| Date |
Event |
Historical
Background |
| January 1929 |
International Exposition of Printmakers |
To promote the art of printmaking, the League of Nations hosted an exhibition in Blackpool, England. |
| January-April 1929 |
Opening of Trans-Sahara Road |
Prince Sixtus of Bourbon opened a road between Algiers and Lake Chad across the Sahara Dessert. |
| January 5, 1929 |
General Act of Inter-American Arbitration |
Delegates at the Pan American Conference in Washington, DC signed a treaty calling for conciliation and arbitration of disputes in the Western Hemisphere. The agreement was similar in nature to the Pact of Paris of 1928. |
| January 5, 1929 |
Serb-Croat-Slovene Dictatorship |
King Alexander I, in an effort to eliminate national divisions within the kingdom, declared a dictatorship under the premiership of General Zhivkovich. The king suspended the constitution, dissolved parliament, and dissolved political parties, including the Croat Party. |
| January 15, 1929 |
U.S. Ratification of Pact of Paris |
The U.S. Senate ratified the Pact of Paris since the agreement did not curtail the nation's right to self-defense, it was not inconsistent with the Monroe Doctrine, and it did not commit the United States to engage in military operations against aggressor states. |
| January 18, 1929 |
Hilton-Young Commission |
The British government dispatched the Hilton-Young Commission to investigate conditions in Africa. The commission recommended a closer union between the British East African and Central African colonies. |
| January 19, 1929 |
Appointment of Young Committee |
Continued problems with the German reparations issue led to the establishment of the Young Committee to examine the problem and to make recommendations to solve the economic issues. The Coolidge administration named Owen D. Young and J.P. Morgan as the American experts to head the commission. |
| January 24, 1929 |
Libyan Consolidation |
The Italian government consolidated the provinces of Tripoli and Cyrenaica under one colonial government with the end of the Senussi rebellion. |
| January 31, 1929 |
Trotsky Expelled from the Soviet Union |
The Soviet government expelled Leon Trotsky from the Soviet Union, sending him into exile. Trotsky served as the Commissar of War during the Russian Revolution and was a close associate of Nicolai Lenin. Trotsky promoted a world-wide Communist revolution and locked political horns with Josef Stalin, who promoted Socialism in one state. Stalin defeated Trotsky in the political power struggle in the Soviet Union after the death of Lenin in 1924. |
| February 1929 |
U.S. Cruiser Program |
The U.S. Congress approved the construction of fifteen cruisers of 10,000 ton displacement. This naval expansion reflected the failure of the delegates at the Geneva Disarmament Conference of 1927 to reach an agreement on cruiser restrictions. |
| February 1929 |
Commission to Revise the Statute of the World Court |
The Coolidge administration sent Elihu Root to Europe to join an international commission tasked to revise the World Court. Root's formula would not permit the World Court to render an advisory opinion in any dispute involving the United States without the consent of the U.S. government. He also reserved the right of the United States to withdraw from any World Court protocol if the interested parties called on an advisory opinion on an issue in which the U.S. claimed an interest. |
| February 2, 1929 |
Norwegian Annexation of Peter Island |
The Norwegian government annexed Peter Island in the South Atlantic Ocean, an important whaling station. |
| February 5, 1929 |
Adjournment of Syrian Assembly |
Due to the nationalist sentiments of the Constituent Assembly, the French government indefinitely adjourned the assembly. |
| February 6, 1929 |
German Acceptance of Pact of Paris |
The German government accepted the terms of the Kellogg-Briand Pact, renouncing war as an instrument of state policy. German acceptance of the Pact of Paris played an important legal role for the Nuremberg Trials. |
| February 9, 1929 |
Litvinov Protocol |
Delegates from Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union signed a pact in Moscow renouncing war. This treaty represented the spirit of the Pact of Paris. |
| February 11, 1929 |
Lateran Treaties |
The Vatican and Italian government signed a series of treaties which ended decades of strife between the two states. The Italian government recognized Vatican City as a sovereign and independent state and the parties signed a concordat which regulated the activities of the Catholic Church in Italy. The Italian government agreed to pay the papacy an indemnity of 750 million lire plus one billion lire in state bonds. |
