View source for 1930s

{{short description|Decade of the Gregorian calendar (1930–1939)}}
{{redirect|'30s|the decade of this century|2030s|decades comprising years 30–39 of other centuries|List of decades}}
<imagemap>File:1930s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: [[Dorothea Lange]]'s photo of the homeless [[Florence Owens Thompson|Florence Thompson]] shows the effects of the '''[[Great Depression]]'''; due to extreme drought conditions, farms across the south-central United States become dry and the '''[[Dust Bowl]]''' spreads; The [[Empire of Japan]] [[Japanese invasion of Manchuria|invades China]], which eventually leads to the '''[[Second Sino-Japanese War]]'''. In 1937, Japanese soldiers [[Nanjing Massacre|massacre civilians]] in [[Nanjing]]; aviator '''[[Amelia Earhart]]''' becomes an American flight icon; [[Ethnic Germans|German]] [[dictator]] [[Adolf Hitler]] and the '''[[Nazi Party]]''' attempt to establish a [[New Order (political system)|New Order]] of German [[hegemony]] in Europe, which culminates in 1939 when Germany [[Invasion of Poland|invades Poland]], leading to the outbreak of [[World War II]]. The Nazis also persecute Jews in Germany, specifically with [[Kristallnacht]] in 1938; the ''[[LZ 129 Hindenburg|Hindenburg]]'' '''[[Hindenburg disaster|explodes]]''' over a small [[Lakehurst, New Jersey|New Jersey airfield]], causing 36 deaths and effectively ending commercial airship travel; [[Mahatma Gandhi|Mohandas Gandhi]] walks to the Arabian Sea in the '''[[Salt Satyagraha|Salt March]]''' of 1930.|335px|thumb
rect 1 1 174 226 [[Great Depression]]
rect 177 1 375 121 [[Dust Bowl]]
rect 177 124 275 226 [[Second Sino-Japanese War]]
rect 276 124 375 226 [[Nanjing Massacre|Rape of Nanking]]
rect 378 1 497 226 [[Amelia Earhart]]
rect 1 229 221 353 [[Salt Satyagraha|Salt March]]
rect 1 357 221 488 [[Hindenburg disaster]]
rect 225 230 359 488 [[Invasion of Poland|Nazi Invasion of Poland]]
rect 361 230 497 488 [[Kristallnacht]]
</imagemap>
{{Decadebox|193}}
The '''1930s''' (pronounced "nineteen-thirties" and commonly abbreviated as "'''the '30s'''" or "'''the Thirties'''") was a [[decade]] that began on January 1, 1930, and ended on December 31, 1939. In the United States, the [[Dust Bowl]] led to the nickname the "Dirty Thirties".

<!--Economy and social movements-->
The decade was defined by a global economic and political crisis that culminated in the [[World War II|Second World War]]. It saw the collapse of the international financial system, beginning with the [[Wall Street crash of 1929]], the largest [[stock market crash]] in American history. The subsequent economic downfall, called the [[Great Depression]], had traumatic social effects worldwide, leading to widespread [[poverty]] and [[unemployment]], especially in the economic superpower of the [[United States]] and in [[Weimar Republic|Germany]], which was already struggling with the payment of reparations for the [[World War I|First World War]]. The [[Dust Bowl]] in the United States (which led to the nickname the "Dirty Thirties") exacerbated the scarcity of wealth. U.S. President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], who took office in 1933, introduced a program of broad-scale social reforms and stimulus plans called the [[New Deal]] in response to the crisis. The [[Soviet Union]]'s [[Five-year plans of the Soviet Union#Second plan, 1932–1937|second five-year plan]] gave heavy industry top priority, putting the Soviet Union not far behind [[Germany]] as one of the major steel-producing countries of the world, while also improving communications. [[First-wave feminism]] made advances, with women gaining the right to vote in [[Women's Enfranchisement Act, 1930|South Africa (1930, whites only)]], [[Feminism in Brazil#20th century|Brazil (1933)]], and [[Women in Cuba#History|Cuba (1933)]]. Following the [[rise of Adolf Hitler]] and the emergence of the [[NSDAP]] as the country's [[Law Against the Formation of Parties|sole legal party]] in 1933, Germany imposed [[Nuremberg Laws|a series of laws]] which discriminated against [[Jews]] and other ethnic minorities.

<!--Politics and conflicts-->
Germany adopted an aggressive foreign policy, [[Remilitarization of the Rhineland|remilitarizing the Rhineland (1936)]], annexing [[Anschluss|Austria (1938)]] and the [[Munich Agreement|Sudetenland (1938)]], before [[Invasion of Poland|invading Poland (1939)]] and starting [[World War II]] near the end of the decade. Italy likewise continued its already aggressive foreign policy, [[Second Italo-Senussi War|defeating the Libyan resistance (1932)]] before [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War|invading Ethiopia (1935)]] and then [[Italian invasion of Albania|Albania (1939)]]. Both Germany and Italy [[International response to the Spanish Civil War#Support for Nationalists|became involved]] in the [[Spanish Civil War]], supporting the eventually victorious [[Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War)|Nationalists]] led by [[Francisco Franco]] against the [[Republican faction (Spanish Civil War)|Republicans]], who were in turn [[International response to the Spanish Civil War#Soviet Union|supported by the Soviet Union]]. The [[Chinese Civil War]] was halted due to the need to confront Japanese imperial ambitions, with the [[Kuomintang]] and the [[Chinese Communist Party]] forming a [[Second United Front]] to fight Japan in the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]]. Lesser conflicts included interstate wars such as the [[Colombia–Peru War|Colombia–Peru War (1932–1933)]], the [[Chaco War|Chaco War (1932–1935)]] and the [[Saudi–Yemeni War (1934)]], as well as internal conflicts in [[Constitutionalist Revolution|Brazil (1932)]], [[Ecuadorian Civil War of 1932|Ecuador (1932)]], [[La Matanza|El Salvador (1932)]], [[Austrian Civil War|Austria (1934)]] and [[1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine|British Palestine (1936–1939)]].

<!--Natural disasters-->
[[Soviet famine of 1930–1933|Severe famine took place]] in the major grain-producing areas of the Soviet Union between 1930 and 1933, leading to 5.7 to 8.7 million deaths. Major contributing factors to the famine include: the forced [[collectivization in the Soviet Union]] of agriculture as a part of the [[First five-year plan (Soviet Union)|First Five-Year Plan]], forced grain procurement, combined with rapid industrialization, a decreasing agricultural workforce, and several severe droughts. A [[List of famines in China#Famines in China|famine of similar scope]] also took place in China from 1936 to 1937, killing 5 million people. The [[1931 China floods]] caused 422,499–4,000,000 deaths. Major earthquakes of this decade include the [[1935 Quetta earthquake]] (30,000–60,000 deaths) and the [[1939 Erzincan earthquake]] (32,700–32,968 deaths).

<!--Entertainment industry-->
<!--Try to focus on best-sellers of this decade.-->
With the advent of [[Sound film|sound]] in 1927, the [[Musical film|musical]]—the genre best placed to showcase the new technology—took over as the most popular type of film with audiences, with the [[Animated film|animated]] [[Musical film|musical]] [[fantasy film]] ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs]]'' (1937) becoming the highest-grossing film of this decade in terms of gross rentals. In terms of distributor rentals, [[Gone with the Wind (film)|''Gone with the Wind'']] (1939), an [[Epic film|epic]] [[Historical drama|historical]] [[romance film]], was the highest-grossing film of this decade and remains the [[List of highest-grossing films adjusted for inflation|highest-grossing film (when adjusted for inflation)]] to this day. Popularity of comedy films boomed after the [[Silent film|Silent era]] with popular comedians [[The Three Stooges]] and [[Marx Brothers]]. Popular novels of this decade include the [[historical fiction]] novels ''[[The Good Earth]],'' ''[[Anthony Adverse (novel)|Anthony Adverse]]'' and ''[[Gone with the Wind (novel)|Gone with the Wind]]'', all three of which were [[Publishers Weekly list of bestselling novels in the United States in the 1930s|best-selling novels in the United States]] for 2 consecutive years. [[Cole Porter]] was a popular music artist in the 1930s, with two of his songs, "[[Night and Day (song)|Night and Day]]" and "[[Begin the Beguine]]" becoming No. 1 hits in 1932 and 1935 respectively. The latter song was of the [[Swing music|Swing]] genre, which had [[Swing era|begun to emerge as the most popular form of music]] in the United States since 1933.

The world population increased from 2.05 to 2.25 billion people during the decade, with about 750 million births and 550 million deaths.
{{TOC limit|3}}

==Politics and wars==
{{See also|List of sovereign states in the 1930s}}
[[File:Flag-map of the world (1930).png|thumb|750px|center|Flag map of the world from 1930, nine years before World War II]]

===Wars===
{{Main|List of wars: 1900–1944#1930–1944}}
[[File:Kamp-wrzes22-anim.gif|upright|thumb|At the outbreak of '''[[World War II]]''', both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union invaded [[Poland]]; by October 1939, they had divided the occupied territory between them in accordance with the secret part of the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]].]]

* [[Colombia–Peru War]] (September 1, 1932 – May 24, 1933) – fought between the [[Republic of Colombia]] and the [[Republic of Peru]]
* [[Chaco War]] (June 15, 1932 – June 10, 1935) – fought between [[Bolivia]] and [[Paraguay]] over the disputed territory of [[Gran Chaco]], resulting in a Paraguayan victory in 1935; an agreement dividing the territory was made in 1938, formally ending the conflict
* [[Saudi–Yemeni War (1934)|Saudi–Yemeni War]] (March 1934 – May 12, 1934) – fought between [[Saudi Arabia]] and the [[Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen]]
* [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War]] (October 3, 1935 – February 19, 1937)
* [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] (July 7, 1937 – September 9, 1945) – fought between the [[Republic of China (1912–49)|Republic of China]] and the [[Empire of Japan]]. It was the largest Asian war of the 20th century,<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=132824|author=Bix, Herbert P. |title=The Showa Emperor's 'Monologue' and the Problem of War Responsibility|journal=Journal of Japanese Studies|volume= 18|issue=2|year=1992|pages=295–363|doi=10.2307/132824 }}</ref> and made up more than 50% of the casualties in the [[Pacific War|Pacific theater of World War II]].
* [[World War II]] (September 1, 1939 – September 2, 1945) – global war centered in Europe and the Pacific but involving the majority of the world's countries, including all of the major powers such as Germany, Russia, America, Italy, Japan, France and the United Kingdom.

===Internal conflicts===
* [[File:Golpe de Estado de 1930 en Argentina (1).jpg|thumb|Soldiers mobilizing during the [[1930 Argentine coup d'état|1930 Argentine coup.]]]][[Chinese Civil War]] (1927–1949) – The ruling [[Kuomintang]] and the rebel [[Chinese Communist Party]] fought a civil war for control of China. The Communists consolidated territory in the early 1930s and proclaimed a short-lived [[Chinese Soviet Republic]] that collapsed upon Kuomintang attacks, forcing a mass retreat known as the [[Long March]]. The Kuomintang and Communists attempted to put away their differences after 1937 to fight the [[Japanese invasion of China]], but intermittent clashes continued through the remainder of the 1930s. Even with some clashes they all fought the Japanese.
* [[1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine]].
* [[Spanish Civil War]] (July 17, 1936 – April 1, 1939) – Germany and Italy backed the anti-communist [[Falange Española y de las JONS|Falange]] forces of [[Francisco Franco]]. The [[Soviet Union]] and international communist parties (see [[Abraham Lincoln Brigade]]) backed the left-wing republican faction in the war. The war ended in April 1939 with Franco's nationalist forces defeating the republican forces. Franco became [[List of heads of state of Spain|Head of State of Spain]] and [[List of Prime Ministers of Spain|President of Government]], and the Republic of Spain gave way to the [[Spanish State]], an [[authoritarian]] [[dictatorship]].
* The Argentine government of [[Hipólito Yrigoyen]] is overthrown by forces loyal to General [[José Félix Uriburu|José Féliz Uriburu]] in 1930, the [[1930 Argentine coup d'état|coup]] marked the start of the [[Infamous Decade]].

