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World History (1910-1949) ................................................ 1910
Boy Scouts of America incorporated. Angel Island, in San Francisco
Bay, becomes immigration center for Asians entering U.S.
1911
First use of aircraft as offensive weapon in Turkish-Italian War.
Italy defeats Turks and annexes Tripoli and Libya. Chinese
Republic proclaimed after revolution overthrows Manchu dynasty.
Sun Yat-sen named president. Mexican Revolution: Porfirio Diaz,
president since 1877, replaced by Francisco Madero. Triangle
Shirtwaist Company fire in New York; 146 killed. Amundsen reaches
South Pole. Ernest Rutherford discovers the structure of the atom.
Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier. Irving Berlin's Alexander's
Ragtime Band.
1912
Balkan Wars (1912-1913) resulting from territorial disputes:
Turkey defeated by alliance of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, and
Montenegro; London peace treaty (1913) partitions most of European
Turkey among the victors. In second war (1913), Bulgaria attacks
Serbia and Greece and is defeated after Romania intervenes and
Turks recapture Adrianople. Titanic sinks on maiden voyage; over
1,500 drown. New Mexico and Arizona admitted as states.
1913
Suffragettes demonstrate in London. Garment workers strike in New
York and Boston; win pay raise and shorter hours. Henry Ford
develops first moving assembly line. 16th Amendment (income tax)
and 17th (popular election of U.S. senators) adopted. Bill
creating U.S. Federal Reserve System becomes law. Stravinsky's The
Rite of Spring. Woodrow Wilson becomes 28th U.S. president. Armory
Show introduces modern art to U.S.; Duchamp's Nude Descending a
Staircase shocks public.
1914
World War I begins: Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand and wife
Sophie are assassinated; Austria declares war on Serbia, Germany
on Russia and France, Britain on Germany. (For detailed chronology
see, World War I.)Panama Canal officially opened. Congress sets up
Federal Trade Commission, passes Clayton Antitrust Act. U.S.
Marines occupy Veracruz, Mexico, intervening in civil war to
protect American interests.
1915
Lusitania sunk by German submarine. Second Battle of Ypres. U.S.
banks lend $500 million to France and Britain. Genocide of
estimated 600,000 to 1 million Armenians by Turkish soldiers. D.
W. Griffith's film Birth of a Nation. Albert Einstein's General
Theory of Relativity.
1916
Congress expands armed forces. Battle of Verdun. Battle of the
Somme. Tom Mooney arrested for San Francisco bombing (pardoned in
1939). Pershing fails in raid into Mexico in quest of rebel Pancho
Villa. U.S. buys Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25 million.
1920
League of Nations holds first meeting at Geneva, Switzerland. U.S.
Dept. of Justice red hunt nets thousands of radicals; aliens
deported. Women's suffrage (19th) amendment ratified. Treaty of Sèvres
dissolves Ottoman Empire. First Agatha Christie mystery. Sinclair
Lewis's Main Street.
1921Reparations
Commission fixes German liability at 132 billion gold marks.
German inflation begins. Major treaties signed at Washington
Disarmament Conference limit naval tonnage and pledge to respect
territorial integrity of China. In U.S., Nicola Sacco and
Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Italian-born anarchists, convicted of armed
robbery murder; case stirs world-wide protests; they are executed
in 1927.
1922
Mussolini marches on Rome; forms Fascist government. Irish Free
State, a self-governing dominion of British Empire, officially
proclaimed. Kemal Atatürk, founder of modern Turkey, overthrows
last sultan. James Joyce's Ulysses.
1923
Adolf Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch in Munich fails; in 1924 he is
sentenced to five years in prison where he writes Mein Kampf;
released after eight months. Occupation of Ruhr by French and
Belgian troops to enforce reparations payments. Widespread Ku Klux
Klan violence in U.S. Earthquake destroys third of Tokyo. George
Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Bessie Smith, known as the Empress of
the Blues, makes her first record. Irish poet William Butler Yeats
wins Nobel Prize in Literature.
