1933

1933 was a year shaped by the depths of the Great Depression and rapid political change. It featured major policy responses in the United States and the consolidation of power in Germany, while Japan and other powers pursued ambitious international aims.

In Germany, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor on January 30, 1933. After the Reichstag Fire on February 27, the regime used the Reichstag Fire Decree to curb civil liberties. The Enabling Act of March 23 gave the government authority to enact laws without parliamentary approval, enabling a one‑party state and political suppression. Gleichschaltung advanced through a civil service purge in April and a Jewish business boycott. Dachau concentration camp opened in March. The Law Against the Formation of New Parties on July 14 banned other parties, and in October Germany withdrew from the League of Nations.

In the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated in March 1933 and launched the New Deal. The Emergency Banking Act followed a nationwide bank holiday, then came the Civilian Conservation Corps, the National Industrial Recovery Act, the Public Works Administration, and securities regulation under the Securities Act of 1933. Prohibition remained in effect at the start of the year, but the 21st Amendment repealing Prohibition was ratified in December.

Internationally, Japan announced its withdrawal from the League of Nations in 1933 after condemnation over its actions in Manchuria. The Dust Bowl worsened agricultural distress in the United States, and scientist Albert Einstein emigrated to the United States amid rising persecution in Germany.

These developments helped set the stage for further upheaval in Europe and North America in the mid‑1930s.