<< 1936 World War II Timeline 1938 >>
6 January -
United States:
Congress outlaws arms shipments to the parties involved in the ongoing
Spanish Civil War.
16 January -
Europe: The
Gestapo dissolves all Jewish youth organizations throughout the
Reich.
17 January -
Europe: Foreign warships are banned by
Germany from passing through the
Kiel Canal.
20 January -
United States:
Franklin D. Roosevelt begins his second term as
President of the United States.
22 January -
Europe: The German government asks its citizens not to patronize Jewish doctors.
23 January -
Europe:
Josef Stalin begins his second round of
show trials for "counter-revolutionaries"
24 January -
Europe:
Hermann Goering orders
Reinhard Heydrich to organize the
emigration of all Jews still living within Germany.
30 January -
Europe:
Adolf Hitler issues a demand that all former colonies of Germany, taken from her in the
first World War, be returned immediately. In the
USSR the show trials conclude; 13 of 15 defendents are sentenced to death.
1 February -
Europe: Hitler's government forbids German citizens from accepting any
Nobel Prize.
8 February -
Spain:
Malaga falls to the advancing combined Nationalist and
Italian forces.
10 February -
Europe: All
Catholic schools in
Bavaria are shut down by the
Nazis.
1 March -
United States: The US
Army Air Force receives the first
B-17. This plane will serve as the primary
Allied bomber over
Europe.
18 March -
Spain: Republican Loyalists defeat an Italian drive toward
Madrid.
25 March -
Europe:
Yugoslavia and
Italy sign nonaggression and neutrality pacts.
31 March -
Africa:
South Africa rejects Hitler's demands of 30 January, stating that it will not give up
South West Africa.
11 April -
Europe: The German
Ministry of the Interior issues a decree revoking the citizenship of Jews.
20 April -
Spain: General
Francisco Franco announces that Spain is a
totalitarian state and declares himself
dicatator.
Europe:
Adolf Hitler celebrates his 48th birthday.
27 April -
Spain: German aircraft level the
Basque city of
Guernica, killing 1600 civilians. The attack will inspire
Pablo Picasso's
mural,
Guernica.
29 April -
Europe:
Hermann Goering, commander of the
Luftwaffe, orders all production of 4-engine
bombers ceased. Germany will fight
World War II without a
heavy bomber.
1 May -
United States: In response to the
Spanish Civil War,
Franklin D. Roosevelt signs into law a bill extending American neutrality to include civil wars.
6 May -
United States: The
Zepplin Hindenburg crashes while attempting to land at
Lakehurst, New Jersey.
9 May -
Europe: In Germany, Jews are officially barred from receiving university degrees.
14 May -
Europe: The performance of music from
Beethoven and
Mozart by Jews in forbidden in Germany.
28 May -
Europe:
Neville Chamberlain, the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, replaces
Stanley Baldwin as the
Prime Minister of
Britain.
30 May -
Spain: In an effort to oppose Germany's interference in the
Spanish Civil War,
Loyalist aircraft attack the German battleship
Deutschland, killing 26 and wounding 71.
31 May -
Spain: The city of
Almeira is destroyed by the German navy in retribution for the previous day's assault on the
Deutschland.
1 June -
Japan:
Prince Konoye is appointed
Prime Minister of Japan.
12 June -
Europe:
Joseph Stalin executes eight high ranking generals. This marks the beginning of his purges of the
Red Army. 20,000 will die in this round of executions alone.
13 June -
Europe: The
Communist Party is banned by the
Swiss canon of
Geneva.
16 June -
Europe: The
Deutsche Volkskirche (German People's Church) is established as the official religion of
Nazism.
18 June -
Spain: Nationalist forces, aided by their
German and
Italian allies, capture
Bilbao.
20 June -
Europe: Fearing a German invasion, the
Czech government institutes compulsory military training for those aged 6 to 60. Conscription, however, is limited to 17 to 30.
6 July -
Europe: German Jews are prohibited from studying
medicine.
