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This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history.
This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history.
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.January
* January 1 ** Third Reich *** Jews are forbidden to work with Germans. *** TheYouth Protection Act
Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. Y ...
was passed on April 30, 1938 and the Working Hours Regulations came into effect.
*** The Jews name change decree has gone into effect.
** The rest of the world
*** In Spain, it becomes a duty of all young women under 25 to complete compulsory work service for one year.
*** First edition of the Vienna New Year's Concert.
*** The company
A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...
of technology and manufacturing scientific instruments Hewlett-Packard
The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...
, was founded in a garage in Palo Alto, California, by William (Bill) Hewlett and David Packard. This garage is now considered the birthplace of Silicon Valley.
*** Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
, in Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, records temperature of 45 ˚C, the highest record for the city.
*** Philipp Etter
Philipp Etter (21 December 1891, in Menzingen – 23 December 1977) was a Swiss politician. He was the son of Joseph Anton, cooper master, and the Jakobea Stocker.
During his office time he held the Department of Home Affairs and was President of ...
took over as Swiss Federal President
Swiss may refer to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
*Swiss people
Places
* Swiss, Missouri
* Swiss, North Carolina
*Swiss, West Virginia
* Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
*Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports
*Swiss Internationa ...
.
*** Texas A&M became the US champion in college football.
*** The Nobel Prize-winning nuclear physicist
Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter.
Nuclear physics should not be confused with atomic physics, which studies the ...
Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi (; 29 September 1901 – 28 November 1954) was an Italian (later naturalized American) physicist and the creator of the world's first nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1. He has been called the "architect of the nuclear age" and ...
, along with his family, left Italy to move to exile
Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...
in the United States.
*** In Finland, the densely populated settlement of Vähäheikkilä was abolished and transferred from the municipality of Kaarina to the city of Turku.
*** The National Pension Act has entered into force in Finland.
*** Launch of the Third Soviet Five Year Plan.
*** In the proposal of the Congregation of the Mosaic, the Swedish government
The Government of the Kingdom of Sweden ( sv, Konungariket Sveriges regering) is the national cabinet of Sweden, and the country's executive authority.
The Government consists of the Prime Ministerappointed and dismissed by the Speaker of the R ...
approves the acceptance of about 1,000 Jews from Germany as refugees in transit. The parish is responsible for them and visa requirements are introduced for all non- Nordic refugees
A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.
in country.
* January 5 – Pioneering US aviator Amelia Earhart
Amelia Mary Earhart ( , born July 24, 1897; disappeared July 2, 1937; declared dead January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer and writer. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many oth ...
is officially declared dead, eighteen months after her disappearance.
*January 6
Events Pre-1600
*1066 – Following the death of Edward the Confessor on the previous day, the Witan meets to confirm Harold Godwinson as the new King of England; Harold is crowned the same day, sparking a succession crisis that will eve ...
– ''Naturwissenschaften
''The Science of Nature'', formerly ''Naturwissenschaften'', is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Springer Science+Business Media covering all aspects of the natural sciences relating to questions of biological significance. I ...
'' publishes Otto Hahn's discoveries in the field of nuclear fission
Nuclear fission is a reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into two or more smaller nuclei. The fission process often produces gamma photons, and releases a very large amount of energy even by the energetic standards of radio ...
.
* January 14
Events Pre-1600
*1236 – King Henry III of England marries Eleanor of Provence.
*1301 – Andrew III of Hungary dies, ending the Árpád dynasty in Hungary.
1601–1900
*1639 – The "Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, Fundamenta ...
– Norway claims Queen Maud Land in Antarctica.
* January 23 – "Dutch War Scare": Admiral Wilhelm Canaris of the ''Abwehr
The ''Abwehr'' (German for ''resistance'' or ''defence'', but the word usually means ''counterintelligence'' in a military context; ) was the German military-intelligence service for the ''Reichswehr'' and the ''Wehrmacht'' from 1920 to 1944. A ...
'' leaks misinformation to the effect that Germany plans to invade the Netherlands in February, with the aim of using Dutch air-fields to launch a strategic bombing offensive against Britain. The "Dutch War Scare" leads to a major change in British policies towards Europe.
* January 24 – 1939 Chillán earthquake
The 1939 Chillán earthquake occurred in south-central Chile on 24 January with a surface wave magnitude of 8.3 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). With a death toll of around 28,000, compared to the 2,231–6,000 (official estima ...
: An earthquake in Chile kills an estimated 30,000 people and razes about of land.
* January 25
Events Pre-1600
* 41 – After a night of negotiation, Claudius is accepted as Roman emperor by the Senate.
* 750 – In the Battle of the Zab, the Abbasid rebels defeat the Umayyad Caliphate, leading to the overthrow of the dynasty ...
– Refik Saydam
İbrahim Refik Saydam (8 September 1881 – 8 July 1942) was a Turkish physician, politician and the fourth Prime Minister of Turkey, serving from 25 January 1939 until his death on 8 July 1942.Turkey.
* January 26
** Spanish Civil War: Spanish Nationalist troops, aided by Italy, take Barcelona.
** In Paris, French Foreign Minister
*
Georges Bonnet
Georges-Étienne Bonnet (22/23 July 1889 – 18 June 1973) was a French politician who served as foreign minister in 1938 and 1939 and was a leading figure in the Radical Party.
Early life
Bonnet was born in Bassillac, Dordogne, the son of ...
, in response to rumours (which are true) that he is seeking to end the French alliance system in Eastern Europe, gives a speech highlighting his government's commitment to the '' cordon sanitaire''.
* January 27
Events Pre-1600
* 98 – Trajan succeeds his adoptive father Nerva as Roman emperor; under his rule the Roman Empire will reach its maximum extent.
* 945 – The co-emperors Stephen and Constantine are overthrown and forced to becom ...
– Adolf Hitler orders Plan Z, a 5-year naval expansion programme intended to provide for a huge German fleet capable of crushing the Royal Navy by 1944. The ''Kriegsmarine
The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...
'' is given the first priority on the allotment of German economic resources.
* January 30
Events Pre-1600
*1018 – Poland and the Holy Roman Empire conclude the Peace of Bautzen.
*1287 – King Wareru founds the Hanthawaddy Kingdom, and proclaims independence from the Pagan Kingdom.
1601–1900
*1607 – An estimated ...
– Hitler gives a speech before the ''Reichstag'' calling for an "export battle" to increase German foreign exchange holdings. The same speech also sees Hitler's "prophecy", where he warns that if "Jewish financiers" start a war against Germany, "the result will be the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe".
February
* February 2
Events Pre-1600
* 506 – Alaric II, eighth king of the Visigoths, promulgates the Breviary of Alaric (''Breviarium Alaricianum'' or ''Lex Romana Visigothorum''), a collection of "Roman law".
* 880 – Battle of Lüneburg Heath: King ...
– Hungary joins the Anti-Comintern Pact.
* February 6
Events Pre-1600
* 1579 – The Archdiocese of Manila is made a diocese by a papal bull with Domingo de Salazar being its first bishop.
1601–1900
* 1685 – James II of England and VII of Scotland is proclaimed King upon the death of ...
** British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician of the Conservative Party who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. He is best known for his foreign policy of appeasemen ...
states in the House of Commons that any German attack on France will be automatically considered an attack on Britain.
** In a response to Georges Bonnet
Georges-Étienne Bonnet (22/23 July 1889 – 18 June 1973) was a French politician who served as foreign minister in 1938 and 1939 and was a leading figure in the Radical Party.
Early life
Bonnet was born in Bassillac, Dordogne, the son of ...
's speech of January 26, German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop
Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop (; 30 April 1893 – 16 October 1946) was a German politician and diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945.
Ribbentrop first came to Adolf Hitler's not ...
, referring to Bonnet's alleged statement of December 6, 1938, accepting Eastern Europe as being in Germany's exclusive sphere of influence, protests that all French security commitments in that region are "now off limits".
* February 15
Events Pre-1600
* 438 – Roman emperor Theodosius II publishes the law codex Codex Theodosianus
* 590 – Khosrau II is crowned king of Persia.
* 706 – Byzantine emperor Justinian II has his predecessors Leontios and Tiberi ...
– John Ford's Western film ''Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...
'' starring John Wayne
Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Gol ...
premieres in New York City and Los Angeles.
* February 18 – The Golden Gate International Exposition opens in San Francisco.
* February 27
Events Pre-1600
* 380 – Edict of Thessalonica: Emperor Theodosius I and his co-emperors Gratian and Valentinian II declare their wish that all Roman citizens convert to Nicene Christianity.
* 425 – The University of Constantinople ...
– The United Kingdom and France recognize Franco
Franco may refer to:
Name
* Franco (name)
* Francisco Franco (1892–1975), Spanish general and dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975
* Franco Luambo (1938–1989), Congolese musician, the "Grand Maître"
Prefix
* Franco, a prefix used when ...
's government.
March
* March – The 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine ends. * March 1 – An Imperial Japanese Army ammunition dump explosion on the outskirts of Osaka kills 94. * March 2 –Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...
(Cardinal Pacelli) succeeds Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City fro ...
to become the 260th pope.
* March 3 – In Durban, South Africa the Timeless Test begins between England and South Africa, the longest game of cricket ever played. It is abandoned 12 days later, when the English team has to catch their ship home.
* March 13 – Adolf Hitler advises Jozef Tiso to declare Slovakia's independence, in order to prevent its partition by Hungary and Poland.
* March 14
Events Pre-1600
* 1074 – Battle of Mogyoród: Dukes Géza and Ladislaus defeat their cousin Solomon, King of Hungary, forcing him to flee to Hungary's western borderland.
* 1590 – Battle of Ivry: Henry of Navarre and the Huguen ...
– The Slovak provincial assembly proclaims independence; priest Jozef Tiso becomes president of the independent Slovak government.
* March 15 – German troops occupy the remaining part of Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...
and Moravia; Czechoslovakia ceases to exist. The Ruthenian region of Czechoslovakia declares independence as Carpatho-Ukraine.
* March 16
** Princess Fawzia Fuad of Egypt
Fawzia of Egypt (; 5 November 1921 – 2 July 2013), also known as Fawzia Pahlavi or Fawzia Chirine, was an Egyptian princess who became Queen of Iran as the first wife of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran .
Fawzia was the daughter of Fuad I ...
marries Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
, title = Shahanshah Aryamehr Bozorg Arteshtaran
, image = File:Shah_fullsize.jpg
, caption = Shah in 1973
, succession = Shah of Iran
, reign = 16 September 1941 – 11 February 1979
, coronation = 26 October ...
of Iran.
** Hungary invades Carpatho-Ukraine; final resistance ends on March 18.
* March 17
** British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician of the Conservative Party who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. He is best known for his foreign policy of appeasemen ...
gives a speech in Birmingham, stating that Britain will oppose any effort at world domination on the part of Germany.
** The nationalist governments of Spain and Portugal sign the Iberian Pact
The Iberian Pact (''Pacto Ibérico'') or Peninsular Pact, formally the Portuguese–Spanish Treaty of Friendship and Non-Aggression,; pt, Tratado de Amizade e Não Agressão entre Portugal e Espanha was a non-aggression pact that was signed at ...
in Lisbon, pledging mutual defence of the Iberian Peninsula and neutrality
Neutral or neutrality may refer to:
Mathematics and natural science Biology
* Neutral organisms, in ecology, those that obey the unified neutral theory of biodiversity
Chemistry and physics
* Neutralization (chemistry), a chemical reaction ...
in the event of a general European war.
* March 20
** 1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania
The 1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania was an oral ultimatum which Joachim von Ribbentrop, Foreign Minister of Nazi Germany, presented to Juozas Urbšys, Foreign Minister of Lithuania on 20 March 1939. The Germans demanded that Lithuania give up ...
, requiring return of the Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory) to Germany.
** At an emergency meeting in London to deal with the Romanian crisis, French Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet
Georges-Étienne Bonnet (22/23 July 1889 – 18 June 1973) was a French politician who served as foreign minister in 1938 and 1939 and was a leading figure in the Radical Party.
Early life
Bonnet was born in Bassillac, Dordogne, the son of ...
suggests to Lord Halifax that the ideal state for saving Romania from a German attack is Poland.
* March 21
Events Pre-1600
* 537 – Siege of Rome: King Vitiges attempts to assault the northern and eastern city walls, but is repulsed at the Praenestine Gate, known as the ''Vivarium'', by the defenders under the Byzantine generals Bessas an ...
– Aleister Crowley's ''Eight Lectures on Yoga'' is published by the Ordo Templi Orientis in London.
* March 22
** Following the March 20 ultimatum, Nazi Germany is granted the Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory, ''Memelland'') by Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
; on the following day German forces occupy the territory.
** In the U.S., undefeated LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds men's basketball team tops undefeated Loyola of Chicago
Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic universities in the United States. Its namesake is Saint Ignat ...
in the championship game of the second annual National Invitation Tournament
The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...
