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(66)

1919

January

31
- The Battle of George SquareOn 31 January 1919 Glasgow police broke up a rally of strikers seeking a 40-hour week. The sheriff read the Riot Act and called in troops, who came overnight.

1921

July

13
- The Russian famineOn 13 July 1921 Maxim Gorky appealed to the world to save starving Russia. The Volga famine, caused by drought and requisitions, killed an estimated 5 million.

1933

March

24
- “Judea Declares War on Germany”On 24 March 1933 the Daily Express announced on its front page that “Judea Declares War on Germany”. The boycott headline became fuel for Nazi propaganda.
25
- The anti-Nazi boycottIn spring 1933 Jews in the US, Britain and Poland began boycotting German goods. On 25 March Göring demanded that German Jews put a stop to it.

August

25
- The Haavara AgreementIn August 1933 Zionists and the Reich Ministry of Economics concluded a transfer agreement that let Jews leaving for Palestine save part of their property.

September

12
- Szilard and the chain reactionOn 12 September 1933 in London the Hungarian physicist Leó Szilárd conceived the idea of a nuclear chain reaction, later the basis of work on the atomic bomb.

1936

February

06
- The Winter Olympics in Garmisch-PartenkirchenOn 6 February 1936 Hitler opened the Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Antisemitic signs came down and the regime showed the world a gentle face.

August

01
- The Berlin OlympicsOn 1 August 1936 Hitler opened the Games of the XI Olympiad in Berlin. The regime staged a huge propaganda spectacle, and Jesse Owens won four gold medals.

1939

January

25
- Uranium fission at Columbia UniversityOn 25 January 1939 physicists at Columbia University in New York carried out the first experiment in America confirming the fission of the uranium nucleus.

October

20
- The encyclical Summi PontificatusOn 20 October 1939 Pius XII signed his first encyclical. It condemned racism and the deified state and mourned Poland, but named neither Germany nor the USSR.

November

17
- IRA bombings in LondonIn November 1939 bombs blamed on the IRA went off in London again. Its bombing campaign had begun in January and, once war broke out, became a security matter.

December

28
- Britain extends food rationingAt the end of December 1939 Food Minister William Morrison confirmed that from 8 January 1940 bacon, ham, butter and sugar would be rationed.

1940

January

08
- Food rationing begins in BritainOn 8 January 1940 the British first bought bacon, ham, butter and sugar on ration in this war, and only from the shop where they had registered.

March

11
- Meat rationing in BritainOn 11 March 1940 meat was rationed in Britain. The ration was set by price – 1s 10d per person a week – while offal stayed off the ration.

May

14
- The Local Defence VolunteersOn 14 May 1940 Anthony Eden called on men aged 17–65 by radio to join the Local Defence Volunteers. Five days earlier conscription was extended to men up to 36.

July

23
- The Local Defence Volunteers become the Home GuardOn 23 July 1940 Eden told the Commons that the Local Defence Volunteers would be renamed the Home Guard, as England’s coast became a barrier of mines and wire.

August

01
- The war of the pins in LuxembourgIn August 1940 Luxembourgers pinned badges with the red lion and the Grand Duchess’s portrait to their lapels in answer to Gauleiter Simon’s Germanisation.

September

18
- Radio BelgiqueIn September 1940 the BBC launched Radio Belgique and Radio België, broadcasts for occupied Belgium. Belgian sources date the first one to 28 September.

1941

January

14
- The V for Victory campaignOn 14 January 1941 Victor de Laveleye urged listeners of Radio Belgique to paint the letter V on walls. The sign soon spread across occupied Europe.

May

June

01
- Clothes rationing in BritainOn 1 June 1941 the British learned that clothing and footwear were rationed. Everyone got 66 coupons a year, at first cut from their margarine coupons.

July

August

02
- The confiscation of radios in NorwayOn 2 August 1941 the Germans began taking radios from Norwegians. Only Germans and NS members could keep one, and underground papers relayed London news.

November

25
- The closure of the Free University of BrusselsOn 25 November 1941 the Free University of Brussels suspended teaching rather than accept professors imposed by the Germans. It stayed shut until liberation.

December

1942

February

March

October

22
- Britain lowers the call-up ageOn 22 October 1942 Ernest Bevin told the Commons that 18-year-olds would be called up. Until then, in practice, men were called only from 18 and a half.

November

26
- The Battle of BrisbaneOn 26 and 27 November 1942 Australian soldiers and civilians clashed with American military police in Brisbane. One Australian was killed and dozens were hurt.

December

1943

January

28
- Compulsory labour in the ReichSauckel's decree of 27 January 1943 required German men aged 16–65 and women aged 17–45 to register for work in the defence of the Reich.

April

03
- The Battle of Manners StreetOn 3 April 1943 US Marines clashed with New Zealanders, Māori among them, outside a servicemen’s club in Wellington. No one was killed.

September

03
- The evacuation of BerlinAfter Hamburg, Goebbels urged Berliners without work in the city to leave. After raids around the turn of August and September the evacuation was accelerated.

October

November

December

03
- Murrow's "orchestrated hell"On 3 December 1943 Edward R. Murrow told CBS listeners about an RAF raid on Berlin he had flown in a Lancaster. It became a classic of war reporting.

1944

January

19
- Operation Outward in SwedenOn the night of 19–20 January 1944 two trains collided at Laholm in Sweden. A British balloon from Operation Outward contributed to the accident.

February

20
- The Luluabourg mutinyOn 20 February 1944 the Force Publique garrison at Luluabourg in the Belgian Congo mutinied. Unrest spread to Kamina and Jadotville and was met with repression.

March

01
- The strikes in northern ItalyOn 1 March 1944 a general strike began in Turin, Milan, Genoa and other cities of occupied Italy. The Germans and the Salò Fascists replied with deportations.
- The second bombing of the VaticanOn 1 March 1944 six small bombs fell just outside the Vatican wall, killing a workman and damaging the Holy Office. The British privately admitted a mistake.

July

01
- The death of Tanya SavichevaOn 1 July 1944 fourteen-year-old Tanya Savicheva, who had recorded her family's deaths in besieged Leningrad, died in hospital at Shatki near Gorky.

August

14
- The Fort Lawton riotOn the night of 14–15 August 1944 Black soldiers attacked Italian prisoners at Fort Lawton in Seattle. In the morning Guglielmo Olivotto was found hanged.

September

December

1945

January

20
- The flight from East PrussiaAround 20 January 1945 a mass flight of civilians began from East Prussia. Koch had long banned evacuation, so the wagon columns left too late, in bitter frost.

March

08
- The execution of Karl HultenOn 8 March 1945 Karl Hulten, a US Army deserter, was hanged at Pentonville for murdering a London cab driver – the notorious “Cleft Chin Murder”.

April

May

June

19
- Demobilisation in BritainIn June 1945 Britain began releasing servicemen by age and length of service (Bevin’s plan, launched on 18 June). The war with Japan was still going on.

August

15
- Victory over Japan DayOn 14–15 August 1945 news of Japan's surrender brought joy to New York, London, Sydney and Chongqing. For Poles it was the end of a war that brought no freedom.