1939

Events

• January 5 - Fumimaro Konoe steps down as Prime Minister of Japan.
• February 13 - Béla Imrédy resigns as Prime Minister of Hungary.
• March 7 - Armand Călinescu is named Prime Minister of Romania.
• March 7 - Khorloogiin Choibalsan declares himself Prime Minister of Mongolia after ousting previous Prime Minister Anandyn Amar in an NKVD-backed purge.
• March 15 - The Arrow Cross Party is founded.
• April 1 - The Spanish Civil War ends. Francisco Franco and his fascist Falange de las J.O.N.S successfully abolish the Second Spanish Republic and declare the formation of a new Spanish State.
• May 22 - The "Pact of Steel" is signed by Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, formally creating the Axis Powers.
• June 10 - James A. Colescott replaces Hiram Wesley Evans as Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
• June 24 - Plaek Phibunsongkhram, Prime Minister of Siam, renames the country Thailand.
• August - End of the Great Palestinian Revolt.
• August 23 - The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact is signed between the Nazi Party and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, mandating peace between the two parties.
• August 25 - The Irish Republican Army conducts an aerial bombing of the city of Coventry in England, killing 5 people and injuring 70.
• September 1 - The Action T4 euthanasia program is first launched by the Nazi Party, with Schutzstaffel officers Karl Brandt and Philipp Bouhler placed in charge of the program.
• September 1 - Adolf Hitler orders a full-scale invasion of Poland, marking the official beginning of World War II.
• September 17 - Joseph Stalin launches an invasion of Poland in an attempt to counter the Nazi invasion.
• September 21 - Armand Călinescu is assassinated in Bucharest by members of the Iron Guard.
• September 27 - Heinrich Himmler establishes the Reich Main Security Office (RHSA) to serve as an umbrella organization for Nazi Germany's intelligence agencies, including the Gestapo. Reinhard Heydrich is appointed as the RHSA's inaugural director.
• October 26 - Jozef Tiso declares the formation of the Slovak Republic, with himself as president and Vojtech Tuka as prime minister.
• November 16 - Al Capone is released from Alcatraz, due to deteriorating health caused by syphilis.
• November 30 - The Soviet Union invades Finland, beginning the Winter War.
• Unknown - The Einsatzgruppen death squads are used for the first time.

Births

Villain births

• January 1 - Billy Reid
• January 31 - Jerry Brudos
• February 8 - Jose Maria Sison
• February 15 - Robert Hansen
• March 5 - Peter Woodcock
• April 13 - Joseph Maskell
• April 19 - Ali Khamenei
• April 24 - Ernst Zündel
• April 27 - Nino Vieira
• May 21 - Roger Kibbe
• June 12 - Bobby Jack Fowler
• July 16 - Barry Seal
• September 24 - Patrick Kearney
• October 18 - Lee Harvey Oswald
• November 6 - David Parker Ray
• November 27 - Laurent-Désiré Kabila
• December 18 - Dean Corll
• December 26 - Phil Spector
• Unknown - Edward Charles Allaway

Victim births

• April 2 - Marvin Gaye
• October 15 - Joy Pittman
• November 6 - Michael Schwerner
• December 18 - Paul Lee Stine

Deaths

Villain deaths

• January 13 - Arthur Barker
• February 26 - Stanislav Kosior
• March 7 - Armand Călinescu
• June 16 - Robert Nixon