, 44–32. LIU's 24–0 final record is the first perfect season of college basketball's postseason tournament era.
* March 23 – The Slovak–Hungarian War begins.
* March 26 – Final offensive of the Spanish Civil War launched by the Nationalists.
* March 27 – The University of Oregon defeats Ohio State University 46–33 in Evanston, Illinois, to win the championship of the first NCAA men's basketball tournament.
* March 28
** General Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...
assumes power in Madrid, remaining in power until his death in 1975
It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe.
Events
January
* January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...
.
** American adventurer Richard Halliburton
Richard Halliburton (January 9, 1900 – Declared death in absentia, presumed dead after March 24, 1939) was an American travel writing, travel writer and adventurer who swam the length of the Panama Canal and paid the lowest toll in its hi ...
delivers a last message from a Chinese junk, before he disappears on a voyage across the Pacific Ocean. In 1945, some wreckage identified as a rudder, and believed to belong to the junk, washes ashore in San Diego, California.
* March 31
Events Pre-1600
* 307 – After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine the Great, Constantine marries Fausta, daughter of the retired Roman emperor Maximian.
*1146 – Bernard of Clairvaux preaches his famous sermon in a field at V ...
– Neville Chamberlain gives a speech in the House of Commons, offering the British "guarantee" of the independence of Poland.
April
* April 1 – The Spanish Civil War comes to an end when the last of the Republican forces surrender. * April 3 ** Adolf Hitler orders the German military to start planning for Fall Weiß, the codename for the invasion of Poland. **Refik Saydam
İbrahim Refik Saydam (8 September 1881 – 8 July 1942) was a Turkish physician, politician and the fourth Prime Minister of Turkey, serving from 25 January 1939 until his death on 8 July 1942.Turkey (12th government; Refik Saydam has served twice as a prime minister).
*
* June 3 – The Soviet government offers its definition of what constitutes "aggression", upon which the projected Anglo-Soviet-French alliance will come into effect. French Foreign Minister
* September 1 – Beginning of WWII:
** Opening shots of World War II and invasion of Poland: At 4:45am Central European Time, under cover of darkness, the German WWI-era battleship German battleship Schleswig-Holstein, ''Schleswig-Holstein'' quietly slips her moorings at her wharf in Danzig Harbor, drifts into the center of the channel, and commences firing on a Polish military installation on Westerplatte at the northeastern mouth of the port of the internationalized Free City of Danzig, beginning the Battle of Westerplatte and Battle of Danzig Bay. Five minutes previously, the bombing of Wieluń in the western part of Poland had commenced, beginning the Battle of the Border. Shock-troops of the German Wehrmacht begin crossing the border into Poland.
** The Reichstag (Nazi Germany), Reichstag passes a statement, stating that Adolf Hitler's second-in-command Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring should be appointed as Hitler's successor as Führer, should Hitler die during the war. Rudolf Hess is to be appointed in Göring's place, should anything befall Göring.
** Britain and France deliver ultimatums to Germany. Norway, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland declare their neutrality. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt states that "every effort" would be made by his administration to stay out of the war. Italy is advised that Germany does not expect to need its military support at present.
** General George C. Marshall becomes Chief of Staff of the United States Army.
* September 2 – WWII:
** Following the invasion of Poland, the Free City of Danzig (modern-day Gdańsk, Poland) is annexed to Nazi Germany.
** Spain and Ireland declare their neutrality.
* September 3 – WWII:
** The United Kingdom, France, New Zealand, Australia and India (by its Governor-General of India, Viceroy) declare war on Nazi Germany. Prime Minister of Canada Mackenzie King, in English, and Minister of Justice (Canada), Justice Minister Ernest Lapointe, in French, give an international radio address stating the Dominion's intention to declare war also.
** United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt advocates neutrality, in a nationwide radio address.
** Ocean liner becomes the first British civilian casualty of the war, when she is torpedoed and sunk by in the eastern Atlantic. Of the 1,418 aboard, 98 passengers and 19 crew are killed.
** Chamberlain offers the war cabinet post of First Lord of the Admiralty to Winston Churchill, who returns to government for the first time since June 4, 1929.
* September 4 – WWII:
** The first bombing of Wilhelmshaven in World War II is carried out, by the British Royal Air Force.
** The Defense of Katowice by irregular Polish militia fails and the city is secured by German Wehrmacht forces who carry out the Katowice massacre.
** Nepal declares war on Nazi Germany, Germany.
* September 5 – WWII: The United States declares its neutrality in the war.
* September 6 – WWII: South Africa declares war on Nazi Germany, Germany.
* September 8
** WWII: Forward elements of General Hoeppner's XVI Panzerkorps take up positions outside Warsaw. The world is stunned by the rapidity of the German advance, and the Polish High Command is effectively isolated, but lack of infantry support and effective civilian resistance cause Hoeppner to halt outside the city itself.
** WWII: Battle of Westerplatte ends when Polish troops on the Westerplatte are forced by lack of food and ammunition to surrender. The garrison of about two hundred had held out against thousands of German forces (many of them naval officer cadets from German battleship Schleswig-Holstein, ''Schleswig-Holstein'') for seven days.
** The Little Sisters of Jesus is founded in Algeria, by Little Sister Magdeleine.
* September 9 – WWII: Troops of the Polish Poznań Army under the command of Tadeusz Kutrzeba, General Kutrzeba open the Battle of the Bzura, the largest and best organized counter-attack mounted by the Polish forces in the Invasion of Poland, campaign of 1939. For the first few days all goes well, and the Germans are forced to retreat; but quick reaction by mechanized units and the Luftwaffe soon take their toll, and the operation bogs down.
* September 10 – WWII: Canada declares war on Nazi Germany, Germany, the only declaration of war by Canada.
* September 13–September 14, 14 – WWII: Zambrów massacre – German Wehrmacht soldiers shoot more than 200 Polish prisoners of war.
* September 15 – WWII: Diverse elements of the German Wehrmacht surround Warsaw, and demand its surrender. The Poles refuse, and the Siege of Warsaw (1939), siege begins in earnest.
* September 16 – A ceasefire ends the Battles of Khalkhin Gol, the undeclared border war between the Soviet Union (and Mongolian allies) and Japan.
* September 17 – WWII:
** The Soviet Union Soviet invasion of Poland, invades Poland, and then Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union, occupies eastern Polish territories.
** Royal Navy aircraft carrier is torpedoed and sunk by in the Western Approaches with the loss of 519 crew (the first British warship loss of the war).
* September 18 – WWII: Orzeł incident, ''Orzeł'' incident: Polish submarine ORP ''Orzeł'' escapes internment from Tallinn Harbour, Estonia, leading both the Soviet Union and Germany to question Estonia's neutrality.
* September 19 – WWII: The Poznan pocket collapses, and the Germans capture, according to many sources, over 150,000 men. Many elements of General Tadeusz Kutrzeba's forces work their way into Warsaw, under extreme difficulty.
* September 21
**Reinhard Heydrich, chief of the Security Police, sends a directive, the Schnellbrief, explaining that Jews living in towns and villages in the Polish occupation zones are to be transferred to ghettos, and Jewish councils, Judenräte, will be established to carry out the German authorities' orders.
**Assassination of Armand Călinescu: Prime Minister of Romania Armand Călinescu is shot in Bucharest by members of the fascist Iron Guard.
**Radio station WJSV in Washington, D.C. records an WJSV broadcast day, entire broadcast day, for preservation in the National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives.
* September 22 – WWII: A joint victory parade is staged by the Wehrmacht and Red Army in Brest-Litovsk, at the end of the Invasion of Poland.
* September 24 – WWII: The Soviet Union issues an ultimatum to Estonia to allow Soviet military bases on its territory, which Estonia accepts on September 28. Similar ultimatums are issued to Latvia on October 5 and to
* November – Lebensborn: Policy of Kidnapping of ethnic Polish children by Nazi Germany, kidnapping of children by Nazi Germany initiated in occupied Poland.
* November 1–November 2, 2 – WWII: Physicist Hans Ferdinand Mayer writes the Oslo Report on German weapons systems, and passes it to the British Secret Intelligence Service.
* November 4 – WWII: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the United States Customs Service to implement the Neutrality Acts of 1930s, Neutrality Act of 1939, allowing cash-and-carry purchases of weapons to non-belligerent nations.
*November 4 – Stewart Menzies is appointed head of the British Secret Intelligence Service.
* November 6
** ''Hedda Hopper's Hollywood'' debuts on radio with gossip columnist Hedda Hopper as host (the show runs until 1951, making Hopper a powerful figure among the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood elite).
** WWII: Sonderaktion Krakau: Germans take action against scientists from the University of Kraków, and other Kraków universities.
* November 8
** WWII: In Munich, an attempt to kill Adolf Hitler is made by Georg Elser, while Hitler is celebrating the 16th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch.
** CBS television station W2XAB resumes test transmission, with an all-electronic system broadcast from the top of the Chrysler Building in New York City.
* November 9 – WWII: Venlo Incident: Two British agents of Secret Intelligence Service, SIS are captured by the Germans.
* November 14 – In Washington, D.C., U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt lays the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial.
* November 16 – Al Capone is released from Federal Correctional Institution, Terminal Island, Terminal Island, due to deteriorating health caused by syphilis.
* November 17 – WWII: To punish protests against the Nazi occupation of the Czech homeland, the Nazis storm the University of Prague and murder 9 Czech graduate students, send over 1,200 to concentration camps, and close all Czech universities, an event which will be commemorated as International Students' Day.
* November 23 – WWII: British armed merchantman is sunk in the GIUK gap, in an action against the German battleships and .
* November 26 – Shelling of Mainila: The Soviet Union's Red Army shells the Russian village of Mainila, then claims that the fire originated from Finland, giving a ''casus belli'' for the Winter War.
* November 30 – WWII:
