The 1930s: hard times, a new kingdom and a world at war

The decade opened in the shadow of the Wall Street crash of October 1929. Through the early 1930s, banks failed, trade shrank and unemployment soared across the world's industrial economies. In the United States, about a quarter of workers were jobless at the worst point in 1933.

Governments looked for new answers. In the United States, President Franklin D. Roosevelt launched the New Deal from 1933, with public works and new rules for banks. Many countries raised trade barriers, which deepened the slump.

In Arabia, the decade brought a historic beginning. On 23 September 1932, King Abdulaziz Al Saud proclaimed the unification of his lands as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a date Saudis now celebrate as National Day. In 1933 the Kingdom granted an oil concession, and in March 1938 the Dammam No. 7 well struck oil in commercial quantities, opening a new chapter for the nation.

Technology changed daily life. Radio became the main source of news and entertainment in many homes. The BBC began a regular television service in London in 1936, and nylon, the first fully synthetic fibre, reached shops at the end of the decade. Engineers built landmarks such as San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, opened in 1937.

The decade ended in war. On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, and two days later Britain and France declared war on Germany. The Second World War would last until 1945 and become the deadliest conflict in history.