World Events · 1934
Shadows of Fascism and Gathering Global Storms
In 1934, totalitarian regimes brutally consolidated their grip on power through political purges and high-profile assassinations across Europe. Meanwhile, environmental collapse in the American West and military retreats in Asia signaled a world deeply in turmoil.
- June 30 – July 2, 1934 | Germany
Night of the Long Knives
Adolf Hitler orders a bloody purge of the SA leadership and political rivals, solidifying his absolute control over the Nazi state.
- August 19, 1934 | Germany
Hitler Becomes Führer of Germany
Following the death of President Paul von Hindenburg, a German referendum merges the offices of chancellor and president, making Hitler supreme ruler.
- October 16, 1934 | China
Start of the Long March
The Chinese Red Army breaks through Nationalist encirclement, beginning an epic 6,000-mile military retreat across China under Mao Zedong.
- December 1, 1934 | Soviet Union
Assassination of Sergei Kirov
Popular Bolshevik leader Sergei Kirov is shot dead in Leningrad, providing Joseph Stalin the pretext to initiate the horrific Great Purge.
- October 9, 1934 | France
Assassination of King Alexander I
King Alexander I of Yugoslavia and French Foreign Minister Louis Barthou are assassinated in Marseille by a Bulgarian gunman.
- July 25, 1934 | Austria
July Putsch and Dollfuss Assassination
Austrian Nazis storm the Chancellery in Vienna and murder Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in a failed attempt to overthrow the government.
- May 23, 1934 | United States
Ambush of Bonnie and Clyde
Infamous outlaw couple Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are shot to death by law enforcement officers in a highway ambush in Louisiana.
- May 1934 | North America
Peak Year of the Dust Bowl Drought
A massive dust storm shrouds North America in silt, marking the worst drought year in eight centuries across the American Great Plains.
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