Which Country (1934)? Trivia Quiz

Answer: France

Stavisky was a Ukrainian Jew, who had moved to France with his parents when he was 12 years old. Among his crimes were the sale of worthless or falsified bonds from the pawnshops where he worked and the usage of worthless stones, which he claimed to be emeralds of the former Empress of Germany, as sureties for loans. Several influential people were involved in his shady businesses, allowing him to be released on bail on 19 separate occasions between 1927 and 1933.

The French government had to resign amid claims that the police had killed him on his arrest to protect the interests of those 'friends in high places'.

Answer: Manchukuo

Manchukuo was a Japanese vassal state, established to put northern China under Japanese control. The emperor was Pu Yi, who as a boy had been the last emperor of China, but who in his new empire was of course little more than a puppet of the Japanese.

Answer: Austria

Austria had become a dictatorship on the Italian Fascist model in 1933 under Engelbert Dollfuss and his so-called Christian Social Party. All other parties had been forbidden; the main opposition groups were the Social Democrats and the National Socialists, the latter seeking unification of Austria with Germany, something Dollfuss and his Italian allies very much opposed.

In January all Social Democratic groups had been forbidden. At first, this was reacted to calmly by the Social Democrats, but in February the Heimwehr, armed supporters of Dollfuss's party aiding the police, were refused entry to the former socialist party headquarters in Linz, which they wanted to search for weapons, and large-scale fights erupted between the socialists and the police and pro-government forces, also in other Austrian cities. After four days the army joined in and ensured a government win.

In July the National Socialists staged a revolt. During the coup Dollfuss was shot, and the perpetrators refused to allow him medical aid, which led to his death. Mussolini moved troops to the Austrian border to aid the government in breaking the revolt, but his help proved unnecessary. It is not known whether the German Nazi leaders had foreknowledge of the coup, or even planned it, but whatever the truth, Hitler suffered a major setback because only a few months earlier he had promised Mussolini to respect the Austrian independence.

Answer: Bolivia and Paraguay

The Gran Chaco was a large, thinly populated area, which, however, was believed to have rich oil deposits. The war ruined both countries - economically and through loss of life (totalling over 100,000 for Paraguay and Bolivia, which together had about 3 million inhabitants when the war started).

In 1935 a peace was signed, and Paraguay, which had military control of most of the area at the time, was awarded three quarters of the disputed area. It later emerged that all the oil deposits (far less than expected) were in the Bolivian area.

Answer: Germany

The 'Night of the Long Knives', which is what I am talking about, was directed against the SA, a Nazi paramilitary organisation. Several high-ranking SA men, including its leader Ernst Röhm, were killed, as well as several important opponents outside the Nazi party, like general and politician Kurt von Schleicher, Hitler's immediate predecessor as Chancellor.

Apart from an action to destroy a rival group within the Nazi party, the purge was also meant to satisfy the German army, which was very negative about the SA, and whose support Hitler was looking for at the time.

Answer: Haiti

Haiti had been occupied by American forces since 1915, because of fears that the instability of the country would play it into the hands of the Germans. Although the occupation proved favorable in some areas (like education and infrastructure), the demeaning and racist attitudes of the Americans caused much resentment among the Haitians.

The American withdrawal had started under President Hoover, around 1930, and finished in August 1934. No working government was left behind, and for many decades thereafter Haiti was governed by a series of (usually US-backed) military dictatorships.

Answer: Germany

The president was Paul von Hindenburg. He had been a successful general in World War I. In 1925 he became president, supported by conservatives. In 1932 he was elected for a second term, beating Adolf Hitler. With his death the last important non-Nazi influence left German politics, although because of his illness his position had already been mainly symbolic for quite some time.

The head of government that took over his duties was of course chancellor Adolf Hitler. After assuming the president's duties, he had himself declared Führer (leader), the title being copied from Mussolini's title Duce.

Answer: Malta

Malta was at the time a British colony. Many Maltese wanted unification with Italy, or at least strengthening of the ties with the country, but tensions between Britain and Italy were high at the time, and the British actively repressed pro-Italian sentiments, one of their methods being the suppression of the Italian language in favor of both English and Maltese.

Italian is still an official language of Switzerland, and the only one of San Marino. The Vatican does not have an official language, but Italian is the most used language.

Answer: Catalonia, Spain

In October 1934, the Spanish center-right government fell, and a new government was formed. The right-wing Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas was also included in the government, against which the left-wing parties protested. This led first to a strike, then various revolts. One of these was the Catalonian declaration of independence on October 6.

The next day, however, president Lluís Companys was arrested. After the left-wing parties won the 1936 elections, he was set free and became president of autonomous (but not sovereign) Catalonia again.

Although this Catalonian action was the most conspicuous one of the October 1934 revolt, it was actually in Asturia where the revolt lasted longest.

Answer: Yugoslavia

Alexander I had been king since 1921. The assassination was the work of Vlado Chernozemski, a Bulgarian member of a Macedonian underground organisation. He was attacked by the public after this act, and died that evening of his wounds, shortly before Alexander himself.

The French foreign minister Louis Barthou was also killed, apparently not as formerly thought by Chernozemski, but by a stray police bullet. Tensions arose between Yugoslavia and Hungary, which was accused by Yugoslavia of allowing Chernozemski and other terrorists to operate from its territory.