The 1930s were described as an abrupt shift to more radical and conservative lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the Great Depression. In East Asia, the rise of militarism occurred.
In Western Europe, Australia and the United States, more progressive reforms occurred as opposed to the extreme measures sought elsewhere. Roosevelt's New Deal attempted to use government spending to combat large-scale unemployment and severely negative growth. Ultimately, it would be the beginning of World War II in 1939 that would end the depression, although the worst years were the early 30s and by the later part of the decade much was already on the road to recovery.
Technology
Many technological advances occurred in the 1930s, including:
- The world's tallest building (for the next 43 years) was constructed, opening as the Empire State Building on May 3, 1931 in New York City;
- On March 8, 1930, the first frozen foods of Clarence Birdseye were sold in Ringfield, Massachusetts, USA.
- Ub Iwerks produced the first Color Sound Cartoon in 1930, a Flip the Frog cartoon entitled: "Fiddlesticks";
- In 1930, Warner Brothers released the first All-Talking All-Color wide-screen movie, 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;
- 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 Watt in 1938;
- The first BBC television broadcast occurred;
- In 1933, the 3M company marketed Scotch Tape; and
- 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 Sir Nigel Gresley. Just three years later, one of these, No. 4468 Mallard, would become the fastest steam locomotive in the world.
- Nuclear fission discovered by Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner and Fritz Strassmann in 1939.
- The Volkswagen Beetle, arguably the most popular automobile in the world, had its roots in Nazi Germany in the late 1930s. The car would prove to be successful, and would be produced relatively unchanged well up into the 1990s.
War, peace and politics
Economics
Literature and Art
- Notable poetry include W. H. Auden's Poems.
- Notable literature includes Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (1932), John Steinbeck's 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 (1930) and Absalom, Absalom! (1936), John O'Hara's Appointment in Samarra (1934) and Butterfield 8 (1935).
- Notable "hardboiled" crime fiction includes Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep, James M. Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934).
- Notable plays include Thorton Wilder's Our Town (1938).
- In the art of film making, the Golden Age of Hollywood entered a whole decade, 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, The Wizard of Oz and Dark Victory, of over 20 classics released in 1939;
- the soundtrack and photographic technology prompted many films to be made or re-made, such as the 1934 version of Cleopatra, using lush art deco sets which won an Academy Award (see films 1930-1939 in: Academy Award for Best Cinematography);
- the horror films (or monster movies) included many cult classics, such as Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, Jekyll/Hyde, King Kong, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and other films about wax museums, vampires and zombies, leading to the 1941 film The Wolf Man (wolfman);
- recurring themes included: Laurel and Hardy, the Marx Brothers, Tarzan, Charlie Chan, Alfred Hitchcock films, Our Gang, and the filming of "superheroes" such as The Phantom and Superman;
- two notable films were made in the 1930s (see: "1934 in film" or "1939 in film").
Popular culture
- Radio becomes dominant mass media in industrial nations
- "Golden Age" of radio begins in U.S.
- First intercontinental commercial airline flights
- Height of the Art Deco movement in North America and western Europe.
- The film The Wizard of Oz immortalized tornadoes, songs (Somewhere Over the Rainbow), the characters, and "Toto" too.
- "Swing" music starts becoming popular (from 1935 onward). It gradually replaces the sweet form of Jazz that had been popular for the first half of the decade.
- The Golden Age of American animation: Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies and Mickey Mouse series, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film); Ub Iwerks' Flip the Frog and Willie Whopper; Walter Lantz's Oswald the Lucky Rabbit; Fleischer Studios' Talkartoons, Betty Boop and Popeye the Sailor; Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies; Charles B. Mintz's Scrappy.
- Popular newspaper comic strips include The Phantom, Terry and the Pirates, and Thimble Theater (featuring Popeye the Sailor).
- Collections of reprinted comic strips evolve into modern comic books, and costumed pulp heroes lead to the creation of the superhero genre. The Golden Age of Comic Books begins with Superman's debut in Action Comics #1.
- Russ Columbo, one of the most popular singers of the decade, dies in an accidental shooting in 1934.
- Triumph of the Will - Leni Riefenstahl's ground-breaking Nazist propaganda film.
- Belgian cartoonist Hergé's The Adventures of Tintin. (Started in 1929)
- In 1935, the game Monopoly was the best-selling game in America. This was its first year on the market with a major toy company.
Others
People
World leaders
Sports figures
British Commonwealth
United States
References
External link
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