Darcy Press is a publisher of books, both Fiction and Non-fiction, featuring the history of the twentieth century. Please look at the rest of the website by clicking the Home tab above. Below is Mr Darcy's own timeline of his selection of events that interest him and is not intended to be completely comprehensive. He offers it here for information and for others to enjoy.   1900s  |  1910s  |  1920s  |  1930s  |  1940s  |  1950s  |  1960s  |  1970s  |  1980s  |  1990s   1930 A new minor planet, Pluto is discovered by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh 18 Feb 12 Mar Mahatma Gandhi begins his march to the sea defying the salt tax Great Powers sign the London Naval Treaty limiting the size and number of warships and submarines 21 Apr 24 Apr Amy Johnson becomes the first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia Last French troops leave the Rhineland 30 Jun 1 Aug Airship R100 arrives in Montreal after a flight of 78hrs from Britain The two halves of the harbour bridge are joined in Sydney Australia 18 Aug 15 Sep Hitler's Nazi party comes second in the national elections but as an Austrian citizen he cannot take his Reichstag seat Airship R101 explodes in a ball of flame in Beauvais France, killing 44 people 5 Oct 1931 Malcolm Campbell raises the Land Speed record to 245 mph 5 Feb 28 Feb Sir Oswald Moseley forms 'The New Party' in Britain Following the election victory of the republicans King Alfonso of Spain abdicates and a republic is declared. 14 Apr 1 May Empire State building Officially opened Swiss Auguste Piccard and Charles Kipfer reach 52,462 feet in a balloon 28 May 24 Aug British Labour government falls and is replaced by a National Government Britain forced off the Gold Standard and devalues the pound 20 Sep 29 Sep George Stainforth raises the air speed record to 408.8 mph Clashes between rioters and police and a mutiny protest against the British government's austerity measures 30 Sep 28 Oct The National Government in Britain wins a landslide victory 1932 Japanese forces capture Shanghai 31 Jan 19 Feb Japan sets up puppet state in Manchuria Malcolm Campbell raises his own land speed record to 253.4 mph 24 Feb 10 Mar Paul von Hindenburg narrowly beats Adolf Hitler to become German President after two rounds of voting French President Paul Doumer assassinated 10 May 28 May Dutch close the gap in the Afsluitdijk turning the Zuider Zee into a lake Antonio de Oliveira Salazar appointed Premier of Portugal at the head of a Fascist government 5 Jul 30 Jul Olympic Games opens in Los Angeles German elections make Hitler's National Socialists the largest party but without an overall majority 31 Jul 30 Oct Street battles take place in London between Police and hunger marchers Franklin Delano Roosevelt winds the American Presidency by a landslide, promising a New Deal 8 Nov 24 Nov Hitler's Nazis lose seats in new German elections Werner Heisenberg wins the Nobel Physics prize 10 Dec 1933 Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany 30 Jan 28 Feb German Reichstag burns down allowing Hitler to grab more power Hitler proclaims the Third Reich 15 Mar 22 Mar Sir Malcolm Campbell raises his land speed record to 272 mph Nazis burn 'non German' books after measures against 'non Ayrians' 10 May 16 Jun President Roosevelt signs the National Industry Recovery Act bring his New Deal into action Hitler bans all opposition political parties 23 Jun 25 Sep Dutch officially open road on the Afsluitdijk marking its completion Germany leaves the League of Nations 14 Oct 29 Nov Britain begins to increase spending on armaments Prohibition finally ends in the US 5 Dec 1934 American dollar devalued 31 Jan 30 Apr Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss becomes dictator of Austria American outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow shot in police trap 23 May 9 Jun Sir Oswald Mosely's Fascists and Communists fight fierce battles at a rally in Olympia, London On this 'Night of the Long Knives' Ernst Roehm and other SA leaders are murdered in Germany 30 Jun 25 Jul Austrian Chancellor Dollfuss murdered by Nazi gang Hitler gets vote of approval to succeed President Hindenberg after his death. Hitler becomes 'Fuehrer' 19 Aug 5 Sep Hitler addresses the Nurnberg Rally Liner Queen Mary is launched becoming the world's largest ship 26 Sep 16 Dec Italian and Abyssinian troops clash in border dispute 1935 Plebiscite in the Saarland votes 90% in favour of reunification with Germany 15 Jan 11 Feb British 'Government of India' bill provides a limited degree of home rule Saarland is returned to Germany 1 Mar 11 Mar The German air force or Luftwaffe is officially created by Herman Goering Dust storms sweep through Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Texas and New Mexico in the US 11 Apr 23 Apr Moscow underground railway opened by Stalin Glass reflectors or 'Cat's Eyes' invented by Percy Shaw are used on British roads for the first time 29 Apr 6 May Silver Jubilee of British King George V and Queen Mary T. E. Lawrence – Lawrence of Arabia – dies after a motorcycle accident 19 May 7 Jun British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald resigns for health reasons and is replaced by Stanley Baldwin Malcolm Campbell smashes 300mph barrier