1924
Death of Lenin; Stalin wins power struggle, rules as Soviet
dictator until death in 1953. Italian Fascists murder Socialist
leader Giacomo Matteotti. Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall and
oilmen Harry Sinclair and Edward L. Doheny are charged with
conspiracy and bribery in the Teapot Dome scandal, involving
fraudulent leases of naval oil reserves. In 1931, Fall is
sentenced to year in prison; Doheny and Sinclair acquitted of
bribery. Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb convicted in thrill
killing of Bobby Franks in Chicago; defended by Clarence Darrow;
sentenced to life imprisonment. (Loeb killed by fellow convict in
1936; Leopold paroled in 1958, dies in 1971.) Robert Frost wins
first of four Pulitzers.
1925
Nellie Tayloe Ross elected governor of Wyoming; first woman
governor elected in U.S. Locarno conferences seek to secure
European peace by mutual guarantees. John T. Scopes convicted and
fined for teaching evolution in a public school in Tennessee
Monkey Trial; sentence set aside. John Logie Baird, Scottish
inventor, transmits human features by television. Hitler publishes
Volume I of Mein Kampf.
1926
General strike in Britain brings nation's activities to
standstill. U.S. marines dispatched to Nicaragua during revolt;
they remain until 1933. Gertrude Ederle of U.S. is first woman to
swim English Channel. Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises.
1927
German economy collapses. Socialists riot in Vienna; general
strike follows acquittal of Nazis for political murder. Trotsky
expelled from Russian Communist Party. Charles A. Lindbergh flies
first successful solo non-stop flight from New York to Paris. Ruth
Snyder and Judd Gray convicted of murder of Albert Snyder; they
are executed at Sing Sing prison in 1928. Philo T. Farnsworth
demonstrates working television model. Georges Lemaître proposes
Big Bang Theory. Babe Ruth hits 60 home runs in the season; record
stands for next 34 years. The Jazz Singer, with Al Jolson, first
part-talking motion picture.
1928
Kellogg-Briand Pact, outlawing war, signed in Paris by 65 nations.
Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin. Richard E. Byrd starts
expedition to Antarctic; returns in 1930. Anthropologist Margaret
Mead publishes Coming of Age in Samoa. Oxford English Dictionary
published after 44 years of research.
1929
Trotsky
expelled from U.S.S.R. Lateran Treaty establishes independent
Vatican City. In U.S., stock market prices collapse, with U.S.
securities losing $26 billion first phase of Depression and world
economic crisis. St. Valentine's Day gangland massacre in Chicago.
Edwin Powell Hubble proposes theory of expanding universe.
1930
Britain,
U.S., Japan, France, and Italy sign naval disarmament treaty.
Nazis gain in German elections. Cyclotron developed by Ernest O.
Lawrence, U.S. physicist. Pluto discovered by astronomers.
1931
Spain becomes a republic with overthrow of King Alfonso XIII.
German industrialists finance 800,000-strong Nazi party. British
parliament enacts statute of Westminster, legalizing dominion
equality with Britain. Mukden Incident begins Japanese occupation
of Manchuria. In U.S., Hoover proposes one-year moratorium of war
debts. Harold C. Urey discovers heavy hydrogen. Gangster Al
Capone sentenced to 11 years in prison for tax evasion(freed in
1939; dies in 1947). Notorious Scottsboro trial begins, exposing
depth of Southern racism. The Star Spangled Banner officially
becomes national anthem.
1932
Nazis
lead in German elections with 230 Reichstag seats. Famine in
U.S.S.R. In U.S., Congress sets up Reconstruction Finance
Corporation to stimulate economy. Veterans march on Washington
most leave after Senate rejects payment of cash bonuses; others
removed by troops under Douglas MacArthur. U.S. protests Japanese
aggression in Manchuria. Amelia Earhart is first woman to fly
Atlantic solo. Charles A. Lindbergh's baby son kidnapped, killed.
(Bruno Richard Hauptmann arrested in 1934, convicted in 1935,
executed in 1936.)
1933
Hitler appointed German chancellor, gets dictatorial powers.
Reichstag fire in Berlin; Nazi terror begins. Germany and Japan
withdraw from League of Nations. Giuseppe Zangara executed for
attempted assassination of president-elect Roosevelt in which
Chicago mayor Cermak is fatally shot. Roosevelt inaugurated ( the
only thing we have to fear is fear itself ); launches New Deal.