** Winter War: Soviet forces attack Finland and reach the Mannerheim Line, starting the war.
** Sweden declares itself a non-belligerent in the Winter War.
* January 1 – Ali Mahdi Muhammad, Somali entrepreneur, politician and 4th President of Somalia (d. 2021)
* January 3
** Arik Einstein, Israeli singer (d. 2013)
** Bobby Hull, Canadian ice hockey player
** Vincent Siew, Taiwanese politician, 9th Vice President of the Republic of China
*
* March 1 – Tzvetan Todorov, Bulgarian-French historian, philosopher, structuralist literary critic, sociologist and essayist (d. 2017)
* March 2 – Takako Shimazu, Takako, Princess Suga
* March 5
** Samantha Eggar, English actress
** Chögyam Trungpa, Buddhist meditation master (d. 1987)
* March 8 – Lidiya Skoblikova, Russian speed-skater
* March 10 – Lee Soo-sung, 27th Prime Minister of South Korea
* March 13 – Neil Sedaka, American singer-songwriter
*
* May 1 – Judy Collins, American singer-songwriter
* May 2
** Sumio Iijima, Japanese physicist and inventor
** Taomati Iuta, Vice President of Kiribati (1991–94) (d. 2016)
* May 4 – Amos Oz, Israeli author and journalist (d. 2018)
* May 7
** José Antonio Abreu, Venezuelan orchestral conductor, music educator (d. 2018)
** Sidney Altman, Canadian-born chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2022)
** Ruud Lubbers, Dutch politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1982–94) (d. 2018)
* May 9 – Ralph Boston, American athlete
* May 13 – Harvey Keitel, American actor
* May 15 – Barbara Hammer, American filmmaker (d. 2019)
*
* July 1
** Kazi Zafar Ahmed, 8th Prime Minister of Bangladesh (d. 2015)
** Karen Black, American actress (d. 2013)
* July 4
** Abdelmajid Chetali, Tunisian footballer, manager
** Abdul Aziz Abdul Ghani, 2nd Prime Minister of Yemen (d. 2011)
* July 6
** Mary Peters (athlete), Mary Peters, British athlete
** Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, sovereign ruler of the Emirate of Sharjah
* July 7 – Elena Obraztsova, Russian opera singer (d. 2015)
* July 8
** Likulia Bolongo, Congolese politician, general and Prime Minister of Zaire
** Abdelhamid Sharaf, Jordanian ambassador to the United States and Canada, 51st Prime Minister of Jordan (d. 1980)
* July 10 – Mavis Staples, African-American rhythm and blues, gospel singer, actress and civil rights activist
* July 13 – John Danielsen, Danish football midfielder
* July 14
** Karel Gott, Czech singer (d. 2019)
** Sid Haig, American actor (d. 2019)
* July 15 – Aníbal Cavaco Silva, 113th Prime Minister of Portugal, 19th President of Portugal
* July 16 – Lido Vieri, Italian footballer and manager
* July 17 – Milva, Italian singer, stage and film actress, and television personality (d. 2021)
* July 18 – Dion DiMucci, American singer, songwriter (''The Wanderer (Dion song), The Wanderer'')
* July 21 – Helmut Haller, German footballer (d. 2012)
* July 22 – Gila Almagor, Israeli actress and author
* July 24 – Walt Bellamy, African-American basketball player (d. 2013)
* July 26 – John Howard, 25th
* September 1 – Lily Tomlin, American actress (''Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In'')
* September 5
** George Lazenby, Australian actor
** Claudette Colvin, American civil rights activist and nurse
** William Devane, American actor
** Clay Regazzoni, Swiss Formula One driver (d. 2006)
* September 6 – Susumu Tonegawa, Japanese biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
* September 7 – Stanislav Petrov, Soviet Air Defence Forces official
* September 8 – Carsten Keller, German field hockey player
* September 9 – Reuven Rivlin, 10th President of Israel
* September 11 – Charles Geschke, American inventor and businessman (d. 2021)
* September 13
** Richard Kiel, American actor (d. 2014)
** Guntis Ulmanis, 5th President of Latvia
* September 15 – Ron Walker (Australian businessman), Ron Walker, Australian businessman, former Lord Mayor of Melbourne (d. 2018)
* September 16 – Breyten Breytenbach, South African writer and painter
* September 18 – Jorge Sampaio, 17th President of Portugal (d. 2021)
* September 22 – Junko Tabei, Japanese mountaineer (d. 2016)
* September 27 – Kathy Whitworth, American professional golfer
* September 30 – Jean-Marie Lehn, French chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize laureate
* Date unknown - Muhammad Banaru Abubakar, Nigerian Administrator and public servant (d. 2015)
* October 4 – Ivan Mauger, New Zealand speedway rider, 6 times World Speedway Champion (d. 2018)
* October 6 - Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg, English broadcaster and author
* October 7
** John Hopcroft, American computer scientist
** Clive James, Australian-born writer, humorist and television personality (d. 2019)
** Harold Kroto, English organic chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2016)
* October 8 – Paul Hogan, Australian actor and comedian
* October 9
** Carmen Salinas, Mexican actress and politician (d. 2021)
** John Pilger, Australian-born journalist
* October 11 – Maria Bueno, Brazilian tennis player (d. 2018)
* October 14 – Ralph Lauren, American fashion designer
* October 18 – Lee Harvey Oswald, Alleged American assassin of President John F. Kennedy (d. 1963)
* October 21 – Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens (d. 2008)
* October 22
** Joaquim Chissano, President of Mozambique
** George Cohen, English footballer (d. 2022)
* October 24
** F. Murray Abraham, American actor (Amadeus (film))
**Madalena Iglésias, Portuguese actress and singer (d. 2018)
* October 27 – John Cleese, English comic actor and writer
* October 28 – Jane Alexander, American actress
* October 29 – Malay Roy Choudhury, Bengali poet, novelist and creator of the Indian Hungry generation literary and cultural movement
* October 30
** Leland H. Hartwell, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
** Grace Slick, American rock singer (''Jefferson Airplane'')
* October 31
** Ali Farka Touré, Malian singer (d. 2006)
** Ron Rifkin, American actor
* November 1 – Barbara Bosson, American actress
* November 6
** Athanasios Angelopoulos, Greek academic
** Carlos Emilio Morales, Cuban jazz guitarist (d. 2014)
* November 8 – Laila Kinnunen, Finnish singer (d. 2000)
* November 10 – Russell Means, Native American activist (d. 2012)
* November 14 – Wendy Carlos, American electronic composer
* November 15 – Yaphet Kotto, African-American actor (d. 2021)
* November 18
** Margaret Atwood, Canadian novelist
** Amanda Lear, French model and singer
** Brenda Vaccaro, American actress
* November 19 – Emil Constantinescu, President of Romania
* November 25
** Rais Khan, Pakistani sitarist (d. 2017)
** Thomas Resetarits, Austrian sculptor (d. 2022)
* November 26
** Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, 5th Prime Minister of Malaysia
** Shettima Mustafa, Nigerian politician (d. 2022)
** Tina Turner, American born Swiss singer and actress
* November 27
** Dudley Storey, New Zealand rower (d. 2017)
** Laurent-Désiré Kabila, 3rd President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (d. 2001)
** Ulla Strömstedt, Swedish actress (d. 1986)
* November 30 – Chandra Bahadur Dangi, Nepalese dwarf, world's shortest man (d. 2015)
* December 1 – Lee Trevino, American professional golfer
* December 8
** Jerry Butler, African-American singer-songwriter and politician
** James Galway, Irish flautist
** Fahrudin Jusufi, Kosovar-Serbian footballer and coach (d. 2019)
* December 15 – Cindy Birdsong, American singer
* December 17 – Eddie Kendricks, African-American singer (''The Temptations'') (d. 1992)
* December 18
** Pedro Jirón, Nicaraguan footballer
** Michael Moorcock, English science fiction writer
** Harold E. Varmus, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
* December 26 – Phil Spector, American record producer (d. 2021)
* December 27 – John Amos, African-American actor (''Good Times'')
* January 2 – Roman Dmowski, Polish politician (b. 1864)
*January 4 – Mary J. L. Black, Canadian librarian and suffragist (b. 1879)
*
* February 1 – Lawrence Marston, American actor, playwright, and film director (b. 1857)
*
* March 2 – Howard Carter, British archaeologist (b. 1874)
* March 3 – Dimitrie Gerota, Romanian anatomist, physician (b. 1867)
* March 5 – Herbert Mundin, British actor (b. 1898)
* March 6
** Ginepro Cocchi, Italian Roman Catholic priest and Servant of God (b. 1908)
** Patriarch Miron of Romania, Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian cleric, politician, priest and 38th Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1868)
* March 7 – Matvei Berman, Soviet intelligence officer (b. 1898)
* March 13 – Lucien Lévy-Bruhl, French sociologist, anthropologist (b. 1857)
*
*
* May 1 – Bautista Saavedra , 29th President of Bolivia (b. 1870)
* May 2 – Phillips Smalley, American actor, director (b. 1875)
* May 3 – Wilhelm Groener, German general (b. 1867)
* May 4 – James A. Johnson (architect), James A. Johnson, American architect (b. 1865)
* May 7 – Francesco Paleari, Italian priest and blessed (b. 1863)
* May 9 – Mary, Lady Heath, Irish aviator (b. 1896)
* May 10 – James Parrott, American actor (b. 1898)
* May 13 – Victor Bernau, Norwegian actor, director (b. 1890)
*
* July 3 – Juan José Gárate, Spanish painter (b. 1869)
* July 4 – Louis Wain, English artist (b. 1860)
* July 5 – Malietoa Tanumafili I, King of Samoa (b. 1879)
* July 7 – Deacon White, American baseball player, MLB Hall of Famer (b. 1847)
* July 8
** Havelock Ellis, British sexologist (b. 1859)
** Anna Pappritz, German writer, suffragist (b. 1861)
* July 9
** Carlo Chiostri, Italian painter (b. 1863)
** Alphonse Laurencic, French painter, architect (b. 1902)
* July 11 – Stiliyan Kovachev, Bulgarian general (b. 1860)
* July 14 – Alphonse Mucha, Czech painter, decorative artist (b. 1860)
* July 17 – María del Carmen González-Valerio, Spanish Roman Catholic saint (b. 1930)
* July 19 – Rose Hartwick Thorpe, American poet (b. 1850)
* July 20
** Judy Chicago, American feminist artist
** Joseph Mendes da Costa, Dutch sculptor (b. 1863)
* July 23 – Jack Duffy (actor), Jack Duffy, American actor (b. 1882)
* July 26 – William Mackay (artist), William Mackay, American artist (b. 1876)
* July 27 – Stanisław Baczyński, Polish writer, journalist and soldier (b. 1890)
* August 2 – Harvey Spencer Lewis, American mystic (b. 1883)
* August 6
** Mehmet Emin Çolakoğlu, Turkish army general (b. 1878)
** Monroe Dunaway Anderson, American founder of Anderson, Clayton and Company; "Father of Texas Medical Center" (b. 1873)
* August 10 – Carlo Galimberti, Italian Olympic weightlifter (b. 1894)
* August 11 – Jean Bugatti, German automobile designer (b. 1909)
* August 12 – Eulalio Gutiérrez, President of Mexico (b. 1881)
* August 23
** Sidney Howard, American writer (b. 1891)
** Germán Busch , 36th President of Bolivia (b. 1903)
* August 25 – Arthur Asquith, British general (b. 1883)
* August 26 – Rubén González Cárdenas, Venezuelan lawyer (b. 1875)
* August 29 – Marthe de Florian, French painter (b. 1864)
* August 31 – Richard Bouwens van der Boijen, French architect (b. 1863)
* September 6 – Arthur Rackham, British artist (b. 1867)
* September 8 – Swami Abhedananda, Indian mystic (b. 1866)
* September 10 – Wilhelm Fritz von Roettig, German Waffen SS general, first general killed in action during World War II (b. 1888)
* September 12
**Fyodor Raskolnikov, Soviet revolutionary, writer, journalist, naval commander, and diplomat (assassinated) (b. 1892)
**Eliodoro Villazón, 27th President of Bolivia (b. 1848)
* September 16
** Józef Kustroń, Polish general (killed in action) (b. 1892)
** Nikolaos Triantafyllakos, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1855)
** Otto Wels, German politician, chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) (b. 1873)
* September 18 – Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Polish writer, painter (b. 1885)
* September 20
** Paul Bruchesi, Canadian prelate (b. 1855)
** Hermann Brunn, German mathematician (b. 1862)
** Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin, French astronomer (b. 1865)
* September 21 – Armand Călinescu, Romanian economist, politician and 39th Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1893)
* September 22
** Mikołaj Bołtuć, Polish army general (killed in battle) (b. 1893)
** Józef Olszyna-Wilczyński, Polish general (b. 1890)
** Werner von Fritsch, German general (killed in action) (b. 1880)
* September 23
** Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychoanalyst (b. 1856)
** Eugeniusz Kazimirowski, Polish painter (b. 1873)
** Francisco León de la Barra, Mexican diplomat, political figure, and acting President of Mexico (b. 1863)
* September 24
** Danilo, Crown Prince of Montenegro (b. 1871)
** Carl Laemmle, German film producer (b. 1867)
* October 2 – Edgar M. Lazarus, American architect (b. 1868)
* October 3 – Fay Templeton, American musical comedy star (b. 1865)
* October 6 – Giulio Gavotti, Italian aviator (b. 1882)
* October 7 – Harvey Cushing, American neurosurgeon (b. 1869)
* October 8 – Gustav Henriksen, Norwegian executive (b. 1872)
* October 13 – Ford Sterling, American actor (b. 1882)
* October 14 – Polaire, French actress (b. 1874)
* October 23
**Zane Grey, American writer (b. 1872)
**Liao Lei (general), Liao Lei, Chinese general of the National Revolutionary Army (b. 1890)
* October 28 – Alice Brady, American actress (b. 1892)
* October 30 – Carlos De Valdez, Peruvian actor (b. 1894)
* October 31
** Albrecht, Duke of Württemberg, German field marshal (b. 1865)
** Otto Rank, Austrian psychoanalyst (b. 1884)
* November 1 – Kálmán Darányi, 31st Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1886)
* November 4
** Percy Douglas, Sir Percy Douglas, chairman of the British Graham Land Expedition (BGLE) Advisory Committee (b. 1876)
** Ma Xiangbo, Chinese Jesuit priest and blessed (b. 1840)
* November 7 – Kirsti Suonio, Finnish actress (b. 1872)
* November 10 – Charlotte Despard, Anglo-Irish suffragist, socialist, pacifist, Sinn Féin activist, and novelist
* November 11 – Alicja Kotowska, Polish Roman Catholic nun, martyr and blessed (b. 1899)
* November 12 – Norman Bethune, Canadian humanitarian (b. 1890)
* November 13 – Lois Weber, American actress (b. 1881)
* November 15
**Platon Ivanovich Ivanov, Soviet-born Finnish civil servant (b. 1863)
* November 17 – Aurelio Mosquera, Ecuadorian politician, 25th President of Ecuador (b. 1883)
* November 21 – Émile Guépratte, French admiral (b. 1856)
* November 22 – King Daudi Cwa II of Buganda (b. 1896)
* November 24 – John Harron, American actor (b. 1903)
* November 28 – James Naismith, Canadian inventor of basketball (b. 1861) He was 78 years old.
