 - Franklin Roosevelt is sworn in as the 31st President of the United States of America. In his inaugural address he states that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”.

24/3/1933 – The Sydney Harbour Bridge opens, joining the northern and southern halves of Australia’s largest city. A few day later plans for an Opera House in Sydney are announced.

21/4/1933 – Yugoslavia becomes the newest domino to fall to communism. Albania follows a month later, leaving Greece as the only democratic country in the Balkans.

16/5/1933 - New York City's Palace Theatre fully converts to a cinema, which is considered the final death knell of vaudeville as a popular entertainment in the United States.

24/6/1933 - In Washington, DC, the FBI Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory (better known as the FBI Crime Lab) officially opens.

1/7/1933 - Austria-Hungary, realising it surrounded by potential enemies, begins a strong program of defence force modernisation. Germany also follows suit by employing its scientists to find ways of improving its navy and air force in particular. Both countries decide against compulsory military service, preferring to provide their young men (and increasingly, women) with incentives to join the defence force in order to build modern, professional defence forces. The two countries approach Britain and France with a view to forming a non-aggression pact, if not an outright alliance. The approaches are received favourably and discussions begin in November.

11/8/1933 – QANTAS makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand.

12/9/1933 – Max Planck, a member of Otto Hahn’s team, conceives the idea of the nuclear chain reaction while waiting for a red light on George Street in Sydney.

22/10/1933 - The United States Army Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay is acquired by the United States Department of Justice, which plans to incorporate the island into its Federal Bureau of Prisons as a federal penitentiary.

8/11/1933 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt unveils the Civil Works Administration, an organization designed to create jobs for more than 4 million of the unemployed.

5/12/1933 – The United States repeals Prohibition on alcohol.

25/1/1934 – The exiled Tsar Nicholas II dies in Vienna. His son had died of haemophilia in 1929, so the title passes to his nephew, Feodor.

18/2/1934 – Japanese forces invade the island of Formosa, which is Chinese territory. President Roosevelt’s attempts at military intervention are blocked by an increasingly isolationist congress. US appeals to the League of Nations also prove unsuccessful leading Roosevelt to question its purpose and threaten to withdraw the US from the body.

6/3/1934 - The French far right leagues rally in front of the Palais Bourbon, in an attempted coup against the Third Republic. The coup fails and the leaders are arrested.

11/4/1934 - A strong two-day dust storm removes massive amounts of Great Plains topsoil in one of the worst dust storms of the Depression-hit Dust Bowl.

1/5/1934 – The Chrysler Building in New York is completed, and construction of the Sydney Opera House begins.

6/6/1934 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Securities Exchange Act into law, establishing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

1/7/1934 – Measures taken to combat the Great Depression are starting to bear fruit. Unemployment and inflation is starting to fall, profits, commodity prices and stocks are beginning to rise. By the end of 1934, most economies are recording growth, but the price has been heavy. The Balkans except for Greece are under totalitarian communist rule, Italy and Spain are fascist countries and Japan is a virtual military dictatorship. Germany and Austria-Hungary continue to rearm. China is wracked by civil war between the nationalists and communists while fighting against the occupying Japanese.

9/8/1934 - Release of the animated short The Wise Little Hen, directed by Bert Gillett for the Silly Symphonies series, featuring the debut of Donald Duck.

22/9/1934 - The Italian government decrees that teachers must wear a military or party uniform in a class.

16/10/1934 – The Chinese communists, led by Mao Zedung begin their military campaign known as the “Long March”.

6/11/1934 - Mid-term elections in America in November give control of Congress to the Republican Party, bringing Roosevelt’s New Deal into doubt after just two years.

27/12/1934 – Persia changes its name to Iran.

5/1/1935 – The leaders of Britain, France, Austria and Germany announce the formation of a new military alliance called the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation or NATO. Article 5 of the charter states that an attack on one nation is considered an attack on all nations. The members hand out invitations to every remaining European and North American democracy to join them. Canada and the Republic of Ireland accept within days, the Benelux countries and Denmark within a few months. After Luxembourg joins the alliance, the headquarters are established there. The Baltic States join as Associate Members under the protection of full members. The United States also receives an invitation to join, but the isolationist Congress and President Roosevelt reject the invitation.