Prohibition repealed. U.S.S.R. recognized by U.S.
1934
Chancellor Dollfuss of Austria assassinated by Nazis. Hitler
becomes führer. U.S.S.R. admitted to League of Nations. Dionne
sisters, first quintuplets to survive beyond infancy, born in
Canada. Mao Zedong begins the Long March north with 100,000
soldiers.
1935
Saar incorporated into Germany after plebiscite. Nazis repudiate
Versailles Treaty, introduce compulsory military service.
Mussolini invades Ethiopia; League of Nations invokes sanctions.
Roosevelt opens second phase of New Deal in U.S., calling for
social security, better housing, equitable taxation, and farm
assistance. Huey Long assassinated in Louisiana.
1936
Germans occupy Rhineland. Italy annexes Ethiopia. Rome-Berlin Axis
proclaimed (Japan to join in 1940). Trotsky exiled to Mexico. King
George V dies; succeeded by son, Edward VIII, who soon abdicates
to marry an American-born divorcée, and is succeeded by brother,
George VI. Spanish civil war begins. Hundreds of Americans join
the Lincoln Brigades. (Franco's fascist forces defeat Loyalist
forces by 1939, when Madrid falls.) War between China and Japan
begins, to continue through World War II. Japan and Germany sign
anti-Comintern pact; joined by Italy in 1937.
1937
Hitler repudiates war guilt clause of Versailles Treaty; continues
to build German power. Italy withdraws from League of Nations.
U.S. gunboat Panay sunk by Japanese in Yangtze River. Japan
invades China, conquers most of coastal area. Amelia Earhart lost
somewhere in Pacific on round-the-world flight. Picasso's Guernica
mural.
1938
Hitler marches into Austria; political and geographical union of
Germany and Austria proclaimed. Munich Pact Britain, France, and
Italy agree to let Germany partition Czechoslovakia. Douglas
Wrong-Way Corrigan flies from New York to Dublin. Fair Labor
Standards Act establishes minimum wage. Orson Welles's radio
broadcast War of the Worlds.
1939
Germany invades Poland; occupies Bohemia and Moravia; renounces
pact with England and concludes 10-year non-aggression pact with
U.S.S.R. Russo-Finnish War begins; Finns to lose one-tenth of
territory in 1940 peace treaty. World War II begins.(For detailed
chronology, see World War II.) In U.S., Roosevelt submits
$1,319-million defense budget, proclaims U.S. neutrality, and
declares limited emergency. Einstein writes FDR about feasibility
of atomic bomb. New York World's Fair opens. DAR refuses to allow
Marian Anderson to perform. Gone with the Wind premieres.
1940
Hitler invades Norway, Denmark (April 9), the Netherlands,
Belgium, Luxembourg (May 10), and France (May 12). Churchill
becomes Britain's prime minister. Trotsky assassinated in Mexico
(Aug. 20). Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania annexed by U.S.S.R. U.S.
trades 50 destroyers for leases on British bases in Western
Hemisphere. Selective Service Act signed. The first official
network television broadcast is put out by NBC.
1941
Germany attacks the Balkans and Russia. Japanese surprise attack
on U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor brings U.S. into World War II; U.S.
and Britain declare war on Japan. Manhattan Project (atomic bomb
research) begins. Roosevelt enunciates four freedoms, signs
Lend-Lease Act, declares national emergency, promises aid to
U.S.S.R. Orson Welles's Citizen Kane.
1942
Declaration of United Nations signed in Washington (Jan. 1). Nazi
leaders attend Wannsee Conference to coordinate the final solution
to the Jewish question, the systematic genocide of Jews known as
the Holocaust. (For detailed chronology of the Holocaust, see The
Holocaust.) Women's military services established. Enrico Fermi
achieves nuclear chain reaction. More than 120,000 Japanese and
persons of Japanese ancestry living in western U.S. moved to
relocation centers, some for the duration of the war (Executive
Order 9066). Coconut Grove nightclub fire in Boston kills 492
(Nov. 28).
1943
Churchill and Roosevelt hold Casablanca Conference (Jan. 14-23).