* November 29
** Eugen Kolisko, Austrian-born German physician, educator (b. 1893)
** Józef Krasnowolski, Polish painter (b. 1879)
** Philipp Scheidemann, German politician, 11th Chancellor of Germany (German Reich), Chancellor of Germany (b. 1865)
* December 3 – Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, second youngest daughter of Queen Victoria (b. 1848)
* December 5 – Santiago Iglesias, Puerto Rican statesman (b. 1872)
* December 8
** Alimondo Ciampi, Italian sculptor (b. 1876)
** Jean Grave, French anarchist (b. 1854)
* December 12 – Douglas Fairbanks, American actor, father of Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (b. 1883)
* December 14 – Helene Kröller-Müller, Dutch museum founder and art collector (b. 1869)
* December 16 – Juan Demóstenes Arosemena, 18th President of Panama (b. 1879)
* December 18 – Bruno Liljefors, Swedish artist (b. 1860)
* December 19
** Dmitry Grave, Soviet mathematician (b. 1863)
** Reginald F. Nicholson, United States Navy admiral (b. 1852)
* December 20 – Hans Langsdorff, German naval officer (suicide) (b. 1894)
* December 22 – Ma Rainey, African-American blues singer (b. 1886)
* December 23
** Anthony Fokker, Dutch-born American aircraft manufacturer (b. 1890)
** Maxime Laubeuf, French maritime engineer (b. 1864)
* December 24 – Walter Gordon (physicist), Walter Gordon, German physicist (b. 1893)
* December 25 – Ivan Dmitriyevich Borisov, Soviet aircraft pilot (b. 1913)
* December 27 – Rinaldo Cuneo, American artist ("the painter of San Francisco") (b. 1877)
* December 31 – Frank Benson (actor), Sir Frank Benson, British actor (b. 1858)
1939 WWII Timeline
– from American Studies Programs at The University of Virginia
Paula Phelan, 1939 Into The Dark, 2009, ZAPmedia.
{{Authority control 1939,
April 4
Events Pre-1600
* 503 BC – Roman consul Agrippa Menenius Lanatus celebrates a triumph for a military victory over the Sabines.
* 190 – Dong Zhuo has his troops evacuate the capital Luoyang and burn it to the ground.
* 611 – ...
** Faisal II
Faisal II ( ar, الملك فيصل الثاني ''el-Melik Faysal es-Sânî'') (2 May 1935 – 14 July 1958) was the last King of Iraq. He reigned from 4 April 1939 until July 1958, when he was killed during the 14 July Revolution. This regici ...
becomes King of Iraq aged three, following the death of his father, Ghazi, in an automobile incident.
** The Slovak–Hungarian War ends, with Slovakia ceding eastern territories to Hungary.
** Polish Foreign Minister Colonel Józef Beck, in London, signs a treaty designed to bilateralize Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician of the Conservative Party who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. He is best known for his foreign policy of appeasemen ...
's "Polish Guarantee" of March 31.
* April 7
** Italy invades Albania; King Zog flees.
** Joseph Lyons
Joseph Aloysius Lyons (15 September 1879 – 7 April 1939) was an Australian politician who served as the List of prime ministers of Australia by time in office, 10th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1932 until his death in 1939. He ...
, 10th Prime Minister of Australia
The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister heads the executive branch of the Australian Government, federal government of Australia and is also accountable to Parliament of A ...
, dies in office from a heart attack at the age of 59. He is briefly replaced by his deputy Earle Page, who serves as the 11th Prime Minister, until a UAP leadership election is held to replace Lyons.
* April 9 – African-American singer Marian Anderson performs before 75,000 people at the Lincoln Memorial
The Lincoln Memorial is a U.S. national memorial built to honor the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is on the western end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., across from the Washington Monument, and is in the ...
in Washington, D.C., after having been denied the use both of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution
The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States' efforts towards independence.
A non-profit group, they promote ...
, and of a public high school by the federally controlled District of Columbia. First Lady of the United States
The first lady of the United States (FLOTUS) is the title held by the hostess of the White House, usually the wife of the president of the United States, concurrent with the president's term in office. Although the first lady's role has never ...
Eleanor Roosevelt resigns from the DAR because of their decision.
* April 11 – Hungary leaves the League of Nations.
* April 14 – At a meeting in Paris, French Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet
Georges-Étienne Bonnet (22/23 July 1889 – 18 June 1973) was a French politician who served as foreign minister in 1938 and 1939 and was a leading figure in the Radical Party.
Early life
Bonnet was born in Bassillac, Dordogne, the son of ...
meets with Soviet Ambassador Jakob Suritz, and suggests that a "peace front" comprising France, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, Poland and Romania would deter Germany from war.
* April 18
** The Soviet Union proposes a "peace front" to resist aggression.
** Robert Menzies
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...
is elected leader of the United Australia Party, and consequently becomes the 12th Prime Minister of Australia
The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister heads the executive branch of the Australian Government, federal government of Australia and is also accountable to Parliament of A ...
, defeating former Prime Minister Billy Hughes
William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia, in office from 1915 to 1923. He is best known for leading the country during World War I, but ...
. However, he will not be sworn in until April 26, due to Earle Page and his Country Party refusing to serve under him.
* April 20 – Billie Holiday records "Strange Fruit
"Strange Fruit" is a song written and composed by Abel Meeropol (under his pseudonym Lewis Allan) and recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939. The lyrics were drawn from a poem by Meeropol published in 1937. The song protests the lynching of Black ...
", the first anti-lynching song, in the United States.
* April 25 – The Federal Security Agency
The Federal Security Agency (FSA) was an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States government established in 1939 pursuant to the Reorganization Act of 1939. For a time, the agency oversaw food a ...
(FSA) is founded in the United States, along with the Civilian Conservation Corps and Public Health Service.
* April 28 – In a speech before the ''Reichstag'', Adolf Hitler renounces the Anglo-German Naval Agreement and the German–Polish declaration of non-aggression.
* April 30 – The 1939 New York World's Fair
The 1939–40 New York World's Fair was a world's fair held at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York, United States. It was the second-most expensive American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchas ...
opens.
May
* May 1 –Batman
Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...
, the fictional character created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, makes his first appearance in ''Detective Comics
''Detective Comics'' is an American comic book series published by Detective Comics, later shortened to DC Comics. The first volume, published from 1937 to 2011 (and later continued in 2016), is best known for introducing the superhero Batman i ...
'' #27.
* May 3
** Vyacheslav Molotov succeeds Maxim Litvinov, as Soviet Foreign Commissar.
** The All India Forward Bloc
The All India Forward Bloc ( AIFB) is a left-wing nationalist political party in India. It emerged as a faction within the Indian National Congress in 1939, led by Subhas Chandra Bose. The party re-established as an independent political party a ...
is formed by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose
Subhas Chandra Bose ( ; 23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*) was an Indian nationalist whose defiance of British authority in India made him a hero among Indians, but his wartime alliances with Nazi Germany and Imperia ...
.
* May 6 – Carl Friedrich Goerdeler tells the British government that the German and Soviet governments are secretly beginning a rapprochement, with the aim of dividing Eastern Europe between them. Goerdeler also informs the British of German economic problems which he states threaten the survival of the Nazi regime, and advises that if a firm stand is made for Poland, then Hitler will be deterred from war.
* May 9 – Spain leaves the League of Nations.
* May 14
Events Pre-1600
* 1027 – Robert II of France names his son Henry I as junior King of the Franks.
*1097 – The Siege of Nicaea begins during the First Crusade.
* 1264 – Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured and forc ...
– Lina Medina, a 5-year-old Peruvian girl, gives birth to a baby boy, becoming the youngest confirmed mother in medical history.
* May 17
** King George VI
George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of Ind ...
and Queen Elizabeth
Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elisabeth or Elizabeth the Queen may refer to:
Queens regnant
* Elizabeth I (1533–1603; ), Queen of England and Ireland
* Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022 ...
arrive in Quebec City, to begin the first-ever tour of Canada by Canada's monarch.
** The British government issues the White Paper of 1939, sharply restricting Jewish immigration to Mandatory Palestine.
** Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, Norway, and Finland refuse Germany's offer of non-aggression pacts.
* May 18
Events Pre-1600
* 332 – Emperor Constantine the Great announces free distributions of food to the citizens in Constantinople.
* 872 – Louis II of Italy is crowned for the second time as Holy Roman Emperor at Rome, at the age of 4 ...
– The Hòa Hảo religious sect is established in Vietnam, by Huỳnh Phú Sổ.
* May 20 – Pan American Airways begins transatlantic mail service with the inaugural flight of its Boeing 314 flying boat
A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...
''Yankee Clipper'' from Port Washington, New York, to Marseille.
* May 22
Events Pre-1600
* 192 – Dong Zhuo is assassinated by his adopted son Lü Bu.
* 760 – Fourteenth recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.
* 853 – A Byzantine fleet sacks and destroys undefended Damietta in Egypt.
* 11 ...
– Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel.
* May 24
Events Pre-1600
* 919 – The nobles of Franconia and Saxony elect Henry the Fowler at the Imperial Diet in Fritzlar as king of the East Frankish Kingdom.
* 1218 – The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt.
* 1276 – Magnus La ...
– The first issue of ''Fashizmi
''Fashizmi'' ('Fascism') was a daily Albanian-Italian bilingual newspaper published from Tirana, Albanian Kingdom 1939-1940. It functioned as the official organ of the Albanian Fascist Party. Fejzi Alizoti was the editor of ''Fashizmi''. Vangjel ...
'' is published in Tirana, Albania.
* May 29 – Albanian fascist
Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...
leader Tefik Mborja
Tefik Selim Mborja (6 November 1891 – 1 July 1954) was an Albanian politician and lawyer. He served as the general secretary of the Albanian Fascist Party during the Second World War.Fischer, Bernd Jürgen. Albania at War: 1939-1945'. London: Hu ...
is appointed as member of the Italian Chamber of Fasces and Corporations.
June
* June 3 – The Soviet government offers its definition of what constitutes "aggression", upon which the projected Anglo-Soviet-French alliance will come into effect. French Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet
Georges-Étienne Bonnet (22/23 July 1889 – 18 June 1973) was a French politician who served as foreign minister in 1938 and 1939 and was a leading figure in the Radical Party.
Early life
Bonnet was born in Bassillac, Dordogne, the son of ...
accepts the Soviet definition of aggression at once. The British reject the Soviet definition, especially the concept of "indirect aggression", which they feel is too loose a definition, and phrased in such a manner as to imply the Soviet right of inference in the internal affairs of Eastern European nations.
* June 4 – The ''St. Louis'', a ship carrying a cargo of 907 Jewish refugees, is denied permission to land in Florida, after already having been turned away from Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, many of its passengers later die in Nazi death camps
Nazi Germany used six extermination camps (german: Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (), or killing centers (), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million peoplemostly Jewsin the Holocaust. The v ...
during The Holocaust.
* June 10 – MGM's first successful animated character, Barney Bear, makes his debut in '' The Bear That Couldn't Sleep''. However, it is not until 1942 that his name is adopted.
* June 12
Events Pre-1600
* 910 – Battle of Augsburg: The Hungarians defeat the East Frankish army under King Louis the Child, using the famous feigned retreat tactic of the nomadic warriors.
* 1240 – At the instigation of Louis IX of Fr ...
– The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is officially dedicated in Cooperstown, New York
Cooperstown is a village in and county seat of Otsego County, New York, United States. Most of the village lies within the town of Otsego, but some of the eastern part is in the town of Middlefield. Located at the foot of Otsego Lake in the C ...
.
* June 14 – Tientsin Incident: The Japanese blockade the British concession in Tianjin, China, beginning a crisis which almost causes an Anglo-Japanese war in the summer of 1939.
* June 17
Events Pre-1600
* 653 – Pope Martin I is arrested and taken to Constantinople, due to his opposition to monothelitism.
* 1242 – Following the Disputation of Paris, twenty-four carriage loads of Jewish religious manuscripts were bur ...
– In the last public guillotine, guillotining in France, murderer Eugen Weidmann is executed.
* June 23 – Talks are completed in Ankara between French Ambassador René Massigli and Turkish Foreign Minister Şükrü Saracoğlu, resolving the Hatay dispute in Turkey's favor. Turkey annexes Hatay State, Hatay.
* June 24 – The government of Siam changes its name to Thailand, which means 'Free Land'.
* June 29 – The Ford N-Series tractor#N Series Models, Ford 9N tractor, with the Harry Ferguson, Ferguson hydraulic three-point hitch, is first demonstrated at Dearborn, Michigan.
July
* July 4 – The Neuengamme concentration camp becomes autonomous. * July 6 – The last remaining Jewish enterprises in Germany are closed by the Nazis. * July 8 – The Pan American Airways Boeing 314flying boat
A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...
''Yankee Clipper'' inaugurates the world's first heavier-than-air North Atlantic air passenger service, between the United States ( Port Washington, New York) and Britain.
* July 23 – Mahatma Gandhi writes a personal letter to Adolf Hitler from India, addressing him as "My friend", requesting him to prevent any possible war.
* July 27 – The first recorded snow falls in Auckland, New Zealand, since records began in 1853.
August
* August 2 – The Einstein–Szilárd letter is signed, advising President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt of the potential use of uranium to construct an atomic bomb. * August 4 – Prime MinisterNeville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician of the Conservative Party who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. He is best known for his foreign policy of appeasemen ...
dismisses the Parliament of the United Kingdom until October 3.
* August 15 – MGM's classic musical film ''The Wizard of Oz (1939 film), The Wizard of Oz'', based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum's famous novel of 1900, and starring Judy Garland as Dorothy, premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood. On August 25 it is released in movie theaters throughout the United States.