| February 11, 1929 |
Young Committee Meetings in Paris |
The Young Committee began deliberations in Paris in an attempt to revise the Dawes Plan which would allow the German government to meet its reparation payment requirements. |
| February 27, 1929 |
Turkish Adherence to the Litvinov Protocol |
The Turkish government signed the Litvinov Protocol, renouncing war as an instrument of foreign policy. |
| March 4-9, 1929 |
Fifty-Fourth League Council Session |
The League of Nations Council held its fifty-fourth session in Geneva. |
| March 6, 1929 |
Turco-Bulgarian Treaty of Friendship |
The Bulgarian and Turkish governments signed a Treaty of Friendship. This agreement settled a number of outstanding issues between the two countries. |
| March 8-May 1, 1929 |
Resumption of Anglo-Egyptian Talks |
With the new Labour government in Britain, the Egyptian government resumed negotiations hoping for concessions from the British. |
| March 9, 1929 |
Hoover Plan for World Court Membership |
In his inaugural address, President Herbert Hoover called on the U.S. Senate to accept United States membership in the World Court, under the restrictions outlined by Elihu Root. |
| March 11-14, 1929 |
Second Conference of Institutions for the Scientific Study of International Relations |
To promote the study of international relations, the League of Nations held its second conference of academicians in Geneva. |
| March 17, 1929 |
Saloniki Free Zone Settlement |
The governments of Greece and the Kingdom of the Serbs-Croats-Slovenes settled the free zone controversy. The Serbs-Croats-Slovenes gained more extensive privileges to the Greek port of Saloniki than had been provided under the Treaty of 1923. |
| March 24, 1929 |
Fascist Victory in Italian Elections |
The Fascists received over 99 percent of the votes in Italian national elections, establishing the party's political domination over the kingdom. |
| March 27, 1929 |
Greek-Serb-Croat-Slovene Treaty of Friendship |
The governments of Greece and the Kingdom of the Serbs-Croats-Slovenes signed a Treaty of Friendship. The settlement of the free zone controversy at Saloniki permitted the two states to address other problems in the region. |
| March 28, 1929 |
Sino-Japanese Shantung Agreement |
The effectiveness of the Chinese boycott of Japanese goods and resulting economic dislocations convinced the Japanese government to withdraw from Shantung. The Japanese agreed to pay the Chinese government damages, but not indemnities, and agreed to evacuate military forces from Shantung. |
| April 1929 |
Dawes Commission to Dominican Republic |
At the invitation of the Dominican Republic government, the U.S. sent a commission, under the leadership of Charles G. Dawes, to investigate the republic's finances and offer recommendations to restore financial stability. |
| April 3, 1929 |
Persian Adherence to the Litvinov Protocol |
The Persian government signed the Litvinov Protocol, renouncing war as an instrument of foreign policy. |
| April 5, 1929 |
Lithuanian Adherence to the Litvinov Protocol |
The Lithuanian government signed the Litvinov Protocol, renouncing war as an instrument of foreign policy. |
| April 9, 1929 |
Sinking of Canadian Ship |
The Canadian minister in Washington, DC protested the U.S. Coast Guard's sinking of the Canadian ship "I'm Alone" in the Gulf of Mexico. The Coast Guard intercepted the Canadian ship on a prohibition patrol in an effort to prevent Canadian liquor from entering the United States. The two governments agreed to arbitration to settle the dispute although friction continued to rise as the U.S. threatened to impose higher tariffs on Canadian agricultural products. |
| April 9-20, 1929 |
Counterfeiting Repression Conference |
To suppress international counterfeiting, the League of Nations sponsored a conference in Geneva. |
| April 12, 1929 |
Young Committee Report |
The members of the Young Committee presented their plan to address the German reparations problem and the German government offered counter-proposals to the plan. |
| May 5-8, 1929 |
Third General Assembly of Historical Science |
In an effort to promote historical research, the League of Nations supported this conference in Venice. |
| May 7, 1929 |
Nile River Agreement |
The British and Egyptian governments signed an agreement on the use of Nile River waters. Under the treaty, only Blue Nile water would be used in the Sudan, primarily for agriculture, while White Nile water was reserved for Egyptian use. |
| May 8, 1929 |
Norwegian Annexation of Jan Mayers Island |
The Norwegian government annexed Jan Mayers Island in the Arctic Ocean. |
| May 13-July 29, 1929 |