===Major political changes===
====Germany – Rise of Nazism====
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Hitlermusso2 edit.jpg|thumb|upright|right|German dictator [[Adolf Hitler]] (right) and Italian dictator [[Benito Mussolini]] (left) pursue agendas of territorial expansion for their countries in the 1930s, eventually leading to the outbreak of [[World War II]] in 1939]] -->
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-14468, Berlin, NS-Boykott gegen jüdische Geschäfte.jpg|thumb|[[Sturmabteilung|SA]] paramilitaries outside a Berlin store during the [[Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses]], 1933]]
* The [[Nazi Party|NSDAP]] (Nazi Party) under [[Adolf Hitler]] wins the [[German federal election, March 1933]]. Hitler becomes [[List of Chancellors of Germany|Chancellor of Germany]]. [[Night of the Long Knives]] with 85 victims, Following the 1934 death in office of [[Paul von Hindenburg]], [[List of German presidents since 1919|President of Germany]], Hitler's cabinet passes a law proclaiming the presidency vacant and transferring the role and powers of the head of state to Hitler, hereafter known as ''[[Führer|Führer und Reichskanzler]]'' (leader and chancellor). The [[Weimar Republic]] effectively gives way to [[Nazi Germany]], a [[Totalitarianism|totalitarian]] [[Autocracy|autocratic]] [[Nazism|national socialist]] [[dictatorship]] committed to repudiating the [[Treaty of Versailles]], persecuting and removing [[Jews]] and other minorities from German society, expanding Germany's territory, and opposing the spread of [[communism]].
* Hitler pulls Germany out of the League of Nations, but hosts the [[1936 Summer Olympics]] to show his new Reich to the world as well as the supposed superior athleticism of his [[Aryan race|Aryan]] troops/athletes.
* [[Neville Chamberlain]], [[List of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]] (1937–1940), attempts the [[appeasement]] of Hitler in hope of avoiding war by allowing the dictator to annex the [[Sudetenland]] (the German-speaking regions of [[Czechoslovakia]]) and later signing the [[Munich Agreement]] and promising constituents "[[Peace for our time]]". He is ousted in favor of [[Winston Churchill]] in May 1940, following the German [[Operation Weserübung|invasion of Norway]].<ref>Hunt, Lynn. "The Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures" Vol. C since 1740.Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009.</ref>
* The assassination of the German diplomat [[Ernst vom Rath]] by a German-born Polish Jew triggers the ''[[Kristallnacht]]'' ("Night of Broken Glass") which occurred between 9 and 10 November 1938, carried out by the [[Hitler Youth]], the [[Gestapo]], and the [[Schutzstaffel|SS]], during which much of the Jewish population living in Nazi Germany and Austria was attacked – 91 Jews were murdered, and between 25,000 and 30,000 more were arrested and sent to [[Nazi concentration camps]]. Some 267 synagogues were destroyed, and thousands of homes and businesses were ransacked. ''Kristallnacht'' also served as the pretext for the wholesale confiscation of firearms from German Jews.[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H12943, Münchener Abkommen, Hitler und Mussolini.jpg|thumb|Cheering crowds greet [[Adolf Hitler]] and [[Benito Mussolini]] in Munich, 1938]]
* Germany and Italy pursue territorial expansionist agendas. Germany demands the annexation of the [[Federal State of Austria]] and of other German-speaking territories in Europe. Between 1935 and 1936, Germany recovers the [[Saar (League of Nations)|Saar]] and re-militarizes the [[Rhineland]]. Italy initially opposes Germany's aims for Austria, but in 1936 the two countries resolve their differences in the aftermath of Italy's diplomatic isolation following the start of the [[Second Italo-Abyssinian War]], and Germany becomes Italy's only remaining ally. Germany and Italy improve relations by forming an alliance against communism in 1936 with the signing of the [[Anti-Comintern Pact]]. Germany annexes Austria in the [[Anschluss]]; the annexation of the [[Sudetenland]] follows negotiations which result in the [[Munich Agreement]] of 1938. The [[Italian invasion of Albania]] in 1939 succeeds in turning the [[Albania under Italy|Kingdom of Albania]] into an Italian [[protectorate]]. The vacant Albanian throne is claimed by [[Victor Emmanuel III of Italy]].<ref name="isbn0-8240-7029-1">{{cite book|author=Zabecki, David T.|title=World War II in Europe: an encyclopedia|publisher=Garland Pub|location=New York|year=1999|pages=1353|isbn=0-8240-7029-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gYDN-UfehEEC&q=albania+%22Italian+protectorate%22&pg=PA1353|access-date=12 January 2011 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222063745/https://books.google.com/books?id=gYDN-UfehEEC&pg=PA1353|archive-date=22 December 2016}}</ref> Germany receives the [[Klaipėda Region|Memel]] territory from [[Lithuania]], occupies what remains of [[Czechoslovakia]], and finally invades the [[Second Polish Republic]], the last of these events resulting in the outbreak of [[World War II]].
* In 1939, several countries of the Americas, including Canada, [[Cuba]], and the United States, controversially deny asylum to hundreds of German Jewish refugees on board the [[MS St. Louis|MS ''St. Louis'']] who are fleeing the Nazi regime's racist agenda of [[anti-Semitic]] persecution in Germany. In the end, no country accepts the refugees, and the ship returns to Germany with most of its passengers on board. Some commit suicide, rather than return to [[Nazi Germany]].

====United States – Combating the Depression====
[[File:Roosevelt signing TVA Act (1933).jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[New Deal]]: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]] Act, May 18, 1933]]

* [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] is elected President of the United States in November 1932. Roosevelt initiates a widespread social welfare strategy called the "[[New Deal]]" to combat the economic and social devastation of the [[Great Depression]]. The economic agenda of the "New Deal" was a radical departure from previous [[laissez-faire]] economics.

====Saudi Arabia – Founding====
* The [[Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd]] is proclaimed the Kingdom of [[Saudi Arabia]], concluding the country's [[Unification of Saudi Arabia|unification]] under the rule of [[Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia|Ibn Saud]].

====Spain – Turmoil and Civil War====
* The Republican parties win the [[Spanish local elections, 1931|local elections]], and proclaim the [[Second Spanish Republic|Second Republic]], kicking out the monarchy of [[Alfonso XIII of Spain|Alfonso XIII of Borbón]].
* The [[Spanish coup of July 1936]] against the Republic marks the beginning of the [[Spanish Civil War]].

===Colonization===
* The [[Ethiopian Empire]] is invaded by the [[Kingdom of Italy]] during the [[Second Italo-Abyssinian War]] from 1935 to 1936. The occupied territory merges with [[Eritrea]] and [[Italian Somaliland]] into the colony of [[Italian East Africa]].
* The [[Empire of Japan]] captures [[Manchuria]] in 1931, creating the [[puppet state]] of [[Manchukuo]]. A puppet government was created, with [[Puyi]], the last [[Qing dynasty]] [[Emperor of China]], installed as the nominal regent and emperor.<ref>[http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article-9371137/Manchukuo "Manchukuo "] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071221081805/http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article-9371137/Manchukuo |date=2007-12-21 }} ''Encyclopædia Britannica''</ref>

===Decolonization and independence===
* In March 1930 [[Mohandas Gandhi]] leads the non-violent [[Satyagraha]] movement in the [[Declaration of the Independence of India]] and the [[Salt Satyagraha|Salt March]].
* The [[Government of India Act 1935]] creates new directly elected bodies, although with a limited franchise, and increases the autonomy of the [[Presidencies and provinces of British India]].
* The [[Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936]] is signed which gradually decreased British influence in Egypt and increased Egyptian sovereignty. It led to the withdrawal of British troops across Egypt to the Suez Canal Zone and decreased the number of British troops in the country to 10,000 men.

===Other prominent political events===
* The [[Great Depression]] seriously affects the economic, political, and social aspects of society across the world.
* The [[League of Nations]] collapses as countries like Germany, the [[Kingdom of Italy]], and the [[Empire of Japan]] abdicate the League.

====Europe====
[[File:GolodomorKharkiv.jpg|thumb|[[Soviet famine of 1930–1933]]. Starved peasants in the streets of Kharkiv, 1933]]

* In 1930, [[Miguel Primo de Rivera]], [[Prime Minister of Spain]] and head of a [[military dictatorship]] is forced to resign in response to a financial crisis (part of the [[Great Depression]]). [[Alfonso XIII of Spain]], who had previously backed the dictatorship, attempts to return gradually to the previous system and restore his prestige. This failed utterly, as the King was considered a supporter of the dictatorship, and more and more political forces called for the establishment of a republic. In 1931, republican and socialist parties won a major victory in the local elections, while the monarchists were in decline. Street riots ensued, calling for the removal of the monarchy. The [[Spanish Army]] declared that they would not defend the King. Alfonso flees the country, effectively abdicating and ending the [[Spain under the Restoration|Bourbon Restoration]] phase which had started in the 1870s. A [[Second Spanish Republic]] emerges.
* In the [[Soviet Union]], [[Collectivization in the Soviet Union|agricultural collectivization]] and rapid [[History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953)|industrialization take place]].<ref>{{cite journal|author = A. L. Unger|title = Stalin's Renewal of the Leading Stratum: A Note on the Great Purge|journal = [[Soviet Studies]]| volume = 20|number = 3|pages = 321–330 |jstor=149486|doi = 10.1080/09668136808410659 |date= January 1969}}</ref> Millions died during the [[Holodomor]].
* More than 25 million people migrate to cities in the Soviet Union.
* [[Anglo-German Naval Agreement]] is signed in 1935, removing the [[Treaty of Versailles]]' level of limitation on the size of the ''[[Kriegsmarine]]'' (navy). The agreement allows Germany to build a larger naval force.
* [[Éamon de Valera]] introduces a new [[constitution]] for the [[Irish Free State]] in 1937, effectively ending its status as a [[Dominion|British Dominion]].
*The [[Silver Jubilee of George V]] was celebrated on 6 May 1935 to mark 25 years of [[King George V]] as the King of the [[United Kingdom]] and the British Dominions, and [[Emperor of India]]. It was the first ever Silver Jubilee celebration of any British monarch in history.
* The "[[Great Purge]]" of "[[Old Bolsheviks]]" from the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] takes place from 1936 to 1938, as ordered by Soviet Union leader [[Joseph Stalin]], resulting in hundreds of thousands of people being killed. This purge was due to mistrust and political differences, as well as the massive drop in grain produce. This was due to the method of collectivization in Russia. The Soviet Union produced 16 million lbs of grain less in 1934 compared to 1930. This led to the starvation of millions of Russians.
* The [[Abdication of Edward VIII]] in 1936, gives the British Crown to [[George VI]], 325 days after the death of his father [[George V]]. The [[Coronation of George VI and Elizabeth]] takes place in May 1937.
* The [[Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (1937)|1937 World's Fair]] in Paris displays the growing political tensions in Europe. The pavilions of the rival countries of [[Nazi Germany]] and the Soviet Union face each other. Germany at the time was internationally condemned for [[Luftwaffe]] (its air force) having performed a [[Bombing of Guernica|bombing]] of the [[Basque Country (greater region)|Basque]] town of [[Guernica (town)|Guernica]] in Spain during the [[Spanish Civil War]]. Spanish artist [[Pablo Picasso]] depicted the bombing in his masterpiece painting ''[[Guernica (painting)|Guernica]]'' at the World Fair, which was a [[Surrealism|surrealist]] depiction of the horror of the bombing.
* Referendum in the [[Irish Free State]] in December 1937 on whether Ireland should continue to be a constitutional monarchy under King [[George VI]] or to become a [[republic]] results in citizens voting in favour of a republic, ending the remains of British sovereignty through monarchial authority over the state.

====Africa====
[[File:Omar Mokhtar arrested by Italian Fascists.jpg|thumb|[[Senusiyya|Senussi]] rebel leader [[Omar al-Mukhtar]] after his arrest by Italian armed forces in 1931]]
* [[J. B. M. Hertzog]] of South Africa, whose National Party had won the 1929 election alone after splitting with the Labour Party, received much of the blame for the devastating economic impact of the Depression.

====Americas====
* Canada and other dominions  under the [[British Empire]] sign the [[Statute of Westminster 1931|Statute of Westminster]] in 1931, establishing effective parliamentary independence of Canada from the parliament of the United Kingdom.
* [[1939 New York World's Fair]], the USA displays the pavilions showing art, culture, and technology from the whole world.
* [[Newfoundland and Labrador|Newfoundland]] voluntarily returns to British colonial rule in 1934 amid its economic crisis during the Great Depression with the creation of the [[Commission of Government]], a non-elected body.
* [[Prime Minister of Canada|Canadian Prime Minister]] [[William Lyon Mackenzie King|W. L. Mackenzie King]] meets with German [[Führer]] [[Adolf Hitler]] in 1937 in Berlin. King is the only North American head of government to meet with Hitler.
* [[Amelia Earhart]] receives major attention in the 1930s as the first woman pilot to conduct major air flights. Her disappearance for unknown reasons in 1937 while on flight prompted search efforts that failed.
* Southern [[Great Plains]] devastated by decades-long [[Dust Bowl]]
* In 1932, the Polish [[Cipher Bureau (Poland)|Cipher Bureau]] broke the German Enigma cipher and overcame the ever-growing structural and operating complexities of the evolving [[Enigma machine]] with [[plugboard]], the main German cipher device during [[World War II]].
* [[Getúlio Vargas]] became the President of Brazil after the [[Revolution of 1930|1930 coup d'état]].

