1938
Events January January 1 – State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS). January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Safinaz Zulficar, who becomes Queen Farida, in Cairo. January 27 – The Honeymoon Bridge at Niagara Falls, New York, collapses as a result of an ice jam. February February 4 Adolf Hitler abolishes the War Ministry and creates the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (High Command of the Armed Forces), giving him direct control of the German military. In addition, he dismisses political and military leaders considered unsympathetic to his philosophy or policies. General Werner von Fritsch is forced to resign as Commander of Chief of the German Army following accusations of homosexuality, and replaced by General Walther von Brauchitsch. Foreign Minister Baron Konstantin von Neurath is dismissed, and replaced by Joachim von Ribbentrop. Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first cel-animated feature in motion picture history, is released in the United States, following a premiere on December 21 of the previous year. February 6 – Black Sunday at Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia: 300 swimmers are dragged out to sea in 3 freak waves; 80 lifesavers save all but 5. February 10 Carol II of Romania takes dictatorial powers. Second Sino-Japanese War: Bombing of Chongqing begins. February 12 – Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg of Austria meets Adolf Hitler at Berchtesgaden and, under threat of invasion, is forced to yield to German demands for greater Nazi participation in the Austrian government. February 22 – The Battle of Teruel ends in a Nationalist victory with recapture of the city, a turning point in the Spanish Civil War. February 24 – A nylon bristle toothbrush becomes the first commercial product to be made with nylon yarn. March March 1 – Lee Byung-chul establishes a trucking business in Daegu, Korea, which he names Samsung Trading Co, the forerunner to Samsung. March 3 The Santa Ana River in California, United States, spills over its banks during a rainy winter, killing 58 people in Orange County, and causing trouble as far inland as Palm Springs. Sir Nevile Henderson, British Ambassador to Germany, presents a proposal to Hitler for an international consortium to rule much of Africa (in which Germany would be assigned a leading role), in exchange for a German promise never to resort to war to change her frontiers; Hitler rejects the British offer. March 12 – Anschluss: German troops occupy Austria; annexation is declared the following day. March 14 – French Premier Léon Blum reassures the Czechoslovak government that France will honor its treaty obligations to aid Czechoslovakia, in the event of a German invasion. March 17 – Poland presents an ultimatum to Lithuania, to establish normal diplomatic relations that were severed over the Vilnius Region. March 27 – Italian mathematician Ettore Majorana disappears suddenly under mysterious circumstances, while travelling by ship from Palermo to Naples. March 28 – At a meeting with Hitler in Berlin, Konrad Henlein is instructed to make increasing