1938

Same year, around the world
Featured events in 1938
1938EuropePolitics

Munich Agreement sells out Czechoslovakia

Britain's Neville Chamberlain and France's Edouard Daladier met Hitler and Mussolini at Munich and handed over the Sudetenland without a Czech representative…

September 29, 1938Modern Era
1938North AmericaPolitics

Mexico nationalizes its oil

President Lazaro Cardenas expropriated the holdings of foreign oil companies and created Pemex, the state oil monopoly.

March 5, 1938Modern Era
1938EuropePolitics

Kristallnacht shatters German Jewry

After a Polish Jewish teenager shot a German diplomat in Paris, Nazi stormtroopers and ordinary Germans smashed the windows of Jewish shops, burned…

November 9, 1938Modern Era
1938EuropePolitics

Germany annexes Austria

Wehrmacht columns crossed into Austria to cheering crowds tossing flowers in what Hitler called the Anschluss, the unification of the German-speaking peoples.

March 12, 1938Modern Era
1938North AmericaExploration

Howard Hughes flies around the world

The eccentric millionaire aviator and his crew of four flew around the world in three days, nineteen hours, and seventeen minutes, beating the previous record…

August 1, 1938Modern Era
1938North AmericaCulture

War of the Worlds radio broadcast

Orson Welles and his Mercury Theatre on the Air adapted H. G. Wells's Martian invasion novel as a fake news broadcast.

October 30, 1938Modern Era
1938North AmericaCulture

Seabiscuit beats War Admiral

In a match race at Pimlico, the undersized Seabiscuit beat Triple Crown winner War Admiral by four lengths as forty thousand people screamed in the stands…

November 1, 1938Modern Era

Want 1938 in context? Print the whole 20th century as a one-sheet timeline chart.

Compare years

Frequently asked

What happened in the year 1938?

Saeculum lists 7 events from 1938. The most significant is Munich Agreement sells out Czechoslovakia.

What era was 1938 part of?

1938 falls within the Modern Era (1901-2000). World wars, cold war, and the splitting of the atom.

Which regions saw notable events in 1938?

The events from 1938 span Europe and North America.

Related guides