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1937 CE

This year falls in the Twentieth century (1901–2000). Two world wars, the Russian and Chinese revolutions, the Cold War and the end of most colonial empires fall in this century. It also brings mass air travel, nuclear weapons, antibiotics and computers.

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Dated to 1937 CE

Event · Twentieth century · ChinaSecond Sino-Japanese War1937–1945Full-scale war between the Republic of China and Japan, dated from the Marco Polo Bridge clash on 7 July 1937 to Japan's surrender in 1945. Japan had taken Manchuria in 1931. Some historians start the war there.
Event · Twentieth century · RussiaStalin's Terror1937–1938Mass NKVD operations of 1937–1938 under quotas from Politburo resolution P51/94 and Order No. 00447, plus national operations. About 681,692 recorded executions in those two years.

Within fifteen years

Event · Twentieth century · ChinaLong March1934–1935The retreat of the Chinese Communist armies from Jiangxi to Shaanxi, October 1934 to October 1935, after encirclement by Nationalist forces.
Event · Twentieth century · UkraineHolodomor1932–1933Famine in Soviet Ukraine and other regions, 1932–1933, driven by requisition, blacklists, passport controls and border seals. Death tolls are demographic estimates; genocide classification is debated.
Country · IraqIraq1932–Iraq occupies ancient Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates where writing and cities began. The modern state was created under British mandate and became independent in 1932. It is now a federal parliamentary republic.
Country · Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia1932–Saudi Arabia is the largest country in Arabia, home to Mecca and Medina, the two holiest cities of Islam. Abdulaziz Ibn Saud united the peninsula's kingdoms in 1932. It is an absolute monarchy ruled by the House of Saud.
Country · LebanonLebanon1943–Lebanon is a small country on the eastern Mediterranean, home of the ancient Phoenicians. It became independent from France in 1943. A civil war from 1975 to 1990 shattered it, and power is shared by law among its religious communities.
Country · IcelandIceland1944–Iceland is an island country in the North Atlantic, settled by Vikings in the ninth century. It was ruled from Denmark for centuries before becoming a republic in 1944. It is a parliamentary republic known for its fisheries and geothermal energy.
Philosopher · Twentieth century · AlgeriaJacques Derrida1930–2004Algerian born French thinker who founded deconstruction, reading texts against themselves to show meaning always slipping away. Of Grammatology of 1967 made him famous and controversial. He lived 1930 to 2004.
Country · IndonesiaIndonesia1945–Indonesia is the world's largest archipelago nation, stretching across more than seventeen thousand islands. It declared independence from the Netherlands in 1945. It is a presidential republic and the largest Muslim majority country in the world.
Philosopher · Twentieth century · GermanyJürgen Habermas1929–German thinker, the leading heir of the Frankfurt School, who defended reason as communication: free discussion among equals can reach the truth. His Theory of Communicative Action appeared in 1981. Born 1929, living.
Country · Vatican CityVatican City1929–Vatican City is the smallest state in the world, an enclave inside Rome. It was created in 1929 by the Lateran Treaties between Italy and the Holy See. It is the sovereign seat of the Catholic Church, ruled by the Pope.
Country · JordanJordan1946–Jordan is a mostly desert kingdom in the Levant. It was created as the Emirate of Transjordan under British mandate and became fully independent in 1946. The Hashemite family, descendants of the Prophet Muhammad, still rules.
Philosopher · Twentieth century · United StatesNoam Chomsky1928–American linguist and thinker whose Syntactic Structures of 1957 argued that the human mind is born with a universal grammar. He became equally known as a critic of American foreign policy. Born 1928, living.
Country · PhilippinesPhilippines1946–The Philippines is an archipelago of more than seven thousand islands in Southeast Asia. Spain ruled it for three centuries, then the United States for half a century. It became fully independent in 1946 and is a presidential republic.
Country · SyriaSyria1946–Syria is a Levantine country, home to Damascus, one of the oldest cities on earth. It became independent from France in 1946. Since 2011 it has suffered one of the century's worst civil wars under the Assad family's rule.
Event · Twentieth century · ChinaChinese Civil War1927–1949War between the Chinese Nationalist Party and the Chinese Communist Party, interrupted by the war against Japan, ending in communist victory in 1949.
Country · IndiaIndia1947–India is the world's largest democracy and its most populous country. It won independence from Britain in 1947 after a long nationalist struggle. It is a federal parliamentary republic of more than a billion people.
Country · New ZealandNew Zealand1947–New Zealand is an island country in the southwestern Pacific. The Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 brought British rule; full independence came in 1947. It is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy.
Country · PakistanPakistan1947–Pakistan is a South Asian country created in 1947 as a homeland for the Muslims of British India. Partition from India cost about a million lives. It is a federal parliamentary republic with a powerful military and nuclear weapons.
Ruler · Twentieth century · CubaFidel Castro1926–2016Leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, born in 1926, who made a communist state ninety miles from Florida. His 26th of July Movement overthrew the Batista dictatorship in January 1959. He survived the Bay of Pigs invasion, brought Soviet missiles to Cuba in 1962, and ruled for nearly half a century.
Country · IsraelIsrael1948–Israel is a country in the Levant, founded in 1948 as a Jewish state. Its creation followed the Holocaust and a United Nations partition plan. It is a parliamentary republic; its conflict with the Palestinians remains unresolved.
Philosopher · Twentieth century · FranceMichel Foucault1926–1984French thinker who studied how power works through prisons, clinics, and the categories of knowledge itself. Discipline and Punish of 1975 showed the modern soul as a product of surveillance. He lived 1926 to 1984.
Country · MyanmarMyanmar1948–Myanmar, also called Burma, is a Southeast Asian country between India and Thailand. It won independence from Britain in 1948. The military has ruled for most of the time since 1962, seizing power again in 2021.
Country · North KoreaNorth Korea1948–North Korea occupies the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. It was founded in 1948 as a communist state under Kim Il Sung. His family has ruled ever since in one of the most closed and repressive states on earth.
Country · South KoreaSouth Korea1948–South Korea occupies the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. It was founded in 1948 as the Republic of Korea. From the ruins of war it grew into a wealthy democracy and a technological power.