The Interregnum Period (1923-1936)

Very little public attention is often given to the time period between the two World Wars. When the Great War ended on November 11th of 1918, the world heaved a collective sigh of exhaustion at having endured one of the most violent periods in human history. However, the fate of those once embattled nations remained to be decided after the ink was dry at Versailles. The Middle east would be carved up as a result of the Sykes-Picot agreement, which led to violence and unrest that continues to this day, The Japanese were given the port of Tsingtao after kicking out the German garrison, which infuriated the Chinese. Germany, which stood as the only stable nation within the central powers that could plausibly pay war reparations, was saddled with some of the most crippling economic reprisals ever put to paper. It was within this two-decade period that the American Stock Market crashed, Italian Fascists under Mussolini seized power in Italy, militarists in Japan began carving their way into the ear of Emperor Hirohito to encourage him towards more aggressive policies, and Germany became a Weimar Republic, before being consumed by the terror of Naziism. Within this folder are artifacts from various moments during this period, such as a German Schlesien Eagle, an Italian Spanish Civil War Republican Volunteer Medal, and an Italian Abyssinian Campaign Medal.