achieving a new land speed record of 301.337 mph 3 Sep 19 Sep Hitler decrees the Nuremburg race laws banning Jews from German public life Italians invade Abyssinia 3 Oct 20 Oct Mao Tse-tung reaches the relative safety of Yenan with his Communist Army after their 'Long March' Prototype of the Hawker Hurricane makes its maiden flight 6 Nov 16 Nov The Tories sweep back to power in the British General Election League of nations starts applying sanctions to Italy over its invasion of Abyssinia 18 Nov 1936 Writer and Poet Rudyard Kipling dies 18 Jan 21 Jan Death of King George V who is succeeded by his son Edward VIII Left-wing government comes to power in Spain 21 Feb 26 Feb Hitler launches the Volkswagen 'People's Car' Supermarine Spitfire makes its maiden flight 5 Mar 7 Mar Nazi troops march into the Rhineland Mussolini claims Italian victory in Abyssinia after Emperor Haile Selassie flees 9 May 27 May Liner Queen Mary makes her maiden voyage from Southampton to Cherbourg and New York Civil War erupts in Spain when the Army rises against the Government 31 Jul 1 Aug Berlin Olympic Games opened by Adolf Hitler BBC demonstrates transmission of Television pictures including sound 26 Aug 29 Aug Spanish rebels under General Franco capture Badajoz Jobless men begin march from Jarrow to London 5 Oct 12 Oct Train ferry begins between Dover and Dunkerque American president Roosevelt is re-elected 3 Nov 30 Nov The 'Crystal Palace' in South London burns down King Edward VIII abdicates and is replaced by his brother as King George VI 11 Dec 1937 Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and the USSR agree to a cordon round Spain in an attempt to stop the civil war spreading 22 Feb 27 Apr The longest suspension bridge, the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco, opens Guernica destroyed by German bombers sent to help General Franco 27 Apr 6 May Giant airship Hindenburg explodes while coming into land at New Jersey, USA Coronation of King George VI 12 May 28 May British Prime Minister Baldwin resigns and is succeeded by Neville Chamberlain Stalin has eight Soviet generals shot 12 Jun 19 Jun Franco's rebels take Bilbao Heinrich Himmler opens new German concentration camp at Buchenwald 1 Aug 29 Aug Japanese bomb Shanghai as part of their attack on the city Hitler and Mussolini stage a massive rally in Berlin 28 Sep 21 Oct Gijon, the last Republican stronghold in the North of Spain surrenders to General Franco's army Japanese take Shanghai 9 Nov 1938 Pastor Niemoeller, leader of the German Confessional Church is sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp 4 Mar 11 Mar German troops invade Austria by invitation - Anschluss with Germany Dutch conscription time doubled from 5½ months to 11 months 15 Mar 19 Apr Franco's rebels reach the Catalonian coast cutting Republican Spain in two Japanese bomb Canton 8 Jun 27 Sep The world's largest liner the Queen Elizabeth is launched Deal on Czechoslovakia is agreed in Munich. Chamberlain flies home with a piece of paper claiming 'Peace in our Time' 30 Sep 1 Oct Germans march into the Czech Sudetenland Japanese take Canton 21 Oct 2 Nov Hungarians seize southern parts of Slovakia and Ruthenia Kristalnacht – Nazis terrorise Jewish community, burning Synagogues and smashing large quantities of glass 10 Nov 12 Dec Germans confiscate all Jewish property 1939 Franco's troops enter Barcelona 26 Jan 28 Jan Nuclear Fission discovered – the atom is split Nylon stockings go on sale in the US 20 Feb 15 Mar Bohemia and Moravia occupied by the Germans – Hitler enters Prague Lithuania cedes Memel to the Germans 21 Mar 28 Mar Spanish civil war ends as Franco takes Madrid Chamberlain announces Britain would guarantee Polish independence in the event of attack 31 Mar 10 Apr Dutch move troops to the German border Mussolini occupies Albania 13 Apr 27 Apr British Parliament votes to introduce conscription Hitler renounces the 1934 Naval treaty with Britain and the mutual assistance pact with Poland 28 Apr 22 May Italy and Germany sign the 'Pact of Steel' Irish government outlaws the IRA 23 Jun 20 Aug Poles move troops to border with Germany German Russian pact signed 23 Aug 26 Aug Hitler states that he will respect Holland’s neutrality Hitler sends Poland an Ultimatum on Danzig and the Corridor 29 Aug 29 Aug General mobilisation in the Netherlands British Army and RAF reserves called up and the Royal navy is mobilised 31 Aug 31 Aug British children evacuated from the cities Germans Invade Poland with no declaration of war 1 Sep 3 Sep France and Britain at war with Germany Troops in defence positions in the Netherlands 3 Sep 8 Sep Dutch flood strips in front of Grebbe line defence position Red army enteres Poland from east 17 Sep 27 Sep Warsaw surrenders Last shots of Polish Campaign 5 Oct 10 Oct Western and Northern Poland annexed into Germany Britain lands 158,000 troops in France 12 Oct 16 Oct British battleship 'Royal Oak' sunk by German torpedo Bomb blast in Buergerbraukeller fails to kill Hitler as he leaves early after his speech 8 Nov 30 Nov Soviet Union attacks Finland Germans scuttle Pocket battleship Graf Spee after damage in the Battle of the River Plate 17 Dec   1900s  |  1910s  |  1920s  |  1930s  |  1940s  |  1950s  |  1960s  |  1970s  |  1980s  |  1990s