7 July -
China: The
Second Sino-Japanese War begins with a clash between
Chinese and
Japanese patrols on the
Marco Polo Bridge in
Beijing. Because Japan never declares war, America is not bound by the
Neutrality Act and
FDR continues to ship weapons to China.
17 July -
Europe:
Britain and
Germany sign another naval treaty.
19 July -
Europe: The
Ettersberg concentration camp opens.
28 July -
China: The
Japanese air force destroys
Nankai University in
Tietsin, alleging that it was providing harbor for anti-Japanese activists.
Europe: In Germany, the
Ettersberg concentration camp is renamed to
Buchenwald.
31 July -
China: Japanese troops route the last defenders of
Beijing, completing the conquest of that city.
3 August -
Europe:
Italy follows
Germany's lead and bans Jews from all universities.
13 August -
Europe: The
Reich Ministry of Education issues an order for all Germans with knowledge of a
foreign language to register.
25 August -
China: The
Japanese Imperial Navy begins a
blockade of all ports on the Chinese coast.
29 August -
Asia: The
USSR and
China sign a nonaggression treaty.
19 September -
China:
Nanking and
Canton are attacked by units from the Japanese air force.
22 September -
China: The
United States condemns the bombings of Nanking and Canton.
25 September -
China: The Japanese 5th Division is successfully ambushed by a force of Communist Chinese, killing 3,000 Japanese. It is the first real victory for
China in the war.
5 October -
United States: Breaking his long-held pro-neutrality stance, President
Roosevelt warns against continued American
isolationism, saying that aggressors must be "
quarantined".
13 October -
Europe: Germany signs a treaty with
Belgium, guaranteeing that country's independence.
20 October -
Europe: Nazi police begin the
picketing of Jewish shops and market stalls.
21 October -
Spain:
Francisco Franco completes his conquest of northern Spain with the capture of
Gijon.
28 October -
Spain: The Loyalist government relocates its capital to
Barcelona from
Valencia.
5 November -
Europe: The
Air Raid Precautions Bill is introduced into the
British House of Commons.
Hitler issues the
Hossbach Memorandum to the commanders of the German army, navy, and airforce, outlining for the first time his plans for a future war in Europe and the destruction of
Czechoslovakia.
6 November -
Europe:
Italy joins the
Anti-Comintern Pact already adopted by
Germany and
Japan, forming the
Triple Alliance that would come to be recognized as "
the Axis".
9 November -
China:
Shanghai is declared secure by its Japanese conquerors.
17 November -
Europe: A four-day series of meetings between
Edward Wood,
Lord Halifax, of
Britain and
Hitler begins. These meetings mark the beginning of
Britain's policy of
appeasement.
21 November -
China:
China relocates her capital from
Nanking to
Wuhan in the face of the advancing Japanese army.
1 December -
Europe: A
French diplomatic mission begins a 17-day tour of eastern Europe in hopes of strengthening
France's anti-Germany alliance system.
5 December -
Spain: Loyalist forces begin a counteroffensive against
Franco's troops.
9 December -
China: Japanese forces reach the Chinese city of
Nanking.
11 December -
Europe:
Italy recalls its delegation from the
League of Nations and withdraws its membership in the body.
12 December -
China: Japanese forces sink the
USS Panay on the
Yangtze River. This is the first US casualty of the war.
13 December -
China: The Japanese enter
Nanking after having routed all of its defenders. The
Rape of Nanking begins
14 December -
Europe: The German government declares
Gypsies to be "inveterate criminals" and orders all those identified as "
asocial" to be sent to concentration camps.
21 December -
Europe: The British government officially rejects a proposition to divide
Palestine into two states, one
Arab and one
Jewish.
27 December -
Europe:
Fascists come to power in
Romania.
- Thanks to Frankie for correcting me on the former name of Namibia.
- http://www.euronet.nl/users/wilfried/ww2/tot-1939.htm
- http://www.humanitas-international.org/showcase/chronography/timebase/1937tbse.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