* August 19 – Adolf Hitler, after evaluating the pace of Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, non-aggression negotiations with the Soviet Union, orders the Kriegsmarine
The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...
to begin the opening operations for '' Fall Weiß'', the invasion of Poland. The , along with the , as well as dozens of U-boats, cast off for their advance positions. Hitler spends the next few days worrying that the Russians will not come to terms in time for the rest of the invasion plans to unfold as scheduled.
* August 20 – Armored forces under the command of Soviet General Georgy Zhukov deliver a decisive defeat to Imperial Japanese Army forces in the Japanese-Soviet border war in Inner Mongolia.
* August 23 – The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact is signed between Germany and the Soviet Union, a neutrality treaty that also agrees to division of spheres of influence (Finland, Estonia, Latvia, eastern Poland and Bessarabia (modern-day Moldova), north-east province of Romania to the Soviet Union; Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
and western Poland to Germany). Its annex reassigns Lithuania to the Soviet Union.
* August 24 – As details of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact become public, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician of the Conservative Party who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. He is best known for his foreign policy of appeasemen ...
recalls the Parliament of the United Kingdom several weeks early. In a burst of legislation, the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act 1939 gives full authority to defence regulations, the British Royal Navy is to be put on a war footing, all military leave is to be cancelled, military reserve forces are to be called up, especially coast defence, radar and anti-aircraft units, and Civil Defence workers are placed on alert. In addition, the last British and French private citizens in Germany are advised to return home by their respective Governments.
* August 25
** The German Foreign Ministry cuts off all telegraph and telephone communication with the outside world, in accordance with the plan for '' Fall Weiß''. At approximately 1830 Central European time, Adolf Hitler postpones ''Fall Weiß'' for 5 days, after receiving a message from Benito Mussolini that he will not honor the Pact of Steel if Germany attacks Poland, and because Chamberlain's government has not fallen as a result of the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact. Some units already in their forward positions (the attack is scheduled for 0430 the next day) do not get the word in time and attack various targets along the border. This same day, Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician of the Conservative Party who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. He is best known for his foreign policy of appeasemen ...
gives Edward Rydz-Śmigły his "ironclad guarantee" of assistance if Poland is attacked by Germany.
** 1939 Coventry bombing: An Irish Republican Army (1922–69), Irish Republican Army bomb explodes in the centre of Coventry, England, killing 5 people.
* August 26
** The first televised Major League Baseball games are shown on experimental station W2XBS in the United States: a double-header between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field.
** The Kriegsmarine
The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...
orders all German-flagged merchant ships to head to German ports immediately, in anticipation of the invasion of Poland.
* August 27 – A Heinkel He 178, the first turbojet-powered aircraft, flies for the first time, with Captain Erich Warsitz in command.
* August 28 – French ocean liner heads into New York Harbor, where she will be interned on September 3, and cut up for scrap, beginning in 1946.
* August 30 – Poland begins a mobilization against Nazi Germany.
* August 31 – Operation Himmler: Nazi German troops posing as Poles stage a series of false flag operations on the border (including the Gleiwitz incident), giving a pretext for the invasion of Poland.
September
* September 1 – Beginning of WWII:
** Opening shots of World War II and invasion of Poland: At 4:45am Central European Time, under cover of darkness, the German WWI-era battleship German battleship Schleswig-Holstein, ''Schleswig-Holstein'' quietly slips her moorings at her wharf in Danzig Harbor, drifts into the center of the channel, and commences firing on a Polish military installation on Westerplatte at the northeastern mouth of the port of the internationalized Free City of Danzig, beginning the Battle of Westerplatte and Battle of Danzig Bay. Five minutes previously, the bombing of Wieluń in the western part of Poland had commenced, beginning the Battle of the Border. Shock-troops of the German Wehrmacht begin crossing the border into Poland.
** The Reichstag (Nazi Germany), Reichstag passes a statement, stating that Adolf Hitler's second-in-command Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring should be appointed as Hitler's successor as Führer, should Hitler die during the war. Rudolf Hess is to be appointed in Göring's place, should anything befall Göring.
** Britain and France deliver ultimatums to Germany. Norway, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland declare their neutrality. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt states that "every effort" would be made by his administration to stay out of the war. Italy is advised that Germany does not expect to need its military support at present.
** General George C. Marshall becomes Chief of Staff of the United States Army.
* September 2 – WWII:
** Following the invasion of Poland, the Free City of Danzig (modern-day Gdańsk, Poland) is annexed to Nazi Germany.
** Spain and Ireland declare their neutrality.
* September 3 – WWII:
** The United Kingdom, France, New Zealand, Australia and India (by its Governor-General of India, Viceroy) declare war on Nazi Germany. Prime Minister of Canada Mackenzie King, in English, and Minister of Justice (Canada), Justice Minister Ernest Lapointe, in French, give an international radio address stating the Dominion's intention to declare war also.
** United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt advocates neutrality, in a nationwide radio address.
** Ocean liner becomes the first British civilian casualty of the war, when she is torpedoed and sunk by in the eastern Atlantic. Of the 1,418 aboard, 98 passengers and 19 crew are killed.
** Chamberlain offers the war cabinet post of First Lord of the Admiralty to Winston Churchill, who returns to government for the first time since June 4, 1929.
* September 4 – WWII:
** The first bombing of Wilhelmshaven in World War II is carried out, by the British Royal Air Force.
** The Defense of Katowice by irregular Polish militia fails and the city is secured by German Wehrmacht forces who carry out the Katowice massacre.
** Nepal declares war on Nazi Germany, Germany.
* September 5 – WWII: The United States declares its neutrality in the war.
* September 6 – WWII: South Africa declares war on Nazi Germany, Germany.
* September 8
** WWII: Forward elements of General Hoeppner's XVI Panzerkorps take up positions outside Warsaw. The world is stunned by the rapidity of the German advance, and the Polish High Command is effectively isolated, but lack of infantry support and effective civilian resistance cause Hoeppner to halt outside the city itself.
** WWII: Battle of Westerplatte ends when Polish troops on the Westerplatte are forced by lack of food and ammunition to surrender. The garrison of about two hundred had held out against thousands of German forces (many of them naval officer cadets from German battleship Schleswig-Holstein, ''Schleswig-Holstein'') for seven days.
** The Little Sisters of Jesus is founded in Algeria, by Little Sister Magdeleine.
* September 9 – WWII: Troops of the Polish Poznań Army under the command of Tadeusz Kutrzeba, General Kutrzeba open the Battle of the Bzura, the largest and best organized counter-attack mounted by the Polish forces in the Invasion of Poland, campaign of 1939. For the first few days all goes well, and the Germans are forced to retreat; but quick reaction by mechanized units and the Luftwaffe soon take their toll, and the operation bogs down.
* September 10 – WWII: Canada declares war on Nazi Germany, Germany, the only declaration of war by Canada.
* September 13–September 14, 14 – WWII: Zambrów massacre – German Wehrmacht soldiers shoot more than 200 Polish prisoners of war.
* September 15 – WWII: Diverse elements of the German Wehrmacht surround Warsaw, and demand its surrender. The Poles refuse, and the Siege of Warsaw (1939), siege begins in earnest.
* September 16 – A ceasefire ends the Battles of Khalkhin Gol, the undeclared border war between the Soviet Union (and Mongolian allies) and Japan.
* September 17 – WWII:
** The Soviet Union Soviet invasion of Poland, invades Poland, and then Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union, occupies eastern Polish territories.
** Royal Navy aircraft carrier is torpedoed and sunk by in the Western Approaches with the loss of 519 crew (the first British warship loss of the war).
* September 18 – WWII: Orzeł incident, ''Orzeł'' incident: Polish submarine ORP ''Orzeł'' escapes internment from Tallinn Harbour, Estonia, leading both the Soviet Union and Germany to question Estonia's neutrality.
* September 19 – WWII: The Poznan pocket collapses, and the Germans capture, according to many sources, over 150,000 men. Many elements of General Tadeusz Kutrzeba's forces work their way into Warsaw, under extreme difficulty.
* September 21
**Reinhard Heydrich, chief of the Security Police, sends a directive, the Schnellbrief, explaining that Jews living in towns and villages in the Polish occupation zones are to be transferred to ghettos, and Jewish councils, Judenräte, will be established to carry out the German authorities' orders.
**Assassination of Armand Călinescu: Prime Minister of Romania Armand Călinescu is shot in Bucharest by members of the fascist Iron Guard.
**Radio station WJSV in Washington, D.C. records an WJSV broadcast day, entire broadcast day, for preservation in the National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives.
* September 22 – WWII: A joint victory parade is staged by the Wehrmacht and Red Army in Brest-Litovsk, at the end of the Invasion of Poland.
* September 24 – WWII: The Soviet Union issues an ultimatum to Estonia to allow Soviet military bases on its territory, which Estonia accepts on September 28. Similar ultimatums are issued to Latvia on October 5 and to Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
on October 10, who are forced to accept them as well.
* September 28 – WWII:
** Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union agree on a division of Poland, after their invasion.
** Warsaw surrenders to Nazi Germany, Germany; Modlin (Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki), Modlin surrenders a day later; the last Polish large operational unit surrenders near Kock 8 days later.
* September 30 – General Władysław Sikorski becomes Prime Minister of Poland, Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile.
October
* October 6 – WWII: The Battle of Kock ends the Polish Campaign. Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish resistance moves underground. * October 7 – WWII: British Royal Navy cruiser departs Plymouth in convoy for Halifax, Nova Scotia, carrying £2M in gold bar to be used for purchase of military materiel in North America, a predecessor of Operation Fish. * October 8 ** WWII: Nazi Germany, Germany annexes Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, Western Poland. ** The Holocaust: Piotrków Trybunalski Ghetto, the first Jewish Ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe, ghetto in Nazi-occupied Europe, is proclaimed in Occupation of Poland (1939–45), German-occupied Poland. * October 11 – The Einstein–Szilárd letter is delivered to President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt, advising of the potential use of uranium to construct an atomic bomb, leading to the Manhattan Project. * October 14 – sinks the British battleship at anchor in Scapa Flow (Scotland), with the loss of 833 crew. * October 15 – The New York Municipal Airport (later renamed LaGuardia Airport) is dedicated. * October 17 – Comedy-drama film ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'' premieres in Washington, D.C. * October 21 – The first meeting of the U.S. S-1 Uranium Committee, Advisory Committee on Uranium is held under Lyman James Briggs, authorized by President Roosevelt to oversee neutron experiments, a precursor of the Manhattan Project. * October 22 – In the first televised NFL football game, the Brooklyn Dodgers (NFL), Brooklyn Dodgers defeat the Philadelphia Eagles 23–14 at Ebbets Field. * October 24 – Nylon stockings go on sale for the first time anywhere in Wilmington, Delaware.November
* November – Lebensborn: Policy of Kidnapping of ethnic Polish children by Nazi Germany, kidnapping of children by Nazi Germany initiated in occupied Poland.
* November 1–November 2, 2 – WWII: Physicist Hans Ferdinand Mayer writes the Oslo Report on German weapons systems, and passes it to the British Secret Intelligence Service.
* November 4 – WWII: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the United States Customs Service to implement the Neutrality Acts of 1930s, Neutrality Act of 1939, allowing cash-and-carry purchases of weapons to non-belligerent nations.
*November 4 – Stewart Menzies is appointed head of the British Secret Intelligence Service.
* November 6
** ''Hedda Hopper's Hollywood'' debuts on radio with gossip columnist Hedda Hopper as host (the show runs until 1951, making Hopper a powerful figure among the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood elite).
** WWII: Sonderaktion Krakau: Germans take action against scientists from the University of Kraków, and other Kraków universities.
* November 8
** WWII: In Munich, an attempt to kill Adolf Hitler is made by Georg Elser, while Hitler is celebrating the 16th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch.
** CBS television station W2XAB resumes test transmission, with an all-electronic system broadcast from the top of the Chrysler Building in New York City.
* November 9 – WWII: Venlo Incident: Two British agents of Secret Intelligence Service, SIS are captured by the Germans.
* November 14 – In Washington, D.C., U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt lays the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial.
* November 16 – Al Capone is released from Federal Correctional Institution, Terminal Island, Terminal Island, due to deteriorating health caused by syphilis.
* November 17 – WWII: To punish protests against the Nazi occupation of the Czech homeland, the Nazis storm the University of Prague and murder 9 Czech graduate students, send over 1,200 to concentration camps, and close all Czech universities, an event which will be commemorated as International Students' Day.
* November 23 – WWII: British armed merchantman is sunk in the GIUK gap, in an action against the German battleships and .
* November 26 – Shelling of Mainila: The Soviet Union's Red Army shells the Russian village of Mainila, then claims that the fire originated from Finland, giving a ''casus belli'' for the Winter War.
