1930s
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Events and trends
The 1930s were described as an abrupt shift to more radical lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the global Great Depression|depression. In Australia, this decade was known as the ''Dirty Thirties''. In both Central Europe and Eastern Europe, Fascism, Nazism, Stalinism, and 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
Jet engine invented
The Walt Disney Company|Disney adopts a three-color Technicolor process for cartoons
The photocopier is invented
Air mail service across the Atlantic
Science
Nuclear fission discovered by Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner and Fritz Strassmann
Pluto (planet)|Pluto, the ninth planet from the Sun, is discovered by Clyde Tombaugh
British biologist Arthur Tansley coins term "ecosystem"
New and safer method for blood transfusions.
War, peace and politics
Socialists proclaim ''The death of Capitalism''
Rise to power of Adolf Hitler in Germany/History|Germany
Under Joseph Stalin, millions die in famines. The Great Purges eliminate all Old Bolsheviks from the Soviet Union|Soviet government, except for Molotov and Stalin himself.
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
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 (1939 movie)|The Wizard of Oz''
"Big band" or "swing" music becomes popular (from 1935 onward)
Superman debuts in 1938.
''Triumph of the Will''
Others
U.S. presidential candidate Huey Long assassinated
Board of Temperance Strategy established in U.S. to fight repeal of prohibition.
People
World leaders
Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King (Canada)
President Chiang Kai-shek (Republic of China)
President Lin Sen (Republic of China)
President Paul von Hindenburg (Germany)
Adolf Hitler (Germany)
King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy|Victor Emmanuel III (Italy)
Prime Minister Benito Mussolini (Italy)
President Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (Turkey)
Emperor Hirohito (Japan)
Pope Pius XI
Joseph Stalin (Soviet Union)
King George V of the United Kingdom|George V (United Kingdom)
King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom|Edward VIII (United Kingdom)
King George VI of the United Kingdom|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)
President W.T. Cosgrave (Irish Free State)
President Eamon de Valera (Irish Free State)
Taoiseach Eamon de Valera (Éire)
Prime Minister James Scullin (Australia)
Prime Minister Joseph Lyons (Australia)
Prime Minister Sir Earle Page (Australia)
Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage (New Zealand)
President Getúlio Vargas (Brazil)
Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar (Portugal)
Entertainers
Alice Brady
Bela Lugosi
Benny Goodman
Bing Crosby
Boris Karloff
Charlie Chaplin
Duke Ellington
Django Reinhardt
Edward G. Robinson
Fats Waller
Fred Astaire
Ginger Rogers
Glenn Miller and his orchestra
Judy Garland
Katharine Hepburn
Louis Armstrong
Marx Brothers|The Marx Brothers
Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
Carl Stuart Hamblen
Sports figures
Cliff Bastin (English football (soccer)|footballer)
Donald Bradman (Australian cricketer)
Dixie Dean|Bill "Dixie" Dean (English footballer)
Jack Dyer (Australian Rules Football player)
Walter Hammond (Gloucestershire & England cricketer)
Eddie Hapgood (English footballer)
George Headley (West Indies cricketer)
Alex James (footballer)|Alex James (Scottish footballer)
Douglas Jardine (England cricket captain)
Harold Larwood (Nottinghamshire & England cricketer)
Jack Lovelock (New Zealand runner)
Jesse Owens (American athletics|track and field athlete)
Fred Perry (English tennis player)
External links
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~1930s/front.htmlamp;mdash; An overview of the decade in the United States
http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/keys/webtours/GE_P4_1_EN.html— Images of the Great Depression in Canada
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