====Asia====
[[File:Marche sel.jpg|thumb|right|[[Mohandas Gandhi]] on the [[Salt Satyagraha|Salt March]] in 1930]]
* Major international media attention follows [[Mohandas Gandhi]]'s [[Nonviolent resistance|peaceful resistance]] movement against the British colonial rule in India.
* [[Chinese Communist Party]] leader [[Mao Zedong]] forms the small enclave state called the [[Chinese Soviet Republic]] in 1931.
* The [[Gandhi–Irwin Pact]] is signed by Mohandas Gandhi and [[E. F. L. Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax|Lord Irwin]], [[Viceroy of India]], on March 5, 1931. Gandhi agrees to end the campaign of [[civil disobedience]] being carried out by the [[Indian National Congress]] (INC) in exchange for Irwin accepting the INC to participate in roundtable talks on British colonial policy in India.
* The [[Government of India Act 1935|Government of India Act of 1935]] is enacted by the [[Governor-General of India]], separating [[British rule in Burma|British Burma]] to become a separate British possession and also increasing the political autonomy of the remaining [[presidencies and provinces of British India]].
* Mao Zedong's Chinese communists begin a large retreat from advancing nationalist forces, called the [[Long March]], beginning in October 1934 and ending in October 1936 and resulting in the collapse of the Chinese Soviet Republic.[[File:First pictures of the Japanese occupation of Peiping in China.jpg|thumb|right|Japanese march into [[Zhengyangmen]] of [[Beijing]] after capturing the city in July 1937]]
* Colonial India's [[All-India Muslim League|Muslim League]] leader [[Muhammed Ali Jinnah]] delivers his "[[Day of Deliverance (India)|Day of Deliverance]]" speech on December 2, 1939, calling upon [[Muslims]] to begin to engage in civil disobedience against the British colonial government starting on December 12. Jinnah demands redress and resolution to tensions and violence occurring between Muslims and [[Hindus]] in India. Jinnah's actions are not supported by the largely Hindu-dominated [[Indian National Congress]] whom he had previously closely allied with. The decision is seen as part of an agenda by Jinnah to support the eventual creation of an independent Muslim state called [[Pakistan]] from British Empire.

====Australia====
* Australia and New Zealand sign the [[Statute of Westminster 1931|Statute of Westminster]] in 1931 which established legislative equality between the self-governing [[dominion]]s of the [[British Empire]] and the United Kingdom, with a few residual exceptions. The [[Parliament of Australia]] and [[Parliament of New Zealand]] gain full legislative authority over their territories, no longer sharing powers with the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]].
* The [[New Guinea Highlands]] were first visited by Western explorers in the 1930s. The highland valleys were found to be inhabited by over a million people.<ref>{{cite web |title=Papua New Guinea – The colonial period |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Papua-New-Guinea/The-colonial-period |publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica}}</ref>

==Disasters==
[[File:Hindenburg disaster.jpg|thumb|right|The German [[dirigible]] [[airship]] ''[[LZ 129 Hindenburg|Hindenburg]]'' exploding in 1937]]
[[File:Dust storm approaching Stratford, Texas.jpg|thumb|A dust storm approaches [[Stratford, Texas]], in 1935, during the [[Dust Bowl]]]]

* The [[1931 China floods|China floods of 1931]] are among the deadliest natural disasters ever recorded.
* The [[1935 Labor Day Hurricane]] makes landfall in the [[Florida Keys]] as a Category 5 hurricane and the most intense hurricane to ever make landfall in the Atlantic basin. It caused an estimated $6 million (1935 USD) in damages and killed around 408 people. The hurricane's strong winds and storm surge destroyed nearly all of the structures between [[Tavernier, Florida|Tavernier]] and [[Marathon, Florida|Marathon]], and the town of [[Islamorada]] was obliterated.
* The German [[dirigible]] [[airship]] ''[[LZ 129 Hindenburg|Hindenburg]]'' explodes in the sky above [[Lakehurst, New Jersey]], United States on May 6, 1937, killing 36 people. The event leads to an investigation of the explosion and the disaster causes major public distrust of the use of [[hydrogen]]-inflated airships and seriously damages the reputation of the [[Luftschiffbau Zeppelin|Zeppelin company]].
* The [[New London School explosion|New London School]] in [[New London, Texas]], is destroyed by an explosion, killing in excess of 300 students and teachers (1937).
* The [[New England Hurricane of 1938]], which became a Category 5 hurricane before making landfall as a Category 3. The hurricane was estimated to have caused property losses of US$306 million ($4.72 billion in 2010), killed between 682 and 800 people, and damaged or destroyed over 57,000 homes, including the home of famed actress [[Katharine Hepburn]], who had been staying in her family's [[Old Saybrook, Connecticut]], beach home when the hurricane struck.
* The [[Dust Bowl]], or "Dirty Thirties", a period of severe [[dust storms]] causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian [[prairie]] lands from 1930 to 1936 (in some areas until 1940). Caused by extreme [[drought]] coupled with strong winds and decades of extensive farming without [[crop rotation]], fallow fields, [[cover crop]]s, or other techniques to prevent erosion, it affected an estimated {{convert|100,000,000|acre|km2}} of land (traveling as far east as New York and the Atlantic Ocean), caused mass migration (which was the inspiration for the [[Pulitzer Prize]]-winning novel ''[[The Grapes of Wrath]]'' by [[John Steinbeck]]), food shortages, multiple deaths and illness from sand inhalation, and a severe reduction in the going wage rate.
* The [[1938 Yellow River flood]] pours out from [[Huayuankou, Henan|Huayuankou]], China, inundating {{convert|54,000|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} of land and killing an estimated 500,000 people.
{{Clear}}

== Assassinations and attempts ==
[[File:AlexanderIOfYugoslavia50223v.jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[Alexander I of Yugoslavia]]]]

Prominent assassinations, targeted killings, and assassination attempts include:
* Japanese prime minister [[Hamaguchi Osachi]] is shot and wounded by a right-wing extremist in 1930, dying of his wounds nine months later.
* French president [[Paul Doumer]] is assassinated in 1932 by [[Paul Gorguloff]], a mentally unstable Russian émigré.
* Japanese prime minister [[Inukai Tsuyoshi]] is [[May 15 incident|assassinated]] in 1932 by a group of young naval officers and army cadets. 
* Chicago mayor [[Anton Cermak]] was fatally wounded in 1933 by [[Giuseppe Zangara]], an Italian immigrant who intended to assassinate President-elect [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]. Zangara fired five shots at Roosevelt, but Cermak was the one hit, succumbing to his wounds several weeks later.
* U.S. presidential candidate and former Governor of Louisiana [[Huey Long]] is assassinated in 1935 by [[Carl Weiss]].
* [[Engelbert Dollfuss]], [[Chancellor of Austria]] and leading figure of [[Austrofascism]], is assassinated in 1934 by Austrian Nazis. Germany and Italy nearly clash over the issue of Austrian independence despite close ideological similarities of the [[Italian Fascist]] and Nazi regimes.
* [[Alexander I of Yugoslavia]] is assassinated in 1934 during a visit to [[Marseille]], France. His assassin was [[Vlado Chernozemski]], a member of the [[Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization]]. The IMRO was a political organization that fought for secession of [[Vardar Macedonia]] from Yugoslavia.<ref>"The first central committee of IMRO. Memoirs of d-r Hristo Tatarchev", Materials for the Macedonian liberation movement, book IX (series of the Macedonian scientific institute of IMRO, led by Bulgarian academician prof. Lyubomir Miletich), Sofia, 1928, p.&nbsp;102, поредица "Материяли за историята на македонското освободително движение" на Македонския научен институт на ВМРО, воден от българския академик проф. Любомир Милетич, книга IX, София, 1928.</ref>
* [[Sergei Kirov]], an early Bolshevik revolutionary and personal friend to Joseph Stalin, is assassinated in 1934, escalating political repression in the Soviet Union.
* [[Saitō Makoto]] and [[Takahashi Korekiyo]], both former prime ministers of Japan, are assassinated by ultranationalistic Army officers during the [[February 26 incident]] in 1936.
* [[Adolf Hitler]], dictator of [[Nazi Germany]], survived an assassination attempt in 1939 when a bomb planted by [[Georg Elser]] exploded at the [[Bürgerbräukeller]] in [[Munich]]; he had left the building early, avoiding the blast that killed eight others.

==Economics==
[[File:UnemployedMenHopTrain.jpg|thumb|In the United States the significantly high unemployment rate lead many unemployed people to use freight trains in order to seek employment in various cities across the country]]

* The [[Great Depression]] is considered to have begun with the fall of stock prices on September 4, 1929, and then the [[stock market crash]] known as [[Wall Street crash of 1929|Black Tuesday]] on October 29, 1929, and lasted through much of the 1930s.
* The entire decade is marked by widespread unemployment and poverty, although deflation (i.e. falling prices) was limited to 1930–32 and 1938–39. Prices fell 7.02% in 1930, 10.06% in 1931, 9.79% in 1932, 1.41% in 1938 and 0.71% in 1939.<ref>{{cite web|title=Inflation and CPI Consumer Price Index 1930–1939|url=http://inflationdata.com/articles/inflation-cpi-consumer-price-index-1930-1939/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140504110518/http://inflationdata.com/articles/inflation-cpi-consumer-price-index-1930-1939/|archive-date=2014-05-04}}</ref>
* [[Economic interventionism|Economic interventionist policies]] increase in popularity as a result of the Great Depression in both authoritarian and democratic countries. In the Western world, [[Keynesianism]] replaces [[Classical economics|classical economic theory]].
* In an effort to reduce unemployment, the United States government created work projects such as the [[Civilian Conservation Corps]] (CCC) which was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 to maintain National Parks and build roads. Other major U.S. government work projects included [[Hoover Dam]] which was constructed between 1931 and 1936.
* Rapid industrialization takes place in the [[Soviet Union]].
* [[Prohibition in the United States]] ended in 1933. On December 5, 1933, the ratification of the [[Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution|Twenty-first Amendment]] repealed the [[Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution]].
* Drought conditions in Oklahoma and Texas caused the [[Dust Bowl]] which forced tens of thousands of families to abandon their farms and seek employment elsewhere.

==Science and technology==
[[File:Solvay conference 1930.jpg|thumb|[[Solvay Conference]] of 1930, with prominent physicists such as [[Albert Einstein]], [[Werner Heisenberg]], [[Marie Curie]] and [[Enrico Fermi]].]]

===Technology===
Many technological advances occurred in the 1930s, including:
* [[Frank Whittle]] obtained his first patent for the [[turbo-jet engine]] in 1930. He tested his first [[jet engine]] on the ground in 1937.
* On March 8, 1930, the first [[frozen food]]s of [[Clarence Birdseye]] were sold in [[Springfield, Massachusetts]], United States.
* [[Alan Blumlein]] invented the [[stereophonic sound]] in 1931.
* [[Nestlé]] releases the first [[white chocolate]] candy as the [[Milkybar]].;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thenibble.com/zine/archives/best-white-chocolate2.asp#history|title=White Chocolate Made Of|website=thenibble.com|access-date=2 May 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20110224090953/http://www.thenibble.com/zine/archives/best-white-chocolate2.asp#history|archive-date=24 February 2011}}</ref>
* [[Ub Iwerks]] produced the first Color Sound Cartoon in 1930, a [[Flip the Frog]] cartoon entitled ''[[Fiddlesticks (1930 film)|Fiddlesticks]]'';
* In 1930, [[Warner Brothers]] released the first All-Talking All-Color wide-screen movie, ''[[Song of the Flame (film)|Song of the Flame]]''; in 1930 alone, Warner Brothers released ten All-Color All-Talking feature movies in [[Technicolor]] and scores of shorts and features with color sequences;
* In 1931 American aviators [[Clyde Edward Pangborn]] and Hugh Herndon, Jr., complete the first [[non-stop flight]] across the Pacific Ocean, flying their plane, ''[[Miss Veedol]]'', from [[Misawa, Aomori|Misawa, Japan]], to [[East Wenatchee, Washington]], in 41½ hours.<ref>{{cite web|title=Pangborn-Herndon Memorial Site|url=http://www.nps.gov/nr//travel/aviation/pan.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120805201031/http://www.nps.gov/nr//travel/aviation/pan.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 5, 2012|work=Aviation: From Sand Dunes To Sonic Booms|publisher=[[National Park Service]]|access-date=2012-05-31}}</ref>
* [[Air mail]] service across the Atlantic Ocean began;
* [[Radar]] was invented, known as RDF (Radio Direction Finding), such as in British Patent GB593017 by [[Robert Watson-Watt]] in 1938[[File:Paris expo 1937.jpg|thumb|The Place de Varsovie in [[Paris]] during the [[Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne|World Expo]] in 1937, photographed using newly invented [[Agfacolor]] process.]]
* In 1933, the [[3M]] company marketed [[Scotch Tape]];
* In 1931, [[RCA Victor]] introduced the first long-playing phonograph record.
* In 1935, the British [[London and North Eastern Railway]] introduced the [[A4 Pacific]], designed by [[Nigel Gresley]]. Just three years later, one of these, [[LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard|No. 4468 Mallard]], would become the fastest steam locomotive in the world.
* In 1935, [[Kodachrome]] is invented, being the first color film made by [[Eastman Kodak]].
* In 1936, The first regular [[High-definition television|high-definition]] (then defined as at least 200 lines) television service from the [[BBC]], based at [[Alexandra Palace]] in London, officially begins broadcasting.
* The [[Volkswagen Beetle]], one of the best-selling [[automobile]]s ever produced, had its roots in [[Nazi Germany]] in the late 1930s. Created by [[Ferdinand Porsche]] and his chief designer [[Erwin Komenda]]. The car would prove to be successful, and is still in production today as the [[Volkswagen New Beetle|New Beetle]].
* In 1935, [[Howard Hughes]], flying the H-1, set the landplane [[Flight airspeed record|airspeed record]] of 352&nbsp;mph (566&nbsp;km/h).
* In 1937, flying the same H-1 Racer fitted with longer wings, the ambitious Hughes sets a new [[transcontinental airspeed record]] by flying non-stop from Los Angeles to Newark in 7 hours, 28 minutes, and 25 seconds (beating his own previous record of 9 hours, 27 minutes). His average ground speed during the flight was 322&nbsp;mph (518&nbsp;km/h).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.centennialofflight.net/essay/Explorers_Record_Setters_and_Daredevils/Hughes/EX28.htm|title=Howard R. Hughes, Jr.--The Record Setter|website=centennialofflight.net|access-date=2017-12-24|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630210746/http://www.centennialofflight.net/essay/Explorers_Record_Setters_and_Daredevils/Hughes/EX28.htm|archive-date=2017-06-30}}</ref>
* First intercontinental commercial airline flights.
* The [[chocolate chip cookie]] is developed in 1938 by [[Ruth Graves Wakefield]].
* The [[Frying pan (guitar)|Frying Pan]] becomes the first electric [[lap steel guitar]] ever produced.
* [[Edwin Armstrong]] invents wide-band [[frequency modulation]] radio in 1933.
* The [[bass guitar]] is invented by [[Paul Tutmarc]] of Seattle, Washington, in 1936.
* [[EMI]] research team, under [[Isaac Shoenberg]], developed the 405-line (Marconi-EMI system), the first fully electronic television system in 1936.

