1931

Previous year | Timeline | Next year

• In Germany and Austria, the Great Depression causes an unprecedented economic crisis, with hyperinflation and the collapse of some banks. Adolf Hitler's Nazi party exploits the crisis.

• On 24 August, British prime minister Ramsay MacDonald resigns and forms a National government with parties other than Labour, to ensure that stringent cuts to the budget will be made. The Labour party subsequently expels him. In the general election on 27 October, the National government, comprising mainly Conservative candidates, wins overwhelmingly.

• On 15 September, pay cuts in the British armed forces result in a naval mutiny at Invergordon.

• On 18 September, Japanese troops invade Manchuria. Five months later (18 February 1932), the puppet state of Manchukuo is established.

• In Spain, the monarchy is overthrow and, on 9 December, a republic is formed.

• On 3 March, the United States officially adopts 'The Star-Spangled Banner' as its national anthem.

• In the United States on 17 October, Chicago gangster Al Capone is sentenced to 11 years for tax evasion (freed 1939).

• Boris Karloff stars in the classic Hollywood film version of Frankenstein, a horror story based on Mary Shelley's 1814 novel.

Top