1931

From top to bottom, left to right: The catastrophic 1931 China floods submerge vast regions along the Yangtze, Huai, and Yellow Rivers, killing 1–4 million and becoming one of history’s deadliest natural disasters; the European banking crisis of 1931 begins with the collapse of Creditanstalt, spreading financial turmoil across Austria and Germany and deepening the Great Depression; the Mukden Incident in Manchuria sees a staged explosion by Japanese forces used to justify invasion, setting the stage for the Second Sino-Japanese War; the Hawke's Bay earthquake strikes New Zealand’s North Island, killing 256 and prompting a massive Art Deco rebuilding of Napier; the Ahmed Barzani revolt erupts in northern Iraq as Kurdish forces challenge the government, highlighting ethnic tensions; and the Empire State Building opens in New York City, becoming the world’s tallest skyscraper and a symbol of modern ambition.