Year retrospective · 1930s

1939

1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1939th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 939th year of the 2nd millennium, the 39th year of the 20th century, and the 10th and last year of the 1930s decade.

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1930s

Defining moment · 1939

Spanish Civil War: Generalísimo Francisco Franco of the Spanish State announces the end of the Spanish Civil War, when the last of the Republican forces surrender.

Generalissimo, also generalissimus, is a military rank of the highest degree, superior to field marshal and other five-star ranks in the states where they are used.

See april 1 in detail

Timeline

Defining events of 1939

1939 Spanish Civil War: Generalísimo Francisco Franco of the Spanish State announces the end of the Spanish Civil War, when the last of the Republican forces surrender.

Military rank of the highest degree

Generalissimo, also generalissimus, is a military rank of the highest degree, superior to field marshal and other five-star ranks in the states where they are used.
1939 Robert Menzies, who became Australia's longest-serving prime minister, is elected as leader of the United Australia Party after the death of Prime Minister Joseph Lyons.

Prime Minister of Australia (1939–1941; 1949–1966)

Sir Robert Gordon Menzies was an Australian politician and lawyer who served as the 12th prime minister of Australia from 1939 to 1941 and from 1949 to 1966. He held office as the leader of the United Australia Party (UAP) in his first term, and subsequently as the inaugural leader of the Liberal Party of Australia in his second. He was the member of parliament (MP) for the Victorian division of Kooyong from 1934 to 1966.
1939 The 1939–40 New York World's Fair opens.

World's fair held in New York City

The 1939 New York World's Fair was an international exposition held at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, United States. S. states and territories, and more than 1,400 organizations and companies.
1939 NBC inaugurates its regularly scheduled television service in New York City, broadcasting President Franklin D. Roosevelt's N.Y. World's Fair opening day ceremonial address.

American broadcast television network

The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network, serving as the flagship property of NBC Entertainment, a division of NBCUniversal, which is a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's two flagship subsidiaries, alongside Universal Studios. It is the first and oldest major broadcast network in the United States.
1939 Benito Mussolini declares an Italian protectorate over Albania and forces King Zog I into exile.

Dictator of Italy from 1922 to 1943

Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician, journalist, and dictator who led Italy as Il Duce from 1922 until his overthrow in 1943. He founded the fascist movement in 1919, with the creation of the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento, which became the National Fascist Party (PNF) in 1921. Mussolini was appointed Prime Minister of Italy after the March on Rome in 1922, establishing a totalitarian dictatorship.
1939 Italy invades Albania.

1939 pre-WWII Italian invasion of Albania

The Italian invasion of Albania was a brief military campaign which was launched by Italy against Albania in 1939. The conflict was a result of the imperialistic policies of the Italian prime minister and dictator Benito Mussolini. Albania was rapidly occupied, its ruler King Zog I went into exile in the neighboring Kingdom of Greece, and the country was made a part of the Italian Empire as a protectorate in personal union with the Italian Crown.
1939 African-American singer Marian Anderson gives a concert at the Lincoln Memorial after being denied the use of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
1939 Twenty-six Junkers Ju 87 bombers commanded by Walter Sigel meet unexpected ground fog during a dive-bombing demonstration for Luftwaffe generals at Neuhammer. Thirteen of them crash and burn.
1939 The Wizard of Oz premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, California.
1939 Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard write a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, urging him to begin the Manhattan Project to develop a nuclear weapon.