What Happened in 1939 — Events, Births & Deaths

The Kingdom of Italy would officially the coastal areas of its Colony of Libya as an integral part of the country itself, becoming the nation's Fourth Shore.

The Black Friday bushfires burn 20,000 square kilometres (7,700 sq mi) of land in Australia, claiming the lives of 71 people.

Norway claims Queen Maud Land in Antarctica.

The deadliest earthquake in Chilean history strikes Chillán, killing approximately 28,000 people.

Spanish Civil War: Catalonia Offensive: Troops loyal to nationalist General Francisco Franco and aided by Italy take Barcelona.

First flight of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning.

During a speech in the Reichstag, Adolf Hitler makes a prediction about the end of the Jewish race in Europe if another world war were to occur.

Spanish Civil War: The Nationalists conclude their conquest of Catalonia and seal the border with France.

World War II: German battleship Bismarck is launched.

Madison Square Garden Nazi rally: The largest ever pro-Nazi rally in United States history is convened in Madison Square Garden, New York City, with 20,000 members and sympathizers of the German American Bund present.

As part of British air raid precautions, the first of 2.5 million Anderson shelters is constructed in a garden in Islington, north London.

United States labor law: The U.S. Supreme Court rules in NLRB v. Fansteel Metallurgical Corp. that the National Labor Relations Board has no authority to force an employer to rehire workers who engage in sit-down strikes.

An Imperial Japanese Army ammunition dump explodes at Hirakata, Osaka, Japan, killing 94.

Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli is elected Pope and takes the name Pius XII.

In Bombay, Mohandas Gandhi begins a hunger strike in protest at the autocratic rule in British India.

Spanish Civil War: The National Defence Council seizes control of the republican government in a coup d'etat, with the intention of negotiating an end to the war.

Slovakia declares independence under German pressure.

Germany occupies Czechoslovakia.

Carpatho-Ukraine declares itself an independent republic, but is annexed by Hungary the next day.

From Prague Castle, Hitler proclaims Bohemia and Moravia a German protectorate.

Germany takes Memel from Lithuania.

The Hungarian air force attacks the headquarters of the Slovak air force in Spišská Nová Ves, killing 13 people and beginning the Slovak–Hungarian War.

The 1939 Liechtenstein putsch takes place; approximately 40 members of the VBDL starting from Nendeln march towards Vaduz with the intention of overthrowing the government and provoking Liechtenstein's annexation into Germany.

Spanish Civil War: Nationalists begin their final offensive of the war.

Spanish Civil War: Generalissimo Francisco Franco conquers Madrid after a three-year siege.

The Heinkel He 100 fighter sets a world airspeed record of 463 mph (745 km/h).

Events preceding World War II in Europe: Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain pledges British military support to the Second Polish Republic in the event of an invasion by Nazi Germany.

Spanish Civil War: Generalísimo Francisco Franco of the Spanish State announces the end of the Spanish Civil War, when the last of the Republican forces surrender.

Robert Menzies, who became Australia's longest-serving prime minister, is elected as leader of the United Australia Party after the death of Prime Minister Joseph Lyons.

The 1939–40 New York World's Fair opens.

NBC inaugurates its regularly scheduled television service in New York City, broadcasting President Franklin D. Roosevelt's N.Y. World's Fair opening day ceremonial address.

The All India Forward Bloc is formed by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

Lina Medina becomes the youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five.

The Columbia Lions and the Princeton Tigers play in the United States' first televised sporting event, a collegiate baseball game in New York City.

The Canadian National War Memorial is unveiled by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

The U.S. Navy submarine USS Squalus sinks off the coast of New Hampshire during a test dive, causing the death of 24 sailors and two civilian technicians. The remaining 32 sailors and one civilian naval architect are rescued the following day.

First flight of the German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter aircraft.

The Holocaust: The MS St. Louis, a ship carrying 973 German Jewish refugees, is denied permission to land in Florida, in the United States, after already being turned away from Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, more than 200 of its passengers later die in Nazi concentration camps.

Shooting begins on Paramount Pictures' Dr. Cyclops, the first horror film photographed in three-strip Technicolor.

The Baseball Hall of Fame opens in Cooperstown, New York.

Last public guillotining in France: Eugen Weidmann, a convicted murderer, is executed in Versailles outside the Saint-Pierre prison.

Siam is renamed Thailand by Plaek Phibunsongkhram, the country's third prime minister.

Lou Gehrig, recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, informs a crowd at Yankee Stadium that he considers himself "The luckiest man on the face of the earth", then announces his retirement from major league baseball.

Anti-Jewish legislation in prewar Nazi Germany closes the last remaining Jewish enterprises.

The Sutton Hoo helmet is discovered.

Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard write a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, urging him to begin the Manhattan Project to develop a nuclear weapon.

The Thirteen Roses: Thirteen female members of the Unified Socialist Youth are executed by Francoist forces in Madrid, Spain.

World War II: Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sign the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. In a secret protocol to the pact, Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Romania are divided into German and Soviet "spheres of influence".

As part of its S-Plan, the Irish Republican Army carries out the 1939 Coventry bombing in which five civilians were killed.

The United Kingdom and Poland form a military alliance in which the UK promises to defend Poland in case of invasion by a foreign power.

First flight of the turbojet-powered Heinkel He 178, the world's first jet aircraft.

Nazi Germany mounts a false flag attack on the Gleiwitz radio station, creating an excuse to attack Poland the following day, thus starting World War II in Europe.

World War II: Germany and Slovakia invade Poland, beginning the European phase of World War II.

