What happened in 1939
47 entries recorded for 1939, listed by date. That was 87 years ago.
1939 at a glance
- Years ago
- 87 (as of 2026)
- Century
- 20th century
- Decade
- 1930s
- Generation born
- Silent Generation
- Entries here
- 47
- Breakdown
- 47 historical events
January
- January 7
Marguerite Perey
French physicist Marguerite Perey identified francium, the last element to be discovered in nature rather than by synthesis.
- January 8
New Deal for Aborigines
The New Deal for Aborigines was formally announced by the Australian government, providing for full civil rights for Indigenous Australians in exchange for cultural assimilation.
- January 14
Queen Maud Land
Norway claimed Queen Maud Land, a 2.7-million km2 (1.0-million sq mi) region of Antarctica, as a dependent territory.
- January 30
30 January 1939 Reichstag speech
In a speech to the Reichstag, Adolf Hitler threatened the "annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe".
February
- February 10
Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War: The Nationalists concluded their conquest of Catalonia and sealed the border with France.
- February 25
Air Raid Precautions
As part of British air raid precautions, the first of 2.5 million Anderson shelters is constructed in a garden in Islington, north London.
- February 28
Lexicography
In one of the most famous errors in lexicography, the erroneous word dord was discovered in Webster's New International Dictionary by an editor.
March
- March 15
Carpatho-Ukraine
Carpatho-Ukraine declares itself an independent republic, but is annexed by Hungary the next day.
- March 15
Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–1945)
Germany occupies Czechoslovakia.
- March 20
1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania
Germany issued an ultimatum to Lithuania, demanding the return of the Klaipėda Region under threat of invasion.
- March 24
German National Movement in Liechtenstein
Members of the German National Movement in Liechtenstein attempted to overthrow the government and provoke Liechtenstein's annexation into Nazi Germany.
- March 26
Francoist Spain
Nationalist forces began their final offensive of the Spanish Civil War, at the end of which they controlled almost the entire country.
April
- April 9
DAR Constitution Hall
After being denied permission to perform at Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution, African-American singer Marian Anderson gave an open-air concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
- April 20
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday (pictured) recorded the song "Strange Fruit", which later became an emblem of the civil rights movement.
- April 20
Adolf Hitler's 50th birthday
Adolf Hitler's 50th birthday was celebrated as a national holiday in Nazi Germany.
May
- May 3
Subhas Chandra Bose
Subhas Chandra Bose formed the All India Forward Bloc, a faction within the Indian National Congress, in opposition to Gandhi's tactics of nonviolence.
- May 14
Lima
In Lima, Peru, Lina Medina became the youngest confirmed mother in history, giving birth at the age of five years, seven months and twenty-one days.
- May 22
Pact of Steel
Germany and Italy signed the Pact of Steel, a military and political alliance.
- May 23
USS Sailfish (SS-192)
The U.S. Navy submarine Squalus sank off Portsmouth, New Hampshire, during tests, causing 26 men to drown.
June
- June 19
Lou Gehrig
American baseball player Lou Gehrig (pictured) was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, now commonly known in the United States as "Lou Gehrig's disease".
- June 24
Thai cultural mandates
The first of the Thai cultural mandates was issued, officially changing the country's name from Siam to Thailand.
July
- July 28
Ship burial
During the excavation of a 7th-century ship burial at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, England, archaeologists discovered the Sutton Hoo helmet (pictured), widely associated with King Rædwald of East Anglia.
August
- August 2
Leo Szilard
Leo Szilard penned a letter, signed by Albert Einstein and addressed to U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt, warning that Germany may develop atomic bombs, leading to the establishment of the Manhattan Project.
- August 2
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard write a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, urging him to begin the Manhattan Project to develop a nuclear weapon.
- August 23
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact (pictured), a ten-year mutual non-aggression treaty, which also secretly divided northern and eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence.