===Science===
[[File:Pluto in True Color - High-Res.jpg|upright|thumb|The discovery of the dwarf planet [[Pluto]]]]

* In 1930, Astronomer [[Clyde Tombaugh]] discovers [[Pluto]], which goes on to be announced as the ninth planet in the Solar System.
* In 1935, [[Irene Joliot-Curie]] and [[Jean Frederic Joliot]] are awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] for synthesis of new radioactive elements for application in medicine.
* In 1936, Danish seismologist [[Inge Lehmann]] was able to conclude that the Earth had a solid inner core and a molten outer core to explain inconsistencies in seismic wave data from earthquakes
* In 1939, [[Marguerite Perey]], a student of [[Marie Curie]], discovered the element [[francium]] by purifying samples of [[lanthanum]]<ref>{{Cite news |date=2014-12-03 |title=My Great-Great-Aunt Discovered Francium. And It Killed Her. (Published 2014) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/magazine/my-great-great-aunt-discovered-francium-and-it-killed-her.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240508174947/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/magazine/my-great-great-aunt-discovered-francium-and-it-killed-her.html |archive-date=2024-05-08 |access-date=2024-12-14 |language=en-US}}</ref>
* In 1939, [[Nuclear fission]] is discovered by [[Otto Hahn]], [[Lise Meitner]] and [[Fritz Strassman]]. [[Albert Einstein]]'s equations form the basis for creation of the atomic bomb.

==Popular culture==
===Literature and art===
* Height of the [[Art Deco]] movement in North America and [[Western Europe]].
* Notable poetry include [[W. H. Auden]]'s ''[[Poems (Auden)|Poems]]''.
* Notable literature includes [[F. Scott Fitzgerald]]'s ''[[Tender Is the Night]]'' (1934), [[T. H. White]]'s ''[[The Sword in the Stone (novel)|The Sword in the Stone]]'' (1938), [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Hobbit]]'' (1937), [[Aldous Huxley]]'s ''[[Brave New World]]'' (1932), [[John Steinbeck]]'s ''[[The Grapes of Wrath|Grapes of Wrath]]'' (1939) and ''[[Of Mice and Men]]'' (1937), [[Ernest Hemingway]]'s ''[[To Have and Have Not]]'' (1937), [[John Dos Passos]]'s [[U.S.A. trilogy]], [[William Faulkner]]'s ''[[As I Lay Dying (novel)|As I Lay Dying]]'' (1930) and ''[[Absalom, Absalom!]]'' (1936), [[John O'Hara]]'s ''[[Appointment in Samarra]]'' (1934) and ''[[Butterfield 8]]'' (1935), and [[Margaret Mitchell]]'s ''[[Gone with the Wind (novel)|Gone with the Wind]]'' (1936), which was later famously adapted into a [[Gone with the Wind (film)|film]] in 1939.
* Notable "[[hardboiled]]" crime fiction includes [[Raymond Chandler]]'s ''[[The Big Sleep]]'', [[Dashiell Hammett]]'s ''[[The Maltese Falcon (novel)|The Maltese Falcon]]'', [[James M. Cain]]'s ''[[The Postman Always Rings Twice (novel)|The Postman Always Rings Twice]]'' (1934).
* Notable plays include [[Thornton Wilder]]'s ''[[Our Town]]'' (1938).
* Near the end of the decade, two of the world's most iconic superheroes and recognizable fictional characters were introduced in comic books; [[Superman]] first appeared in 1938, and [[Batman]] in 1939.
* The 1930 also saw the widespread popularity of the [[pulp magazine]]. Printed on cheap [[Pulp (paper)|pulp paper]], these magazines provided affordable entertainment to the masses and quickly became one of the most popular forms of media during the decade. Many prominent writers of the 20th century would get their start writing for pulps, including [[F. Scott Fitzgerald]], [[Dashiell Hammett]], [[Isaac Asimov]] and [[H. P. Lovecraft]]. Pulp fiction magazines would last in popularity until the advent of [[television]] in the 1950s.
* Popular [[comic strips]] which began in the 1930s include ''[[Captain Easy]]'' by [[Roy Crane]], ''[[Alley Oop]]'' by [[V. T. Hamlin]], ''[[Prince Valiant]]'' by [[Hal Foster]], and ''[[Flash Gordon]]'' by [[Alex Raymond]].
* The beginning of the [[Golden Age of Science Fiction]] in the late-1930s, spurred on by writer and editor [[John W. Campbell|John C. Campbell]], launching the careers of such writers as [[Robert A. Heinlein|Robert Heinlein]], [[Isaac Asimov]] and [[A. E. van Vogt]].
* [[David Alfaro Siqueiros]] paints the controversial mural [[América Tropical: Oprimida y Destrozada por los Imperialismos|''América Tropical'']] (full name: ''América Tropical: Oprimida y Destrozada por los Imperialismos'', or ''Tropical America: Oppressed and Destroyed by Imperialism''<ref>Del Barco, Mandalit. [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130519329 Revolutionary Mural To Return To L.A. After 80 Years.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180502114837/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130519329|date=2018-05-02}} npr. October 26, 2010. Retrieved June 19, 2015.</ref>) (1932) at [[Olvera Street]] in Los Angeles, California.<ref>Rondeau, Ginette [http://www.olvera-street.com/About-Us/-Siqueiros-Mural/-siqueiros-mural.html ''La América Tropical''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141007044800/http://www.olvera-street.com/About-Us/-Siqueiros-Mural/-siqueiros-mural.html|date=2014-10-07}} ''Olvera Street Website'' Accessed 14 November 2014</ref>
* [[Jorge Luis Borges]] publishes ''[[A Universal History of Infamy]]'' in 1935. Angel Flores, the creator of the term "[[magical realism]]" claims this book originated the movement.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Flores |first=Angel |date=May 1955 |title=Magical Realism in Spanish American Fiction |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/335812 |journal=Hispania |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=187 |doi=10.2307/335812 |issn=0018-2133|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
* [[Roberto Arlt]] publishes ''[[The Flamethrowers (Arlt novel)|The Flamethrowers]]'', the second part of his novel ''The Seven Madmen''

===Best-selling books===
{{Main|Publishers Weekly list of bestselling novels in the United States in the 1930s}}

The best-selling books of every year in the United States were as follows:<ref>{{cite book|author1=Hackett, Alice Payne|author2=Burke, James Henry |title=80 Years of Bestsellers: 1895–1975|date=1977|publisher=R. R. Bowker Company|isbn=0-8352-0908-3|location=New York|pages=109–127}}</ref>
* 1930: ''[[Cimarron (novel)|Cimarron]]'' by [[Edna Ferber]]
* 1931: ''[[The Good Earth]]'' by [[Pearl S. Buck]]
* 1932: ''[[The Good Earth]]'' by [[Pearl S. Buck]]
* 1933: ''[[Anthony Adverse (novel)|Anthony Adverse]]'' by [[Hervey Allen]]
* 1934: ''[[Anthony Adverse (novel)|Anthony Adverse]]'' by [[Hervey Allen]]
* 1935: ''Green Light'' by [[Lloyd C. Douglas]]
* 1936: ''[[Gone with the Wind (novel)|Gone with the Wind]]'' by [[Margaret Mitchell]]
* 1937: ''[[Gone with the Wind (novel)|Gone with the Wind]]'' by [[Margaret Mitchell]]
* 1938: ''[[The Yearling]]'' by [[Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings]]
* 1939: ''[[The Grapes of Wrath]]'' by [[John Steinbeck]]

===Film===
{{Main|1930s in film}}

* [[Charlie Chaplin]]'s [[groundbreaking]] classic, "[[City Lights]]", was released in 1931.
* Charlie Chaplin's last film featuring his signature character, "[[The Tramp]]", was subsequently released in 1936.
* [[Walt Disney]]'s ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs]]'' was released in 1937.
* ''[[The Little Princess (1939 film)|The Little Princess]]'' was released in 1939.
* ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'' was released in 1939.
* In the art of filmmaking, the [[Golden Age of Hollywood]] enters a new era after the advent of talking pictures ("[[talkies]]") in 1927 and full-color films in 1930: more than 50 classic films were made in the 1930s; most notable were ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone With The Wind]]'' and ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]''.
* In 1930s, animated cartoon short films including [[Donald Duck]], [[Goofy]], [[Pluto (Disney)|Pluto]], [[Betty Boop]], [[Popeye]], [[Looney Tunes]] and [[Merrie Melodies]].
* The new soundtrack and photographic technologies prompted many films to be made or re-made, such as the 1934 version of ''[[Cleopatra (1934 film)|Cleopatra]]'', using lush [[art deco]] sets, which won an [[Academy Award]] (see films 1930–1939 in [[Academy Award for Best Cinematography]]).
* [[Universal Pictures]] begins producing its distinctive series of horror films, which came to be known as the Universal Monsters, featuring what would become iconic representations of literary and mythological monsters. The [[horror film]]s (or [[monster movie]]s) included many cult classics, such as ''[[Dracula (1931 English-language film)|Dracula]]'', ''[[Frankenstein (1931 film)|Frankenstein]]'', ''[[The Mummy (1932 film)|The Mummy]]'', ''[[Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931 film)|Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]]'', ''[[King Kong (1933 film)|King Kong]]'', ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939 film)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'', and other films about [[wax museum]]s, [[vampire]]s, and [[zombie]]s, leading to the 1941 film ''[[The Wolf Man (1941 film)|The Wolf Man]]''. These films led to the stardom of stars such as [[Bela Lugosi]], [[Lon Chaney Jr]], and [[Boris Karloff]].
* Recurring series and serials included [[The Three Stooges]], [[Laurel and Hardy]], the [[Marx Brothers]], [[Tarzan]], [[Charlie Chan]] and [[Our Gang]].
* In 1930, Howard Hughes produces ''[[Hell's Angels (film)|Hell's Angels]]'', the first movie [[Blockbuster (entertainment)|blockbuster]] to be produced outside of a professional studio, independently, and at the time the most expensive movie ever made, costing roughly 4 million dollars and taking four years to make.
<gallery widths="190" perrow="5">
File:TempsModernesTrailer2.jpg|[[Charlie Chaplin]] in a scene from the film ''[[Modern Times (film)|Modern Times]]'' (1936)
File:Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz trailer 2.jpg|[[Judy Garland]] as [[Dorothy Gale]] in ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'' (1939)
File:Albert Einstein and Charlie Chaplin City Lights premiere 1931.jpg|[[Albert Einstein]] with [[Charlie Chaplin]] during the premiere of "[[City Lights|City Lights" (1931)]]
File:Disorder in the Court.JPG|[[The Three Stooges]] produced multiple short comedy films with [[Columbia Pictures]] during the decade, making them icons.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-10-27 |title=History of The Three Stooges: Pop-Culture Icons Forever |url=https://tedium.co/2021/10/22/three-stooges-history/ |access-date=2023-12-27 |website=Tedium: The Dull Side of the Internet. |language=en}}</ref>
</gallery>

