Who were the major aggressor nations of the 1930's and how did they build their empires?

Answer 1

Germany, Italy, and Japan were the aggressor nations during the 1930's until 1943 for Italy (Italy surrendered in 1943), and 1945 for Germany/Japan (Germany surrendered in May/Japan in August/Sept). Hitler took leadership of Germany in 1933: Due to the "Armistice Agreement" that ended WWI, Germany was forbidden to build a strong Army, Navy or Air Force. He found a "loophole" around the treaty by building an army which trained on wooden rifles & machinguns, and cardboard tanks. His navy was built around submarines, a vessel not considered as important as Battleships. His Air Force was created by civilian "Flying Clubs", using GLIDERS to train his future pilots. By the end of the 1930's, Germany violated the treaty restrictions in THE OPEN, as there was no "teeth" in the enforcement of the treaty. Mussolini took leadership of Italy in 1922, and simply developed his armed forces from the position that they occupied when he took over. Mussolini attempted to "re-create a new Rome." Hirohito inherited the throne, becoming Emperor in 1926. In 1926, Japan was already a powerful war machine. Having defeated China in 1894, Russia in 1905, and was an allied power against Germany during WWI (1914-1918).