* November 30 – WWII:
** Winter War: Soviet forces attack Finland and reach the Mannerheim Line, starting the war.
** Sweden declares itself a non-belligerent in the Winter War.
December
* December 2 – LaGuardia Airport opens for business in New York City. * December 4 – WWII: ** British battleship strikes a Naval mine, mine (laid by ) off the coast of Scotland, and is laid up for repairs until August 1940. ** German submarine U-36 (1936), German submarine ''U-36'' is torpedoed and sunk by British submarine HMS Salmon (N65), HMS ''Salmon'' off Stavanger, the first enemy submarine lost to a British one during the war. * December 9 – WWII: The first soldier of the British Expeditionary Force (World War II), British Expeditionary Force is killed; Corporal Thomas Priday triggers a French land mine. * December 12 – WWII: sinks after a collision with off the coast of Scotland, with the loss of 124 men. * December 13 – WWII – Battle of the River Plate: The German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee, German heavy cruiser ''Admiral Graf Spee'' is trapped by cruisers , HMNZS Achilles, HMNZS ''Achilles'', and after a running battle off the coast of Uruguay. ''Graf Spee'' is Scuttling, scuttled by its crew off Montevideo Harbor, on December 17. * December 14 – WWII – Winter War: The League of Nations expels the USSR for attacking Finland. * December 15 – The epic historical romance film ''Gone with the Wind (film), Gone with the Wind'', starring Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Olivia de Havilland and Leslie Howard (actor), Leslie Howard, premieres at Loew's Grand Theatre in Atlanta. Based on Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind (novel), best-selling novel of 1936, it is the longest American film made up to this date (at nearly four hours) and rapidly becomes the Timeline of highest-grossing films, highest-grossing film up to this time. * December 18 – WWII – Battle of the Heligoland Bight (1939), Battle of the Heligoland Bight: RAF Bomber Command, on a daylight mission to attack ''Kriegsmarine
The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...
'' ships in the Heligoland Bight, is repulsed by Luftwaffe fighter aircraft.
* December 26 – Miners Strike action, strike in Borinage, Belgium.
* December 27 – The 7.8 1939 Erzincan earthquake, Erzincan earthquake shakes eastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of XII (''Extreme''), causing $20 million in damage, and leaving 32,700–32,968 dead.
Date unknown
* Kirlian photography is invented by Semyon Kirlian. * Enzo Ferrari founds Auto Avio Construzioni, the company that becomes Ferrari in 1947.Births
January–February
* January 1 – Ali Mahdi Muhammad, Somali entrepreneur, politician and 4th President of Somalia (d. 2021)
* January 3
** Arik Einstein, Israeli singer (d. 2013)
** Bobby Hull, Canadian ice hockey player
** Vincent Siew, Taiwanese politician, 9th Vice President of the Republic of China
* January 6
Events Pre-1600
*1066 – Following the death of Edward the Confessor on the previous day, the Witan meets to confirm Harold Godwinson as the new King of England; Harold is crowned the same day, sparking a succession crisis that will eve ...
** Valeriy Lobanovskyi, Ukrainian footballer, manager (d. 2002)
** Murray Rose, Australian swimmer (d. 2012)
* January 9 – Susannah York, British actress (d. 2011)
* January 10
** Sal Mineo, American actor (d. 1976)
** Bill Toomey, American athlete
* January 11 – Anne Heggtveit, Canadian skier
* January 12 – Joachim Yhombi-Opango, Congolese politician (d. 2020)
* January 17 – Maury Povich, American talk show host
* January 19 – Phil Everly, American rock 'n' roll musician (member of Rockabilly Hall of Fame) (d. 2014)
* January 20 – Chandra Wickramasinghe, British astronomer and poet
* January 22
** Sonny Chiba, Japanese actor and martial artist (d. 2021)
** Alfredo Palacio, 42nd President of Ecuador
** Ray Stevens, American musician (''Everything is Beautiful'')
* January 29 – Germaine Greer, Australian feminist writer
* February 1 – Ekaterina Maximova, Russian ballerina (d. 2009)
* February 3 – Michael Cimino, American film director (d. 2016)
* February 7 – Francisco Mendes, Guinea-Bissau politician, 1st Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau (d. 1978)
* February 8 – Egon Zimmermann, Austrian Olympic alpine skier (d. 2019)
* February 10
** Adrienne Clarkson, 26th Governor General of Canada
** Tsuyoshi Yamanaka, Japanese freestyle swimmer (d. 2017)
* February 12 – Ray Manzarek, American keyboardist (''The Doors'') (d. 2013)
* February 13 – Andrew Peacock, Australian politician (d. 2021)
* February 18 – Abdelraouf Al-Rawabdeh, Jordanian political figure, 65th Prime Minister of Jordan
* February 19 – Erin Pizzey, British author, founder of the first domestic violence shelter in the modern world
* February 28 – Daniel C. Tsui, Chinese-born physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize laureate
March–April
* March 1 – Tzvetan Todorov, Bulgarian-French historian, philosopher, structuralist literary critic, sociologist and essayist (d. 2017)
* March 2 – Takako Shimazu, Takako, Princess Suga
* March 5
** Samantha Eggar, English actress
** Chögyam Trungpa, Buddhist meditation master (d. 1987)
* March 8 – Lidiya Skoblikova, Russian speed-skater
* March 10 – Lee Soo-sung, 27th Prime Minister of South Korea
* March 13 – Neil Sedaka, American singer-songwriter
* March 14
Events Pre-1600
* 1074 – Battle of Mogyoród: Dukes Géza and Ladislaus defeat their cousin Solomon, King of Hungary, forcing him to flee to Hungary's western borderland.
* 1590 – Battle of Ivry: Henry of Navarre and the Huguen ...
– Glauber Rocha, Brazilian film director, actor and screenwriter (d. 1981)
* March 17 – Giovanni Trapattoni, Italian footballer and manager
* March 20 – Brian Mulroney, 18th Prime Minister of Canada
* March 25 – D. C. Fontana, American television writer (d. 2019)
* March 29 – Terence Hill, Italian actor
* March 31
Events Pre-1600
* 307 – After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine the Great, Constantine marries Fausta, daughter of the retired Roman emperor Maximian.
*1146 – Bernard of Clairvaux preaches his famous sermon in a field at V ...
** Zviad Gamsakhurdia, President of Georgia (d. 1993)
** Volker Schlöndorff, German film director
** Karl-Heinz Schnellinger, German footballer
* April 1 – Ali MacGraw, American actress
* April 2 – Marvin Gaye, American singer (d. 1984)
* April 4
Events Pre-1600
* 503 BC – Roman consul Agrippa Menenius Lanatus celebrates a triumph for a military victory over the Sabines.
* 190 – Dong Zhuo has his troops evacuate the capital Luoyang and burn it to the ground.
* 611 – ...
** Alex George (botanist), Alex George, Australian botanist
** Hugh Masekela, South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer and singer (d. 2018)
** Ernie Terrell, African-American professional boxer (d. 2014)
* April 7
** Sir David Frost, English television personality (d. 2013)
** Francis Ford Coppola, American film director
* April 9 – Michael Learned, American actress
* April 10 – Claudio Magris, Italian author
* April 12 – Alan Ayckbourn, English dramatist
* April 13 – Seamus Heaney, Irish writer, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
* April 15 – Jaime Paz Zamora , 60th President of Bolivia
* April 16 – Dusty Springfield, English pop singer (d. 1999)
* April 19 – Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran
* April 20 – Gro Harlem Brundtland, Norwegian politician, 1st female Prime Minister of Norway, Prime Minister
* April 21 – Helen Prejean, American writer
* April 23 – Lee Majors, American actor
* April 27 – João Bernardo Vieira, President of Guinea-Bissau (d. 2009)
May–June
* May 1 – Judy Collins, American singer-songwriter
* May 2
** Sumio Iijima, Japanese physicist and inventor
** Taomati Iuta, Vice President of Kiribati (1991–94) (d. 2016)
* May 4 – Amos Oz, Israeli author and journalist (d. 2018)
* May 7
** José Antonio Abreu, Venezuelan orchestral conductor, music educator (d. 2018)
** Sidney Altman, Canadian-born chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2022)
** Ruud Lubbers, Dutch politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1982–94) (d. 2018)
* May 9 – Ralph Boston, American athlete
* May 13 – Harvey Keitel, American actor
* May 15 – Barbara Hammer, American filmmaker (d. 2019)
* May 18
Events Pre-1600
* 332 – Emperor Constantine the Great announces free distributions of food to the citizens in Constantinople.
* 872 – Louis II of Italy is crowned for the second time as Holy Roman Emperor at Rome, at the age of 4 ...
– Peter Grünberg, German physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2018)
* May 19
** Livio Berruti, Italian sprinter
** James Fox, English actor
** Nancy Kwan, American actress
** Dick Scobee, American astronaut (d. 1986)
* May 20 – Roman Kartsev, Russian actor (d. 2018)
* May 21 – Heinz Holliger, Swiss oboist, composer
* May 22
Events Pre-1600
* 192 – Dong Zhuo is assassinated by his adopted son Lü Bu.
* 760 – Fourteenth recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.
* 853 – A Byzantine fleet sacks and destroys undefended Damietta in Egypt.
* 11 ...
– Paul Winfield, African-American actor (d. 2004)
* May 25
** Dixie Carter, American actress (d. 2010)
** Sir Ian McKellen, English actor
* May 27 – Don Williams, American musician (d. 2017)
* May 29 – Maeve Binchy, Irish author (d. 2012)
* May 30 – Michael J. Pollard, American actor (d. 2019)
* June 1 – Cleavon Little, African-American actor (d. 1992)
* June 4 – Ottavio Cogliati, Italian cyclist (d. 2008)
* June 5
** Joe Clark, 16th Prime Minister of Canada
** Margaret Drabble, English novelist
* June 6 – Louis Andriessen, Dutch composer (d. 2021)
* June 9 – Ileana Cotrubaș, Romanian soprano
* June 11 – Jackie Stewart, Scottish motor racing driver
* June 16 – Billy "Crash" Craddock, American country and rockabilly singer
* June 21 – Charles Jencks, American cultural theorist (d. 2019)
* June 22 – Ada Yonath, Israeli crystallographer
* June 26 – Osvaldo Hurtado, 34th President of Ecuador
* June 29 – Sante Gaiardoni, Italian cyclist
* June 30 – Renzo Rovatti, Italian footballer
July–August
* July 1
** Kazi Zafar Ahmed, 8th Prime Minister of Bangladesh (d. 2015)
** Karen Black, American actress (d. 2013)
* July 4
** Abdelmajid Chetali, Tunisian footballer, manager
** Abdul Aziz Abdul Ghani, 2nd Prime Minister of Yemen (d. 2011)
* July 6
** Mary Peters (athlete), Mary Peters, British athlete
** Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, sovereign ruler of the Emirate of Sharjah
* July 7 – Elena Obraztsova, Russian opera singer (d. 2015)
* July 8
** Likulia Bolongo, Congolese politician, general and Prime Minister of Zaire
** Abdelhamid Sharaf, Jordanian ambassador to the United States and Canada, 51st Prime Minister of Jordan (d. 1980)
* July 10 – Mavis Staples, African-American rhythm and blues, gospel singer, actress and civil rights activist
* July 13 – John Danielsen, Danish football midfielder
* July 14
** Karel Gott, Czech singer (d. 2019)
** Sid Haig, American actor (d. 2019)
* July 15 – Aníbal Cavaco Silva, 113th Prime Minister of Portugal, 19th President of Portugal
* July 16 – Lido Vieri, Italian footballer and manager
* July 17 – Milva, Italian singer, stage and film actress, and television personality (d. 2021)
* July 18 – Dion DiMucci, American singer, songwriter (''The Wanderer (Dion song), The Wanderer'')
* July 21 – Helmut Haller, German footballer (d. 2012)
* July 22 – Gila Almagor, Israeli actress and author
* July 24 – Walt Bellamy, African-American basketball player (d. 2013)
* July 26 – John Howard, 25th Prime Minister of Australia
The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister heads the executive branch of the Australian Government, federal government of Australia and is also accountable to Parliament of A ...
