The world: 1930s

1930–1939

Events in this period 12

1. 1939 – 1945 · Europe · War

   World War II

   World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many engaging in total war on an unprecedented scale. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the deaths of 60 to 75 million people, a majority of whom were civilians. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides, including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.

2. 1930 · India · Politics

   Salt March

   The Salt March, also known as the Salt Satyagraha, Dandi March, and the Dandi Satyagraha, was an act of nonviolent civil disobedience in colonial India, led by Mahatma Gandhi. The 24-day march (padayatra) lasted from 12 March 1930 to 6 April 1930 as a direct action campaign of tax resistance and nonviolent protest against the British salt monopoly. Another reason for this march was that the Civil Disobedience Movement needed a strong inauguration that would inspire more people to follow Gandhi's example. Gandhi started this march with 78 of his trusted volunteers. The march spanned 387 kilometres (240 mi), from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi, which was called Navsari at that time. Growing numbers of Indians joined them along the way. When Gandhi broke the British Raj salt laws at 8:30 am on 6 April 1930, it sparked large-scale acts of civil disobedience against the salt laws by millions of Indians.

3. 1937 – 1938 · China · War

   Nanjing Massacre

   The Nanjing Massacre or the Rape of Nanjing was the mass rape and murder, between December 1937 and March 1938, of Chinese civilians, noncombatants, and prisoners of war by the Imperial Japanese Army in Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China. It took place immediately after the Battle of Nanjing and retreat of the National Revolutionary Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

4. 1937 – 1945 · China · War

   Second Sino-Japanese War

   The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan and its puppet states between 1937 and 1945, following a period of conflict localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is often regarded as the beginning of World War II in Asia, as the wars became heavily intertwined after Japan attacked the United States. It was the largest Asian war in the 20th century.

5. 1938 · Europe · Politics

   Munich Agreement

   The Munich Agreement was reached in Munich on 30 September 1938, by Nazi Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy. The agreement provided for the German annexation of part of the First Czechoslovak Republic called the Sudetenland, where three million people, mainly ethnic Germans, lived. The pact is known in some areas as the Munich Dictate, or the Munich Betrayal, because of a previous 1924 alliance agreement and a 1925 military pact between France and the Czechoslovak Republic.

6. 1939 – 1940 · Europe · War

   Winter War

   The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peace Treaty on 13 March 1940. Despite superior military strength, especially in tanks and aircraft, the Soviet Union suffered severe losses and initially made little headway. The League of Nations deemed the attack illegal and expelled the Soviet Union from its organization.

7. 1931 · China · War

   Mukden incident

   The Mukden incident was a false flag event staged by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria. On September 18, 1931, Lieutenant Suemori Kawamoto of the Independent Garrison Unit of the 29th Japanese Infantry Regiment detonated a small quantity of dynamite close to a railway line owned by Japan's South Manchuria Railway near Mukden. The explosion was so weak that it failed to destroy the track, and a train passed over it minutes later. The Imperial Japanese Army accused Chinese dissidents of the act and responded with a full invasion that led to the occupation of Manchuria, in which Japan established its puppet state of Manchukuo five months later.

8. 1932 – 1935 · South America · War

   Chaco War

   The Chaco War was fought from 1932 to 1935. It was between Bolivia and Paraguay over control of the northern part of the Gran Chaco region, which was thought to be rich in petroleum. The war is also referred to as La Guerra de la Sed, since it was fought in the semi-arid Chaco. It was the first that took place in South America in which modern weapons were used, and also the bloodiest South America war of the 20th century — around 2% of the Bolivian population and 3% of Paraguayans were killed during the conflict.

9. 1934 – 1935 · China · War

   Long March

   The Long March was a military retreat by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chinese Red Army from advancing Kuomintang (KMT) National Revolutionary Army during the Chinese Civil War, occurring between October 1934 and October 1935. About 100,000 troops retreated from the Jiangxi Soviet and other bases to a new headquarters in Yan'an, Shaanxi, travelling approximately 10,000 kilometres. About 8,000 troops ultimately survived the Long March.

10. 1935 – 1937 · Middle East · War

    Second Italo-Ethiopian War

    The Second Italo-Ethiopian War, also referred to as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, was a war of aggression waged by Italy against Ethiopia, which lasted from October 1935 to May 1936. In Ethiopia it is often referred to simply as the Italian Invasion, and in Italy as the Ethiopian War. The war is regarded as the largest colonial campaign in history.

11. 1936 · Europe · Politics

    Anti-Comintern Pact

    The Anti-Comintern Pact, officially the Agreement against the Communist International, was an anti-communist pact concluded between Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan on 25 November 1936 and directed against the Communist International (Comintern). It was signed by the German ambassador-at-large Joachim von Ribbentrop and the Japanese ambassador to Germany Kintomo Mushanokōji. Italy joined in 1937, but it was legally recognized as an original signatory by the terms of its entry. Spain and Hungary joined in 1939. Other countries joined during World War II.

12. 1939 · Central Asia · War

    Battles of Khalkhin Gol

    The Battles of Khalkhin Gol, known in Japan as the Nomonhan Incident after Nomonhan Burd Obo, were the decisive engagements of the undeclared Soviet–Japanese border conflicts which involved the Soviet Union, Mongolia, Japan, and Manchukuo in 1939. The conflict is named after the river Khalkhin Gol, which passes through the battlefield. The Soviet offensive, led by general Georgy Zhukov, utilized airplanes, tanks, and infantry in a simultaneous three-pronged offensive, the first of its kind in modern warfare. Similar tactics were later used during Operation Uranus at the Battle of Stalingrad.

Descriptions are the opening paragraph of each Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA 4.0). Open an event for the full text and a link to the source.

Still under way

• Great Depression1929 – 1939
• Chinese Civil War1927 – 1949

Around the same time

• Pacific War1941 – 1945
• Attack on Pearl Harbor1941
• Eastern Front (World War II)1941 – 1945
• Second Battle of El Alamein1942
• Battle of Midway1942
• Fall of Singapore1942
• Battle of Stalingrad1942 – 1943
• Battle of Leyte Gulf1944
• Kellogg–Briand Pact1928
• Battle of France1940
• Battle of Moscow1941 – 1942
• Siege of Leningrad1941 – 1944

Other maps for this period

• War mapsChinese Civil War
• War mapsSecond Italo-Ethiopian War
• War mapsSpanish Civil War
• War mapsSecond Sino-Japanese War
• War mapsWorld War II
• War mapsWinter War
• Epidemics mapThird plague pandemic
• Inventions mapJet engine