1930 to 1938

The rise in aggression by Germany, Japan and Italy prompts equivocal responses by US, UK and France. In the US, isolationists encourage Congress to pass the Neutrality Acts to keep the US out of foreign wars, but Congress also increases the size of the Navy to improve the country's power at sea. Under similar popular anti-war sentiments, UK and France are reluctant to challenge Germany's occupation of the Rhineland and the annexation of Austria and the Czech Sudetenland, all violations of the 1919 Versailles Treaty. Horizontal bomber airplanes would be invented to create devastation to troops and civilians. Enciphering machines, code broadcasting via radio, and codebreaking would be used around the world as the world makes and breaks diplomatic treaties and rearms for another war. Countries withdraw from the League of Nations as it proves impotent to prevent an inevitable war.

January 1.   Nanking, China:   Extraterritoriality rights are abolished in China. Under a series of treaties beginning in the mid-19th century, Western powers and Japan demanded special economic and political rights in Chinese ports (treaty ports) that undermined Chinese sovereignty.

April 22.   London:   US, UK, France, Italy and Japan sign a naval disarmament treaty regulating submarine warfare and the size of submarines. They also extend the limitations on aircraft carriers designated in the Washington Treaty of 1922. US, UK and Japan also agreed to scrap certain warships by 1933, and allocated tonnage limitations in other categories. As a result, one Japanese, three American, and five British capital ships were scrapped. The agreement established a permanent naval parity between US and UK. The naval parity between US and Japan in capital ships is unsatisfactory to Japan. The agreements maintained a capital ship construction holiday and remained in force until December 31, 1936. This was the last major multinational disarmament agreement negotiated before World War II.

April 30.   Rome:   Because Italy failed to receive naval parity with France in disarmament conferences, it launches a naval and airplane program in an attempt to establish Italian military supremacy in the Mediterranean region.

June 17.   Washington:   The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act is signed into law in a futile effort to increase domestic production. It raises U.S. tariffs on over 20,000 imported goods to record levels. The following retaliatory tariffs by U.S. trading partners reduces American exports and imports by more than half and contributes to the severity of the Great Depression that political turmoil around the world.

June 30.   Rhineland, Germany:   Allied forces complete their military evacuation of the Rhineland, leaving the region a demilitarized buffer zone between Germany and France. German forces will occupy it in 1936.

June 30.   London:   UK recognizes the independence of the Iraq. (Iraq (Mesopotamia) had been a UK mandate set by the League of Nations.)

April 14.   Madrid, Spain:   Following economic and political chaos, the Second Spanish Republic is created when King Alfonso XIII leaves the country after electrons of local reprsentatives to the Cortes. A provisional government is formed, which creates a constitution that is adopted on December 9. The government will be plunged into a civil war among left and right extremists in 1936 that ultimately will lead to its demise in 1939 when a military dictatorship under General Francisco Franco that will support Germanyh in WWII.

September 19.   Mukden, China:   The Japanese Army invades and occupies Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia. They will rename it Manchukuo in 1932 under a puppet government led by the Chinese Qing Dynasty Emperor Henry Pu Yi. Western countries are alarmed by this example of Japanese military expansion. Manchukuo will provide Japan with natural resources and bases for its conquest of the Jehol province of China in 1933. This occupation will last until the end of World War II. Fearful of a Japanese attack from Manchukuo, USSR willl maintain sizable forces in the east to oppose Japanese forces until assured that Japan will not attack again, after which they will be transferred to the west to fight German forces.

May 15.   Tokyo:   Junior army and navy officers assassinate Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi. The assassins are put on trial and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, but they are regarded as popular heroes acting out of patriotism. Inukai's successors are military men who report only to the Emperor. This incident is considered the end of civilian control in Japan. Thereafter, a military bent on power and conquest will rule Japan. ^Nations

December.   Poland   Marian Rejewski discovers the wiring of the German Enigma enciphering machine (2) through mathematical analysis. He will build duplicate machines and hand one over to British intelligence in 1940. Thus, the Allies will be able to break German and Italian military codes that will assist them in knowing of military movements.^{Budiansky 339}

January 21.   Jehol, China:   Jehol province is invaded by Japanese forces from Japanese-controlled Manchukuo to serve as a buffer zone between China and Manchukuo in Operation Nekka. The invasion will be complete in March, 1933, when Japan will control all of China north of the Great Wall. Jehol will be annexed to Manchukuo as Rehe province.

