1933

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Events

January

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File:Golden Gate Bridge from underneath.jpg

January 5: Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge begins.

File:LocationPhilippines.png

January 17: Vote on Philippines independence.

January 11 – Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand.
January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wishes of U.S. President Herbert Hoover.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
January 28 – "Pakistan Declaration": Choudhry Rahmat Ali publishes (in Cambridge, UK) a pamphlet entitled Now or Never; Are We to Live or Perish Forever?, in which he calls for the creation of a Muslim state in northwest India that he calls "Pakstan"; this influences the Pakistan Movement.<ref name="RahmatʻAli1978">Template:Cite book</ref>
January 30
- Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany by President of Germany Paul von Hindenburg.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- Édouard Daladier forms a government in France<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> in succession to Joseph Paul-Boncour. He is succeeded on October 26 by Albert Sarraut and on November 26 by Camille Chautemps.

February

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File:Reichstagsbrand.jpg

February 27: Reichstag fire

February 1 – Adolf Hitler gives his "Proclamation to the German People" in Berlin.
February 3 – Adolf Hitler gives a secret speech to his military leaders, outlining his plans to rearm Germany in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles and to adopt a policy of Lebensraum in eastern Europe.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
February 5 – A mutiny starts on the Royal Netherlands Navy coastal defence ship De Zeven Provinciën in the Dutch East Indies. After 6 days, it is bombed by a Dutch aircraft, killing 23 men, and the remaining mutineers surrender.
February 6–7 – Officers on the USS Ramapo record a 34-meter high sea wave in the Pacific Ocean.
February 9 – The King and Country debate: The Oxford Union student debating society in England passes a resolution stating, "That this House will in no circumstances fight for its King and country."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
February 10 – The New York City-based Postal Telegraph Company introduces the first singing telegram.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
February 15 – In Miami, Giuseppe Zangara attempts to assassinate President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, but instead fatally wounds the Mayor of Chicago, Anton Cermak. Zangara is executed on March 20 by the electric chair.
February 17 – Repeal of Prohibition in the United States: The Blaine Act passes the United States Senate, submitting the proposed Twenty-first Amendment to the Constitution to the states for ratification. The amendment is ratified on December 5, ending prohibition in the United States.
February 23 – The Imperial Japanese Army invades Rehe province in northern China.
February 25 – Arminda de Jesus is burned for witchcraft in Soalhães, Portugal. <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
February 27 – Reichstag fire: Germany's parliament building in Berlin, the Reichstag building, is set on fire under controversial circumstances.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The following day, the Reichstag Fire Decree is passed in response to the Reichstag fire, nullifying many German civil liberties.
February 28 – English cricket team in Australia in 1932–33: The England cricket team wins The Ashes using the controversial bodyline tactic.<ref name="Cassell's Chronology">Template:Cite book</ref>

