101

Hello ladies and gents this is the Viking telling you that today we are talking about 

101 events that changed the world

Stock Market Crash 1929

In October 1929, after the long economic and stock market boom of the 1920s, in October 1929, shares on Wall Street dropped sharply. This led to a prolonged fall in share [roce and precipitated the global great depression. Unemployment rose to 25% in US with output and trade falling around the world. The widespread poverty and sense of alienation led to the growth of political extremes across the world. 

Japan and Germany both turned to far-right nationalist movements, which led to military expansionism and the Second World War. In America, the Great Depression led to the election of FDR and a great expansion in the size of the Federal government as people wanted the government to intervene in dealing with the depression.

German Invasion of Poland – 1939

On 1st September 1939, Hitler’s Nazi Germany invaded Poland, ostensibly for ‘lebensraum’ and to redress the imbalances of the Treaty of Versailles. The invasion of a sovereign nation finally convinced the allies – Great Britain and France of Hitler’s wider intentions for the occupation of Europe. After appeasing Hitler over Austria and Czechoslovakia, Poland proved the final straw and on September 3rd, 1939, Great Britain declared war on Nazi Germany. 

The Second World War was to last until May 1945, costing the lives of approximately 50 million people. Less well known is that under a secret Nazi-Soviet pact the Soviet Union also occupied parts of Poland at the same time as Germany’s invasion.

Battle of Britain – June-September 1940

In 1941, Hitler’s German army seemed unstoppable having conquered all of western Europe. A key moment in world history was in May 1940, when there was a debate in the British government whether to seek a deal with Hitler or continue to fight. Winston Churchill was adamant Britain should never surrender and refused to consider signing a deal. 

From June 1940, the German airforce attacked British airbases as a prelude to invasion. Although the number of combatants was small, the German airforce suffered sufficient losses to discourage the invasion plan and Hitler withdrew from imminent invasion.

And as always have a chilled day from the Viking.