January 30.   Berlin:   Adolph Hitler, leader of the National Socialist German Workers (Nazi) Party, is appointed Chancellor by President Paul von Hindenburg. He will soon transform the Weimar Republic into the Third Reich under his dictatorship and begin World War II in 1939 by invading Poland.

March 4.   Washington:   Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes president of the US, having defeated President Herbert Hoover last November. Hoover's defeat was caused by his inability to deal effectively with the Great Depression with its large unemployment of around 25%. Over the next 9 years over 4 terms of office as President, FDR will partially increase employment by huge government expenditures, but only the vast military expenditures of the late 1930s will bring employment to normal levels.

March 20.   Dachau, Germany (near Munich):   Germany establishes its first concentration camp. Unlike later camps, it is not built for extermination, but nevertheless, many of its inmates will be murdered. Ultimately, about 1200 permanent camps and subcamps will be constructed in Germany and its occupied countries. Thousands of temporary camps were constructed and destroyed. Some camps were for work while others were for extermination of its inamates. There were a few holding camps for inmates in transit. Jews, Russian POWs, Gypsies, Poles, politicians, criminals, clergy, intellectuals and people with mental and physical infirmities were incarcerated.

March 23.   Berlin:   The Reichstag passes the Enabling Bill, which give Adolph Hitler dictatorian powers. He will soon begin increasing the size of the German Army and weapons far beyond the limits set by the 1919 Versailles Treaty. Germay later withdraws from the League of Nations in October over disagreement on disarmament proposals.

March 27.   Geneva:   Japan leaves the League of Nations because of the League's condemnation of Japan's conquest of Manchuria. At the same time, Japan says it has no intention of abandoning their mandates in the Pacific given by the League after World War I. The Manchurian episode marked the first serious blow to the viability of the League and its lack of action against Japanese aggression encouraged aggressive foreign policies in other countries. ^League

November 17.   Washington:   The US recognizes the communist government of USSR. USSR will become an ally of the western democracies during World War II after its invasion by Germany on June 22, 1941.

January 30.   Berlin:   The National Socialist government abolishes the Reichsrat, which represented the German states in the national government. This ended the sovereignty of the German states and the federal government, as Germany became a national state.

March 27.   Washington:   In response to the aggressive acts of Germany, Japan and Italy, and the fact that the US had fallen behind in its naval strength authorized by the Washington Naval Arms Limitations Treaty of 1922, having only 372 warships, the Vinson-Trammel Act authorizes the construction of 102 new warships and naval airplanes with associated arms. Some of these ships will be additions while others will replace obsolete ships. 65 destroyers, 30 submarines, 1 aircraftt carrier and 1184 naval airplanes to be built within 3 years, ending in 1942. This law follows the authorization of 20 destroyers, 4 submarines, 4 light cruisers, and 2 aircraft carriers (one of them the famous USS Enterprise) in 1933 using some National Industrial Recovery Act funds. The act also limits the amount of profit that contractors and subcontractors can realize on the contracts.^Global

October 15.   China:   Under pressure from Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalists, the Communist Chinese under Mao Zedong and Zhu De, break through the Nationalist lines and march westward in what will be called the "Long March". Approximately 100,000 Communist Chinese endured Nationalist bombardment and air attacks, which resulted in the loss of half of Mao's force. The Communists march 6,000 miles, crossing 18 mountain ranges and 24 rivers before reaching safe haven in the northwestern province of Shensi in October 1935. As a result of this redeployment, the Communists moved beyond the range of the Nationalists and Mao emerged as the undisputed leader of the Chinese Communist movement.^League His armies will grow and challenge the Nationalist armies, thus reducing China's ability to fight the Japanese invaders during WWII.

December 19.   Tokyo:   Japan renounces its participation in the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930. Japan will no longer have to limit its fleet to the ratios prescribed by these agreements and could openly continue a massive arms building program.

January 13.   Saarland   A plebiscite is conducted that resulted in 90.73% voting to make Saarland a part of Germany. It had been a League of Nations mandate by the 1919 Versailles Treaty. The United Nations returns the region to Germany on January 17 and Germany formally integrates it into the Third Reich on March 1.

March 16.   Berlin:   Adolph Hitler denounces the disarmament clauses of the 1919 Versailles Treaty and begins openly to rearm and conscript military forces.

