1930s

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1930s

Events and trends

The 1930s were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the global depression. In Australia, this decade was known as the Dirty Thirties. In both Central Europe and Eastern Europe, Fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism dominated as the solution, the first two adopting war-oriented economic policies and the latter emphasizing heavy industrial development, all of them described as totalitarian regimes. In East Asia, the rise of Militarism occurred. In Western Europe, Australia and the United States, more progressive reforms occurred as opposed to the extreme measures sought elsewhere. Roosevelt's New Deal attempted to use government spending to combat large-scale unemployment and severely negative growth. Ultimately, it would be the beginning of World War II in 1939 that would end the depression.

Technology

Ub Iwerks produces the first Color Sound Cartoon in 1930, a Flip the Frog cartoon entitled: "Fiddlesticks."
Warner Brothers releases the first All-Talking All-Color wide-screen movie, Song of the Flame, in 1930. In 1930 alone, Warner Brother releases ten All-Color All-Talking feature movies.
Disney produces the first cartoon in three-color Technicolor in 1932.
Air mail service across the Atlantic began
RADAR invented
First BBC television broadcast.
In 1931, RCA Victor introduces the first long-playing phonograph record.

Science

Nuclear fission discovered by Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner and Fritz Strassmann
Pluto, the ninth planet from the Sun, is discovered by Clyde Tombaugh
- Pluto's very small size, relative to Charon (moon), and unique orbit has led some to challenge its classification as a planet
British biochemoheliologist Arthur Tansley coins term "ecosystem"
New and safer method for blood transfusions.

War, peace and politics

Socialists proclaim The death of Capitalism

In the Soviet Union, agricultural collectivization and rapid industralization take place, and the Great Purge occurs, in which much of the Soviet political and military establishment is eliminated* Almost all of Continental Europe moves to Authoritarianism or Totalitarianism
Starts or continue the Estado Novo in Brazil and Portugal.
Advent of the modern welfare state in New Zealand and Sweden.
The Empire of Japan invades China as a precursor to Japanese invasions in Southeast Asia
The Spanish Civil War
Start of World War II in Asia and Europe

Economics

Worldwide Great Depression

Literature and Art

W. H. Auden publishes Poems

Culture, religion

Radio becomes dominant mass media in industrial nations
"Golden Age" of radio begins in U.S.
First intercontinental commercial airline flights
Height of the Art Deco movement in Europe and the US
The Wizard of Oz
"Big band" or "swing" music becomes popular (from 1935 onward)
Superman debuts in 1938.
Triumph of the Will

Others

The Cipher Bureau solved the Enigma with plugboard, the main German cipher device during World War 2.
U.S. presidential candidate Huey Long assassinated (1935).
Board of Temperance Strategy established in U.S. to fight repeal of prohibition
Southern Great Plains devastated by decades-long Dust Bowl
German dirigible Hindenburg is destroyed by fire, killing 36 (1937).
The New London School in New London, Texas is destroyed by an explosion, killing in excess of 300 students and teachers (1937).

People

World leaders

Prime Minister James Scullin (Australia)
Prime Minister Joseph Lyons (Australia)
Prime Minister Sir Earle Page (Australia)
President Getúlio Vargas (Brazil)
Prime Minister Richard Bedford Bennett, 1st Viscount Bennett (Canada)
Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King (Canada)
President Chiang Kai-shek (China)
President Lin Sen (China)
King Fuad I (Egypt, Sudan, Nubia, Kordofan & Darfur)
Taoiseach Eamon de Valera (Éire)
Emperor Haile Selassie I (Ethiopia)
President Paul von Hindenburg (Germany)
Führer Adolf Hitler (Germany)
Shah Reza Shah (Iran)
King Faisal I (Iraq)
King Ghazi (Iraq)
King Faisal II (Iraq)
President W.T. Cosgrave (Irish Free State)
President Eamon de Valera (Irish Free State)
King Victor Emmanuel III (Italy)
Prime Minister Benito Mussolini (Italy)
Emperor Hirohito (Japan)
Emir Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah (Kuwait)
Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar (Portugal)
Sultan Mohammed V (Morocco)
Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage (New Zealand)
Prime Minister James Barry Munnik Hertzog (South Africa)
General Secretary Joseph Stalin (Soviet Union)
President Alcalá Zamora (Spain)
Prime Minister Manuel Azaña (Spain)
Prime Minister Alejandro Lerroux (Spain)
President Hashim al-Atassi (Syria)
President Bahij al-Khatib (Syria)
Bey (Crown Prince) Ahmad II (Tunisia)
President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (Turkey)
King George V (United Kingdom)
King Edward VIII (United Kingdom)
King George VI (United Kingdom)
Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald (United Kingdom)
Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin (United Kingdom)
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (United Kingdom)
President Herbert Hoover (United States)
President Franklin D. Roosevelt (United States)
Holy Father Pope Pius XI (Vatican)

Entertainers

Sports figures

British Commonwealth

Cliff Bastin (English footballer)
Donald Bradman (Australian cricketer)
Bill "Dixie" Dean (English footballer)
Jack Dyer (Australian Rules Football player)
Walter Hammond (English cricketer)
Eddie Hapgood (English footballer)
George Headley (West Indies cricketer)
Alex James (Scottish footballer)
Douglas Jardine (English cricketer)
Harold Larwood (English cricketer)
Jack Lovelock (New Zealand runner)
Fred Perry (English tennis player)

United States

External links

The Dirty Thirties — Images of the Great Depression in Canada