<< 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