* July 28 – Gösta Ekman, Swedish actor, comedian, and director (d. 2017)
* July 31 – Susan Flannery, American soap opera actress
* August 1 – Robert James Waller, American novelist (d. 2017)
* August 2
** Ali Mroudjaé, 9th Prime Minister of the Comoros (d. 2019)
** Wes Craven, American film director and writer (d. 2015)
* August 5 – Princess Irene of the Netherlands
* August 8 – Viorica Viscopoleanu, Romanian athlete
* August 9 – Romano Prodi, Italian politician, economist and 52nd Prime Minister of Italy
* August 11 – James Mancham, Seychellois politician, President 1976-77 (d. 2017)
* August 12
** George Hamilton (actor), George Hamilton, American actor
** S. Jayakumar, Singaporean politician and 4th Senior Minister of Singapore
* August 16
** Seán Brady (bishop), Seán Brady, Irish cardinal
** Valery Ryumin, Soviet cosmonaut (d. 2022)
* August 19
** Alan Baker (mathematician), Alan Baker, English mathematician (d. 2018)
** Ginger Baker, English drummer (d. 2019)
* August 20 – Fernando Poe Jr., Filipino actor (d. 2004)
*August 21 – Clarence Williams III, American actor (d. 2021)
* August 22 – Valerie Harper, American actress (d. 2019)
* August 23 – Fernando Luján, Mexican actor (d. 2019)
* August 27 – Bill Mulliken, American swimmer (d. 2014)
* August 29 – Joel Schumacher, American film producer and director (d. 2020)
* August 30
** Elizabeth Ashley, née Cole, American actress
** John Peel, né Ravenscroft, English disc jockey (d. 2004)
September
* September 1 – Lily Tomlin, American actress (''Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In'')
* September 5
** George Lazenby, Australian actor
** Claudette Colvin, American civil rights activist and nurse
** William Devane, American actor
** Clay Regazzoni, Swiss Formula One driver (d. 2006)
* September 6 – Susumu Tonegawa, Japanese biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
* September 7 – Stanislav Petrov, Soviet Air Defence Forces official
* September 8 – Carsten Keller, German field hockey player
* September 9 – Reuven Rivlin, 10th President of Israel
* September 11 – Charles Geschke, American inventor and businessman (d. 2021)
* September 13
** Richard Kiel, American actor (d. 2014)
** Guntis Ulmanis, 5th President of Latvia
* September 15 – Ron Walker (Australian businessman), Ron Walker, Australian businessman, former Lord Mayor of Melbourne (d. 2018)
* September 16 – Breyten Breytenbach, South African writer and painter
* September 18 – Jorge Sampaio, 17th President of Portugal (d. 2021)
* September 22 – Junko Tabei, Japanese mountaineer (d. 2016)
* September 27 – Kathy Whitworth, American professional golfer
* September 30 – Jean-Marie Lehn, French chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize laureate
October
* Date unknown - Muhammad Banaru Abubakar, Nigerian Administrator and public servant (d. 2015)
* October 4 – Ivan Mauger, New Zealand speedway rider, 6 times World Speedway Champion (d. 2018)
* October 6 - Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg, English broadcaster and author
* October 7
** John Hopcroft, American computer scientist
** Clive James, Australian-born writer, humorist and television personality (d. 2019)
** Harold Kroto, English organic chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2016)
* October 8 – Paul Hogan, Australian actor and comedian
* October 9
** Carmen Salinas, Mexican actress and politician (d. 2021)
** John Pilger, Australian-born journalist
* October 11 – Maria Bueno, Brazilian tennis player (d. 2018)
* October 14 – Ralph Lauren, American fashion designer
* October 18 – Lee Harvey Oswald, Alleged American assassin of President John F. Kennedy (d. 1963)
* October 21 – Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens (d. 2008)
* October 22
** Joaquim Chissano, President of Mozambique
** George Cohen, English footballer (d. 2022)
* October 24
** F. Murray Abraham, American actor (Amadeus (film))
**Madalena Iglésias, Portuguese actress and singer (d. 2018)
* October 27 – John Cleese, English comic actor and writer
* October 28 – Jane Alexander, American actress
* October 29 – Malay Roy Choudhury, Bengali poet, novelist and creator of the Indian Hungry generation literary and cultural movement
* October 30
** Leland H. Hartwell, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
** Grace Slick, American rock singer (''Jefferson Airplane'')
* October 31
** Ali Farka Touré, Malian singer (d. 2006)
** Ron Rifkin, American actor
November
* November 1 – Barbara Bosson, American actress
* November 6
** Athanasios Angelopoulos, Greek academic
** Carlos Emilio Morales, Cuban jazz guitarist (d. 2014)
* November 8 – Laila Kinnunen, Finnish singer (d. 2000)
* November 10 – Russell Means, Native American activist (d. 2012)
* November 14 – Wendy Carlos, American electronic composer
* November 15 – Yaphet Kotto, African-American actor (d. 2021)
* November 18
** Margaret Atwood, Canadian novelist
** Amanda Lear, French model and singer
** Brenda Vaccaro, American actress
* November 19 – Emil Constantinescu, President of Romania
* November 25
** Rais Khan, Pakistani sitarist (d. 2017)
** Thomas Resetarits, Austrian sculptor (d. 2022)
* November 26
** Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, 5th Prime Minister of Malaysia
** Shettima Mustafa, Nigerian politician (d. 2022)
** Tina Turner, American born Swiss singer and actress
* November 27
** Dudley Storey, New Zealand rower (d. 2017)
** Laurent-Désiré Kabila, 3rd President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (d. 2001)
** Ulla Strömstedt, Swedish actress (d. 1986)
* November 30 – Chandra Bahadur Dangi, Nepalese dwarf, world's shortest man (d. 2015)
December
* December 1 – Lee Trevino, American professional golfer
* December 8
** Jerry Butler, African-American singer-songwriter and politician
** James Galway, Irish flautist
** Fahrudin Jusufi, Kosovar-Serbian footballer and coach (d. 2019)
* December 15 – Cindy Birdsong, American singer
* December 17 – Eddie Kendricks, African-American singer (''The Temptations'') (d. 1992)
* December 18
** Pedro Jirón, Nicaraguan footballer
** Michael Moorcock, English science fiction writer
** Harold E. Varmus, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
* December 26 – Phil Spector, American record producer (d. 2021)
* December 27 – John Amos, African-American actor (''Good Times'')
Date unknown
*Astratijs Roškovs, former Lithuanian-Russian-Latvian footballerDeaths
January
* January 2 – Roman Dmowski, Polish politician (b. 1864)
*January 4 – Mary J. L. Black, Canadian librarian and suffragist (b. 1879)
* January 6
Events Pre-1600
*1066 – Following the death of Edward the Confessor on the previous day, the Witan meets to confirm Harold Godwinson as the new King of England; Harold is crowned the same day, sparking a succession crisis that will eve ...
– Gustavs Zemgals, 2nd President of Latvia (b. 1871)
* January 8 – Charles Eastman, American author, physician, reformer, helped found the Boy Scouts of America (b. 1858)
* January 13 – Arthur Barker, American criminal, son of Ma Barker (b. 1899)
* January 14
Events Pre-1600
*1236 – King Henry III of England marries Eleanor of Provence.
*1301 – Andrew III of Hungary dies, ending the Árpád dynasty in Hungary.
1601–1900
*1639 – The "Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, Fundamenta ...
– Prince Valdemar of Denmark (b. 1858)
* January 15 – Kullervo Manner, Finnish Speaker of the Parliament of Finland, Speaker of the Parliament, the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic, Prime Minister of the FSWR and the Supreme Commander of the Red Guard (Finland), Red Guards (b. 1880)
* January 18 – Ivan Mosjoukine, Soviet actor (b. 1889)
* January 22 – Léopold Bernhard Bernstamm, Soviet sculptor (b. 1859)
* January 23 – Matthias Sindelar, Austrian footballer (b. 1903)
* January 24 – Maximilian Bircher-Benner, Swiss physician, nutritionist (b. 1867)
* January 25
Events Pre-1600
* 41 – After a night of negotiation, Claudius is accepted as Roman emperor by the Senate.
* 750 – In the Battle of the Zab, the Abbasid rebels defeat the Umayyad Caliphate, leading to the overthrow of the dynasty ...
– Helen Ware, American actress (b. 1877)
* January 28 – W. B. Yeats, Irish writer, 1923 Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
February
* February 1 – Lawrence Marston, American actor, playwright, and film director (b. 1857)
* February 2
Events Pre-1600
* 506 – Alaric II, eighth king of the Visigoths, promulgates the Breviary of Alaric (''Breviarium Alaricianum'' or ''Lex Romana Visigothorum''), a collection of "Roman law".
* 880 – Battle of Lüneburg Heath: King ...
– Vladimir Shukhov, Russian engineer, polymath, scientist and architect (b. 1853)
* February 3 – Janez Frančišek Gnidovec, Yugoslav Roman Catholic priest and venerable (b. 1873)
* February 4 – Edward Sapir, German-American anthropologist, linguist (b. 1884)
* February 5 – Teresa Mañé, Spanish teacher, editor and writer (b. 1865)
* February 6
Events Pre-1600
* 1579 – The Archdiocese of Manila is made a diocese by a papal bull with Domingo de Salazar being its first bishop.
1601–1900
* 1685 – James II of England and VII of Scotland is proclaimed King upon the death of ...
– Sayajirao Gaekwad III, Maharada of Baroda (b. 1863)
* February 9 – Henry Balfour, British archaeologist (b. 1863)
* February 10
** Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City fro ...
(b. 1857)
** Patriarch Torkom Koushagian of Jerusalem (b. 1874)
* February 11 – Franz Schmidt (composer), Franz Schmidt, Austrian composer (b. 1874)
* February 12
** Potenciano Gregorio, Filipino musician (b. 1880)
** S. P. L. Sørensen, Danish chemist (b. 1868)
* February 13 – Alexander Hamilton-Gordon (British Army officer, born 1859), Sir Alexander Hamilton-Gordon, British general (b. 1859)
* February 15
Events Pre-1600
* 438 – Roman emperor Theodosius II publishes the law codex Codex Theodosianus
* 590 – Khosrau II is crowned king of Persia.
* 706 – Byzantine emperor Justinian II has his predecessors Leontios and Tiberi ...
– Henri Jaspar, Belgian politician, 27th Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1870)
* February 18 – Okamoto Kanoko, Japanese tanka poet (b. 1899)
* February 22 – Antonio Machado, Spanish poet (b. 1875)
* February 23 – Michael Knatchbull, 5th Baron Brabourne, British peer, soldier (b. 1895)
* February 26 – Ivan Fedko, Soviet army commander (b. 1897)
* February 27
Events Pre-1600
* 380 – Edict of Thessalonica: Emperor Theodosius I and his co-emperors Gratian and Valentinian II declare their wish that all Roman citizens convert to Nicene Christianity.
* 425 – The University of Constantinople ...
– Nadezhda Krupskaya, Russians, Russian Marxist revolutionary, Vladimir Lenin's widow (b. 1869)
March
* March 2 – Howard Carter, British archaeologist (b. 1874)
* March 3 – Dimitrie Gerota, Romanian anatomist, physician (b. 1867)
* March 5 – Herbert Mundin, British actor (b. 1898)
* March 6
** Ginepro Cocchi, Italian Roman Catholic priest and Servant of God (b. 1908)
** Patriarch Miron of Romania, Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian cleric, politician, priest and 38th Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1868)
* March 7 – Matvei Berman, Soviet intelligence officer (b. 1898)
* March 13 – Lucien Lévy-Bruhl, French sociologist, anthropologist (b. 1857)
* March 14
Events Pre-1600
* 1074 – Battle of Mogyoród: Dukes Géza and Ladislaus defeat their cousin Solomon, King of Hungary, forcing him to flee to Hungary's western borderland.
* 1590 – Battle of Ivry: Henry of Navarre and the Huguen ...
– Agostino Borgato, Italian actor, director (b. 1871)
* March 21
Events Pre-1600
* 537 – Siege of Rome: King Vitiges attempts to assault the northern and eastern city walls, but is repulsed at the Praenestine Gate, known as the ''Vivarium'', by the defenders under the Byzantine generals Bessas an ...
– Avril de Sainte-Croix, French author, journalist (b. 1855)
* March 23 – Abd al-Rahim al-Hajj Muhammad, Palestinian revolutionary (b. 1892)
* March 27 – Ferdinand von Quast, German general (b. 1850)
* March 28
** Carlos Manuel de Cespedes y Quesada, Cuban diplomat, politician, writer and 6th President of Cuba (b. 1871)
** Mario Lertora, Italian artistic gymnast in the 1924 Summer Olympics (b. 1897)
* March 29 – Gerardo Machado, Cuban general, 5th President of Cuba (b. 1871)
* March 31
Events Pre-1600
* 307 – After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine the Great, Constantine marries Fausta, daughter of the retired Roman emperor Maximian.
*1146 – Bernard of Clairvaux preaches his famous sermon in a field at V ...
– Ioannis Tsangaridis, Greek general (b. 1887)
April
* April 4
Events Pre-1600
* 503 BC – Roman consul Agrippa Menenius Lanatus celebrates a triumph for a military victory over the Sabines.
* 190 – Dong Zhuo has his troops evacuate the capital Luoyang and burn it to the ground.
* 611 – ...
** King Ghazi of Iraq (b. 1912)
** Joaquín García Morato, Spanish fighter ace (b. 1904)
* April 7 – Joseph Lyons
Joseph Aloysius Lyons (15 September 1879 – 7 April 1939) was an Australian politician who served as the List of prime ministers of Australia by time in office, 10th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1932 until his death in 1939. He ...
, 10th Prime Minister of Australia
The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister heads the executive branch of the Australian Government, federal government of Australia and is also accountable to Parliament of A ...