====Highest-grossing films====
{{Main|List of highest-grossing films}}
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
! scope="col" |Year
! scope="col" |Title
! scope="col" |Worldwide gross
! scope="col" |Budget
! scope="col" |Reference(s)
|-
! scope="row" |[[1930 in film|1930]]
|''[[All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 film)|All Quiet on the Western Front]]''
| align="right" |{{nts|3000000|prefix=$}}{{ref|Rentals|R}}
| align="right" |{{nts|1250000|prefix=$}}
|<ref name="Variety (1932)2" group="#">{{cite news |date=June 21, 1932 |title=Biggest Money Pictures |page=1 |work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |url=https://archive.org/details/variety106-1932-06/page/n120/mode/1up |via=[[Archive.org]]}} Cited in {{cite web |title=Biggest Money Pictures |url=http://www.cinemaweb.com/silentfilm/bookshelf/7_v_32_4.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708155503/http://www.cinemaweb.com/silentfilm/bookshelf/7_v_32_4.htm |archive-date=July 8, 2011 |access-date=July 14, 2011 |publisher=Cinemaweb}}</ref><ref group="#">{{cite book |last=Cormack |first=Mike |title=Ideology and Cinematography in Hollywood, 1930–1939 |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-312-10067-4 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=w0JSFWpr2gAC&pg=PA28 28] |quote=Although costing $1250000—a huge sum for any studio in 1929—the film was a financial success. Karl Thiede gives the domestic box-office at $1500000, and the same figure for the foreign gross.}}</ref><ref name="Balio (1996)2" group="#">{{cite book |last=Balio |first=Tino |title=Grand Design: Hollywood as a Modern Business Enterprise, 1930–1939 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-520-20334-1 |volume=5 of History of the American Cinema}}
* ''Cavalcade'': p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=_J9HTLOI08wC&pg=PA182 182]. "Produced by Winfield Sheehan at a cost of $1.25&nbsp;million, ''Cavalcade'' won Academy Awards for best picture, director, art direction and grossed close to $4&nbsp;million during its first release, much of which came from Great Britain and the Empire."
* ''Whoopee'': p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=_J9HTLOI08wC&pg=PA212 212]. "Produced by Sam Goldwyn at a cost of $1&nbsp;million, the picture was an adaptation of a smash musical comedy built around Eddie Cantor...A personality-centered musical, ''Whoopee!'' made little attempt to integrate the comedy routines, songs, and story. Nonetheless, Cantor's feature-film debut grossed over $2.6&nbsp;million worldwide and started a popular series that included ''Palmy Days'' (1931), ''The Kid from Spain'' (1932), and ''Roman Scandals'' (1933)."</ref><ref name="Balio (1976)2" group="#">''Hell's Angels''
* {{cite book |last=Balio |first=Tino |title=United Artists: The Company Built by the Stars |publisher=[[University of Wisconsin Press]] |year=1976 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=QljKdIYzncoC&pg=PA110 110] |quote=Hughes did not have the "Midas touch" the trade press so often attributed to him. ''Variety'', for example, reported that ''Hell's Angels'' cost $3.2&nbsp;million to make, and by July, 1931, eight months after its release, the production cost had nearly been paid off. Keats claimed the picture cost $4&nbsp;million to make and that it earned twice that much within twenty years. The production cost estimate is probably correct. Hughes worked on the picture for over two years, shooting it first as a silent and then as a talkie. Lewis Milestone said that in between Hughes experimented with shooting it in color as well. But ''Variety''{{'}}s earnings report must be the fabrication of a delirious publicity agent, and Keats' the working of a myth maker. During the seven years it was in United Artists distribution, ''Hell's Angels'' grossed $1.6&nbsp;million in the domestic market, of which Hughes' share was $1.2&nbsp;million. Whatever the foreign gross was, it seems unlikely that it was great enough to earn a profit for the picture.}}</ref>
|-
! rowspan="2" scope="row" |[[1931 in film|1931]]
|''[[Frankenstein (1931 film)|Frankenstein]]''
| align="right" |{{nts|12000000|prefix=$}}{{ref|Rentals|R}} ({{nts|1400000|prefix=$}}){{ref|Rentals|R}}
| align="right" |{{nts|250000|prefix=$}}
|<ref group="#">{{cite web |last=Feaster |first=Felicia |title=Frankenstein (1931) |url=https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/18617 |access-date=July 4, 2011 |publisher=[[Turner Classic Movies]]}}</ref><ref group="#">{{harvnb|Block|Wilson|2010|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=vpbuSXSSqdkC&q=%22worldwide+rentals%22&pg=PA163 163]}}. "It drew $1.4&nbsp;million in worldwide rentals in its first run versus $1.2&nbsp;million for ''Dracula'', which had opened in February 1931."</ref>
|-
|''[[City Lights]]''
| align="right" |{{nts|5000000|prefix=$}}{{ref|Rentals|R}}
| align="right" |{{nts|1607351|prefix=$}}
|<ref group="#">{{cite book |last=Vance |first=Jeffrey |title=Chaplin: genius of the cinema |publisher=[[Abrams Books]] |year=2003 |page=[https://archive.org/details/chaplingeniusofc00vanc 208] |quote=Chaplin's negative cost for City Lights was $1,607,351. The film eventually earned him a worldwide profit of $5&nbsp;million ($2&nbsp;million domestically and $3&nbsp;million in foreign distribution), an enormous sum of money for the time.}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" |[[1932 in film|1932]]
|''[[The Sign of the Cross (1932 film)|The Sign of the Cross]]''
| align="right" |{{nts|2738993|prefix=$}}{{ref|Rentals|R}}
| align="right" |{{nts|694065|prefix=$}}
|<ref name="Birchard (2009)2" group="#">{{Cite book |last=Birchard |first=Robert S. |title=Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood |publisher=[[University Press of Kentucky]] |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8131-3829-9}}
* ch. [https://books.google.com/books?id=h8I1dEf7GqIC&pg=PT104 45. The Ten Commandments] (1923). "Cost: $1,475,836.93; Gross: $4,169,798.38"
* ch. [https://books.google.com/books?id=h8I1dEf7GqIC&pg=PT138 56. The Sign of the Cross]. "Cost: $694,064.67; Gross: $2,738,993.35 (to 1937)"
* ch. [https://books.google.com/books?id=h8I1dEf7GqIC&pg=PT177 68. Samson and Delilah]. "Cost: $3,097,563.05"
* ch. [https://books.google.com/books?id=h8I1dEf7GqIC&pg=PT181 69. The Greatest Show on Earth]. "Cost: $3,873,946.50; Gross receipts: $15,797,396.36 (to December 29, 1962)"
* ch. [https://books.google.com/books?id=h8I1dEf7GqIC&pg=PT185 70. The Ten Commandments] (1956). "Cost: $13,272,381.87; Gross receipts: $90,066,230.00 (to June 23, 1979)"</ref><ref name="IMPA (1937)2" group="#">{{cite journal |year=1937 |editor-last=Ramsaye |editor-first=Terry |title=The All-Time Best Sellers – Motion Pictures |journal=International Motion Picture Almanac 1937–38 |pages=[https://archive.org/stream/international193738quig#page/942/mode/2up 942–943] |quote=''Kid from Spain'': $2,621,000 (data supplied by Eddie Cantor)}}</ref><ref name="Sedgwick2" group="#">{{cite book |last=Sedgwick |first=John |title=Popular Filmgoing In 1930s Britain: A Choice of Pleasures |publisher=[[University of Exeter Press]] |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-85989-660-3 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=YsUfc8Ijb-wC&pg=PA146 146]–148 |quote=Sources: Eddie Mannix Ledger, made available to the author by Mark Glancy...}}
* ''Grand Hotel'': Production Cost $000s: 700; Distribution Cost $000s: 947; U.S. box-office $000s: 1,235; Foreign box-office $000s: 1,359; Total box-office $000s: 2,594; Profit $000s: 947.
* ''The Merry Widow'': Production Cost $000s: 1,605; Distribution Cost $000s: 1,116; U.S. box-office $000s: 861; Foreign box-office $000s: 1,747; Total box-office $000s: 2,608; Profit $000s: -113.
* ''Viva Villa'': Production Cost $000s: 1,022; Distribution Cost $000s: 766; U.S. box-office $000s: 941; Foreign box-office $000s: 934; Total box-office $000s: 1,875; Profit $000s: 87.
* ''Mutiny on the Bounty'': Production Cost $000s: 1,905; Distribution Cost $000s: 1,646; U.S. box-office $000s: 2,250; Foreign box-office $000s: 2,210; Total box-office $000s: 4,460; Profit $000s: 909.
* ''San Francisco'': Production Cost $000s: 1,300; Distribution Cost $000s: 1,736; U.S. box-office $000s: 2,868; Foreign box-office $000s: 2,405; Total box-office $000s: 5,273; Profit $000s: 2,237.</ref><ref name="shanghai2" group="#">''Shanghai Express''
* {{harvnb|Block|Wilson|2010|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=vpbuSXSSqdkC&pg=PA165 165]}}. "''Shanghai Express'' was Dietrich's biggest hit in America, bringing in $1.5&nbsp;million in worldwide rentals."</ref>
|-
! rowspan="4" scope="row" |[[1933 in film|1933]]
|''[[King Kong (1933 film)|King Kong]]''
| align="right" |{{nts|{{#expr:1856000+306000+685000+2500000}}|prefix=$}}{{ref|Rentals|R}} ({{nts|1856000|prefix=$}}){{ref|Rentals|R}}
| align="right" |{{nts|672,255.75|prefix=$}}
|<ref group="#">''King Kong''
* {{cite journal |last=Jewel |first=Richard |year=1994 |title=RKO Film Grosses: 1931–1951 |journal=Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television |volume=14 |issue=1 |page=39 |quote=1933 release: $1,856,000; 1938 release: $306,000; 1944 release: $685,000}}
* {{cite web |title=King Kong (1933)&nbsp;– Notes |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/2690/king-kong#notes |access-date=January 7, 2012 |publisher=[[Turner Classic Movies]] |quote=1952 release: $2,500,000; budget: $672,254.75}}</ref>
|-
|''[[I'm No Angel]]''
| align="right" |{{nts|{{#expr:2250000+1000000}}|prefix=$}}+{{ref|Rentals|R}}
| align="right" |{{nts|200000|prefix=$}}
|<ref group="#">{{cite web |title=I'm No Angel (1933)&nbsp;– Notes |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/79021/im-no-angel#notes |access-date=January 7, 2012 |publisher=[[Turner Classic Movies]] |quote=According to a modern source, it had a gross earning of $2,250,000 on the North American continent, with over a million more earned internationally.}}</ref><ref group="#">{{harvnb|Finler|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=rvVhEJmbfrsC&q=angel%20rock-bottom%20cost&pg=PA188 188]}}. "The studio released its most profitable pictures of the decade in 1933, ''She Done Him Wrong'' and ''I'm No Angel'', written by and starring Mae West. Produced at a rock-bottom cost of $200,000 each, they undoubtedly helped Paramount through the worst patch in its history..."</ref>
|-
|''[[Cavalcade (1933 film)|Cavalcade]]''
| align="right" |{{nts|3000000|prefix=$}}–{{nts|4000000}}{{ref|Rentals|R}}
| align="right" |{{nts|1116000|prefix=$}}
|<ref name="Solomon (2011)2" group="#">{{cite book |last=Solomon |first=Aubrey |title=The Fox Film Corporation, 1915–1935: A History and Filmography |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-7864-6286-5}}
* ''Way Down East'': p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=zospQ7o5u0oC&pg=PA52 52]. "D.W. Griffith's ''Way Down East'' (1920) was projected to return rentals of $4,000,000 on an $800,000 negative. This figure was based on the amounts earned from its roadshow run, coupled with its playoff in the rest of the country's theaters. Griffith had originally placed the potential film rental at $3,000,000 but, because of the success of the various roadshows that were running the $4,000,000 total was expected. The film showed a profit of $615,736 after just 23 weeks of release on a gross of $2,179,613."
* ''What Price Glory?'': p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=zospQ7o5u0oC&q=What%20Price%20Glory%20hit%20the%20jackpot%20with%20massive%20world%20rentals%20of%20%242%2C429%2C000%2C%20the%20highest%20figure%20in%20the%20history%20of%20the%20company.%20Since%20it%20was%20also%20the%20most%20expensive%20production%20of%20the%20year%20at%20%24817%2C000%20the%20profit%20was%20still%20a%20healthy%20%24796%2C000&pg=PA122 112]. "What Price Glory hit the jackpot with massive world rentals of $2,429,000, the highest figure in the history of the company. Since it was also the most expensive production of the year at $817,000 the profit was still a healthy $796,000..."
* ''Cavalcade'': p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=zospQ7o5u0oC&pg=PA170 170]. "The actual cost of ''Cavalcade'' was $1,116,000 and it was most definitely not guaranteed a success. In fact, if its foreign grosses followed the usual 40 percent of domestic returns, the film would have lost money. In a turnaround, the foreign gross was almost double the $1,000,000 domestic take to reach total world rentals of $3,000,000 and Fox's largest profit of the year at $664,000."
* ''State Fair'': p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=zospQ7o5u0oC&pg=PA170 170]. "''State Fair'' did turn out to be a substantial hit with the help of Janet Gaynor boosting Will Rogers back to the level of money-making star. Its prestige engagements helped raked in a total $1,208,000 in domestic rentals. Surprisingly, in foreign countries unfamiliar with state fairs, it still earned a respectable $429,000. With its total rentals, the film ended up showing a $398,000 profit."</ref><ref name="Balio (1996)2" group="#" />
|-
|''[[She Done Him Wrong]]''
| align="right" |{{nts|3000000|prefix=$}}+{{ref|Rentals|R}}
| align="right" |{{nts|274076|prefix=$}}
|<ref name="BlockWilson1732" group="#">{{citation |last=Block |first=Alex Ben |title=She Done Him Wrong |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=vpbuSXSSqdkC&pg=PA173 173] |year=2010 |quote=The worldwide rentals of over $3&nbsp;million keep the lights on at Paramount, which did not shy away from selling the movie's sex appeal.}} In: {{harvnb|Block|Wilson|2010}}.</ref><ref name="Phillips (2008)2" group="#">{{cite book |last=Phillips |first=Kendall R. |title=Controversial Cinema: The Films That Outraged America |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-56720-724-8 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ViQzDunkm9QC&pg=PA26 26] |quote=The reaction to West's first major film, however, was not exclusively negative. Made for a mere $200,000, the film would rake in a healthy $2&nbsp;million in the United States and an additional million in overseas markets.}}</ref><ref group="#">{{harvnb|Block|Wilson|2010|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=vpbuSXSSqdkC&pg=PA135 135]}}. "Total production cost: $274,076 (Unadjusted $s)."</ref>
|-
! rowspan="2" scope="row" |[[1934 in film|1934]]
|''[[The Merry Widow (1934 film)|The Merry Widow]]''
| align="right" |{{nts|{{#expr:2608000}}|prefix=$}}{{ref|Rentals|R}}
| align="right" |{{nts|1605000|prefix=$}}
|<ref name="Turk2" group="#">{{cite book |last=Turk |first=Edward Baron |title=Hollywood Diva: A Biography of Jeanette MacDonald |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-520-22253-3 |orig-date=1st. pub. 1998}}
* ''The Merry Widow'': p. [[iarchive:hollywooddivabio0000turk/page/361|361]] Cost: $1,605,000. Earnings: domestic $861,000; foreign $1,747,000; total $2,608,000. Loss: $113,000.
* ''San Francisco'': p. [[iarchive:hollywooddivabio0000turk/page/364|364]] Cost: $1,300,000. Earnings: domestic $2,868,000; foreign $2,405,000; total $5,273,000. Profit: $2,237,000. [Reissues in 1938–39 and 1948–49 brought profits of $124,000 and $647,000 respectively.]</ref><ref name="Sedgwick2" group="#" />
|-
|''[[It Happened One Night]]''
| align="right" |{{nts|2500000|prefix=$}}{{ref|Rentals|R}} {{ref|One Night|ON}}
| align="right" |{{nts|325000|prefix=$}}
|<ref group="#">{{cite magazine |date=November 7, 1962 |title=Wall St. Researchers' Cheery Tone |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |page=7}}</ref><ref group="#">{{Cite book |last=Dick |first=Bernard F. |title=Claudette Colbert: She Walked in Beauty |publisher=[[University Press of Mississippi]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-60473-087-6 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=P3P9efYabOQC&pg=PA79 79] |quote=Although Columbia's president, Harry Cohn, had strong reservations about ''It Happened One Night'', he also knew that it would not bankrupt the studio; the rights were only $5,000, and the budget was set at $325,000, including the performers' salaries.}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" |[[1935 in film|1935]]
|''[[Mutiny on the Bounty (1935 film)|Mutiny on the Bounty]]''
| align="right" |{{nts|4460000|prefix=$}}{{ref|Rentals|R}}
| align="right" |{{nts|1905000|prefix=$}}
|<ref name="Sedgwick2" group="#" />
|-
! scope="row" |[[1936 in film|1936]]
|''[[San Francisco (1936 film)|San Francisco]]''
| align="right" |{{nts|{{#expr:5273000+124000+647000}}|prefix=$}}+{{ref|Rentals|R}} ({{nts|5273000|prefix=$}}){{ref|Rentals|R}}
| align="right" |{{nts|1300000|prefix=$}}
|<ref name="Turk2" group="#" /><ref name="Sedgwick2" group="#" />
|-
! scope="row" |[[1937 in film|1937]]
|''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs]]''
| align="right" |{{nts|{{#expr:418000000}}|prefix=$}}+{{ref|Snow White|S7}} ({{nts|{{#expr:4200000+4300000}}|prefix=$}}){{ref|Rentals|R}}
| align="right" |{{nts|1488423|prefix=$}}
|<ref group="#">''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs''
* {{cite book |last=Monaco |first=Paul |title=A History of American Movies: A Film-By-Film Look at the Art, Craft, and Business of Cinema |publisher=[[Scarecrow Press]] |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-8108-7434-3 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=tgnKY6k5tHYC&pg=PA54 54] |quote=Considered a highly risky gamble when the movie was in production in the mid-1930s, by the fiftieth anniversary of its 1937 premiere ''Snow White''{{'}}s earnings exceeded $330&nbsp;million.}}
* {{cite book |last1=Wilhelm |first1=Henry Gilmer |url=https://archive.org/details/permanencecareof00henr/page/359 |title=The Permanence and Care of Color Photographs: Traditional and Digital Color Prints, Color Negatives, Slides, and Motion Pictures |last2=Brower |first2=Carol |publisher=Preservation Pub |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-911515-00-8 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=0OtTAAAAMAAJ&q=%22snow+white%22+million+worldwide+grosses 359] |quote=In only 2 months after the 1987 re-release, the film grossed another $45&nbsp;million—giving it a total gross to date of about $375&nbsp;million!}}
* {{cite web |title=Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1987 Re-issue) |url=http://pro.boxoffice.com/movie/9400/snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs-1987-re-issue |access-date=May 29, 2016 |website=[[Boxoffice (magazine)|Boxoffice]] |quote=North American box-office: $46,594,719}}
* {{cite web |title=Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1993 Re-issue) |url=http://pro.boxoffice.com/movie/9401/snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs-1993-re-issue |access-date=May 29, 2016 |website=[[Boxoffice (magazine)|Boxoffice]] |quote=North American box-office: $41,634,791}}</ref><ref name="Snow White & Pinocchio2" group="#">''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' and ''Pinocchio''
* {{harvnb|Block|Wilson|2010}}