March

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March 2 – King Kong: The original King Kong film, starring Fay Wray and directed by Merian C. Cooper, debuts in New York City.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
March 3 – 1933 Sanriku earthquake: A powerful earthquake and tsunami hit Honshū, Japan, killing approximately 3,000 people.
March 4
- The Parliament of Austria is suspended because of a quibble over procedure; Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss initiates authoritarian rule by decree, an origin of Austrofascism.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt is sworn in as the 32nd president of the United States.
March 5
- The Great Depression: President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares a "Bank holiday", closing all United States banks and freezing all financial transactions (the 'holiday' ends on March 13).
- March 1933 German federal election: The Nazi Party gains 43.9% of the votes.
March 7 – The real-estate trading board game Monopoly is developed in the United States.
March 10 – The 6.4 Template:M Long Beach earthquake shakes Southern California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing 115 people.
March 12 – Great Depression: Franklin Delano Roosevelt addresses the nation for the first time as President of the United States, in the first of his "Fireside chats".
March 14 – Indonesian Association football club Persib Bandung is founded as Bandoeng Inlandsche Voetbal Bond.
March 15
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average rises from 53.84 to 62.10. The day's gain of 15.34%, achieved during the depths of the Great Depression, remains the largest 1-day percentage gain for the index.
- Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss keeps members of the National Council from convening, starting the Austrofascist dictatorship.
March 20
- Dachau, the first Nazi concentration camp, is completed in Germany (it opens March 22 to hold political prisoners).
- First of a series of meetings in the United States called by Jewish organizations calling for an international anti-Nazi boycott in response to the persecution of German Jews.
March 22 – President Franklin Roosevelt signs the Cullen–Harrison Act, an amendment to the Volstead Act, allowing the manufacture and sale from April 7 of "3.2 beer" (3.2% alcohol by weight, approximately 4% alcohol by volume) and light wines,<ref>"Roosevelt Authorizes Beer Sale By Signing Bill For 3.2 Brew". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette March 23, 1933, p.1.</ref> 8 months before the full repeal of Prohibition in the United States in December.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
March 23 – Gleichschaltung: The Reichstag passes the Enabling Act, making Adolf Hitler effectively the dictator of Germany.<ref name=1933Mc>Template:Cite journal</ref>
March 27 – Japan announces it will leave the League of Nations (due to a cancellation period of exactly two years, the egression becomes effective March 27, 1935).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
March 29 – Welsh journalist Gareth Jones makes the first report in the West of the Holodomor famine genocide in Ukraine.
March 31
- March revolution in Uruguay: President Gabriel Terra carries out a coup with the support of the civilian population, police officers and firefighters and rules as a dictator until 1938.
- The Civilian Conservation Corps is established in the United States as an unemployment relief program.

April

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April 1 – The recently elected Nazis (under Julius Streicher) organize a one-day boycott of all Jewish-owned businesses in Germany.<ref name="Häsler1969">Template:Cite book</ref>
April 2 – As a member of the English cricket team touring New Zealand, 1933, batsman Wally Hammond scores a record 336 runs in a test match at Eden Park, Auckland.<ref name="Cassell's Chronology"/>
April 3
- An anti-monarchist rebellion occurs in Siam (Thailand).
- The first flight over Mount Everest is made by the British Houston-Mount Everest Flight Expedition, led by the Marquis of Clydesdale, and funded by Lucy, Lady Houston.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
April 4 – American airship Akron crashes off the coast of New Jersey, killing 73 of its 76 crewmen. It is the worst aviation accident in history up to this date (and until 1950).
April 5
- The International Court of Justice in The Hague decides that Greenland belongs to Denmark, and condemns Norwegian landings on eastern Greenland. Norway submits to the decision.
- United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares a national emergency and issues Executive Order 6102, making it illegal for U.S. citizens to own substantial amounts of monetary gold or bullion.
April 7 – In Germany, the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service is passed, the first law of the new regime directed against Jews (as well as political opponents).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
April 11 – Aviator Bill Lancaster takes off from Lympne in England, in an attempt to make a speed record to the Cape of Good Hope, but vanishes (his body is not found in the Sahara Desert until 1962).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
April 13 – The Children and Young Persons Act is passed in the United Kingdom. This raises the age of criminal responsibility from 7 to 8, raises the minimum age for capital punishment to 18, places restrictions on the identification in the press of persons under 18 appearing in court, sets a minimum full-time working age of 14 and makes it illegal to sell tobacco products to under-16s.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
April 21 – Nazi Germany outlaws the kosher ritual shechita.
April 24 – In Nazi Germany:
- Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses begins with the seizure of the Bible Students' office in Magdeburg.
- Jewish physicians are excluded from official insurance schemes, forcing many to give up their practices.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
April 26 – The Gestapo secret police is established in Nazi Germany by Hermann Göring.
April 27 – The Stahlhelm veterans' organization joins the Nazi party in Germany.

