Road to WW2: 1931 - 34

Summary by Krater

This video covers the global political and economic landscape from 1931 to 1934, highlighting the impacts of the Great Depression, the rise of fascism in Germany and Italy, the escalation of Japanese militarism in China, and the political shifts leading up to World War II.

From the video

Answers: What led up to World War Two and the events of 1931-1934?

• Great Depression
• Rise of Fascism
• Japanese Militarism
• League of Nations Failures
• Hitler's Rise to Power
• Soviet Five-Year Plan and Famine
• International Treaties and Pacts

What it concludes

• Global trade collapsed by two-thirds due to the Great Depression in 1931.
• The 1931 China floods killed an estimated 2 million lives.
• Germany was hit harder by the Great Depression than any other nation due to its reliance on US loans.
• The policy of forcing peasants into large state-controlled farms in the Soviet Union proved disastrous and caused a catastrophic famine killing 6 to 9 million people.
• Japan's attack on Manchuria was a flagrant breach of the Kellogg-Briand Pact and exposed the League of Nations' inability to maintain world peace.
• The harsh conditions of the Versailles Treaty and economic turmoil set Germany, Italy, and Japan on a collision course with the established great powers.