:: p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=vpbuSXSSqdkC&q=When%20the%20budget%20rose%20from%20%24250%2C000%20to%20%241%2C488%2C423&pg=PA207 207]. "When the budget rose from $250,000 to $1,488,423 he even mortgaged his own home and automobile. Disney had bet more than his company on the success of ''Snow White''."
:: p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=vpbuSXSSqdkC&q=%22%248%20million%20in%20worldwide%20rentals%22%20george%20lucas%20blockbusting&pg=PA237 237]. "By the end of 1938, it had grossed more than $8&nbsp;million in worldwide rentals and was ranked at the time as the second-highest-grossing film after the 1925 epic ''Ben-Hur''".
:: p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=vpbuSXSSqdkC&q=%22foreign%20rentals%22&pg=PA255 255]. "On its initial release ''Pinocchio'' brought in only $1.6&nbsp;million in domestic rentals (compared with ''Snow White''{{'}}s $4.2&nbsp;million) and $1.9&nbsp;million in foreign rentals (compared with ''Snow White''{{'}}s $4.3&nbsp;million)."
</ref>
|-
! scope="row" |[[1938 in film|1938]]
|''[[You Can't Take It With You (film)|You Can't Take It With You]]''
| align="right" |{{nts|5000000|prefix=$}}{{ref|Rentals|R}}
| align="right" |{{nts|1200000|prefix=$}}
|<ref group="#">1938
* ''You Can't Take It With You'':{{cite web |title=You Can't Take It With You Premieres |url=http://focusfeatures.com/flashback?article_url=you_can_t_take_it_with_you_premieres |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/6AeWlL1hk?url=http://focusfeatures.com/flashback?article_url=you_can_t_take_it_with_you_premieres |archive-date=September 13, 2012 |publisher=[[Focus Features]] |quote=''You Can't Take It With You'' received excellent reviews, won Best Picture and Best Director at the 1938 Academy Awards, and earned over $5&nbsp;million worldwide.}}{{cbignore}}
* ''Boys Town'': {{citation |last=Block |first=Alex Ben |title=Boys Town |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=vpbuSXSSqdkC&pg=PA215 215] |year=2010 |quote=The film quickly became a smash nationwide, making a profit of over $2&nbsp;million on worldwide rentals of $4&nbsp;million.}} In: {{harvnb|Block|Wilson|2010}}.
* ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'': {{cite journal |last=Glancy |first=H. Mark |year=1995 |title=Warner Bros Film Grosses, 1921–51: the William Schaefer ledger |journal=Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television |volume=1 |issue=15 |pages=55–60 |doi=10.1080/01439689500260031 |quote=$3.981&nbsp;million.}}
* ''Alexander's Ragtime Band'': {{citation |last=Block |first=Hayley Taylor |title=Alexander's Ragtime Band |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=vpbuSXSSqdkC&q=%22worldwide%20rentals%22&pg=PA213 213] |year=2010 |quote=Once the confusion cleared, however, the film blossomed into a commercial success, with a profit of $978,000 on worldwide rentals of $3.6&nbsp;million.}} In: {{harvnb|Block|Wilson|2010}}.</ref><ref group="#">{{cite magazine |last=Chartier |first=Roy |date=September 6, 1938 |title=You Can't Take It With You |url=https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117796537 |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |access-date=September 13, 2011}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row" |[[1939 in film|1939]]
|''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]]''
| align="right" |{{nts|390525192|prefix=$}}–{{nts|402352579}}
({{nts|32000000|prefix=$}}){{ref|Rentals|R}} {{ref|GWTW|GW}}
| align="right" |{{nts|3900000|prefix=$}}–{{nts|4250000}}
|<ref group="#">{{cite web |title=Gone with the Wind |url=https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/1939/0GWTW.php |access-date=February 8, 2013 |website=The Numbers |publisher=Nash Information Services. LLC}}</ref><ref group="#">{{cite web |title=Gone with the Wind |url=http://pro.boxoffice.com/movie/4094/gone-with-the-wind |access-date=May 29, 2016 |website=[[Boxoffice (magazine)|Boxoffice]]}}</ref><ref group="#">{{Mojo title|id=gonewiththewind|title=Gone with the Wind}}</ref><ref group="#">{{harvnb|Hall|Neale|2010|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=jhvrSwOOsRgC&pg=PA283 283]}} ."The final negative cost of ''Gone with the Wind'' (''GWTW'') has been variously reported between $3.9&nbsp;million and $4.25&nbsp;million."</ref>
|}

===Radio===
[[File:Welles-Radio-Studio-1938.jpg|upright|thumb|right|On October 30, 1938 [[Orson Welles]]' radio adaptation of ''[[The War of the Worlds (1938 radio drama)|The War of the Worlds]]'' is broadcast, causing panic in various parts of the United States]]

* [[Radio]] becomes dominant mass media in industrial nations, serving as a way for citizens to listen to music and get news- providing rapid reporting on current events.
* October 30, 1938: [[Orson Welles]]' radio adaptation of ''[[The War of the Worlds (1938 radio drama)|The War of the Worlds]]'' is broadcast, causing panic in various parts of the United States.