May

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May 2 – Gleichschaltung: Adolf Hitler prohibits trade unions.
May 3
- In the Irish Free State, Dáil Éireann abolishes the oath of allegiance to the British Crown.
- Nellie Tayloe Ross becomes the first woman to be named director of the United States Mint.
May 5 – The detection by Karl Jansky of radio waves from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy is reported in The New York Times. The discovery leads to the birth of radio astronomy.
May 8 – Mohandas Gandhi begins a 3-week hunger strike because of the mistreatment of the lower castes in India.
May 10 – Chaco War: Paraguay formally declares war on Bolivia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
May 17 – Vidkun Quisling and Johan Bernhard Hjort form the Nasjonal Samling (the National Gathering Party) of Norway.
May 18 – New Deal: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.
May 26 – The Nazi Party in Germany introduces a law to legalize eugenic sterilization.
May 27
- New Deal in the United States: The Federal Securities Act is signed into law, requiring the registration of securities with the Federal Trade Commission.
- The Century of Progress World's Fair opens in Chicago.

June

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June – The Holodomor famine-genocide in Ukraine reaches its peak, with 30,000 deaths from human-made starvation each day.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The average life expectancy for a Ukrainian male born this year is 7.3 years.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
June 5 – The U.S. Congress abrogates the United States use of the gold standard, by enacting a joint resolution<ref>48 Stat. 112.</ref> nullifying the right of creditors to demand payment in gold.
June 6 – The first drive-in movie theater is opened in Pennsauken Township, near Camden, New Jersey, by Richard Hollingshead, according to his patent granted May 16.<ref>Template:US patent</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
June 12 – The London Economic Conference is held.
June 17 – Kansas City massacre: At the Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, gangsters kill four law enforcement officers and detained fugitive bank robber Frank Nash.
June 22 – Nazi Germany outlaws the Social-Democratic Party (SPD).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
June 25 – Wilmersdorfer Tennishallen delegates convene in Berlin to protest against the persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses in Nazi Germany.
June 26 – In the United States:
- The American Totalisator Company unveils its first electronic pari-mutuel betting machine, at the Arlington Park race track near Chicago.
- Founding of Twentieth Century Pictures as a motion picture production company by Joseph Schenck and Darryl F. Zanuck in Hollywood.

July

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July 1
- The London Passenger Transport Board begins operation.
- Business Plot: Smedley Butler becomes involved in a coup attempt led by Gerald MacGuire against the President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt which fails (according to his testimony in 1934).
July 4 – Gandhi is sentenced to prison in India.
July 6 – The first Major League Baseball All-Star Game is played at Comiskey Park in Chicago.
July 8 – The first rugby union test match is played between the Wallabies of Australia and the Springboks of South Africa, at Newlands in Cape Town.
July 14 – In Nazi Germany:
- Formation of new political parties is forbidden.<ref name=1933Mc/>
- The Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring is enacted,<ref>Coming into force January 1934. Template:Cite book</ref> allowing compulsory sterilization of citizens suffering from a list of alleged genetic disorders.
July 15
- The Four-Power Pact is signed by Britain, France, Germany and Italy.<ref name="Cassell's Chronology"/>
- The International Left Opposition (ILO) is renamed the International Communist League (ICL).
July 20 – Reichskonkordat: Vatican state secretary Eugenio Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII) signs an accord with Germany.
July 22
- Wiley Post becomes the first person to fly solo around the world, landing at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York, after traveling eastbound Template:Convert in 7 days 18 hours 45 minutes.
- "Machine Gun Kelly" and Albert Bates kidnap Charles Urschel, an Oklahoma oilman, and demand $200,000 ransom.

August

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August 1 – The Blue Eagle emblem of the National Recovery Administration in the United States is displayed publicly for the first time.
August 2 – The White Sea–Baltic Canal, Stalin's 227 km ship canal constructed using forced labour in the Soviet Union, opens, connecting the White Sea with Lake Onega and the Baltic.
August 7 – Simele massacre: More than 3,000 Assyrian Iraqis are killed by Iraqi government troops.
August 12 – British politician Winston Churchill makes his first speech publicly warning of the dangers of German rearmament.<ref name=CBH>Template:Cite book</ref>
August 14 – Loggers cause a forest fire in the Coast Range of Oregon, later known as the first forest fire of the Tillamook Burn. It is extinguished on September 5, after destroying Template:Convert.
August 25 – The Diexi earthquake shakes Mao County, Sichuan, China and kills 9,000 people.
August 30 – German-Jewish philosopher Theodor Lessing is shot in Marienbad (Mariánské Lázně), Czechoslovakia, dying the following day.

