1938 was full of significant events - both in our country and abroad. It was a difficult and stressful time in the USSR, and many important events took place in the world that influenced the course of all further history.
The catastrophe of the Soviet airship
The year 1938 began with a tragedy in which a Soviet aircraft participated. The airship USSR-V6, which belonged to Osoaviahim, crashed on February 6.
The tragedy occurred in preparation for the flight from Moscow to Novosibirsk. Just at that time, it became known that the ice floe on which the Papanin expedition had drifted broke, an urgent evacuation was necessary.
The airship flew from Moscow to the rescue of the Papanin in the evening, February 5. The next day, at about noon, he flew over Petrozavodsk, and in the evening he approached Kandalaksha.
The weather conditions were very difficult, at an altitude of about 200 meters snowfall, low cloud cover and poor visibility were observed. As a result, the metal structures of the aircraft iced up. 150 meters from the top of Neblo Gora, which was not marked on the crew’s flight map, the airship collided with the ground.
An instant fire broke out, 13 of the 19 crew members were killed, three escaped with minor injuries, and three more were not injured at all.
Oil in Saudi Arabia
A landmark event in 1938 occurred in Saudi Arabia. In March, colossal oil reserves were discovered here, which played a decisive role in the country's development for many decades.
True, it was not possible to immediately begin to develop deposits. Due to the Second World War, production on an industrial scale began only in 1946, after three years the oil industry was well established in the country. This resource has become the main source of wealth and prosperity for the state, which is still used in Saudi Arabia.
The beginning of the Anschluss
In 1938, little was said about World War II, but tension was sharply felt in the air. On the night of March 13, German troops crossed the border with Austria, the result of such actions was the Anschluss - the inclusion of Austrian territory in Germany.
This was the embodiment of one of the goals that Hitler defined in foreign policy, agents of the Nazi regime were actively introducing themselves into all state structures in Austria, although they experienced resistance at the same time.
The independence of Austria was restored only in 1945, when the country was occupied by allied forces.
Conflict on Hassan Lake
One of the main events of 1938 in the USSR was a series of clashes between Japan and the Red Army over territories near the Tumannaya River and Hassan Lake.
In fact, the conflict began with the fact that Japan put forward a territorial claim to the Soviet Union. But in reality, according to historians, the point was in the support that the USSR provided to China after signing the non-aggression treaty a year earlier. The Soviet leadership did its utmost to prevent the surrender of China, providing it with military assistance, political and diplomatic support.
On the part of the Red Army, about 15 thousand people participated in the conflict, armed with more than 200 artillery pieces, as well as tanks, machine guns and airplanes. From the Japanese side, at least 20 thousand people were involved, who had three armored trains and about two hundred guns.
This important event in the world of 1938 had a considerable impact on foreign policy.
The beginning of military events
On July 29, 150 Japanese soldiers attacked 11 Soviet border guards, taking advantage of poor visibility due to heavy fog. The attackers lost about 40 people, but nevertheless occupied a height. True, by evening the Soviet troops managed to recapture her back when reinforcements arrived at them.
Events in 1938 on Lake Hassan developed rapidly. On the part of the Soviet troops, 865 people died, 95 were reported missing, more than two and a half thousand wounded. The Red Army lost 5 tanks and 4 aircraft.
Among the Japanese, there were 526 killed, the data on the number of wounded vary widely - from 900 to 2500 thousand people.
On August 10, the Japanese proposed to begin peace talks, the very next day the hostilities were stopped.
The outcome of the armed conflict on Lake Hassan was recognized by the successful Soviet government. The troops of the Red Army managed to accomplish the task of defending the state border and defeating the main enemy forces. The key role in these events was played by the commander of the Far Eastern Front, Blucher, whose actions were considered unsatisfactory. He was fired. In November, he died right during interrogation.
Lensky execution
Many events of 1938 in Russia were associated with political repression. The machine of punitive organs carefully singled out and eliminated all those who disagree, those who opposed the existing regime.
The famous Lensky execution occurred in 1912. Then, at the gold mining mines, which were located in the area of the city of Bodaibo, there were spontaneous strikes of workers who were dissatisfied with their position. Government forces brutally crushed the rebellion. According to various sources, from 150 to 270 people died.