Sixteenth Session of the Permanent Court of International Justice |
The Permanent Court of International Justice held its sixteenth (extraordinary) session in the Hague. |
| May 20, 1929 |
Japanese Evacuation of Jinan |
The success of the Nationalist Chinese forces in occupying Beijing and the Chinese boycott of Japanese goods led to the Japanese government's evacuation of military forces from Shantung. |
| May 22, 1929 |
Arrest of Vladko Marchek |
The government of the Kingdom of the Serbs-Croats-Slovenes arrested Dr. Vladko Marchek, the new leader of the Croat Party and successor to the assassinated Nicolas
Radich. |
| May 30-June 21, 1929 |
Twelfth Session of the International Labor Conference |
The International Labor Organization (BIT) held its twelfth session in Geneva, under the chairmanship of Dr. Brauns (Germany). Deliberations focused on the weight of packages transported by ships and protection of dockers against accidents. |
| June 1929 |
Bulgarian Border Raids on the Kingdom of the Serbs-Croats-Slovenes |
Macedonian revolutionaries from Bulgaria began a series of raids across the Serb-Croat-Slovene border. This resulted in acute tension between the Bulgarian and Serb-Croat-Slovene governments, who closed the frontier between the two countries. |
| June 1929 |
Turkish Protective Tariff |
The Turkish government introduced a new, higher tariff designed to protect and promote Turkish industry. The Turkish government also rejected foreign investment in the country and gradually purchased foreign holdings in the republic. |
| June 1929 |
Turkish Repression of Communist Propaganda |
Mustapha Kemal strongly censored Communist propaganda in Turkey, limiting Russian influence in the republic despite friendly relations between Turkey and the USSR. |
| June 3, 1929 |
Settlement of Tacna-Arica Question |
The Chilean and Peruvian governments signed an agreement ending the controversy over Tacna and Arica. The two governments severed diplomatic relations in 1910 over this issue and the U.S. government mediated talks between 1922 and 1926. An inconclusive plebiscite resulted in direct negotiations and a settlement by which Chile received Arica and Peru gained Tacna. The Chilean government extended port and transportation facilities at Arica to Peru. Chile retained all of the territory taken from Bolivia, including Atacama, but provided Bolivia a railway outlet from La Paz to Arica on the Pacific Ocean. |
| June 7, 1929 |
Young Plan Report |
The Young Plan outlined a new and permanent arrangement whereby Germany could meet its reparations payment requirements. The plan established the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), with a directorate composed of the central banks receiving German funds. The German government would make reparations payments through the BIS, paying annuities on a gradually increasing basis until 1988. They were required to pay a minimum of 660 million Reichmark per year and the remainder of the annuity could be postponed for two years in the event of an economic crisis. The annuity was guaranteed by a mortgage on the German state railway system. The total annuity of 1.7 billion RM was less than the Germans paid under the Dawes Plan and diplomats assumed the Young Plan represented a permanent settlement. |
| June 7, 1929 |
Ratification of the Lateran Treaties |
The Lateran Treaties officially went into effect. Pope Pius XI gave up his status as a voluntary prisoner and left the Vatican for the first time on July 25th. |
| June 10-14, 1929 |
Conference on Identity Cards for Emigrants in Transit |
To ease foreign travel for emigrants, the League of Nations held another conference on the issue of identity cards in Geneva. |
| June 10-15, 1929 |
Fifty-Fifth League Council Session |
The League of Nations Council held its fifty-fifth session in Madrid. |
| June 17-September 10, 1929 |
Seventeenth Session of the Permanent Court of International Justice |
The Permanent Court of International Justice held its seventeenth session in the Hague. |
| June 21, 1929 |
Mexican-Catholic Agreement |
The Mexican government and the Roman Catholic Church reached a compromise agreement regarding church-state relations which reduced tensions. |
| July 21, 1929 |
French War Debt Payments to U.S. |
The French Chamber of Deputies voted that war debt payments owed to the United States should be covered by German reparations payments to France. The French decision based their war debt payments on the Germans' ability to make reparations payments to the Allies. |
| July 24, 1929 |
Kellogg-Briand Pact Operational |
The Kellogg-Briand Pact, signed in Paris in August 1928, officially went into effect and made offensive war illegal under international law. |