Mussolini deposed. President freezes prices, salaries, and wages
to prevent inflation. Income tax withholding introduced.
1944
Allies invade Normandy on D-Day (June 6). G.I. Bill of Rights
enacted. Bretton Woods Conference creates International Monetary
Fund and World Bank (July 12-2). Dumbarton Oaks Conference
U.S., British Commonwealth, and U.S.S.R. propose establishment of
United Nations (Aug. 21-Oct. 7). Battle of the Bulge (Dec. 16).
Gunnar Myrdal's An American Dilemma.
1945
Yalta
Conference (Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin) plans final defeat of
Germany (Feb. 4-11). FDR dies (April 12). Hitler commits suicide
(April 30); Germany surrenders (May 7); May 8 is declared V-E Day.
Potsdam Conference (Truman, Churchill, Stalin) establishes basis
of German reconstruction (July-Aug.). U.S. drops atomic bombs on
Japanese cities of Hiroshima (Aug. 6) and Nagasaki (Aug. 9). Japan
signs official surrender on V-J Day (Sept. 2). United Nations
established (Oct. 24). First electronic computer, ENIAC, built.
1946
First meeting of UN General Assembly opens in London (Jan. 10).
Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain speech warns of Soviet expansion
(March 5). League of Nations dissolved (April). Italy abolishes
monarchy (June). Verdict in Nuremberg war trial: 12 Nazi leaders
(including 1 tried in absentia) sentenced to hang; 7 imprisoned; 3
acquitted (Oct. 1). Goering commits suicide a few hours before 10
other Nazis are executed (Oct. 15). Juan Perón becomes president
of Argentina. Benjamin Spock's childcare classic published.
1947
Britain nationalizes coal mines (Jan. 1). Peace treaties for
Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Finland signed in Paris (Feb.
10). Soviet Union rejects U.S. plan for UN atomic-energy control
(March 4). Truman proposes Truman Doctrine, which was to aid
Greece and Turkey in resisting communist expansion (March 12).
Marshall Plan for European recovery proposed—a coordinated
program to help European nations recover from ravages of war
(June). (By the time it ended in 1951, this European Recovery
Program had cost $13 billion.) India and Pakistan gain
independence from Britain (Aug. 15). U.S. Air Force pilot Chuck
Yeager becomes first person to break the sound barrier (Oct. 14).
Jackie Robinson joins the Brooklyn Dodgers. Anne Frank's The Diary
of a Young Girl published.
1948
Gandhi assassinated in New Delhi by Hindu fanatic (Jan. 30). Burma
(Jan. 4) and Ceylon (Feb. 4) granted independence by Britain.
Communists seize power in Czechoslovakia (Feb. 23-25).
Organization of American States (OAS) Charter
signed at Bogotá, Colombia (April 30). Nation of Israel
proclaimed; British end mandate at midnight; Arab armies attack (May
14). Berlin blockade begins (June 24), prompting Allied airlift
(June 26). (Blockade ends May 12, 1949; airlift continues until
Sept. 30, 1949.) Stalin and Tito break (June 28). Independent
Republic of Korea is proclaimed, following election supervised
by UN (Aug. 15). Verdict in Japanese war trial: 18 imprisoned
(Nov. 12); Tojo and six others hanged (Dec. 23). United States of
Indonesia established as Dutch and Indonesians settle conflict
(Dec. 27). Alger Hiss, former U.S. State Department
official, indicted on perjury charges after denying passing secret
documents to communist spy ring; convicted in second trial (1950)
and sentenced to five-year prison term. Truman ends racial
segregation in military. Alfred Kinsey publishes Sexual Behavior
in the American Male. Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named
Desire wins Pulitzer.  1949
Cease-fire in Palestine (Jan. 7). Truman proposes Point Four
Program to help world's less developed areas (Jan. 20). Israel
signs armistice with Egypt (Feb. 24). Start of North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO) treaty signed by 12 nations (April 4).
Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) established (May 23).
First successful Soviet atomic test (July 14). Communist People's
Republic of China formally proclaimed by Chairman Mao Zedong (Oct.
1). German Democratic Republic (East Germany) established under
Soviet rule (Oct. 7). South Africa institutionalizes apartheid.
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