22/2/1935 – Joe Lyon is re-elected Australian Prime Minister as the country begins to lift itself out of the Great Depression.

14/3/1935 – Max Planck in Australia manages to complete a successful nuclear chain reaction, creating heavy water which is necessary for running nuclear reactors and constructing nuclear weapons. The Australian government is informed, but the scientists are instructed to keep this technology top secret.

11/4/1935 – German scientists led by Werner von Braun start to build small jet engines and primitive rocket technology.

15/5/1935 – British scientists patent a method of detecting flying object through the use of radio waves. The technology is called RADAR.

12/6/1935 – French scientists patent a method of detecting objects through the use of sound waves, called SONAR.

17/7/1935 – American scientists discover how to bundle light into a tight, visible and sometimes hot beam. The technology is called LASER.

14/8/1935 – Papers on rockets, jet engines, radar, sonar and laser technology are published in respected, but obscure, science journals.

19/9/1935 – Otto Hahn, one of the Australian most respected scientists, brings these breakthroughs to the attention of the Australian government and asks for funding to investigate and develop this technology further. After some hesitation, the government agrees.

14/10/1935 – In a General Election in Britain, Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin is returned to office at the head of a National Government led by the Conservative Party with a large but reduced majority.

23/11/1935 - An Anglo-Ethiopian boundary commission in the Ogaden discovers an Italian garrison at Walwal, which lies well within Ethiopian territory.

5/12/1935 - Ethiopian and Italian troops exchange gunfire. Reported casualties for the Ethiopians are 150, and for the Italians 50. The Italians withdraw into Italian Somaliland.

1/1/1936 – After the withdrawal of more than 75% of its members for separate trade blocs and military alliances, and a discontinuation of funds from the major economic powers, the League of Nations officially dissolves.

12/2/1936 – The Italian army invades Ethiopia under General de Bono (replaced on March 11 by Pietro Badoglio).

27/3/1936 – The leaders of Europe’s communist nations are summoned to Moscow for discussions on a treat to counter “the imperialist aggression” of NATO, as Stalin puts it.

4/4/1936 - Greece and Turkey begin discussions with NATO with a view to joining, but the ancient enmity between the two nations is a stumbling block.

10/5/1936 – Greece and Turkey are admitted to NATO as Associate Members, with the proviso that they are not required to come to each others aid in the case of conflict.

1/6/1936 – The Soviet Union announces that it will join Romania, Bulgaria, Albania and Yugoslavia in a military alliance named the Warsaw pact, after the city that will host its signing.

28/7/1936 – Spanish and Italian communists, led by Soviet counterparts, stage demonstrations in Barcelona and Florence. Both demonstrations are ruthlessly crushed with the loss of dozens of lives.

16/8/1936 – The Soviet Union denies involvement in the Spanish and Italian demonstrations calling them the actions of counter-revolutionaries out to besmirch the good name of the USSR.

11/9/1936 – Three Russians slaughter 20 people in a Hamburg train station. One of the Russians is the nephew of the Soviet consul. He claims diplomatic immunity which is granted, but his two companions (also relatives of diplomatic staff) are hanged for the crime. Germany recalls her diplomats from the Soviet Union and expels all Soviet diplomats.

14/10/1936 – Three German businessmen are arrested in Minsk and accused of spying. Austrian diplomats, acting on Germany’s behalf provide consular assistance.

16/10/1936 – The German businessmen use a traffic jam while being transferred from jail to court to escape their captors. They manage to flee to the Austrian consulate in Minsk.

31/10/1936 – Threats from Germany and Austria to cancel or suspend trade agreements with the Soviet Union force the Soviets to relent and allow the businessmen to leave the country. However, at the last minute the Soviets change their mind and a shootout occurs between Soviet soldiers and Austrian air force personnel that had been sent to fly the businessmen home. Five Russians, two Austrians and one of the businessmen die in the melee. Each side blames the other for the incident.

3/11/1936 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt is comfortably re-elected to his 2nd term as President.

