istoryworld
Events relating to europe
Two million Anderson air-raid shelters are distributed to British homes, to be constructed in the garden from corrugated steel panels
W.H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood emigrate together to the USA, later becoming US citizens
James Joyce's Finnegans Wake is published after 17 years in the making
US author Henry Miller publishes in Paris Tropic of Capricorn, about his adolescence in New York
Eugenio Pacelli is elected pope and takes the name Pius XII
Madrid falls to the Nationalist forces, bringing the Spanish Civil War to an end and Franco to power
Tommy Handley has a huge success in the British comedy radio programme ITMA (It's That Man Again)
Irish author Flann O'Brien publishes his first novel, At Swim-Two-Birds
Archaeological treasures are discovered in an Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo, in Suffolk
Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears give a series of recitals in the USA at the start of a lifelong partnership
British racing driver Malcolm Campbell sets a new water speed record of 141 mph
British author Christopher Isherwood publishes his novel Goodbye to Berlin, based on his own experiences in the city
Igor Stravinsky moves to the USA from Paris, his home for nearly 30 years, and settles in Hollywood
Joaquin Rodrigo's concerto for guitar and orchestra, the Concierto de Aranjuez, has its first performance in Barcelona
De Valera declares that Eire will be neutral in any forthcoming European war
Hungary aligns itself with the Axis powers, signing Germany and Japan's Anti-Comintern Pact
The recent fate of Czechoslovakia prompts France and Britain to guarantee the security of Poland
Stalin appoints Vyacheslav Molotov as People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs for the USSR
A Franco-British military mission arrives in Moscow to persuade Stalin to join a pact in defence of Poland
Helped by the results of Polish cryptographers, Bletchley Park begins to gain invaluable access to German military secrets
Ribbentrop flies to Moscow to sign a Nonaggression Pact with Molotov, depriving Britain and France of an ally
A secret protocol, attached to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, divides Poland and the Baltic states between Germany and Russia
Adolf Hitler launches a massive attack on Poland, with tanks crossing the border and air raids on Warsaw
Spain and Portugal declare that they will maintain their neutrality in the European war that now seems inevitable
Britain and France, receiving no answer from Hitler to their ultimatum over his attack on Poland, declare war on Germany
