Impossible Peace: The Time Between World Wars

For four years during WWI, a life was lost every 25 seconds. After the carnage, a new age of prosperity and celebration was expected. However, that it would not be so simple. The economy and society had a lot of recovering to do.

In effort to keep peace, treaties were proposed to keep the aggressors of World War 1 under-armed. The ratio of military power was drastically in favor of the US and Great Britain. This might have successfully kept peace, if it was only given a chance.

These are the best of times for the US. Prohibition doesn't stop anyone from having a good time, the country is on wheels or listening to the radio, welcoming the talkies or investing in the stock market. It's that brief spell they call the Jazz Age, the age of Charles Lindbergh and Babe Ruth. And in 1929, on Black Tuesday, it comes crashing down to the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

As Paris lurched into 1929, it seemed on the surface (to those with deep pockets) that the party would go on forever. However, few saw the impending future claiming that these people were just hiding away from a harsh reality.

In the 20's there seemed to be some good candidates for leadership in Europe. But where were these people when the great depression hits, effecting the lives of people around the world?

As the effect of the depression in the US became clear, Japanese businessmen began to think that the America would never recover. They then set their focus on East Asia, where the invasion of Manchuria had doubled the size of the Japanese empire.