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Timeline: 1936

Jan 1 Sweden has recovered from the Depression. Industrial production has risen 50 percent above what it had been in 1929, and unemployment has returned to 5 percent. Unemployment in the U.S. is around 15 percent, about half what it was in 1932.

Jan 1 Britain's King George V dies. His eldest son, Prince Edward of York and Cornwall, succeeds him, becoming Edward VIII, King of Great Britain, Ireland, the British Dominions beyond the Seas, and Emperor of India.

Feb 16 An election gives rise to a "Popular Front" government in Spain, ending two years of rule by a coalition of center and rightist parties. Peasants will take this as a signal to seize land. Strikes will erupt against employers. Anarchists will begin setting fire to churches, monasteries and the homes and offices of capitalists. Armed robberies against common people will skyrocket in Barcelona.

Feb 26 In Japan, a cabal of junior military officers believe that the government is inadequate in meeting what they perceive to be the threat from the Soviet Union, Great Britain and the United States to crush Japan. While believing they are loyal to the emperor, they lead 1,500 men in a murderous attempt to overthrow the government.

Feb 29 In Japan the coup has failed. Emperor Hirohito orders the Army to arrest 123 coup conspirators. Nineteen of them will be executed in July.

Mar 1 In the U.S., construction of Hoover Dam is completed.

Mar 7 In violation of the Treaty of Versailles, Hitler reoccupies the Rhineland, believing that France and Britain will not oppose his move militarily. In Britain's House of Commons, in a day or two, Winston Churchill responds. He speaks of danger to parliamentary nations from heavily armed dictatorships. He complains that the spirit of the British people is being tamed and cowed "with peace films, anti-recruiting propaganda and resistance to defense measures." Churchill is denounced as a scaremonger and warmonger.

Mar 9 Japan's pro-democracy prime minister, Okada Keisuke, a former admiral, steps down and is replaced by Koki Hirota, who is weaker in standing up to the military.

Mar 12 Communists outside the Soviet Union are fixated on attempts that have been made to destroy the Soviet Revolution. Harry Pollitt, General Secretary of Britain's Communist Party, says that "the trials in Moscow represent a new triumph in the history of progress."

Apr 19 Arabs in Palestine rebel against British colonialism and the increase in Jewish immigration. They kill nine Jews in Jaffa. Jewish homes are set afire, shops looted and orchards destroyed. Struggling for independence, the Arabs stage strikes, boycotts and demonstrations. Trying to maintain order, British soldiers kill more than 140 Muslims. The rebellion will last to November and cause the British to adjust their policy regarding Jewish immigration to Palestine.

May 5 Italy's invasion of Ethiopia has been underway since October. Italian forces have been using mustard gas in artillery shells and bombs. They take Ethiopia's capital city, Addis Ababa. Haile Selassi goes into exile.

May 7 Italy annexes Ethiopia.

May 9 Italy unites Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Italian Somaliland into what it calls Italian East Africa.

Jun 19 Max Schmeling knocks out Joe Louis in the twelfth round of their heavyweight boxing match at Yankee Stadium in New York City. In Germany people are ecstatic. German-Americans in New York City march arm-in-arm.

Jun 27 The Soviet government issues a decree prohibiting abortions. The government increases financial help to mothers and to families with multiple children. And It expands the availability of obstetrical services and childcare facilities.

Jul 17 General Manuel Goded Llopis and General Francisco Franco begin a rebellion against Spain's "Popular Front" government. The rebels will be described as "nationalists." They gain the support of Germany and Italy.

Aug 1 The Summer Olympics open in Berlin.

Aug 3 At the Berlin Olympics, Jesse Owens, a black man from the United States, upsets Hitler by winning the 100-meter dash.

Aug 8 France closes its border with Spain.

Aug 19 In Spain, members of the fascist group "Escuadra Negra" kidnap the poet Garcia Lorca and force him to dig his own grave. They execute him. Later they will say they did so because he was a homosexual.

Aug 20 In the Soviet Union, a show trial begins for sixteen accused of being members of a "Trotskyite" terrorist conspiracy. The accused include two former high-ranking Bolsheviks, Kamenev and Zinoviev. The trial is to be described by Arthur Koestler in his famous novel Darkness at Noon.

Aug 25 The sixteen on trial have been sentenced and are shot. Trotsky has been sentenced to death in absentia.

Sep 29 In Spain, a nationalist military junta names Franco "Generalissimo."

Oct 27 In Madrid, Spain's republican government receives its first shipment of Soviet tanks.

Nov 12 In California, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opens to traffic.

Nov 25 The Abraham Lincoln Brigade sails from New York City on its way to Spain to join other "international brigades" attempting to defend Spain's leftist government.

Nov 26 Germany and Japan sign an "anti-Comintern Pact" directed against the Communist International (the Comintern) and the Soviet Union.

Dec 5 A new Soviet constitution goes into effect, to be known as the Stalin Constitution. It repeals restrictions on voting, adds universal direct suffrage and the right to work, rest and leisure. It guarantees health protection, care in old age, housing and education benefits. The constitution is largely the brainchild of Stalin's Bolshevik comrade, Nikolai Bukharin.

Dec 11 Edward VIII has abdicated. He becomes the Duke of Windsor and is succeeded by George VI.

Dec 12 In China, the deputy commander-in-chief of Chiang Kai-shek's armies takes him prisoner. Chiang is told to direct the country's energies toward fighting the Japanese and to stop his war against the country's communists. Chiang agrees and is released. Japan accuses the Soviet Union of having instigated the kidnapping.

Dec 29 The United Auto Workers begin their sit-down strike in Flint, Michigan.