1928 | Political Events
Political Events
German war minister Otto Gessler resigns under pressure in January over a financial scandal involving the Reichswehr (Army), which he has allowed to increase in size despite the limits imposed by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.
Former British general Douglas Haig, earl Haig of Bemersyde, dies at London January 29 at age 66; former prime minister Herbert H. Asquith, 1st earl of Oxford and Asquith, in his country house at Sutton Courtenay February 15 at age 75; former Irish Nationalist Party leader William O'Brien at London February 25 at age 75.
A protocol prohibiting use "of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and of bacteriological methods of warfare" goes into effect February 8. It was opened for signature at Geneva in mid-June 1925.
Adolf Hitler's National Socialist Party wins only 2.6 percent of the vote for seats in the Reichstag and is considered a fringe party after the May elections (see Mein Kampf, 1925). Many regard Hitler as a comic figure with an absurd moustache who makes shrill speeches excoriating the bourgeois "decadence" of the Weimar Republic, but he has responded to pressure from industrialists who include Friedrich Flick, Emile Kirdorf, Gustav Krupp, Fritz Thyssen, and Albert Voegler, moved the party away from its former anti-capitalist views, and begins to gain support from academics, army officers, businessmen, and landowners with his attacks on Germany's "internal enemies" (see 1930).
German high school student Artur Axmann, 15, joins the Hitler Youth, a group open to young people aged 10 to 18 that the Nazi leader has started in what appears to be an outgrowth of the Wandervögel program begun a few years ago. Like the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides in Britain and America, it focuses on camping, outdoor life, and public service, but it is designed to build support for the National Socialist Party. Axmann will win converts by organizing units of young workers modeled on early communist labor union organizations and achieve such success that by 1932 he will be called to Berlin to join the leadership of the Hitler Youth (see 1933).
The Kellogg-Briand Pact (Pact of Paris) signed August 27 by 63 world powers renounces war. Devised by U.S. Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg, 72, and French foreign minister Aristide Briand, 66, the pact is implemented in September by the League of Nations.
The Albanian Republic proclaimed in 1924 becomes a kingdom under former prime minister Ahmed Bey Zogu, 33, who has changed his name to Scanderbeg II; he is crowned as Zog I to begin an 18-year reign, of which the last 7 will be spent in exile.
Former Italian general Armando Diaz dies at Rome February 29 at age 66, having served as minister of war from 1922 to 1924 in the first Fascist cabinet; five-time Italian prime minister Giovanni Giolitti dies at Cabour July 17 at age 85; former Italian general Luigi Cadorna at Bordighera December 21 at age 78. Former White Russian general Baron Petr N. Wrangel dies in exile at Brussels April 25 at age 49; former Australian prime minister Andrew Fisher at London October 22 at age 66.
Beijing (Peking) surrenders to Chiang Kai-shek, who last year renamed the city Beiping (Peiping, or northern peace). Nationalist Chinese forces arrest communist agitator Xiang Jianyu (Hsiang Kianyu) and execute her in May, gagging her to prevent her from making a final speech (see 1927). A bomb planted by Japanese extremists who want to instigate a Japanese occupation of Manchuria blows up a train in Manchuria June 4, mortally injuring warlord Zhang Zuolin (Chang Tso-lin) at age 54 (approximate). Chiang is elected president of China (see 1931).
Mexico's president Alvaro Obregon is assassinated while dining with friends at Mexico City July 17 at age 48. He has been elected to a second term July 1 despite an armed revolt, and a Roman Catholic (José de León Toral) who holds him responsible for religious persecutions has killed him during a victory celebration. Vice President Emilio Portes Gil, 36, becomes provisional president, but the country remains dominated by former president Plutarco Elias Calles, now 51, who will continue his control until 1935 (see PRI, 1929; Cardenas, 1934).
Former Argentine president Hipólito Irigoyen gains reelection by an overwhelming margin despite opposition from his erstwhile supporter, retiring president Marcelo de Alvear, who has served since 1922. Now 76, Irigoyen has become increasingly senile; the corruption and inertia of his administration will alienate many of his supporters, and they will join his conservative opposition (see 1930).
Bolivia and Paraguay go to war December 6 over the northern part of the Gran Chaco territory, whose oil fields make it attractive to both sides (see 1878). Paraguay appeals to the League of Nations; the Pan-American Conference that held its sixth meeting early in the year at Havana offers to mediate, but skirmishes will continue until April 4, 1930, when the two countries will reach a temporary truce agreement (see 1932).
Reformer Louis F. Post dies at Washington, D.C., January 10 at age 78, having blocked the deportation of many "radical" aliens.
U.S. voters elect former secretary of commerce Herbert C. Hoover president with 444 electoral votes to 87 for his Democratic opponent. An Irish Catholic, New York's Gov. Alfred E. Smith loses five states of the "Solid South" and obtains only 41 percent of the popular vote to Hoover's 58 percent.