Modern Era
Enabling Act (1933): How Hitler Became Dictator by Law
The Reichstag voted 444 to 94 to give Hitler's government power to pass laws without parliament, ending parliamentary democracy in Germany.
Era · c. 1800 – 1945
Modern Era
Industry, science and global conflict: the century and a half that built the modern world.
Modern Era
Hitler Becomes Chancellor (1933): How the Nazis Took Power
Hitler was appointed head of a coalition cabinet with only three Nazi ministers, and within months he had dismantled Weimar democracy.
Modern Era
Reichstag Fire (1933): The Blaze That Helped Hitler Seize Power
The Reichstag Fire Decree of 28 February 1933 suspended basic rights, enabling mass arrests of Communists and paving the way for the Nazi dictatorship.
Modern Era
New Deal (1933-1939): Roosevelt's Answer to the Great Depression
The federal government took on lasting roles in banking regulation, relief, social insurance and labour relations, though full recovery came only with the Second World War.
Modern Era
Long March (1934-1935): Mao and the Red Army's Epic Retreat
The Central Red Army survived with a small fraction of its strength, established a new base in Shaanxi, and Mao Zedong emerged as the Communists' leading figure.
Modern Era
Night of the Long Knives (1934): Hitler's Purge of the SA
The SA leadership and other opponents were murdered, the army backed Hitler, and after Hindenburg's death in August 1934 Hitler became Germany's undisputed Fuhrer.
Modern Era
Italian Invasion of Ethiopia (1935): Mussolini's Colonial War
Italy occupied Addis Ababa and annexed Ethiopia in May 1936; League of Nations sanctions failed, and Italian rule lasted until 1941.
Modern Era
Nuremberg Laws (1935): Nazi Germany's Racial Laws Against Jews
German Jews lost their citizenship rights and were banned from marrying or having relationships with non-Jewish Germans, giving racial persecution a legal basis.
Modern Era
Labor Day Hurricane (1935): The Florida Keys Catastrophe
More than 400 people died, including about 250 veterans in federal work camps; the Overseas Railroad was wrecked and replaced by the Overseas Highway.
Modern Era
Abdication of Edward VIII (1936): The King Who Gave Up the Throne
Edward VIII abdicated after 326 days as king; his brother became George VI, and Edward, created Duke of Windsor, married Wallis Simpson in 1937.
Modern Era
Great Purge (1936–1938): Stalin's Terror and the Show Trials
Hundreds of thousands were executed and many more sent to the Gulag; the Communist Party, state and army elites were destroyed and Stalin's personal dictatorship was secured.
Modern Era
Remilitarisation of the Rhineland (1936): Hitler's First Gamble
Germany reoccupied the demilitarised zone without resistance; Britain and France protested but took no action, and the Locarno system collapsed.