1931 (THURSDAY)
SWITZERLAND: The Japanese delegate to the League of Nations requests that the League send a special commission to investigate the situation in Manchuria. This request results in the League appointment of the Lytton Commission to review the chain of events that led to the Japanese intervention in northern China.
1934 (MONDAY)
SWITZERLAND: The League of Nations Council appoints a committee to study the question of terrorism, "considering that the rules of international law concerning the repression of terrorist activity are not at present sufficiently precise to guarantee efficiently international cooperation in this matter . . ."
1935 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: The British Government endeavors to defend the Hoare-Laval plan in Parliament and promote it in Ethiopia stating, "There has obviously been a leakage in France which has made a very difficult and delicate matter incomparably more difficult and more delicate. . . ."
1936 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: King Edward VIII is the first British monarch to abdicate the throne voluntarily, as the result of a constitutional crisis. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin and the Dominion governments refuse to accept a morganatic marriage between Edward VIII and Mrs. Wallis Warfield Simpson, an American whose second divorce is not yet finalized. The King already has significant differences of opinion with his chief ministers on several issues (primarily social policy) and decides that he would rather surrender the throne than lose the right to shape his own life and he signs the Deed of Abdication today. He is succeeded by his brother, King George VI, and Edward becomes the Duke of Windsor, marrying Mrs. Simpson in June 1937 in France.
1938 (SATURDAY)
UNITED STATES: Filming finally begins on "Gone with the Wind" after years of delay. Producer David O. Selznick has not yet cast an actress to play the leading role of Scarlett O'Hara, so the first day's shooting is of the burning of Atlanta, which didn't require close footage of Scarlett. What was actually burned were a lot of old sets on the studio backlot, including the "Great Gate" from the 1933 film King Kong.
December 10th, 1939 (SUNDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Bomber Command: Daylight Anti-shipping sweep over North Sea. 77 Sqn. Three aircraft. Nothing sighted.FRANCE: The sale of meat is forbidden on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays.
Western Front: King George VI has completed a five-day visit to British and French troops defending the Western Front, which he began on 4 December. He has talked with men who have clashed with Germans during night patrols and with pilots who had shot down enemy aircraft. He also ate chicken pie and cheese in a French 'estaminet' and was awarded the Maginot Medal, given to men who serve in the "impregnable" fortifications system. The King crossed the Channel in bad weather and was met by the British C-in-C, Lord Gort.
He made a 100 mile tour of the British lines, inspecting trench systems built along the Belgian border to close the gap between the Maginot Line and the Channel coast. He frequently left his car to walk down lines of cheering troops paraded in his honour.
GERMANY agrees to supply Soviet submarines enforcing the embargo of Finland in Baltic.
Vidkun Quisling of Norway, the leader of Nasjonal Samling ("National Unity"), the Norwegian fascist party, meets with Chancellor Adolf Hitler and many others in Berlin, over 11 days. They agree that Germany should aid Quisling and his Nazi party to seize control of Norway at a favorable moment.
FINLAND: Swedish Major General (generalmajor) Ernst Linder (Swedish Army Reserve also a lieutenant-general 'kenraaliluutnantti' in the Finnish Army Reserve) visits the Finnish GHQ and announces he could gather two divisions of volunteers to fight in Finland.
Finland appeals to all civilized nations for help stating, "The people of Finland, who have always honestly endeavoured to build up their future in mutual understanding with all other nations and on the foundation of peaceful labour, are being ruthlessly attacked by their eastern neighbour without the slightest cause on the part of Finland. The conflict was thrust upon us. We have had no choice. The Finnish people fight for their independence, their liberty, and their honour. We defend the country of our birth, our democratic constitution, our religion, our homes, and everything civilized nations hold sacred. So far we still fight alone against the enemy invader, although in actual truth the struggle denotes the defence of the welfare of all humanity. We have already given proof of our will to do our best in this battle, but we trust that the civilized world, which has already revealed its deep sympathy for us, will not leave us alone in our struggle with a numerically superior enemy. Our position as the outpost of western civilization gives us the right to expect the active resistance of other civilized nations."
GIBRALTAR: U.S. freighter SS Steel Engineer is detained by British authorities.
CANADA: First contingent of troops from the 1st Canadian Infantry Division sailed from Halifax in convoy TC-1 bound for Britain. The destroyers HMCS Ottawa, Restigouche, Fraser and St Laurent escorted them to the open ocean. A RN 'ocean' escort was provided by the carrier Furious, battleship Resolution, battlecruiser Repulse and cruiser Emerald.
Submarines FS Achille and Pasteur departed Halifax as escort for Convoy HX-12.
U.S.A.: Washington: The Government grants Finland a US$10 million (US$140.5 million in year 2005 dollars) credit for agricultural supplies. (Finland paid her debts.)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-20 sank SS Willowpool and Føina.