The World in 1939 the year the lights went out across Europe

19¢Gallon of gas (US)
26MVisitors to the New York World's Fair
~4 hrsLength of Gone with the Wind
~1.5MChildren moved out of British cities
~500,000Spaniards who fled into France
1stJet plane to fly, built in Germany
4 monthsJapan and the Soviets fight in Mongolia
~500MPeople living in China
8Indian governments that quit in protest

About 26 million people walked through the gates of the New York World's Fair in its first season. That is close to twice the number of people living in New York State at the time.

Life back then

A picture from 1939

Cinemas had their best year in memory. The Wizard of Oz arrived in August, and its color scenes startled audiences used to grey pictures. In Britain the mood changed overnight in September. Street lamps went dark for the blackout, windows were taped and curtained, and people carried gas masks in cardboard boxes. Poland was bombed from the first morning and split between Germany and the Soviet Union by October. American factories were busy again after ten hard years, and Congress agreed that Britain and France could buy weapons as long as they paid cash and carried them away in their own ships.

The year in 8 events

  • 🕯️Jan 24 An earthquake flattens the city of Chillan in southern Chile. About 28,000 people die.
  • ⚔️Mar 15 German troops enter Prague and take what is left of Czechoslovakia.
  • 🎤Apr 9 Marian Anderson sings to a crowd of 75,000 at the Lincoln Memorial after a Washington hall refuses to book her.
  • 🕯️May 3 Japanese bombers set fire to Chongqing, the city China's government has fallen back on. Thousands die in two days of raids.
  • 📜Aug 23 Germany and the Soviet Union sign a pact promising not to fight each other. A secret part of it divides Poland between them.
  • ⚔️Sep 1 Germany invades Poland.
  • 📰Sep 3 Britain and France declare war on Germany. The Second World War has begun.
  • ❄️Nov 30 The Soviet Union attacks Finland. Finnish troops on skis hold off a far bigger army through the winter.

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31,666days agoThat is 8 decades, 6 years, 9 months and 6 days.
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The world in 1939

Political map of the World as it stood that year. Drag the timeline to explore.

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Notable events in history compared to 1939

Scroll the timeline left for past events, future milestones to the right.

  1. 🎄 Next Christmas
  2. ⚽ FIFA World Cup 2030
  3. 🗳️ Next U.S. presidential election
  4. 🎮 GTA VI release
  5. ⚠️ U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran
  6. 🤖 Release of ChatGPT
  7. ⚔️ Russia invades Ukraine
  8. 😷 COVID-19 pandemic
  9. 💂 Brexit referendum
  10. 📉 2008 financial crisis
  11. ⚠️ September 11 attacks
  12. 💻 Windows 95 release
  13. 🟥 Collapse of the Soviet Union
  14. 🧱 Fall of the Berlin Wall
  15. ☢️ Chernobyl disaster
  16. ⛽ 1973 oil crisis
  17. 🌕 Moon landing
  18. 🔫 JFK assassination
  19. 🚀 Sputnik launch
  20. 🕌 India gains independence
  21. ☢️ Hiroshima bombing
  22. ⚔️ World War II Starts
  23. 📉 Wall Street Crash
  24. ⚔️ World War I Starts