| August 3, 1929 |
Nejd-Turkish Treaty of Friendship |
The governments of Hejaz and Nejd and Turkey signed a Treaty of Friendship which reflected common interests in the region. |
| August 6, 1929 |
Anglo-Egyptian Treaty |
After years of negotiations, the British and Egyptian governments reached a final settlement. The British occupation would end and be replaced by an Anglo-Egyptian military alliance with British troops stationed at key points on the Suez Canal. Egypt would become a member of the League of Nations and the Sudan would resume its status as an Anglo-Egyptian condominium. |
| August 6-31, 1929 |
Hague Reparations Conference |
The German government accepted the terms of the Young Plan and the Allied governments agreed to evacuate occupation troops from the Rheinland before June 1930. |
| August 8, 1929 |
Jews Attacked in Palestine |
For the first time, the Arabs in Palestine conducted large-scale attacks on Jews. The fighting erupted after a dispute regarding Jewish use of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. |
| August 8-29, 1929 |
Zeppelin World Transit |
The German airship, "Graf Zeppelin," circumnavigated the globe. |
| August 11, 1929 |
Iraqi-Persian Treaty of Friendship |
The Iraqi and Persian governments signed a Treaty of Friendship. The Persian government officially recognized the Iraqi state which opened the way to better relations between the two countries. |
| August 24, 1929 |
Nejd-Persian Treaty of Friendship |
The governments of Hejaz and Nejd and Persia signed a Treaty of Friendship which reflected both countries interests in the region. |
| August 29-September 11, 1929 |
Third International Conference for the Abolition of Prohibitions in the Exportation of Hides and Bones |
The League of Nations hosted its third conference to promote the exportation ofs Council held its fifty-sixth session in Geneva. |
| August 31, 1929 |
Chaco Dispute Arbitration Convention |
The Pan American Conference negotiated an Arbitration Convention between the Bolivian and Paraguayan governments in response to the fighting over the disputed Chaco region. Both governments rejected the convention draft and fighting in the contested region continued. |
| September 1929 |
Allied Withdrawal from Rheinland |
With German government acceptance of the Young Plan, the Allied governments began to withdraw occupation forces from the west bank of the
Rhein. |
| September 2-25, 1929 |
Tenth League Assembly Session |
The League of Nations Assembly held its tenth session in Geneva under Gustavo Guerrero (El Salvador). |
| September 4-13, 1929 |
Conference on the Revision of the Statute of the Permanent Court of International Justice |
The League of Nations hosed a conference in Geneva to revise the statute of the Permanent Court of International Justice to promote a greater range of membership in the organization. |
| September 5-9, 1929 |
European Federal Union Proposal |
French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand proposed a European Federal Union to facilitate economic and political policies. The League of Nations discussed this proposal in depth, but little action was taken to begin implementation. |
| September 13-25, 1929 |
Fifty-Seven League Council Session |
The League of Nations Council held its fifty-seventh session in Geneva. |
| September 14, 1929 |
U.S. Joins International Court |
The Hoover administration accepted participation in the International Court in the Hague, reflecting a change in American Isolationist policy. |
| September 26, 1929 |
Bulgarian-Serb-Croat-Slovene Border Agreement |
In response to the border tensions raised by Macedonian revolutionaries, the Bulgarian and Serb-Croat-Slovene governments established a frontier regime designed to improve security and eliminate cross border raids. |
| September 28-November 1, 1929 |
MacDonald Visit to U.S. and Canada |
Newly elected Prime Minister Ramsey MacDonald visited the United States and Canada |
| October 1, 1929 |
British Reestablishment of Ties with Russia |
The British government restored diplomatic relations with the USSR. |
| October 3, 1929 |
Establishment of Yugoslavia |
King Alexander I officially renamed the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes to Yugoslavia in an effort to eliminate old historical divisions and move towards a single national identity. The government divided traditional provinces into nine new banats with geographical names. |
| October 4, 1929 |
Death of Stresemann |
Gustav Stresemann, the former German foreign minister and architect of the Locarno Agreements, died. Stresemann ushered in a period of reconciliation between the Germans and the Western Allies. |