===Music===
{{Main|1930s in music}}

* "[[Swing (genre)|Swing]]" music starts becoming popular from 1933, the dawn of the [[Swing era]]. It gradually replaces the sweet form of [[Jazz]] that had been popular for the first half of the decade.
* "[[Delta Blues]]" music, the first recorded in the late 1920s, was expanded by [[Robert Johnson]] and [[Skip James]], two of the most important and influential acts of "[[Blues]]" genre.
* [[Django Reinhardt]] and [[Stéphane Grappelli]] led the development of [[Gypsy jazz]].
* [[Sergei Rachmaninoff]] composed ''[[Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini]]'' in [[1934 in music|1934]].
* [[Charlie Christian]] becomes the first electric guitarist to be in a multiracial band with [[Benny Goodman]] and [[Lionel Hampton]] in 1939.<ref>[http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p91178 Robert Johnson Biography] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110324092545/http://allmusic.com/artist/P91178 |date=2011-03-24 }}. Allmusic</ref>
* [[Tango music|Tango]] reaches its highest popularity worldwide and [[Carlos Gardel]] records several of the most famous tangos, such as "[[Por una Cabeza|Por Una Cabeza]]"
The most popular music of each year was as follows:<ref>{{Cite web |title=1930s Music: What Songs Were Most Popular? |url=https://www.retrowaste.com/1930s/music-in-the-1930s/ |access-date=2022-11-23 |language=en-US}}</ref>
* 1930: "[[Body and Soul (1930 song)|Body and Soul]]" (music by [[Johnny Green]], lyrics by [[Edward Heyman]], [[Robert Sour]] and [[Frank Eyton]])
* 1931: "[[Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries]]" (music by [[Ray Henderson]], lyrics by [[Lew Brown]])
* 1932: "[[Night and Day (song)|Night and Day]]" ([[Cole Porter]])
* 1933: "[[It's Only a Paper Moon]]" (music by [[Harold Arlen]], lyrics by [[Yip Harburg]] and [[Billy Rose]])
* 1934: "[[Blue Moon (1934 song)|Blue Moon]]" (written by [[Richard Rodgers]] and [[Lorenz Hart]])
* 1935: "[[Begin the Beguine]]" ([[Cole Porter]])
* 1936: "[[I'm an Old Cowhand (From the Rio Grande)|I'm an Old Cowhand]]" (written by [[Johnny Mercer]], sung by [[Bing Crosby]])
* 1937: "[[A Foggy Day]]" (composed by [[George Gershwin]], with lyrics by [[Ira Gershwin]])
* 1938: "Chiquita Banana"
* 1939: "[[All the Things You Are]]" (composed by [[Jerome Kern]] with lyrics written by [[Oscar Hammerstein II]])

===Fashion===
{{further|1930–1945 in Western fashion}}

The most characteristic North American fashion trend from the 1930s to 1945 was attention at the shoulder, with butterfly sleeves and banjo sleeves, and exaggerated shoulder pads for both men and women by the 1940s. The period also saw the first widespread use of man-made fibers, especially [[rayon]] for dresses and [[viscose]] for [[lining (sewing)|linings]] and [[lingerie]], and synthetic [[nylon]] [[stocking]]s. The [[zipper]] became widely used. These essentially U.S. developments were echoed, in varying degrees, in Britain and Europe. Suntans (called at the time "sunburns") became fashionable in the early 1930s, along with travel to the resorts along the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]], in the [[Bahamas]], and on the east coast of [[Florida]] where one can acquire a tan, leading to new categories of clothes: white dinner jackets for men and beach pajamas, halter tops, and bare midriffs for women.<ref name="Mode">Wilcox, R. Turner: ''The Mode in Fashion'', 1942; rev. 1958, pp. 328–36, 379–84</ref>

Revolutionary designer and couturier [[Madeleine Vionnet]] gained popularity for her bias-cut technique, which clung, draped, and embraced the curves of the natural female body. Fashion trendsetters in the period included [[Edward VIII|The Prince of Wales]] (King Edward VIII from January 1936 until his [[Edward VIII abdication crisis|abdication]] that December) and his companion [[Wallis Simpson]] (the Duke and Duchess of Windsor from their marriage in June 1937), socialites like [[Nicolas de Gunzburg]], [[Daisy Fellowes]] and [[Mona von Bismarck]], and [[Classical Hollywood cinema|Hollywood]] [[movie star]]s such as [[Fred Astaire]], [[Carole Lombard]], and [[Joan Crawford]].

Typical fashions in the 1930s:
<gallery widths="190" perrow="5">
File:1930s fashions (cropped).jpg|
File:Walt Disney NYWTS.jpg|
File:GR Lee, 1937.jpg|
File:Gloria Swanson in Los Angeles, Calif, 1937.jpg|
</gallery>[[File:Empire State Building from the Top of the Rock.jpg|thumb|upright|right|The [[Empire State Building]] became the world's tallest building when completed in 1931]]

===Architecture===
{{See also|:Category:1930s architecture}}
* The world's tallest building (for the next 35 years) was constructed, opening as the ''[[Empire State Building]]'' on May 3, 1931, in New York City.
* The [[Golden Gate Bridge]] was constructed, opening on May 27, 1937, in [[San Francisco]], USA.
* [[Kavanagh Building]] is completed in 1936, becoming the tallest skyscraper in Latin America until 1947.
[[File:Kavanagh building 15-11-2005.jpg|thumb|[[Kavanagh Building]] in [[Buenos Aires]]]]

===Visual arts===
{{See also|Social Realism|History of painting}}

[[Social realism]] became an important [[art movement]] during the [[Great Depression]] in the United States in the 1930s. Social realism generally portrayed imagery with socio-political meaning. Other related American artistic movements of the 1930s were [[American scene painting]] and [[Regionalism (art)|Regionalism]] which were generally depictions of rural America, and historical images drawn from American history. [[Precisionism]] with its depictions of industrial America was also a popular art movement during the 1930s in the USA. During the Great Depression the art of [[photography]] played an important role in the Social Realist movement. The work of [[Dorothea Lange]], [[Walker Evans]], [[Margaret Bourke-White]], [[Lewis Hine]], [[Edward Steichen]], [[Gordon Parks]], [[Arthur Rothstein]], [[Marion Post Wolcott]], [[Doris Ulmann]], [[Berenice Abbott]], [[Aaron Siskind]], [[Russell Lee (photographer)|Russell Lee]], [[Ben Shahn]] (as a photographer) among several others were particularly influential.

The [[Works Progress Administration]] part of the [[Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration|Roosevelt Administration]]'s [[New Deal]] sponsored the [[Federal Art Project]], the [[Public Works of Art Project]], and the [[Section of Painting and Sculpture]] which employed many American artists and helped them to make a living during the [[Great Depression]].

[[Mexican muralism]] was a [[Mexican art]] movement that took place primarily in the 1930s. The movement stands out historically because of its political undertones, the majority of which of a [[Marxist]] nature, or related to a social and political situation of post-revolutionary Mexico. Also in Latin America [[Symbolism (arts)|Symbolism]] and [[Magic Realism]] were important movements.

In Europe during the 1930s and the [[Great Depression]], [[Surrealism]], late [[Cubism]], the [[Bauhaus]], [[De Stijl]], [[Dada]], [[German Expressionism]], [[Symbolism (arts)|Symbolist]] and [[modernist]] painting in various guises characterized the art scene in Paris and elsewhere.
* The [[1932 Winter Olympics]] were hosted by the village of Lake Placid, New York, United States.
* The [[1932 Summer Olympics]] were hosted by the city of Los Angeles, California, United States.
* The [[1934 FIFA World Cup]] was hosted and won by Italy.
* The [[1936 Winter Olympics]] were hosted by the market town of [[Garmisch-Partenkirchen]], Bavaria, Germany.
* The [[1936 Summer Olympics]] were hosted by the city of Berlin, Germany. These were the last Summer or Winter Olympic Games held until 1948.
* The [[1938 FIFA World Cup]] was hosted by France and won by Italy. This was the last FIFA World Cup held until 1950.

==People==

===Scientists and engineers===
[[File:Young Kurt Gödel as a student in 1925.jpg|right|thumb|upright|[[Kurt Gödel]]]]
{{Div col|colwidth=18em}}
*[[Albert Einstein]]
*[[Enrico Fermi]]
*[[James Chadwick]]
*[[Carl David Anderson]] 
*[[Clyde W. Tombaugh]]
*[[Wallace Carothers]]
*[[Otto Hahn]]
*[[Irene Joliot-Curie]]
*[[Frederic Joliot]]
*[[Inge Lehmann]]
*[[Albert Szent-Gyorgyi]]
*[[Henry Dam]]
*[[Kurt Gödel]]
*[[Alan Turing]]
*[[Leonid Kantorovich]]
*[[Sergei Sobolev]]
*[[Richard Gurley Drew|Richard Drew]]
*[[Frank Whittle]]
*[[Igor Sikorsky]]
*[[Alan Blumlein]]
*[[Ferdinand Porsche]]
*[[Hans Ledwinka]]
*[[Vittorio Jano]]
*[[Wifredo Ricart]]
*[[Konrad Zuse]]
*[[Akira Nakashima]]
{{div col end}}

===Actors/entertainers===
{{Div col|colwidth=18em}}
* [[Fred Allen]]
* [[Jean Arthur]]
* [[Fred Astaire]]
* [[Mary Astor]]
* [[Gene Autry]]
* [[Tallulah Bankhead]]
* [[Warner Baxter]]
* [[Wallace Beery]]
* [[Constance Bennett]]
* [[Joan Bennett]]
* [[Jack Benny]]
* [[Charles Bickford]]
* [[Joan Blondell]]
* [[Humphrey Bogart]]
* [[Charles Boyer]]
* [[Mary Brian]]
* [[Louise Brooks]]
* [[Fanny Brice]]
* [[James Cagney]]
* [[Eddie Cantor]]
* [[Frank Capra]]
* [[John Carradine]]
* [[Madeleine Carroll]]
* [[Charlie Chaplin]]
* [[Claudette Colbert]]
* [[Ronald Colman]]
* [[Katharine Cornell]]
* [[Gary Cooper]]
* [[Joan Crawford]]
* [[Bing Crosby]]
* [[Bette Davis]]
* [[Marlene Dietrich]]
* [[Walt Disney]]
* [[Robert Donat]]
* [[Irene Dunne]]
* [[Deanna Durbin]]
* [[Ann Dvorak]]
* [[Nelson Eddy]]
* [[Alice Faye]]
* [[Errol Flynn]]
* [[Henry Fonda]]
* [[Joan Fontaine]]
* [[John Ford]]
* [[Kay Francis]]
* [[Dwight Frye]]
* [[Clark Gable]]
* [[Carlos Gardel]]
* [[Eva Le Gallienne]]
* [[Greta Garbo]]
* [[Judy Garland]]
* [[Janet Gaynor]]
* [[Cary Grant]]
* [[Lillian Gish]]
* [[Jean Harlow]]
* [[Olivia de Havilland]]
* [[Helen Hayes]]
* [[Katharine Hepburn]]
* [[Bob Hope]]
* [[Miriam Hopkins]]
* [[Leslie Howard (actor)|Leslie Howard]]
* [[Boris Karloff]]
* [[Buster Keaton]]
* [[Laurel and Hardy]]
* [[Dorothy Lamour]]
* [[Charles Laughton]]
* [[Vivien Leigh]]
* [[Carole Lombard]]
* [[Myrna Loy]]
* [[Bela Lugosi]]
* [[Fredric March]]
* The [[Marx Brothers]]
* [[Jeanette MacDonald]]
* [[Fred MacMurray]]
* [[Herbert Marshall]]
* [[Ethel Merman]]
* [[Robert Montgomery (actor)|Robert Montgomery]]
* [[Paul Muni]]
* [[Merle Oberon]]
* [[Laurence Olivier]]
* [[Maureen O'Sullivan]]
* [[William Powell]]
* [[Tyrone Power]]
* [[George Raft]]
* [[Luise Rainer]]
* [[Basil Rathbone]]
* [[Ronald Reagan]]
* [[Dolores del Río]]
* [[Edward G. Robinson]]
* [[Ginger Rogers]]
* [[Will Rogers]]
* [[Cesar Romero]]
* [[Mickey Rooney]]
* [[Rosalind Russell]]
* [[Randolph Scott]]
* [[Sebastian Shaw (actor)|Sebastian Shaw]]
* [[Norma Shearer]]
* [[James Stewart]]
* [[Lionel Stander]]
* [[Barbara Stanwyck]]
* [[Margaret Sullavan]]
* [[Robert Taylor (American actor)|Robert Taylor]]
* [[Shirley Temple]]
* [[The Three Stooges]]
* [[Spencer Tracy]]
* [[John Wayne]]
* [[Orson Welles]]
* [[Mae West]]
* [[Ed Wynn]]
* [[Loretta Young]]
* [[Devi Dja]]
* [[Ratna Asmara]]
* [[Roekiah]]
{{div col end}}

<gallery widths="190" perrow="5">
File:Laurel & Hardy in Flying Deuces 1 edited.png|[[Laurel & Hardy]] in their film "[[The Flying Deuces]]" (1939)
File:Shirleytemple young.jpg|[[Shirley Temple]], 1933
File:Marx Brothers 1931.jpg|The [[Marx Brothers]], 1931
File:Clark Gable as Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind trailer.jpg|[[Clark Gable]] as [[Rhett Butler]] in the trailer for ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]]'' (1939)
File:Three Stooges 1937.jpg|[[The Three Stooges]]
</gallery>
{{Clear}}

===Filmmakers===
[[Image:Walt Disney Snow white 1937 trailer screenshot (13).jpg|right|thumb|upright|[[Walt Disney]] introduces each of the Seven Dwarfs in a scene from the original 1937 [[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|''Snow White'']]]]

{{div col|colwidth=18em}}
* [[Walt Disney]]
* [[Alfred Hitchcock]]
* [[Fritz Lang]]
* [[John Ford]]
* [[Cecil B. DeMille]]
* [[Frank Capra]]
* [[Jean Renoir]]
* [[Ernst Lubitsch]]
* [[William Wyler]]
* [[Howard Hawks]]
* [[Victor Fleming]]
* [[George Cukor]]
* [[Michael Curtiz]]
* [[Josef von Sternberg]]
{{div col end}}

===Musicians===
[[File:Maud Cuney Hare-154-Louis Armstrong.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Louis Armstrong]], 1936]]

