<< 1935 World War II Timeline 1937 >>



15 January - Japan: Tokyo withdraws its delegation to the London Naval Conference after being denied naval equality with Great Britain and the United States.

20 January - Ethiopia: The Ethiopian government requests military and financial aid from the League of Nations. Europe: George V, King of Great Britain, dies. His son, Edward Windsor, Duke of York acceeds to the British throne, becoming Edward VIII.

23 January - Ethiopia: The Battle of Tembien begins near the Eritrean border.

27 January - Ethiopia: The Battle of Tembien ends in stalemate. Casualties on the Ethiopian side far outweigh the Italian: 8,000 of the former to 1,000 of the latter.

29 January - Europe: The state funeral for King George V is held.

4 February - Europe: Wilhem Gustloff, the leader of the Nazi Party in Switzerland is assassinated by a Jewish gunman, David Frankfurter.

6 February - Europe: The fourth Winter Olympics begin in the neighboring German Alpine towns of Garmisch and Partenkirchen.

10 February - Ethiopia: Italy begins its final assault on the Ethiopian military, hurling 200,000 troops against 60,000 defenders at Amba Aradam. In Germany, the Gestapo is freed from legal accountability and gains command over all police and internal security forces within the Reich.

15 February - Ethiopia: The defending Ethiopian military crumbles beneath the Italian attackers.

16 February - Europe: The 1936 Winter Olympics close. Norway has swept the games with 15 medals, nearly 3 times their closest rival for the top spot, Germany. The United States finishes 8th, with only a single gold medal. Japan: Hirota Koki, the Japanese Foreign Minister, is made Prime Minister by the army faction controlling the government.

18 February - Europe: Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Minister of Propaganda, issues an order eliminating the religious press from Germany. Switzerland bans all Nazi activities within her borders.

25 February - Europe: The British government begins work to rearm the nation for the looming conflict.

26 February - Japan: A attempt by the Japanese military to overthrow the government ends in failure.

27 February - Ethiopia: The Second Battle of Tembien wipes out nearly all the African defenders.

28 February - Europe: London police begin a massive series of detentions, under orders to arrest all anti-Semitic activists.

3 March - Europe: The Italian government outlaws all private banking.

7 March - Europe: Germany takes back the Rhineland from its French protectors, openly defying the Treaty of Locarno. German Jews are prohibited from voting in elections for the Reichstag, the German parliament.

9 March - Japan: Hirota Koki, the Japanese Prime Minister restructures his government to increase the military's power over affairs of state.

23 March - Europe: Italy, Austria, and Hungary form a mutual defense alliance with the signing of the Rome Pact.

25 March - Europe: France, Britain, and the United States sign the London Naval Convention, concluding four months of negotiations.

29 March - Europe: In a nation-wide vote, 98.7% of Germans support the recent reoccupation of the Rhineland and the abandoning of the Treay of Versailles.

31 March - Ethiopia: Emperor Haile Selassie leads a counterattack against the Italian invaders at the Mecan Pass. His forces suffer heavy losses and are forced to withdraw.

8 April - Asia: The USSR signs a mutual assistence treaty with Mongolia.

2 May - Ethiopia: Haile Selassie abandons the capital, Addis Ababa.

6 May - Ethiopia: The Italian conquest of Ethiopia is completed. The Italian general, Pietro Badoglio, becomes the viceroy of Ethiopia.

9 May - Europe: During the celebrations of the victory in Africa, Mussolini declares that, "at last, Italy has her empire".

10 May - Spain: The Spanish people elect Manuel Azana to the presidency.

11 May - Europe: During a speech, Pope Pius XI names Communism as the "greatest evil to men".

23 May - Europe: The Dutch Catholic Church demand that the government there ban the Nazi Party.

24 May - Europe: In Belgium, fascists win 21 parliamentary seats.

26 May - Europe: Austria announces that she will not be sending a delegation to the Geneva conference on the problem of refugees from Hitler's Germany.

2 June - Europe: A Polish court indites 119 Nazis for attempting to overthrow the government of Poland.

4 June - Europe: Leon Blume is elected to the position of Premier in France. He is the first socialist and the first Jew to hold that office.

20 June - Europe: The government of Austria suspends the freedom of association within her borders, banning political gatherings and street demonstrations.

27 June - Europe: Germany declares her support to the city of Gdansk's movement for independence from Poland.

30 June - Europe: Fascist political parties are outlawed in France.

8 July - Europe: Poland's government responds to Germany's support of Gdansk, stating that it is a deliberate, belligerent act. Adolf Hitler personally guarantees Austrian sovereignty.

