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| 1930, Oct. 5–12 |
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| First Balkan conference at Athens. These conferences met annually for several years and were the basis for the Balkan Entente. | 1 |
| The years following 1930 were dominated by the great international economic depression, which almost ruined world trade and brought many nations to the verge of bankruptcy. The tension in domestic affairs led to a marked turn toward dictatorial forms of government and to widespread repudiation of financial and moral obligations in the effort to solve domestic problems. A number of less favored nations embarked frankly upon a policy of territorial expansion. | 2 |
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| 1931, March 21 |
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| Publication of a project for a German-Austrian customs union. This met at once with vigorous protest from the French government and its satellites, the protest resting on the claim that a customs union involved infringement of Austrian sovereignty and was therefore contrary to earlier obligations assumed by the Austrian government. Under pressure, Germany and Austria voluntarily renounced the project (Sept. 3) on the eve of an adverse decision by the World Court (Sept. 5). | 3 |
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| May 11 |
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| The failure of the Austrian Credit-Anstalt, caused largely by the artificial and impracticable restrictions on commerce and finance imposed by the succession states of the old monarchy, precipitated an alarming financial and diplomatic crisis in Central Europe which threatened to involve the whole continent. A guaranty of the Credit-Anstalt's foreign debts by the Austrian government, backed by a foreign exchange credit from ten of the largest central banks (arranged through the Bank for International Settlements), failed to check the panic. Foreign funds were rapidly withdrawn from Germany. The Bank of France, actuated by the purely political motive of forcing the abandonment of the proposed customs union between Austria and Germany, refused financial support for the Austrian bank. | 4 |
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| June 16 |
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| The Bank of England, despite difficulties at home, advanced 150 million schillings to the Austrian National Bank. Everywhere, from Austria to Australia, governments, banks, and corporations were exposed to immediate bankruptcy and were in terror of Fascist or Communist uprisings. | 5 |
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| July 6 |
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| “Hoover moratorium” on intergovernmental debts (See July 6). | 6 |
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