- August 31
Gleiwitz incident
Nazi forces, posing as Poles, staged an attack against the German radio station Sender Gleiwitz in Gleiwitz, Upper Silesia, Germany, creating an excuse to invade Poland the next day.
September
- September 1
World War II
World War II: Germany and Slovakia invade Poland, beginning the European phase of World War II.
- September 1
J. Robert Oppenheimer
J. Robert Oppenheimer and his student Hartland Snyder publish the Oppenheimer–Snyder model, proving for the first time in contemporary physics how black holes could develop.
- September 1
Invasion of Poland
German forces attacked multiple locations in Poland, including Wieluń and Westerplatte, starting World War II in Europe.
- September 9
World War II
World War II: About 3,000 Polish Army troops began a nearly month-long defence of the Hel Peninsula during the German invasion of Poland.
- September 17
World War II
Second World War: The Royal Navy lost its first warship in the war when German submarine U-29 torpedoed and sank HMS Courageous.
- September 22
German–Soviet military parade in Brest-Litovsk
A joint military parade by the troops of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union took place in Brest-Litovsk to celebrate their partition of Poland.
- September 30
World War II
Second World War: General Władysław Sikorski (pictured) became the first prime minister of the Polish government-in-exile.
- September 30
NBC
NBC broadcast the first televised American football game, between the Fordham Rams and the Waynesburg Yellow Jackets.
October
- October 14
World War II
Second World War: The German submarine U-47 torpedoed and sank the Royal Navy battleship HMS Royal Oak while the latter was anchored at Scapa Flow in Orkney, Scotland.
- October 20
Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII (pictured) published his first encyclical, Summi Pontificatus, which critiqued ideologies such as racism, cultural superiority and totalitarianism.
November
- November 6
Intelligenzaktion
As part of their plan to eradicate the Polish intellectual elite, the Gestapo arrested 184 professors, students and employees of the Jagiellonian University (location pictured) in Kraków.
- November 9
World War II
World War II: A covert Sicherheitsdienst operation captured two British agents of the Secret Intelligence Service near Venlo in the Netherlands.
- November 26
Red Army
The Soviet Red Army shelled the village of Mainila and then claimed that the fire originated from Finland, giving them a casus belli to launch the Winter War a few days later.
December
- December 12
HMS Duchess (H64)
HMS Duchess sinks after a collision with HMS Barham off the coast of Scotland with the loss of 124 men.
- December 12
Winter War
Winter War: The Battle of Tolvajärvi, also known as the first major Finnish victory in the Winter War, begins.
- December 12
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy destroyer HMS Duchess (pictured) collided with HMS Barham, the battleship she was escorting, and Duchess sank with heavy loss of life.
- December 15
Epic film
The American historical epic film Gone With the Wind, adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer Prize–winning novel of the same name, premiered in Atlanta, Georgia.
- December 17
World War II
World War II: After sustaining moderate damage in the Battle of the River Plate two days earlier, the German cruiser Graf Spee was scuttled by its commander, Hans Langsdorff, to avoid its internment by Uruguay.
- December 18
World War II
Second World War: The Luftwaffe won a victory over the Royal Air Force in the Battle of the Heligoland Bight, greatly influencing both sides' future aerial warfare strategy.
- December 22
All-India Muslim League
Members of the All-India Muslim League observed a "Day of Deliverance" to celebrate the resignations of members of the Indian National Congress over the decision to enter the Second World War at the request of the United Kingdom.
- December 27
1939 Erzincan earthquake
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck central Turkey, destroying 90 per cent of the buildings in the area, and causing over 32,000 deaths.
Questions about 1939
What happened in 1939?
This site records 47 entries for 1939, including Marguerite Perey on January 7. They are listed below by date.
How long ago was 1939?
87 years ago, counting from 2026. Anyone born in 1939 turns 87 this year.
Which century is 1939 in?
1939 falls in the 20th century, in the 1930s.
Which generation was born in 1939?
Silent Generation (1928–1945). Children of the Depression and war years.
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