The World in 1931 the year the slump went around the world

China's rivers burst their banks that summer and put an area about the size of England under water. Tens of millions of people lost their homes, and the floods still rank among the worst disasters ever recorded.

Life back then

Movie houses sold escape for a quarter, and sound was reaching the rest of the world at last. India's first talking picture, Alam Ara, packed cinemas in Bombay and started a fashion for films full of songs. Jigsaw puzzles sold by the million, since a family could work one for a week and then trade it with the neighbors. Out on the rail lines, thousands of men and boys rode empty boxcars hunting work in the next town.

The year in 8 events

• 🦇Feb 12 Dracula premieres in New York and sets off a run of monster pictures.
• 🧂Mar 5 Gandhi and the viceroy of India strike a deal. Thousands of prisoners go free and the salt protest is called off.
• 👑Apr 14 Spain becomes a republic and King Alfonso XIII leaves the country, though he never gives up his claim.
• 🏙️May 1 The Empire State Building opens in New York as the tallest building in the world.
• 🏦May 11 Vienna's biggest bank, the Creditanstalt, admits it cannot cover its losses. Banks across central Europe start to fall with it.
• ⚔️Sep 18 Japanese troops seize the Chinese city of Mukden and go on to take all of Manchuria.
• 💷Sep 21 Britain stops swapping pounds for gold. The pound drops sharply and other countries soon leave the gold standard too.
• 👮Oct 17 A Chicago jury finds Al Capone guilty of tax evasion. A week later a judge gives him 11 years.

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