J. Robert Oppenheimer and his student Hartland Snyder publish the Oppenheimer–Snyder model, proving for the first time in contemporary physics how black holes could develop.

World War II: Following the start of the invasion of Poland the previous day, the Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) is annexed by Nazi Germany.

World War II: France, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia declare war on Germany after the invasion of Poland, forming the Allied nations. The Viceroy of India also declares war, but without consulting the provincial legislatures.

World War II: The United Kingdom and France begin a naval blockade of Germany that lasts until the end of the war. This also marks the beginning of the Battle of the Atlantic.

World War II: William J. Murphy commands the first Royal Air Force attack on Germany.

World War II: The British Royal Air Force suffers its first fighter pilot casualty of the Second World War at the Battle of Barking Creek as a result of friendly fire.

World War II: Union of South Africa declares war on Germany.

World War II: The Battle of Hel begins, the longest-defended pocket of Polish Army resistance during the German invasion of Poland.

Burmese national hero U Ottama dies in prison after a hunger strike to protest Britain's colonial government.

World War II: The submarine HMS Oxley is mistakenly sunk by the submarine HMS Triton near Norway and becomes the Royal Navy's first loss of a submarine in the war.

World War II: The Canadian declaration of war on Germany receives royal assent.

World War II: The Estonian military boards the Polish submarine ORP Orzeł in Tallinn, sparking a diplomatic incident that the Soviet Union will later use to justify the annexation of Estonia.

World War II: The Soviet invasion of Poland begins.

World War II: German submarine U-29 sinks the British aircraft carrier HMS Courageous.

World War II: The Polish government of Ignacy Mościcki flees to Romania.

World War II: The radio show Germany Calling begins transmitting Nazi propaganda.

World War II: The Battle of Kępa Oksywska concludes, with Polish losses reaching roughly 14% of all the forces engaged.

Romanian prime minister Armand Călinescu is assassinated by the Iron Guard.

World War II: A joint German–Soviet military parade in Brest-Litovsk is held to celebrate the successful invasion of Poland.

World War II: Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union agree on a division of Poland.

World War II: The siege of Warsaw comes to an end.

World War II: General Władysław Sikorski becomes prime minister of the Polish government-in-exile.

NBC broadcasts the first televised American football game.

World War II: The Battle of Kock is the final combat of the September Campaign in Poland.

World War II: Germany annexes western Poland.

World War II: The German submarine U-47 sinks the British battleship HMS Royal Oak within her harbour at Scapa Flow, Scotland.

The New York Municipal Airport (later renamed LaGuardia Airport) is dedicated.

World War II: No. 603 Squadron RAF intercepts the first Luftwaffe raid on Britain.

World War II: U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the United States Customs Service to implement the Neutrality Act of 1939, allowing cash-and-carry purchases of weapons by belligerents.

Venlo Incident: Two British agents of SIS are captured by the Germans.

In Munich, Adolf Hitler narrowly escapes the assassination attempt of Georg Elser while celebrating the 16th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch.

Finnish author F. E. Sillanpää is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Nine Czech students are executed as a response to anti-Nazi demonstrations prompted by the death of Jan Opletal. All Czech universities are shut down and more than 1,200 students sent to concentration camps. Since this event, International Students' Day is celebrated in many countries, especially in the Czech Republic.

World War II: HMS Rawalpindi is sunk by the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.

Shelling of Mainila: The Soviet Army orchestrates an incident which is used to justify the start of the Winter War with Finland four days later.

World War II: The Soviet Red Army crosses the Finnish border in several places, bombing Helsinki and several other Finnish cities, starting the Winter War.

World War II: A day after the beginning of the Winter War in Finland, the Cajander III Cabinet resigns and is replaced by the Ryti I Cabinet, while the Finnish Parliament move from Helsinki to Kauhajoki to escape the Soviet airstrikes.

The Soviet Union establishes the Finnish Democratic Republic puppet state in Terijoki.

New York City's LaGuardia Airport opens.

World War II: HMS Nelson is struck by a mine (laid by U-31) off the Scottish coast and is laid up for repairs until August 1940.

Winter War: The Red Army's advance on the Karelian Isthmus is stopped by Finns at the Mannerheim Line during the Battle of Taipale.

HMS Duchess sinks after a collision with HMS Barham off the coast of Scotland with the loss of 124 men.

Winter War: The Battle of Tolvajärvi, also known as the first major Finnish victory in the Winter War, begins.

The Battle of the River Plate is fought off the coast of Uruguay; the first naval battle of World War II. The Kriegsmarine's Deutschland-class cruiser (pocket battleship) Admiral Graf Spee engages with three Royal Navy cruisers: HMS Ajax, HMNZS Achilles and HMS Exeter.

Winter War: The Soviet Union is expelled from the League of Nations for invading Finland.

Gone with the Wind (highest inflation adjusted grossing film) receives its premiere at Loew's Grand Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.

World War II: Battle of the River Plate: The Admiral Graf Spee is scuttled by Captain Hans Langsdorff outside Montevideo.

World War II: The Battle of the Heligoland Bight, the first major air battle of the war, takes place.

Indian Muslims observe a "Day of Deliverance" to celebrate the resignations of members of the Indian National Congress over their not having been consulted over the decision to enter World War II with the United Kingdom.

World War II: Pope Pius XII makes a Christmas Eve appeal for peace.

The 7.8 Mw Erzincan earthquake shakes eastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). At least 32,700 people were killed.

Winter War: Finland holds off a Soviet attack in the Battle of Kelja.

Alphonse Mucha, Czech painter and illustrator (born 1860)