| October 4-6, 1929 |
British Official Visit to the U.S. |
British Prime Minister Ramsey MacDonald made an official visit to Washington and met with President Herbert Hoover to discuss naval disarmament issues. On October 7th, the British government issued a formal invitation to the U.S., French, Italian, and Japanese governments to send representatives to London for a major naval disarmament conference in January 1930. |
| October 10-26, 1929 |
Thirteenth Session of the International Labor Conference |
The International Labor Organization (BIT) held its thirteenth session in Geneva, under the chairmanship of Eduard Aunos Perez (Spain). This was the second session in 1929. |
| October 28, 1929 |
U.S. Stock Market Crash |
Unrestrained speculation and the end of the boom market resulted in the collapse of the U.S. stock market. Coupled with a prolonged agricultural depression, financial capital disappeared, prices collapsed, and the U.S. economic slid into a major depression which led to increasing unemployment, bank failures, mortgage foreclosures, and business closings. The Depression soon became global and adversely affected the economic and political stability of many nations. |
| October 31, 1929 |
Indian Round-Table Conference |
The British colonial government announced a new round table conferences would begin with the goal of granting India dominion status. |
| November 1, 1929 |
End of Australian Compulsory Service |
The Australian government restored voluntary military service as a result of the Labour government's pacifist policies and for reasons of economy. |
| November 5-December 5, 1929 |
International Conference on the Treatment of Foreigners |
The League of Nations sponsored a conference in Paris on the international treatment of foreign nationals. |
| November 13, 1929 |
Bank of International Settlements Established |
Per the terms of the Young Plan, the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) began operations in Basle, Switzerland. The German government agreed to make their reparations payments through the BIS for distribution to the Allied governments. |
| November 24, 1929 |
Death of Clemenceau |
Georges Clemenceau, former Premier of France, died. Clemenceau was one of the Big Four at the Versailles Peace Conference and demanded a hard line against Germany in the negotiations. He played a critical role in determining France's foreign policy during the interwar years. |
| November 25-29, 1929 |
European Conference on the Transportation of Newspapers and Magazines |
To ensure the free flow of information across borders, the League of Nations hosted a conference in Geneva on the transportation of magazines and newspapers. |
| November 30, 1929 |
Second Rheinland Zone Withdrawal |
Fulfilling the terms of the Hague Reparations Agreement, the Allies completed the withdrawal of their troops from the
Rheinland. |
| December 1929 |
Rioting in Haiti |
Continued political instability in Haiti resulted in the U.S. government dispatch of additional troops to the republic. Haitian mobs attacked the American forces and the U.S. sent a commission to Haiti to investigate the situation and propose reforms. |
| December 1929 |
Anglo-Indian Dominion Negotiations |
The British viceroy in India began talks with Mohandas K. Gandhi and other Indian nationalist leaders regarding India's future status as a member of the Dominion. |
| December 5-20, 20, 1929 |
Third Conference for the Abolition of Prohibitions and Restrictions on Imports and Exports |
The League of Nations hosted a third major conference in Geneva on reduction trade barriers on imports and exports. |
| December 9, 1929 |
U.S. Admission into World Court |
Upon authorization by President Herbert Hoover, the U.S. charge d'affairs in Geneva signed the protocol of adherence to the World Court, which included the revisions previously agreed to by the U.S. government and the World Court members. |
| December 17, 1929 |
Turco-Soviet Treaty |
The Turkish and Soviet governments signed a new treaty of alliance which extended and expanded the terms of the Treaty of 1925. |
| December 22, 1929 |
German Referendum on Young Plan |
A national referendum upheld the German government's decision to adhere to the terms of the Young Plan. This marked a serious defeat for the German Nationalists. |
| December 22, 1929 |
Soviet-Chinese Agreement |
The Nationalist Chinese and Soviet governments signed an agreement which ended prolonged tensions over conflicting claims to the Chinese Eastern Railway. The Soviets had actively supported the Nationalist movement from 1924 to 1926, but a quarrel led to the expulsion of Russian agents from China and relations rapidly deteriorated. |
