CatastropheThe 1930s

Catastrophe in the 1930s

Every event in the Terralore archive tagged catastrophe — plague, famine, earthquake and other disasters, narrowed to the 1930s — 5 of them, drawn from 5 nations, running from 1930 to 1937. Each entry keeps the sources it was verified against and links back to the chronicle it came from.

Events
5
Nations
5
Earliest
1930
Latest
1937
Europe
3
Asia
2

Every entry below is the same record, with the same sources, as the one on its nation’s chronicle.

  1. Asia

    Kazakhstan

    The Kazakh famine (Asharshylyk)

    Forced collectivisation and the settling of nomads under Filipp Goloshchekin produce a man-made famine that kills an estimated 1.5 million people, around a third of all Kazakhs, the deadliest catastrophe in Kazakh history; the toll is an estimate.

    Era: Soviet Kazakhstan

    Sources: The Kazakh Famine of the 1930s · Library of Congress (John W. Kluge Center), The Hungry Steppe: Famine, Violence, and the Making of Soviet Kazakhstan · Library of Congress (John W. Kluge Center)

  2. Europe

    Russia

    The Holodomor and the Soviet famine

    Forced collectivization and ruthless grain requisitioning produce a man-made famine across the USSR; in Ukraine the Holodomor kills an estimated 3.5 to 5 million people and is recognized by many countries as a genocide.

    Era: The Soviet Union

    Sources: Holodomor · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Soviet Union · Encyclopaedia Britannica

  3. Europe

    Ukraine

    The Holodomor

    Soviet collectivisation and grain seizures caused a man-made famine that killed millions of Ukrainians; many states and, in 2022, the European Parliament have recognised it as a genocide.

    Era: Soviet Ukraine, the Holodomor and the Second World War

    Sources: Holodomor · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Holodomor: Parliament recognises Soviet starvation of Ukrainians as genocide · European Parliament

  4. Europe

    Belarus

    Stalinist terror and Kurapaty

    Amid forced collectivisation, the NKVD carried out mass executions of Belarusians at Kurapaty near Minsk between 1937 and 1941; the mass graves, revealed in 1988, became the emblem of Soviet repression in Belarus.

    Era: People's Republic, Soviet Republic and Terror

    Sources: Kurapaty (1937-1941): NKVD Mass Killings in Soviet Belarus · Sciences Po Mass Violence and Resistance Research Network

  5. Asia

    Mongolia

    The Great Repression

    Under Choibalsan and Soviet NKVD advisers, the state carries out mass purges, killing tens of thousands of people, executing thousands of lamas, and destroying hundreds of Buddhist monasteries.

    Era: Independence, Revolution, and the People's Republic

    Sources: Mongolia: Counterrevolution and Japan · Encyclopaedia Britannica, Mongolia: A Country Study · Library of Congress, Federal Research Division