September

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September 12
- Alejandro Lerroux forms a new government in Spain.
- Leó Szilárd, waiting for a red light on Southampton Row in Bloomsbury (London), conceives the idea of the nuclear chain reaction.
September 26 – 1933 Tampico hurricane: A hurricane destroys the town of Tampico, Mexico.

October

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October 1 – Engelbert Dollfuss, leader of the Fatherland's Front in Austria, is seriously injured in a failed assassination attempt.
October 7 – Air France is formed by the merger of five French airline companies, beginning operations with 250 planes.
October 10 – 1933 United Airlines Boeing 247 mid-air explosion: A bomb destroys a United Airlines Boeing 247 on a transcontinental flight in mid-air near Chesterton, Indiana, killing all 7 on board, in the first proven case of sabotage in civil aviation, although no suspect is ever identified.
October 12 – The United States Army Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz is acquired by the United States Department of Justice, which plans to incorporate the island into its Federal Bureau of Prisons as a penitentiary.
October 14 – Germany announces its withdrawal from the League of Nations and the World Disarmament Conference, after the U.S., the U.K. and France deny its request to increase its defence armaments under the Versailles Treaty.
October 14–16 – The new constitution of Estonia is approved only on the third consecutive referendum.
October 16 – Parricides committed in the United States by Victor Licata lead to calls for the legal prohibition of cannabis.
October 17 – Scientist Albert Einstein arrives from Europe in the United States, where he settles permanently as a refugee from Nazi Germany and takes up a position at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey.

November

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November 5 – Spanish Basque people vote for autonomy.
November 8
- New Deal: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt unveils the Civil Works Administration, an organization designed to create jobs for more than 4 million of the unemployed.
- Mohammad Zahir Shah becomes King of Afghanistan at the age of 19, following the assassination of his father King Mohammad Nadir Shah.
November 11 – Dust Bowl: In South Dakota, a very strong dust storm ("the great black blizzard") strips topsoil from desiccated farmlands (one of a series of disastrous dust storms this year).
November 12 – Japan Precision Optical Industry, predecessor of the global Canon camera and photocopier brand is founded in Japan.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
November 16
- The United States and the Soviet Union establish formal diplomatic relations.
- American aviator Jimmie Angel becomes the first foreigner to see the Angel Falls in Venezuela (they are named after him).
November 17 – The Marx Brothers' anarchic comedy film Duck Soup is released in the United States.
November 19 – Second Spanish Republic: General elections result in a victory by the right-wing parties.
November 22 – The Fujian People's Government is declared in Fujian Province, China.

December

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December 5 – The Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, repealing Prohibition in the United States, making production and sale of alcohol legal in the U.S.
December 17 – The first NFL Championship game in American football is played. The Chicago Bears defeat the New York Giants 23–21.
December 21 – Newfoundland returns to Crown colony status, following financial collapse.<ref name=CBH/>
December 23 – Lagny-Pomponne rail accident: A train collision near Lagny-sur-Marne in France kills 204.
December 26
- Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States is signed by participants in the 7th International Conference of American States; it is significant in the development of the declarative theory of statehood.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- The Nissan Motor Company is organized in Tokyo, Japan.
- FM radio is patented.
December 29 – Members of the Iron Guard assassinate Ion Gheorghe Duca, prime minister of Romania.

Date unknown

Turkey concludes a treaty with the creditors of the former Ottoman Empire to schedule the payments in Paris (Turkey succeeds in clearing all the debt in less than twenty years).
The Advisory Committee of Experts on Slavery is created by the League of Nations. <ref>Miers, S. (2003). Slavery in the Twentieth Century: The Evolution of a Global Problem. Storbritannien: AltaMira Press. p. 216</ref>
The first dated Inter-School Christian Fellowship group is started in Australia at North Sydney Boys High School, with the group continuing into the 21st century.
The Adélaïde Concerto, a spurious violin work attributed to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, is published as "edited" (actually composed) by Marius Casadesus.