1935 (SATURDAY)
SWITZERLAND: The League of Nations votes to impose deliberately ineffectual economic sanctions against Italy for its invasion of Ethiopia. Steps that would impede the progress of the invasion, such as banning the sale of oil to Italy and closing the Suez Canal, are not taken, out of fear of igniting hostilities in Europe. In the first loss of Ethiopian independence in its long history, tens of thousands of Ethiopians are killed as the Italian army employed poison gas and other modern atrocities to suppress the country. By the end of 1936, the Italian conquest of Ethiopia is complete. Ethiopia's leader, Emperor Haile Selassie, goes into exile but returns in 1941, when British and Ethiopian troops liberate the country. Ignoring the British occupation authorities, Selassie quickly organized his own government.
October 19th, 1939 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
Corvette HMS Gladiolus laid down.
Destroyer HMS Highlander launched.
GERMANY: Berlin: The army High Command issues 'Fall Gelb' [Plan Yellow], the strategy for a
western offensive.
Hitler officially incorporates the Western portion of
Poland into the Reich.
U-55 launched.
POLAND: A Jewish ghetto is established at Lublin, the centre of a Jewish "reserve" in eastern Poland.TURKEY: Ankara: The Allied commanders Maxime Weygand and Archibald Wavell sign a mutual assistance pact with Turkey.
JAPAN: U.S. Ambassador Joseph Grew tells the Japanese people that American public opinion strongly resent Japan's actions in China stating "only through consideration of those facts, and through constructive steps to alter those facts, can Japanese-American relations be improved. Those relations must be improved. . . . But the American people have been profoundly shocked over the wide-spread use of bombing in China, not only on grounds of humanity but also on grounds of the direct menace to American lives and property accompanied by the loss of American life and the crippling of American citizens; they regard with growing seriousness the violation of and interference with American rights by the Japanese armed forces in China in disregard of treaties and agreements entered into by the United States and Japan and treaties and agreements entered into by several nations, including Japan. The American people know that those treaties and agreements were entered into voluntarily by
Japan and that the provisions of those treaties and agreements constituted a practical arrangement for safeguarding "for the benefit of all" the correlated principles of national sovereignty and of equality of economic opportunity. The principle of equality of economic opportunity is one to which over a long period and on many occasions Japan has given definite approval and upon which Japan has frequently insisted. Not only are the American people perturbed over their being arbitrarily deprived of long-established rights, including those of equal opportunity and fair treatment, but they feel that the present trend in the Far East if continued will be destructive of the hopes which they sincerely cherish of the development of an orderly world. American rights and interests in China are being impaired or destroyed by the policies and actions of the Japanese authorities in China. American property is being damaged or destroyed; American nationals are being endangered and subjected to indignities. . . . The traditional friendship between our two Nations is far too precious a thing to be either inadvertently or deliberately impaired."
CANADA: Destroyer HMCS Assiniboine (ex-HMS Kempenfelt) commissioned.
U.S.A.: The motion picture "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" premieres at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Directed by Frank Capra, this political drama stars James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains, Edward Arnold, Thomas Mitchell, Beulah Bondi, Harry Carry; Jack Carson and H.V. Kaltenborn appear in uncredited bit parts. The plot has young idealist Stewart being appointed a U.S. Senator and fighting corruption in the Senate Chamber. The film is nominated for ten Academy Awards including Best Picture (it loses to "Gone With The Wind"), Best Director, Best Actor (Stewart) and Best Supporting Actor (Carey); it wins an Oscar for Best Writing. The film is ranked Number 29 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest Movies.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-48 attacked the British steamer Rockpool with gunfire at 1332hrs. The steamer fired back, forcing the U-boat to crash dive. When it surfaced and opened fire once more, a destroyer arrived, sending the U-boat into a second dive.