August 31.   Washington:   The first of 4 neutrality acts, the Neutrality Act of 1935, becomes law. It imposes an embargo on trading in arms and war materials with nations at war. It will expire in 6 months. This act reflects the general isolationist sentiments that prevail in the US. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt reluctantly signed it into law, for he sees the drift toward war by German and Japan and wishes the US to be better prepared for war if required to defend itself. Nevertheless, he will on Ocbober 5 partially invoke this law against Italy that had invaded Ethopia.

October 2.   Adowa, Ethiopia:   Italy invades Ethiopia (Abyssinia) and will complete its conquest by May 10, 1936. Emporer Hailie Selassie flees on a British warship. In June Italy promulgates a constitution for what it calls Italian East Africa, composed of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Italian Somaliland. The League of Nations condemns Italy's invasion, so Italy withdraws its membership. Because of this aggression, western democracies will tend to isolate Italy thereafter. UK will liberate Italian East Africa in 1940 during World War II.

October.   China:   Mao Zedong, along with only 8,000 survivors, arrive in northern Shensi in northwestern China. While some Chinese Communists remain behind during the Long March to mobilize the peasantry, most of the missing were killed by fighting, disease, and starvation. Shensi offers the Chinese Communists protection from Nationalist forces and allows Mao to build the Red Army for a future offensive. Mao sets up a government in northern Shensi and calls on the Nationalists to go to war against the Japanese^League, which will be accepted, although both parties will remain alert to a renewed war between them during their war against Japan.

no date.   Washington:   Cryptanalyst Agnes Driscoll breaks the Japanese Red machine ciphers that enables the US to read Japanese diplomatic messages. This achievement will help the US military break the Japanese Purple machine diplomatic ciphers that later replace the Red machine ciphers. ^{Budiansky 339}

January 17.   Washington:   The U.S. Army Air Corps orders 13 B-17 Flying Fortresses using the Boeing Co. design. It was the only long range bomber used throughout the war beginning in 1941. Many will be produced during the war with continually improved features.

February 16.   Madrid, Spain:   Leftist groups assume power through elections and begin to collectivize farms, redistribute landowner lands, persecute the Catholic church, assasinate politicians and lead strikes. This chaos will lead to a military takeover and establish Francisco Franco as dictator. Spain will remain officially neutrol during WWII, but it will assist Germany by allowing its territory to be used by German intelligence units and submarine repair facilities.

February 29.   Washington:   The Neutrality Act of 1936 becomes law. It extends the 1935 act by 14 months. It also forbids loans and credits to belligerents. However, the act did not cover civil wars, trucks, and oil, so American companies sold these items to Spain.

March 7.   Rhineland, Germany   Gambling that UK and France lack the will to fight, Hitler orders three German battalions occupy the Rhineland in defiance of the 1919 Versailles Treaty that specified its demilitarization after 15 years of Allied occupation. (The Allies had withdrawn after 10 years as a good-will gesture towards the new German Weimar Republic.)

May 9.   Rome:   Italy proclaimes the annexation of Ethiopia into the Italian empire. King Emmanuel assumes the title of Emperor of Ethiopia and the Italians combine Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Italian Somaliland into a new colony called Italian East Africa. They face a major challenge in terms of defeating the native forces who remain in the field and the Italian army begins a program to disarm the Ethiopians. The Ethiopians undertook a guerilla war against the Italians, launching a number of small raids. The incorporation of Ethiopia into the Italian empire ends Italy's membership in the League of Nations. ^League

June 29.   Washington:   Congress passes the Merchant Marine Act that establishes the US Maritime Commission and provides federal subsidies for the civilian construction and operation of merchant ships. It replaces the US Shipping Board. The act also established the US Maritime Service to train ship's officers. The Commission becomes operational in 1937 and begin its Long Range Shipbuilding Program to build 500 merchant ships that will be used in World War II by the US Navy.

July 18.   Morocco & Spain:   The Spanish army garrison in Morocco revolts and more rebels revolt in Spain to begin the Spanish Civil War that will last until April 1, 1939 when Gen. Francisco Franco declares victory for the rebel Nationalists. USSR and Mexican forces helped the Republican armies while German and Italian forces helped the rebel armies.

August 24.   Berlin:   Adolph Hitler establishes a two-year military conscription, again defying the limitations imposed by the 1919 Versailles Treaty.