26/11/1936 – Austria-Hungary and Germany cancel trade and diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, expel all Soviet citizens and begin to strengthen their borders.

29/12/1936 - Mao Zedong issues the Wayaopao Manifesto: On Tactics Against Japanese Imperialism, calling for a National United Front against Japanese Invasion.

20/1/1937 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt is sworn in for his 2nd term as President. His Vice-President is John Garner from Texas, also serving his second term.

26/2/1937 – King George V dies in London at the age of 72. He is succeeded by his eldest son, who takes the throne as Edward VIII.

5/3/1937 – The Soviet Union approaches Spain and Italy with request for talks on joining the Warsaw Pact as either full or associate members. General Franco of Spain gives the request short shrift, but the more pragmatic Mussolini agrees to in-principle talks.

7/4/1937 – The unmarried King Edward VIII announces that he plans to marry his American girlfriend Wallis Simpson as soon as the latter has finalised her second divorce. Marrying a divorcee is against convention for a monarch, but it is not illegal.

6/5/1937 – In the United States, the German airship Hindenburg bursts into flames when mooring to a mast in Lakehurst, New Jersey. It is the beginning of the end for airship travel.

30/6/1937 – The in-principle talks between Mussolini and the USSR turn into full-scale negotiations and end with Italy and the USSR signing a secret treaty promising Italian assistance in the event of a conflict between the USSR and Austria.

10/7/1937 – The British Prime Minister announces that the wedding between the King and Wallis Simpson is being “reconsidered”. The Palace denies that this is the case but refuses to comment further.

1/8/1937 - Further pressure is being applied on Edward VIII to either cancel his wedding or abdicate the throne in favour of his younger brother, George, the Duke of York.

5/9/1937 – Stalin commences one of the largest campaigns of the Great Purge, to "eliminate anti-Soviet elements". During the following year, at least 724,000 people are killed.

22/10/1937 - The United States Senate votes down President Franklin D. Roosevelt's proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court of the United States.

14/11/1937 – Edward VIII and his brother make a detailed statement outlining the pressure and threats that have been made against them in regards to Edwards impending marriage. The Duke of York states that he will not accept the crown under any circumstances. Edward announces that Wallis Simpson is not a Catholic, and that therefore he is free to marry her if he wishes. He states that he will marry his now-divorced fiancée on the 14th of February of the following year and that he will not abdicate in order to do so. He further states that any more attempts to dissuade him from this course of action will be viewed as an attempt to overthrow the monarchy which is High Treason punishable by long term imprisonment, seizure of assets or the death penalty. He names the main culprits in previous attempts as Prime Minister Baldwin and a number of members of the House of Lords who are dismissed from parliament and barred from political office for life. Winston Churchill forms a caretaker government until elections in January.

13/12/1937 - The Nanjing Massacre begins. Japanese troops would slaughter over 250,000 civilians and prisoners over three months.

11/1/1938 – Despite the British people’s disgust with the Tories role in the near-overthrow of Edward VIII, Winston Churchill wins government in his own right.

24/2/1938 – Joe Lyons’ second term as Prime Minister has not been successful, with unemployment stuck at between 10-11% and inflation hovering at 4%. As a result he loses the Australian election narrowly to Robert Menzies of the Liberal-National coalition. Menzies announces new stimulus packages, imposes restrictions on immigration of unskilled workers and relinquishes control over the setting of interest rates to the Reserve Bank.

26/3/1938 – Menzies asks for a report on the progress of Otto Hahn’s research with regards to nuclear and other technology.

10/4/1938 – The radical Socialist Party led by Eduard Daladier is elected to power in France, replacing the more centrist socialists under Leon Blum.

14/5/1938 - The British naval base at Singapore begins operations.

12/6/1938 - Action Comics issue #1 is published, presenting the first appearance of Superman, considered the first superhero.

