1933

1845–1958	Germany [earth sciences]	German naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt lays the basis of modern geography with the publication of Kosmos/Cosmos, in which he arranges geographic knowledge in a systematic fashion.
1929–1935	United Kingdom [television]	Experimental television broadcasting begins in England.
c. 1931–c. 1940	[technology]	The development of facsimile machines is made possible with the discovery of a dry chemical copying process.
c. 1931–c. 1940	[aircraft]	Aeroplanes undergo radical changes; they become streamlined, are made almost entirely of metal, acquire controllable-pitch propellers, have air-cooled engines and retractable landing gear, and passengers and crew are protected in soundproofed and insulated cabins.
1932–1934	USSR [agriculture]	Soviet leader Joseph Stalin collectivizes farms and seizes grain and livestock in the Ukraine and Caucasus regions, starting a famine; an estimated 5 million people die.
1933	[radio]	US engineer Edwin Armstrong patents frequency modulation (FM) in radio, which eliminates static.
1933	USA [statistics and demography]	The average life expectancy in the USA is 59 years, as opposed to 49 years in 1900.
1933	Germany [statistics and demography]	The German birth rate begins to increase, as a result of Adolf Hitler's economic incentives to ‘Aryan’ Germans to have children.
1933	[literature and language]	The English writer George Orwell publishes Down and Out in Paris and London, an account of his experience of working among the poor and dispossessed.
1933	USA [magazines]	The US magazine Good Housekeeping is the first such publication to accept advertisements for sanitary towels.
1933	[painting]	The Mexican artist Diego Rivera completes murals in the Rockefeller Center, New York City. They are soon overpainted because they contain a portrait of the Soviet leader Lenin.
1933	[psychology]	Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung publishes Modern Man in Search of a Soul.
1933	[astronomy]	British physicist Arthur Eddington publishes The Expanding Universe, in which he lays out his theory that the universe is constantly increasing in size.
1933	USA [food and drink]	In the USA, Prohibition ends, although controls remain in some states; an estimated 1.4 billion gallons of illegal alcohol have been consumed. The boom in sales of soft drinks ends, and grape sales are also hit, as home wine-making declines in popularity.
1933	[biography]	The US writer Gertrude Stein publishes The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas, her autobiography.
1933	Germany [crime and punishment]	The Germans open Ravensbrück, the first concentration camp for women.
1933	United Kingdom [economics]	English economist John Maynard Keynes publishes The Means to Prosperity.
22 January 1933	USSR [administration]	The USSR launches its second five-year plan, envisaging the continued growth of heavy industry and increased production of consumer goods.
30 January 1933	Germany [administration]	The German president, Paul von Hindenburg, appoints the Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler, as chancellor. His cabinet includes only two other Nazis, Hermann Goering and Wilhelm Frick. Franz von Papen is vice chancellor and Constantin von Neurath foreign minister.
27 February 1933	Germany [law and government]	The Reichstag, seat of the German parliament, is set on fire.
28 February 1933	Germany [law and government]	German chancellor Adolf Hitler persuades president Paul von Hindenburg to issue a ‘decree for the protection of people and state’. It suppresses civil liberties and freedom of the press in the wake of the Reichstag fire and allows the Nazis to arrest thousands of their opponents.
7 March 1933	Austria [political events]	The Austrian chancellor, Engelbert Dollfuss, suspends parliament after political polarization makes democratic government impossible: he rules by decree while a new constitution is drawn up.
9 March - 16 June 1933	USA [administration]	The US Congress begins a special session to deal with economic and social problems, granting President Franklin D Roosevelt control over gold and silver bullion and foreign exchange. It passes 15 major bills during the ‘Hundred Days’.
12 March 1933	USA [political events]	President Roosevelt holds the first ‘fireside chat’ by radio with the US people, to encourage support for the New Deal.
23 March 1933	Germany [administration]	An enabling bill is passed by the Nazi-dominated Reichstag (parliament) in Germany giving the chancellor, Adolf Hitler, full dictatorial powers.
26 March 1933	Portugal [administration]	A new constitution, known as the ‘Estado Novo’ is drawn up in Portugal, establishing a dictatorial government under the president, Sidónio Pais.
2 May 1933	Germany [unions and associations]	Trades unions are suppressed by the Nazi government in Germany.
1 June 1933	[aircraft]	The Douglas Company DC-1 airliner makes its first flight from Santa Monica, California. During the flight it loses power in both engines. Power is regained on the descent and it is discovered that the carburettors have been installed backwards. The plane has variable speed propellers and can fly at 241kph/150 mph and carry 12 passengers.
6 June 1933	Germany [cinema and film]	Josef Goebbels, the German Minister of Information and Propaganda, authorizes legislation to exclude Jews and foreigners from involvement in film production. As the Nazis increase their control over the cinema industry, a number of noted Germans involved in film production, notably Fritz Lang, Erich Pommer, Leontine Sagan, and Max Ophüls, leave the country.
14 July 1933	Germany [legislation]	All political parties other than the National Socialist (Nazi) Party are banned in Germany.
15 July - 22 July 1933	[aircraft]	US aviator Wiley Post makes the first solo flight around the world, in 7 days 18 hr 49 min.
8 September 1933	[births and deaths]	Faisal I, King of Iraq 1921–33 and promoter of pan-Arab nationalism, dies in Bern, Switzerland (48).
14 October 1933	Germany [League of Nations]	Germany withdraws from the League of Nations and its disarmament conference.