9 July - Europe: The German Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, decrees a halt to anti-Jewish, state-sponsered propaganda, at least until the Olympics in Berlin are over.

11 July - Europe: Austria and Germany sign a treaty of friendship.

12 July - Europe: The concentration camp at Sachsenhausen opens for business.

15 July - Europe: The sanctions against Italy for her invasion of Ethiopia are lifted by the League of Nations and other western powers.

17 July - Europe: Spain is plunged into civil war. In Germany, Hitler appoints Heinrich Himmler as the overlord of the German police forces. France nationalizes her munitions industry.

18 July - Europe: The Nazi controlled Senate in Gdansk nullifies that city's consitution, prohibts the religious killing of animals by Jews, and places a ban on Jews renewing housing leases.

25 July - Spain: Hitler agrees to send the Luftwaffe to aid the rebel Nationalists.

26 July - Spain: Italian and German forces arrive to aid Francisco Franco.

30 July - Spain: Italian aircraft begin operations in support of Franco.

1 August - Europe: The 1936 Olympic games begin, hosted by Germany.

6 August - United States: The United States firmly declares her total neutrality in the Spanish Civil War.

24 August - Europe: The first victim of Stalin's show trials, Lev Kamenev, is executed.

4 September - Europe: A labor court in Berlin rules that any non-Jewish German who marries a non-Aryan is to be fired from their job.

9 September - Europe: Joseph Goebbels alleges that Czechoslovakia is providing secret airbases for the Soviets.

12 September - Spain: The Nationalists capture San Sebastian.

14 September - Europe: Pope Pius XI blesses those fighting against the armies of Francisco Franco.

18 September - Europe: David Lloyd George, former prime minister of Britain, expresses his enthusiasm for the Nazi regime.

19 September - China: In Hankow, China, two Japanese policemen are killed. Europe: In the Soviet Union, the first trials of alleged "counter-revolutionaries" commence. All defendents are sentenced to death.

22 September - China: Japanese naval infantry occupy Hankow and neighboring Pakhoi as a response to the killings of the 19th.

23 September - China: Hongkew, China, falls to the Japanese.

24 September - Europe: The German government orders Jewish-owned employment agencies to shut down.

1 October - Spain: Fransico Franco is declared the leader of the Nationalist forces.

4 October - Europe: The German Chamber of Culture decrees that all Jewish art galleries must close their doors by year's end.

24 October - Europe: Count Ciano of Italy meets with Adolf Hitler at Berchtesgaden to discuss a Rome-Berlin alliance.

27 October - Europe: The Axis agreement is signed by Italy and Germany with the stated goal of defending "the great institutions of Europe".

29 October - Spain: Armored and air units from the USSR enter combat in support of the Republicans. The Nationalists begin their seige of Madrid.

4 November - United States: Franklin D. Roosevelt is reelected to the American presidency. He carries all but 2 of the 48 states.

6 November - Spain: The German Condor Legion is formed to aid Franco. It will eventually contain 96 aircraft, 32 tanks, 6500 troops, and 2 battleships.

18 November - Spain: The Axis members, Germany and Italy, formally recognize the government of Francisco Franco over Spain.

23 November - Europe: Over 2,000 books written by Jewish authors are blacklisted by the German government.

25 November - Europe/Japan: Germany and Japan sign an anti-Comintern pact.

1 December - Europe: Die Hitlerjugend, The Hitler Youth, are made an official agency of the state.

3 December - China: Following a labor dispute in the Chinese port of Tsingtao, Japanese naval infantry occupy the city.

7 December - Europe: In Germany, the last Jewish-owned department store is "Aryanized".

10 December - Europe: Edward VIII abdicates the throne of Britain to marry an American divorcée, Wallis Simpson.

11 December - Europe: The Duke of York is declared George VI, the new king of the British Empire.

12 December - China: Chiang Kai-shek declares war on Japan.

18 December - Spain: Germany lands troops at Cadiz.

A prize to whoever can tell me on what day (or even what month) Edward VIII was given an honorary generalship in the Japanese Imperial Army. I've searched and searched, and all I can find is the year, 1936, but no date.

- Thanks to the relentless Frankie for correcting a point about Edward's abdication.
  • http://www.euronet.nl/users/wilfried/ww2/tot-1939.htm
  • http://www.humanitas-international.org/showcase/chronography/timebase/1936tbse.htm
  • http://www.teachers.nl/_download/ eng_TIMELINES%20anne&.doc
  • http://www.blountweb.com/blountcountymilitary/wars/ww2/timelines/up_to_1941.htm
  • http://www.usd230.k12.ks.us/PICTT/timelines/prewar.html
  • http://www.ucc.uconn.edu/~ww2oh/Timeline.htm