1/7/1938 – Otto Hahn presents his report to the Menzies government. In it he lists proposals for jet aircraft, both military and civilian, that are much faster than propeller driven aircraft, rocket technology, laser guided bombs and missiles, military and civilian uses for radar in controlling air traffic and detecting potential enemy ships and aircraft, sonar in detecting anything from potential enemy submarines to schools of fish, and the use of nuclear power as energy and as a weapon of mass destruction. When queried about what is meant by mass destruction, Hahn states that a nuclear bomb or missile could have the potential to destroy a city the size of Sydney or Melbourne. He also points out that a single nuclear power station could supply the energy needs of a city of 300,000 people. The Australian government instructs Hahn to proceed with all the prototypes listed in the report and provide the government with a yearly update on their progress.

25/8/1938 – Japan begins withdrawing from Manchuria, which it had invaded in 1931. Most of the mineral resources in the Chinese province have been exhausted and guerrilla attacks by Chinese government forces are proving increasingly costly in term of Japanese lives and resources. The withdrawal is complete by October, allowing Japan to secure its colonies in Formosa and Korea as well as look to south-east Asia for further expansion.

1/9/1938 – Japan and the USSR surprise the world by signing a non-aggression pact.

1/10/1938 – Elections in Germany, and, a week later, in Austria-Hungary return centre-left social democratic governments to power. In the Baltic States, renewed communist agitation threatens to disrupt elections in the following year. Stalin announces that he will not allow his “Baltic brothers to suffer under the yoke of the bourgeoisie” for much longer.

10/11/1938 - The founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, dies in his sleep in Ankara, aged 57.

23/12/1938 - A Coelacanth, a fish thought to have been extinct for millions of years, is caught off the coast of South Africa near Chalumna River.

7/1/1939 – A British constitution is sent to Edward VIII for signing. The constitution formalises many rules and conventions that are already in place. It clarifies the role and responsibilities of the Monarch and the House of Lords, sets parliamentary terms at 5 years and guarantees basic human rights and freedoms for the British people. The constitution will come into effect on January 1, 1940.

27/1/1939 – Kaiser Wilhelm II’s 80th birthday and the 50th anniversary of his ascension to the throne is celebrated by parades, balls, functions and general partying.

15/2/1939 – Soviet and Warsaw Pact troops begin a series of manoeuvres in the Warsaw salient and near the borders of the Baltic nations.

1/3/1939 – The manoeuvres end but not all troops are withdrawn to their home barracks.

13/3/1939 – Germany and Austria receive troop requests from the Baltic Nations to bolster their own small armies. After some hesitation, Germany sends 60,000 troops, Austria-Hungary sends 30,000. The troops are split evenly amongst the three nations and begin arriving there and training Baltic troops over the next two months.

27/4/1939 – The Soviet Union begins a slow, but steady troop buildup along the borders with Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Baltic Nations.

2/5/1939 - Balkan troops from Yugoslavia, Romania and Bulgaria move to the southern Austrian Border, while Italian troops congregate near Austria’s border with Italy.

18/6/1939 – Germany and Austria-Hungary begin a partial mobilisation and send messages to Britain and France to get ready for war.

15/7/1939 – Elections in Lithuania and, over the following weeks, in Latvia and Estonia return centre-right governments in all three nations. Stalin calls the results fraudulent and completely unacceptable and vows to overturn them by any means possible. Germany and Austria-Hungary, believing that war is imminent, decide on a full mobilisation. Millions of German and Austrian troops begin to move to the east, the Balkans and Tyrol.

29/8/1939 – France, Britain and the other NATO members also begin full mobilisation.

1/9/1939 – Stalin announces that German soldiers in Latvian uniforms crossed into Soviet territory and shot up an army command post. He calls this an act of war and states that “At 6:45am we have started to shoot back. From now on their bullets will be met by our bullets, and their bombs will be met by our bombs”. At 7:00am, Soviet troops cross into all three Baltic States, the German regions of East Prussia and Silesia, and into northern Austria. At the same time, Balkan troops invade southern Austria, while Italian troops invade the Austrian regions of Tyrol and Slovenia. At 2:00pm, the German and Austrian Emperors issue a statement denying the incursion into the Soviet Union, followed by a declaration of war on the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact. France, Britain and the other NATO countries follow suit at 4:00pm, joined by the British Commonwealth countries of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. World War Two has begun.