{{div col|colwidth=18em}}
* [[Lale Anderson]]
* [[Harold Arlen]]
* [[Louis Armstrong]]
* [[Fred Astaire]]
* [[Count Basie]]
* [[Dalida]]
* [[Cab Calloway]]
* [[Eddie Cantor]]
* [[Nat King Cole]]
* [[Noël Coward]]
* [[Bing Crosby]]
* [[Vernon Duke]]
* [[Jimmy Durante]]
* [[Duke Ellington]]
* [[Ella Fitzgerald]]
* [[George Gershwin]]
* [[Ira Gershwin]]
* [[Benny Goodman]]
* [[Coleman Hawkins]]
* [[Billie Holiday]]
* [[Pete Johnson (musician)|Pete Johnson]]
* [[Louis Prima]]
* [[Artie Shaw]]
* [[Big Joe Turner]]
* [[Les Brown (bandleader)|Les Brown]]
* [[Lena Horne]]
* [[Al Jolson]]
* [[Jerome Kern]]
* [[Lead Belly]]
* [[The Ink Spots]]
* [[Glenn Miller]]
* [[Earl Hines]]
* [[Édith Piaf]]
* [[Cole Porter]]
* [[Ma Rainey]]
* [[Django Reinhardt]]
* [[Bill Robinson|Bill "Bojangles" Robinson]]
* [[Rodgers and Hart]]
* [[Frank Sinatra]]
* [[Bessie Smith]]
* [[Fats Waller]]
* [[Ethel Waters]]
{{div col end}}

===Influential artists===
[[File:Dali Harcourt 1936.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Salvador Dalí]]]]
[[File:Frida Kahlo, by Guillermo Kahlo.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Frida Kahlo]]]]

====Painters and sculptors====
{{div col|colwidth=18em}}
* [[José Clemente Orozco]]
* [[Anni Albers]]
* [[Josef Albers]]
* [[Hans Arp]]
* [[Milton Avery]]
* [[Romare Bearden]]
* [[Paula Modersohn-Becker]]
* [[Max Beckmann]]
* [[Thomas Hart Benton (painter)|Thomas Hart Benton]]
* [[Max Bill]]
* [[Isabel Bishop]]
* [[Marcel Breuer]]
* [[Patrick Henry Bruce]]
* [[Paul Cadmus]]
* [[Marc Chagall]]
* [[John Steuart Curry]]
* [[Salvador Dalí]]
* [[Stuart Davis (painter)|Stuart Davis]]
* [[Charles Demuth]]
* [[Otto Dix]]
* [[Theo van Doesburg]]
* [[Arthur Dove]]
* [[Marcel Duchamp]]
* [[Max Ernst]]
* [[David Alfaro Siqueiros]]
* [[Philip Evergood]]
* [[Lyonel Feininger]]
* [[Joaquín Torres García]]
* [[Alberto Giacometti]]
* [[Arshile Gorky]]
* [[John D. Graham]]
* [[George Grosz]]
* [[Philip Guston]]
* [[Marsden Hartley]]
* [[Hans Hofmann]]
* [[Edward Hopper]]
* [[Johannes Itten]]
* [[Frida Kahlo]]
* [[Wassily Kandinsky]]
* [[Ernst Ludwig Kirchner]]
* [[Paul Klee]]
* [[Oskar Kokoschka]]
* [[Käthe Kollwitz]]
* [[Willem de Kooning]]
* [[Walt Kuhn]]
* [[Jacob Lawrence]]
* [[Tamara de Lempicka]]
* [[Fernand Léger]]
* [[Andrew Loomis]]
* [[Reginald Marsh (artist)|Reginald Marsh]]
* [[André Masson]]
* [[Henri Matisse]]
* [[Joan Miró]]
* [[Piet Mondrian]]
* [[Gabriele Münter]]
* [[Georgia O'Keeffe]]
* [[Francis Picabia]]
* [[Pablo Picasso]]
* [[Horace Pippin]]
* [[Diego Rivera]]
* [[Ben Shahn]]
* [[Charles Sheeler]]
* [[David Smith (sculptor)|David Smith]]
* [[Isaac Soyer]]
* [[Rafael Soyer]]
* [[Chaïm Soutine]]
* [[Rufino Tamayo]]
* [[Yves Tanguy]]
* [[Grant Wood]]
* [[N. C. Wyeth]]
* [[Andrew Wyeth]]
{{div col end}}

====Photography====
[[File:Dorothea Lange atop automobile in California (restored) (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Dorothea Lange]] in 1936]]

* [[Ansel Adams]]
* [[Margaret Bourke-White]]
* [[Walker Evans]]
* [[Lewis Hine]]
* [[Yousuf Karsh]]
* [[Dorothea Lange]]
* [[Gordon Parks]]
* [[Man Ray]]
* [[Edward Steichen]]
* [[Carl Van Vechten]]
* [[Edward Weston]]

===Sports figures===
[[File:Jack Crawford c 1930s.jpg|right|upright|thumb|[[Jack Crawford (tennis)|Jack Craword]], Australian [[World number 1 ranked male tennis players|World number 1]] tennis player]]
[[File:DiMaggio cropped.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Joe DiMaggio]], [[center fielder]] for the [[New York Yankees]], 1937]]

====Global====
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
* [[Cliff Bastin]] (English [[association football|footballer]])
* [[Donald Bradman]] (Australian [[cricket]]er)
* [[Haydn Bunton, Sr]] (Australian Rules footballer)
* [[Jack Crawford (tennis)|Jack Crawford]] ([[tennis]])
* [[Jack Dyer]] ([[Australian rules football]] player)
* [[Wally Hammond]] (English cricketer)
* [[Eddie Hapgood]] (English footballer)
* [[George Headley]] (West Indies cricketer)
* [[Alex James (footballer)|Alex James]] (Scottish footballer)
* [[Douglas Jardine]] (English cricketer)
* [[Harold Larwood]] (English cricketer)
* [[Jack Lovelock]] (New Zealand runner)
* [[Fred Perry]] (English [[tennis]] player)
* [[Leonard Hutton]], English cricketer
* [[Percy Williams (sprinter)|Percy Williams]] (sprinter)
* [[Dhyan Chand]], Indian hockey player
* [[Lala Amarnath]], Indian cricketer
* [[Tazio Nuvolari]], Italian racing driver
{{div col end}}

====United States====
{{See also|History of baseball in the United States}}

{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
* [[Joe Louis]] ([[boxing]])
* [[Lou Ambers]] ([[boxing]])
* [[Henry Armstrong]] ([[boxing]])
* [[Max Baer (boxer)|Max Baer]] ([[boxing]])
* [[Cliff Battles]] (halfback)
* [[Jay Berwanger]] (halfback)
* [[James J. Braddock]] ([[boxing]])
* [[Ellison Brown|Ellison M. ("Tarzan") Brown]] ([[marathon]])
* [[Don Budge]] ([[tennis]])
* [[Tony Canzoneri]] ([[boxing]])
* [[Mickey Cochrane]] ([[baseball]])
* [[Buster Crabbe]] (swimming)
* [[Glenn Cunningham (athlete)|Glenn Cunningham]] ([[running]])
* [[Dizzy Dean]] (baseball)
* [[Joe DiMaggio]] (baseball)
* [[Babe Didrikson]] (track)
* [[Leo Durocher]] (baseball)
* [[Turk Edwards]] (tackle)
* [[Jimmie Foxx]] (baseball)
* [[Lou Gehrig]] (baseball)
* [[Hank Greenberg]] (baseball)
* [[Lefty Grove]] (baseball)
* [[Dixie Howell]] (halfback)
* [[Don Hutson]] (end)
* [[Cecil Isbell]] (quarterback)
* [[Bobby Jones (golfer)|Bobby Jones]] (golf)
* [[John A. Kelley]] ([[marathon]])
* [[Nile Kinnick]] (halfback)
* [[Tommy Loughran]] ([[boxing]])
* [[Alice Marble]] ([[tennis]])
* [[Ralph Metcalfe]] (sprinter)
* [[Bronko Nagurski]] (fullback)
* [[Mel Ott]] (baseball)
* [[Jesse Owens]] (sprinter)
* [[Satchel Paige]] (baseball)
* [[Bobby Riggs]] ([[tennis]])
* [[Barney Ross]] ([[boxing]])
* [[Babe Ruth]] (baseball)
* [[Al Simmons]] (baseball)
* [[Helen Stephens]] (track)
* [[Eddie Tolan]] (sprinter)
* [[Ellsworth Vines]] ([[tennis]])
* [[Stella Walsh]] (sprinter)
* [[Frank Wykoff]] (sprinter)
{{div col end}}

===Criminals===
[[File:AlCaponemugshotCPD.jpg|thumb|[[Al Capone]]]]

Prominent criminals of the Great Depression:
* [[Al Capone]]
* [[Bonnie and Clyde]]
* [[John Dillinger]]
* [[Baby Face Nelson]]
* [[Pretty Boy Floyd]]
* [[Alvin Karpis]]
* [[Machine Gun Kelly (gangster)|Machine Gun Kelly]]
* [[Ma Barker]]

==See also==
{{Portal|1930s}}
* [[List of decades, centuries, and millennia]]
* [[Interwar period]], worldwide
** [[International relations (1919–1939)]]
** [[Interwar Britain]]
** [[Great Depression]]
*** [[Great Depression in the United States]]
*** [[European interwar economy]]
*** [[Causes of the Great Depression]]
*** [[Cities in the Great Depression]]
*** [[Dust Bowl]]
*** [[Entertainment during the Great Depression]]
*** [[Timeline of the Great Depression]]
* [[Timeline of events preceding World War II]]
** [[Events preceding World War II in Asia]]
** [[Events preceding World War II in Europe]]
* [[Areas annexed by Nazi Germany]] and the pre-war German territorial claims on them.
* [[Diplomatic history of World War II]]
* [[European Civil War]]
* {{section link|List of years in literature|1930s}}
* [[Interbellum Generation]] (the younger members of this demographic had matured in the early years of the decade).
* [[Greatest Generation]] (the decade when the majority of WW II vets came of age).

===Timeline===
The following articles contain brief timelines which list the most prominent events of the decade:

{{hlist|[[1930]]|[[1931]]|[[1932]]|[[1933]]|[[1934]]|[[1935]]|[[1936]]|[[1937]]|[[1938]]|[[1939]]}}
{{clear}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Books and magazines on film===
{{reflist|group=#}}

===Works cited===
{{refbegin|2}}
* {{cite book|last1=Block|first1=Alex Ben|last2=Wilson|first2=Lucy Autrey|title=George Lucas's Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success|date=30 March 2010|publisher=Harper Collins|isbn=978-0-06-196345-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vpbuSXSSqdkC|language=en}}
* {{cite book|last1=Finler|first1=Joel Waldo|title=The Hollywood Story|date=2003|publisher=Wallflower Press|isbn=978-1-903364-66-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rvVhEJmbfrsC|language=en}}
* {{cite book|last1=Hall|first1=Sheldon|last2=Neale|first2=Stephen|title=Epics, Spectacles, and Blockbusters: A Hollywood History|date=2010|publisher=Wayne State University Press|isbn=978-0-8143-3008-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jhvrSwOOsRgC|language=en}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* Allen, Frederick Lewis. ''Since Yesterday: The Nineteen-thirties in America''  (1939) [https://archive.org/details/sinceyesterdayni0000fred  online]
* Brendon, Piers. ''The Dark Valley: A Panorama of the 1930s'' (2000) global political history; 816pp [https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Valley-Panorama-1930s/dp/0375408819/ excerpt]

* Cornelissen, Christoph, and Arndt Weinrich, eds. ''Writing the Great War – The Historiography of World War I from 1918 to the Present'' (2020) [https://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/CornelissenWriting free download]; full coverage for major countries.
* [[Juliet Gardiner|Gardiner, Juliet]], ''The Thirties: An Intimate History''. London, Harper Press, 2010. {{ISBN|978-0-00-724076-0}} on Britain
* Garraty, John A. '' The Great Depression: An Inquiry into the Causes, Course, and Consequences of the Worldwide Depression of the Nineteen-Thirties, As Seen by Contemporaries'' (1986).
* Grenville, J.A.S. ''A History of the World in the Twentieth Century'' (Harvard UP, 1994) pp 160–251.
* Grossman, Mark. ''Encyclopedia of the Interwar Years: From 1919 to 1939'' (2000). 400pp. worldwide coverage
* Lewis, Thomas Tandy, ed. ''The Thirties in America.'' 3 volumes. Pasadena: Salem Press, 2011.
* Matera, Marc, and Susan Kingsley Kent. ''The Global 1930s: The International Decade'' (Routledge, 2017) [https://books.google.com/books?id=-gkqDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=intitle:The+intitle:Global+intitle:1930s&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi5tM-P04eQAxW0k2oFHVHQKNsQ6AF6BAgJEAM  online]

* Watt D.C. et al., ''A History of the World in the Twentieth Century'' (1968) pp 423–463.

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/keys/webtours/GE_P4_1_EN.html The Dirty Thirties] – Images of the Great Depression in Canada
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080612082825/http://xroads.virginia.edu/~1930s/front.html America in the 1930s] Extensive library of projects on America in the Great Depression from American Studies at the University of Virginia
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20091007034519/http://xroads.virginia.edu/~1930s2/Time/timefr.html The 1930s Timeline] year by year timeline of events in science and technology, politics and society, culture and international events with embedded audio and video. AS@UVA

{{Events by month links}}
{{20th century}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1930s| ]]
[[Category:20th century]]