1934

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• On 21 February, Nicaraguan revolutionary Augusto César Sandino is murdered by Anastasio Somoza Garcia, who later becomes dictator of the country.

• On 22 June, British prime minister Ramsay MacDonald, ordered to rest, delegates his duties to Stanley Baldwin.

• On 29/30 June, during the 'Night of the Long Knives', Adolf Hitler's troops murder more than 100 of his former colleagues and opponents, especially Ernst Roehm and his Storm Troopers.

• In China from 21 October, Mao Zedong leads 100,000 threatened Communists on a 6,000-mile 'Long March' to safety in the north of the country (ends October 1935). Only 30,000 survive.

• In the Soviet Union, Josef Stalin begins purging the Communist party in a reign of terror (ends 1939).

• On 14 December, Turkish women get the vote.

• American film-maker/choreographer Busby Berkeley makes Gold Diggers of 1933. Its dreamy dance routines are designed to cheer people up during the Great Depression.

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