Europe & America
1926 Italy becomes one-party state under Mussolini
Germany admitted to League of Nations
Right-wing dictatorship headed by Antonio Salazar established in Portugal
Military coup in Poland by General Pilsudski
Right-wing coup in Latvia.
General Strike in Britain
Nicaragua occupied by US.
1927 Stalin becomes head of state in USSR. Leon Trotsky expelled from Soviet communist party.
American Charles Lindbergh makes first non-stop solo transatlantic flight (New York to Paris)
Philo Farnsworth develops first electronic television system, US.
NBC and CBS begin national radio broadcasting, US.
1929 Herbert Hoover president of the US
Wall Street Crash: collapse of US stock market leads to global Depression; world trade cut by two-thirds in three years.
Europe-wide slump provoked by Wall Street crash; resulting crisis destabilizes political order across Europe for many years.
Stalin introduces first Five-Year Plan in USSR: massive industrialization of industry and wholesale collectivization of agriculture launched.
Lateran Accords end conflict between papacy and state in Italy.
Royal dictatorship established in Yugoslavia.
Stalin engineers expulsion of rival Trotsky from USSR.
1930 Over 3,000 bank failures in US.
Introduction of Smoot-Hawley protective tariffs in US lead to worsening of Depression worldwide.
Soviet rearmament program launched.
Allied troops withdrawn from Rhineland, Germany.
British engineer Frank Whittle patents the jet engine.
1931 Golden Age of Hollywood begins as escapist antidote to Depression.
Empire State Building, New York, opened; at 1,250 feet (381 m) the highest building in the world.
Collapse of C. European banks leads to major recession.
Primo de Rivera overthrown in Spain; socialist republic declared; king flees.
Foundation of British Commonwealth, London.
1932 Commonwealth Conference, Ottawa, sets new tariffs to protect trade within British Empire.
Massive famines in USSR caused by collectivization; estimated five million die.
Unemployment in Germany reaches 6 million. Nazis, under Hermann Goring win 37 percent of the vote and 230 seats in German elections
1933 Franklin D. Roosevelt president of the US launches "New Deal" to restore US economy and combat unemployment.
US stock market slide that precipitated Great Depression finally ends after total losses of $74 billion.
Goring becomes Chancellor of Germany.
Major purge of communists in USSR launched by Stalin.
World Economic Conference, London, fails to agree measures to stimulate world trade.
Unemployment in Britain reaches 2.7 million, 25% of work force.
Right-wing groups triumph in Spanish election.
Engelbert Dollfuss establishes authoritarian rule in Austria.
1934 Mass migration of US farmers from Great Plains to California.
Rioting in Paris leads to formation of all-party National Solidarity government.
Dictatorship established in Estonia and Latvia.
USSR joins League of Nations.
1935 Saarland reincorporated into Germany by plebiscite.
"People's Car," the Volkswagen, launched.
Military dictatorship established in Greece.
First experimental radar developed, UK.
1936 First flight of revolutionary Douglas DC3 airliner in US.
Stalin launches show trials and mass purges in the USSR, including a purge of Red Army officers.
Election victory in Spain by Republican Popular Front prompts military coup and leads to civil war between republicans and nationalists; Italy and Germany commit themselves to support nationalists.
Military dictatorship established in Bulgaria.
BBC in England begins world's first regular television broadcasts.
1937 Italy leaves the League of Nations in protest at the imposition of sanctions;
joins Germany and Japan in anti-Comintern Pact.
1938 NBC broadcasts first feature film on television, US.
American Dupont Company produces nylon, world's first successful synthetic fiber.
Royal dictatorship established in Romania
Otto Hhn and Fritz Strassmann split uranium atoms. Germany.
1939 Igor Sikorsky develops first single-rotor helicopter, US.
Gone With the Wind released; becomes highest-grossing film in movie history.
Nationalists under General Franco capture Madrid, ending Spanish civil war and imposing right-wing dictatorship.
First successful jet airplane flown, Germany.
1940 Wendell Willkie defeats Henry A. Wallace in US Election, cites failure of the New Deal program to bring America out of the Great Depression