It is important that after this tragedy no conclusions were drawn, the situation of the workers remained all the same catastrophic, a similar situation continued after the October Revolution. As it became known, after the collapse of the USSR, the actions of discontented workers during the Soviet era continued and were brutally suppressed.
Only in 1996 did it become known about the event in 1938 in Russia. In Irkutsk, they managed to track down the case in the archives of the special services, according to which, according to the Troika’s verdict, 948 Lena mine workers were shot in the 38th.
Rainy day
Talking about what events took place in 1938, it is necessary to mention the so-called Black Day, which happened on Yamal on September 18. This is an inexplicable dark in the afternoon. So far, it has not been reliably able to establish the nature of this unique phenomenon.
According to hypotheses, it is associated with forest fires or the local movement of dust particles in the atmosphere. Religious fanatics blame supernatural powers. There is still no reliable explanation of what happened on Yamal.
Zbonschinsky expulsion
Under this name, a large-scale action on the forcible resettlement of Jews from Germany, which began on October 28, is known. The reason for its official start was the adoption in Poland of the law "On the Deprivation of Citizenship."
In two days, the German authorities arrested about 17 thousand Polish Jews living in the country, they were quickly deported through the German-Polish border. The direct consequence of the Zbonszczyn expulsion was the murder in Paris of the German diplomat fom Rath, as well as the Jewish pogroms that began throughout Germany.
In just 2 days, about 17 thousand people were deported, raids and arrests were carried out in all major German cities. Now you know what events were in 1938.
Occupation of Czechoslovakia
Listing which events of 1938 had an important influence on subsequent history, it should be noted that the matter was not limited to the Anschluss of Austria. In October, the Hitler government began the occupation of Czechoslovakia.
Within a month, German troops established control over the territory of the Sudetenland; in the same month, Poland occupied the Tieszyn region of Czechoslovakia.
The borders of states established after the end of the First World War began to constantly change, which caused discontent throughout the civilized world. Obviously, these were the first prerequisites that ultimately led to an open conflict, the beginning of Germany's Second World War with the aim of establishing dominance in the key states of the planet.
Crystal night
In the history of the Jewish people in 1938, one of the most terrible and famous tragedies occurred. Kristallnacht is also called the Night of Broken Windows. It was a series of coordinated Jewish pogroms that took place throughout Nazi Germany, as well as in the Sudetenland and part of Austria on November 9 and 10. It was carried out by civilians, who were actually led by paramilitary assault squads.
The police thus withdrew from what was happening, did not intervene in the events. As a result, many streets were covered with fragments of shop windows, synagogues and buildings that were owned by Jews.
Goebbels’s statement about the impending attack of the international Jewish community on Germany and the Fuhrer became the formal reason for the pogroms. After Kristallnacht, the economic and political pressure on the Jews only intensified, they began to be openly perceived as enemies of Nazi Germany, statements began to appear about the need for a final solution to the Jewish question.
As a result of the pogroms, several dozen people were killed. According to official figures, 91. In this case, a third of the victims were in the city of Nuremberg. About 30 thousand people were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Independent sources spoke of 400 dead, and some of the two and a half thousand victims.
In memory of this tragedy, the International Day against Fascism, Racism and Anti-Semitism is annually celebrated on November 9.
"Tiger beam"
In 1938, the famous Tigrovaya Balka Reserve was opened on the territory of Tajikistan. It is located in the confluence of the Panj and Vakhsh rivers. A significant part of its territory is occupied by tugai forests, which were relatively little affected by human exposure in the entire history of the development of these lands.
Until today, the reserve has managed to preserve especially valuable and rare animal species for these places. For example, Bukhara deer. Until the middle of the last century, the Turanian tiger met , which then finally became extinct.
People living in these places have long believed that tigers do not pose a particular threat to humans, therefore, these dangerous predators have always lived near settlements. A large role in the population of Turanian tigers was made by the relocation of Russian immigrants to these places. The Russian administration almost immediately began to make great efforts to destroy predators, which in the end was possible to do.
Back in the 19th century, tigers were regularly raided by the military. Often, requests for the destruction of animals were made by local residents, who were afraid of their large numbers and proximity. Even regular troops participated in the extermination.
The decisive role in the extinction of this species was played by the development of human lands, which deprived the Turanian tigers of their food supply.