istoryworld
All Events
Richmond Bridge is widened, to accommodate modern traffic, with the original stones used to clad the extension
Anastasio Somoza makes himself president of Nicaragua, beginning four decades of brutal rule by his family
Joe Louis, 'The Brown Bomber', defeats James J. Braddock to become world heavyweight champion
French film director Jean Renoir makes La Grande Illusion, set in World War I
US trombonist Glenn Miller forms his first band, the Glenn Miller Orchestra
Pope Pius XI issues an encyclical, Mit Brennender Sorge, condemning the Nazi ideology of racism
The Nationalist leader in Spain, Francisco Franco, merges Falange with other right-wing parties to form the Movimento
German planes bomb the Basque capital, Guernica, in support of the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War
British artist Ben Nicholson does the first of his characteristic abstract white reliefs
The first can of Spam goes on sale, produced by the Hormel company of Austin, Minnesota
The German airship Hindenburg bursts into flames over New Jersey, bringing to an end the era of rigid airships
William Walton writes Crown Imperial for the coronation of George VI
Congress passes a Neutrality Act, to prevent US aid being given to belligerent nations
Congress rejects President Roosevelt's proposed reform of the US Supreme Court, amid furious accusations that he is trying to pack the Court with his nominees
Neville Chamberlain follows Baldwin as prime minister at the head of the UK's National government
The Golden Gate Bridge, linking San Francisco and Marin County, is the world's longest suspension bridge with a main span of 4200 feet (1280m)
John Steinbeck publishes Of Mice and Men, a novel about two itinerant farm labourers in California
Under Nazi influence the University of Bonn deprives Thomas Mann of his honorary doctorate, which is restored to him in 1946
German-born British scientist Hans Krebs discovers the biochemical cycle that becomes known by his name
Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller is arrested for defying the Nazis and spends the next eight years in concentration camps
Amelia Earhart and her navigator vanish somewhere over the Pacific four weeks into their attempt to fly round the world
Danish author Karen Blixen publishes her autobiographical novel Out of Africa
The Japanese use an incident at the Marco Polo Bridge, near Beijing, as the pretext for an attack on China
At the same time as the Moscow show trials, millions are purged from the Russian Communist party nation-wide
A Nazi exhibition of 'degenerate art' opens in Munich, and visitors are invited to mock the avant-garde works on show