, Premier of Tasmania (b. 1879)
* April 15 – Konstantin Petrovich Grigorovich, Soviet engineer, professor (b. 1886)
* April 18
** Ishbel Hamilton-Gordon, Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair, British writer, philanthropist (b. 1857)
** Hugo Charlemont, Austrian painter (b. 1850)
* April 19
** Lucilio de Albuquerque, Brazilian painter (b. 1877)
** János Vaszary, Hungarian painter and graphic artist (b. 1867)
* April 20 – Archduke Franz Salvator of Austria (b. 1866)
* April 22 – Leandro Campanari, Italian conductor, composer and violinist (b. 1859)
* April 25
** John Foulds, British classical music composer (b. 1880)
** Georges Ricard-Cordingley, French painter (b. 1873)
* April 27 – José Gola, Argentinian actor (b. 1904)
* April 28 – Archduke Leo Karl of Austria (b. 1893)
May
* May 1 – Bautista Saavedra , 29th President of Bolivia (b. 1870)
* May 2 – Phillips Smalley, American actor, director (b. 1875)
* May 3 – Wilhelm Groener, German general (b. 1867)
* May 4 – James A. Johnson (architect), James A. Johnson, American architect (b. 1865)
* May 7 – Francesco Paleari, Italian priest and blessed (b. 1863)
* May 9 – Mary, Lady Heath, Irish aviator (b. 1896)
* May 10 – James Parrott, American actor (b. 1898)
* May 13 – Victor Bernau, Norwegian actor, director (b. 1890)
* May 18
Events Pre-1600
* 332 – Emperor Constantine the Great announces free distributions of food to the citizens in Constantinople.
* 872 – Louis II of Italy is crowned for the second time as Holy Roman Emperor at Rome, at the age of 4 ...
**Charles deForest Chandler, American military aviator (b. 1878)
**Tang Juwu, Chinese general of the National Revolutionary Army (b. 1892)
* May 19 – Ahmet Ağaoğlu, Turkish politician, author and writer (b. 1869)
* May 20
** Joseph Carr, 2nd president of the National Football League (b. 1880)
** Alexandra Čvanová, Czechoslovakian soprano (b. 1897)
* May 22
Events Pre-1600
* 192 – Dong Zhuo is assassinated by his adopted son Lü Bu.
* 760 – Fourteenth recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.
* 853 – A Byzantine fleet sacks and destroys undefended Damietta in Egypt.
* 11 ...
– Ernst Toller, German playwright, Communist politician (b. 1893)
* May 23 – Witmer Stone, American ornithologist, botanist (b. 1866)
* May 24
Events Pre-1600
* 919 – The nobles of Franconia and Saxony elect Henry the Fowler at the Imperial Diet in Fritzlar as king of the East Frankish Kingdom.
* 1218 – The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt.
* 1276 – Magnus La ...
– Aleksander Brückner, German scholar (b. 1856)
* May 25 – Álvaro Casanova Zenteno, Chilean painter (b. 1857)
* May 25 – Frank Watson Dyson, British astronomer (b. 1868)
* May 27 – Alfred A. Cunningham, American aviator, the first United States Marine Corps aviator (b. 1882)
* May 29 – Ursula Ledóchowska, Polish Roman Catholic religious professed and saint (b. 1865)
* May 30 – Floyd Roberts, American race car driver (b. 1900)
June
* June 4 – Tommy Ladnier, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1900) * June 6 ** George Fawcett, American actor (b. 1860) ** Constantin Noe, Megleno-Romanian editor and professor (b. 1883) * June 9 – Owen Moore, American actor (b. 1886) * June 15 – Nicolae M. Condiescu, Romanian novelist and general (b. 1880) * June 16 – Chick Webb, American musician (b. 1905) *June 17
Events Pre-1600
* 653 – Pope Martin I is arrested and taken to Constantinople, due to his opposition to monothelitism.
* 1242 – Following the Disputation of Paris, twenty-four carriage loads of Jewish religious manuscripts were bur ...
– Eugen Weidmann, German serial killer, last person publicly executed in France (b. 1908)
* June 19 – Grace Abbott, American social worker, activist (b. 1878)
* June 22 – Benjamin Tucker, American anarchist (b. 1854)
* June 23 – Ernest Alexander Cruikshank, Canadian general (b. 1859)
* June 25 – Richard Seaman, British motor racing driver (b. 1913)
* June 26 – Ford Madox Ford, British writer (b. 1873)
* June 27 – Margaret Campbell, American actress (b. 1883)
* June 28 – Bobby Vernon, American actor (b. 1898)
* June 30 – Eduardo Lopez Bustamante, Venezuelan poet, lawyer and journalist (b. 1881)
July
* July 3 – Juan José Gárate, Spanish painter (b. 1869)
* July 4 – Louis Wain, English artist (b. 1860)
* July 5 – Malietoa Tanumafili I, King of Samoa (b. 1879)
* July 7 – Deacon White, American baseball player, MLB Hall of Famer (b. 1847)
* July 8
** Havelock Ellis, British sexologist (b. 1859)
** Anna Pappritz, German writer, suffragist (b. 1861)
* July 9
** Carlo Chiostri, Italian painter (b. 1863)
** Alphonse Laurencic, French painter, architect (b. 1902)
* July 11 – Stiliyan Kovachev, Bulgarian general (b. 1860)
* July 14 – Alphonse Mucha, Czech painter, decorative artist (b. 1860)
* July 17 – María del Carmen González-Valerio, Spanish Roman Catholic saint (b. 1930)
* July 19 – Rose Hartwick Thorpe, American poet (b. 1850)
* July 20
** Judy Chicago, American feminist artist
** Joseph Mendes da Costa, Dutch sculptor (b. 1863)
* July 23 – Jack Duffy (actor), Jack Duffy, American actor (b. 1882)
* July 26 – William Mackay (artist), William Mackay, American artist (b. 1876)
* July 27 – Stanisław Baczyński, Polish writer, journalist and soldier (b. 1890)
August
* August 2 – Harvey Spencer Lewis, American mystic (b. 1883)
* August 6
** Mehmet Emin Çolakoğlu, Turkish army general (b. 1878)
** Monroe Dunaway Anderson, American founder of Anderson, Clayton and Company; "Father of Texas Medical Center" (b. 1873)
* August 10 – Carlo Galimberti, Italian Olympic weightlifter (b. 1894)
* August 11 – Jean Bugatti, German automobile designer (b. 1909)
* August 12 – Eulalio Gutiérrez, President of Mexico (b. 1881)
* August 23
** Sidney Howard, American writer (b. 1891)
** Germán Busch , 36th President of Bolivia (b. 1903)
* August 25 – Arthur Asquith, British general (b. 1883)
* August 26 – Rubén González Cárdenas, Venezuelan lawyer (b. 1875)
* August 29 – Marthe de Florian, French painter (b. 1864)
* August 31 – Richard Bouwens van der Boijen, French architect (b. 1863)
September
* September 6 – Arthur Rackham, British artist (b. 1867)
* September 8 – Swami Abhedananda, Indian mystic (b. 1866)
* September 10 – Wilhelm Fritz von Roettig, German Waffen SS general, first general killed in action during World War II (b. 1888)
* September 12
**Fyodor Raskolnikov, Soviet revolutionary, writer, journalist, naval commander, and diplomat (assassinated) (b. 1892)
**Eliodoro Villazón, 27th President of Bolivia (b. 1848)
* September 16
** Józef Kustroń, Polish general (killed in action) (b. 1892)
** Nikolaos Triantafyllakos, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1855)
** Otto Wels, German politician, chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) (b. 1873)
* September 18 – Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Polish writer, painter (b. 1885)
* September 20
** Paul Bruchesi, Canadian prelate (b. 1855)
** Hermann Brunn, German mathematician (b. 1862)
** Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin, French astronomer (b. 1865)
* September 21 – Armand Călinescu, Romanian economist, politician and 39th Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1893)
* September 22
** Mikołaj Bołtuć, Polish army general (killed in battle) (b. 1893)
** Józef Olszyna-Wilczyński, Polish general (b. 1890)
** Werner von Fritsch, German general (killed in action) (b. 1880)
* September 23
** Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychoanalyst (b. 1856)
** Eugeniusz Kazimirowski, Polish painter (b. 1873)
** Francisco León de la Barra, Mexican diplomat, political figure, and acting President of Mexico (b. 1863)
* September 24
** Danilo, Crown Prince of Montenegro (b. 1871)
** Carl Laemmle, German film producer (b. 1867)
October
* October 2 – Edgar M. Lazarus, American architect (b. 1868)
* October 3 – Fay Templeton, American musical comedy star (b. 1865)
* October 6 – Giulio Gavotti, Italian aviator (b. 1882)
* October 7 – Harvey Cushing, American neurosurgeon (b. 1869)
* October 8 – Gustav Henriksen, Norwegian executive (b. 1872)
* October 13 – Ford Sterling, American actor (b. 1882)
* October 14 – Polaire, French actress (b. 1874)
* October 23
**Zane Grey, American writer (b. 1872)
**Liao Lei (general), Liao Lei, Chinese general of the National Revolutionary Army (b. 1890)
* October 28 – Alice Brady, American actress (b. 1892)
* October 30 – Carlos De Valdez, Peruvian actor (b. 1894)
* October 31
** Albrecht, Duke of Württemberg, German field marshal (b. 1865)
** Otto Rank, Austrian psychoanalyst (b. 1884)
November
* November 1 – Kálmán Darányi, 31st Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1886)
* November 4
** Percy Douglas, Sir Percy Douglas, chairman of the British Graham Land Expedition (BGLE) Advisory Committee (b. 1876)
** Ma Xiangbo, Chinese Jesuit priest and blessed (b. 1840)
* November 7 – Kirsti Suonio, Finnish actress (b. 1872)
* November 10 – Charlotte Despard, Anglo-Irish suffragist, socialist, pacifist, Sinn Féin activist, and novelist
* November 11 – Alicja Kotowska, Polish Roman Catholic nun, martyr and blessed (b. 1899)
* November 12 – Norman Bethune, Canadian humanitarian (b. 1890)
* November 13 – Lois Weber, American actress (b. 1881)
* November 15
**Platon Ivanovich Ivanov, Soviet-born Finnish civil servant (b. 1863)
* November 17 – Aurelio Mosquera, Ecuadorian politician, 25th President of Ecuador (b. 1883)
* November 21 – Émile Guépratte, French admiral (b. 1856)
* November 22 – King Daudi Cwa II of Buganda (b. 1896)
* November 24 – John Harron, American actor (b. 1903)
* November 28 – James Naismith, Canadian inventor of basketball (b. 1861) He was 78 years old.
* November 29
** Eugen Kolisko, Austrian-born German physician, educator (b. 1893)
** Józef Krasnowolski, Polish painter (b. 1879)
** Philipp Scheidemann, German politician, 11th Chancellor of Germany (German Reich), Chancellor of Germany (b. 1865)
December
* December 3 – Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, second youngest daughter of Queen Victoria (b. 1848)
* December 5 – Santiago Iglesias, Puerto Rican statesman (b. 1872)
* December 8
** Alimondo Ciampi, Italian sculptor (b. 1876)
** Jean Grave, French anarchist (b. 1854)
* December 12 – Douglas Fairbanks, American actor, father of Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (b. 1883)
* December 14 – Helene Kröller-Müller, Dutch museum founder and art collector (b. 1869)
* December 16 – Juan Demóstenes Arosemena, 18th President of Panama (b. 1879)
* December 18 – Bruno Liljefors, Swedish artist (b. 1860)
* December 19
** Dmitry Grave, Soviet mathematician (b. 1863)
** Reginald F. Nicholson, United States Navy admiral (b. 1852)
* December 20 – Hans Langsdorff, German naval officer (suicide) (b. 1894)
* December 22 – Ma Rainey, African-American blues singer (b. 1886)
* December 23
** Anthony Fokker, Dutch-born American aircraft manufacturer (b. 1890)
** Maxime Laubeuf, French maritime engineer (b. 1864)
* December 24 – Walter Gordon (physicist), Walter Gordon, German physicist (b. 1893)
* December 25 – Ivan Dmitriyevich Borisov, Soviet aircraft pilot (b. 1913)
* December 27 – Rinaldo Cuneo, American artist ("the painter of San Francisco") (b. 1877)
* December 31 – Frank Benson (actor), Sir Frank Benson, British actor (b. 1858)
Nobel Prizes
* Nobel Prize in Physics, Physics – Ernest Lawrence * Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemistry – Adolf Friedrich Johann Butenandt, Leopold Ružička * Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Physiology or Medicine – Gerhard Domagk * Nobel Prize in Literature, Literature – Frans Eemil Sillanpää * Nobel Peace Prize, Peace – not awardedReferences
External links
1939 WWII Timeline
– from American Studies Programs at The University of Virginia
Paula Phelan, 1939 Into The Dark, 2009, ZAPmedia.
{{Authority control 1939,