January 20.   Washington:   President Frankilin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated for a second term of office. (The date was changed from March 4 to January 20 by the 20th ("Lame Duck") Amendment to the Constitution that was passed on January 23, 1933.) Pres. Roosevelt will be elected for an unprecedented two more successive terms and therefore will be the US Commander in Chief through most of WWII until his death on April 12, 1945.

March.     A Gallup poll shows that 94% of Americans want the US to keep out of all foreign wars. ^Polsson

May 1.   Washington:   Pres. Roosevelt signs the Neutrality Act of 1937. It makes permanent the provisions of the 1936 act and it extended to cover civil wars. Furthermore, US ships are prohibited from transporting passengers and articles to belligerents and US citizens are forbidden from traveling on ships of belligerent nations. As a concession to the president, who wanted to prepare UK and France against the military buildup in Germany, it provides a "cash and carry" clause that permits the sale of of materials to belligerents if paid in cash and transported in their own ships. This clause is set to expire in 2 years. The president will not invoke the Neutrality Act when Japan later invades China, saying that the two countries were not formally at war, which will outrage isolationists. This subterfuge allows UK to transport US arms to China.

June   Nanking, China:   After resigning from the US Air Corps, Claire Lee Chenault joing the Chinese government under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek as an advisor to train Chinese pilots fighting against the Japanese armies and air forces. He will go on the establish and lead the famous "Flying Tigers", which will become part of the US Army Air Corps in World War II, serving as its commanding Lieutenant General.

July 7.   Marco Polo Bridge (located southwest of Beijing City):   Japan invades China intending to dominate it politically and economically and provide Japan with natural resources. The war with China will continue until the end of World War II. Significantly, the war ties down a million Japanese troops that otherwise would fight US troops in the Pacific Ocean campaigns during World War II. Therefore, US will provide military aid to China throughout the war.

December 12.   Shanghai, China:   The US patrol boat, Panay, is bombed, strafed and sunk by Japanese airplanes. Three men are killed and 43 sailors and 5 civilians are wounded. This incident could have provoked war between Japan and US, but US wanted to avoid breaking diplomatic ties with Japan, which had a strong trade for US oil, machinery, and scrap metals. Japan officially apologized, saying that this was an accident, and paid $2,214,000 indemnification to the US on April 22, 1938. However, US Navy cryptographers had broken the Japanese Naval code and determined that the attack had been under orders and not a mistake.

March 12.   Austria:   Gambling again that UK and France lack the will to fight, Hitler orders the German army to march into Austria and on the following day Austria is declared part of Germany, contrary to the terms of the 1919 Versailles Treaty.

May 17.   Washington:   Congress passes the Vinson Naval Act that authorizes 20% increase in naval fleet strength, including 3,000 airplanes.^Global

July 1.   Washington:   Alarmed by Japanese conquests in China, the US government takes steps to persuade Japan to curb its conquests. The Department of State notifies aircraft manufacturers and exports that the US is opposed to such sales. This "moral embargo" is extended in 1939 to materials required for airplane production and gasoline. The US also discourages exnension of credit by US citizens to Japan. ^Ferraro

September 29.   Munich, Germany:   Germany, France, UK and Italy sign a pact that allows Germany to annex the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia. Czech representatives are not allowed to participate. This region is mainly populated by German-speaking Czechs, many of whom prefer German rule while Adolph Hitler also wants to consolidate all Germans into his Third Reich. The agreement was initially widely approved in UK and France as a peaceful pact, but after the German army occupied all of Czechoslovakia it was regarded as an encouragement for further German conquests.

October 1.   Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia:   A German army occupies this region of mostly German-speaking people. It was once part of Germany, but it was given to Czechoslovakia following World War I under the 1919 Versailles Treaty. This mountanous area contains almost all of the country's fortifications, so Czechoslovakia is unable to defend itself against any future German attack.

October 25.   Chungking, China:   The Chinese government moves to Chungking as the Japanese armies conquer more Chinese territory. (At most, Japan will conquer about 1/3 of Chinese territory, including all major ports.) Chungking will remain the provisional capital until the end of World War II.

November 9-10.   Germany & Austria   Triggered by the assassination of German diplomat Ernst vom Rath by Herschel Grynszpan, a German-born Polish Jew, Nazis use this event as an excuse to terrorize Jews in both countries. Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues are looted and burned. 91 Jews are killed and 25,000 to 30,000 Jews are arrested and put in concentration camps. November 9 will be known as Kristallnacht (= Crystal Night, meaning Night of Broken Glass).