February 4- Adolf Hitler abolishes the War Ministry and creates the High Command of the Armed Forces, giving him direct control of the German military. In addition, Hitler sacks political and military leaders considered unsympathetic to his philosophy or policies.
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 24- First commercial use of synthetic nylon yarn (nylon bristle toothbrush).
March 3- Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia.
March 12- German troops occupy Austria; annexation is declared the following day.
June 12-18- The Roma and Sinti peoples in Germany and Austria are rounded up, beaten up and jailed.
June 15- László Bíró patents the ballpoint pen in Britain.
June 23- The Civil Aeronautics Act is signed into law, forming the Civil Aeronautics Authority in the United States.
September 2- Soviet Ambassador to Britain Ivan Maisky calls on Winston Churchill, to tell him that Soviet Foreign Commissar Maxim Litvinov has expressed to the French charge d'affaire in Moscow that the Soviet Union is willing to fight over the territorial integrity of Czechoslovakia.
October 30- Orson Welles's radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds is broadcast, causing panic in various parts of the United States.
November 9- Kristallnacht: In Germany, the "night of broken glass" begins as Nazi activists and sympathizers loot and burn Jewish businesses (the all night affair sees 7,500 Jewish businesses destroyed, 267 synagogues burned, 91 Jews killed, and at least 25,000 Jewish men arrested).
December 23- A coelacanth, a fish thought to have been extinct, is caught off the coast of South Africa.
1938 (8 Soil Year / 2 Soil 9-Year Cycle / 1 Water 81-Year Cycle)
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