The economic crisis that swept the entire capitalist world between 1929 and 1933 was completely destroyed by Japan's strategy of plundering its occupied territories and forcibly transfusing its own territory.

This fragile and unsustainable approach has led to the loss of a supply of blood to Tohoku, an important industrial and resource base, to suppress Japan's economic crisis and to begin to have problems with its own domestic demand for resources.

At this time, the Third Reich had already taken back the Saarland region in 1935 and the Rhine region in 1936, and at the end of 1937, the German Third Reich, having formed a powerful national defense army, was staring at Austria with fierce eyes.

On the other hand, if Japan loses Northeast China, it will also lose its "mainland strategy," that is, "to seek the sound development of Manchukuo, to consolidate the national defense of Japan and Manchukuo, to eliminate the threat of the Soviet Union in the north, and to guard against Britain and the United States, so as to realize close cooperation among Japan, Manchuria, and China." In order to achieve the strategic goal of building a "Greater Japan that reaches directly to Lake Belga and Tibet."

The prerequisite for the implementation of the mainland strategy is the center of Northeast Asia, Northeast China.

If the northeast is lost, the possibility of implementing the mainland strategy will be lost.

Under these circumstances, the southward faction, which advocated the promotion of the "maritime strategy," completely overwhelmed the northward faction, which advocated the "continental strategy."

At this time, due to successive defeats and the loss of the rich land of Tohoku, the economic crisis in Japan, which had been forcibly suppressed, began to rise.

In desperation, the Japanese base camp had no choice but to push forward the southward expansion plan to the Pacific region with all its might, and began to target the land of Southeast Asia.

At this time, Moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union.

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was looking at the telegram in his hand, "The Chinese comrades completely annihilated the Japanese Kwantung Army?" Occupied the Northeast? ”

"Yes."

"Our communist cause has grown again." As he said this, his brows tightened showed that the supreme leader of the Soviet Union was not very happy.

"We must investigate as soon as possible how Japan failed." After a moment of silence, Stalin continued, "The cause of socialism is sacred, but every socialist revolutionary has a fatherland. ”

From the beginning of 1937 to the end of the Soviet purge, at the height of the Great Soviet Purge, the Great Purge led by Yezhov and led by Stalin himself, grew rapidly in scale during this period.

Large-scale purges were carried out in all departments of the party, government, and military, including former Soviet leaders and marshals of the Soviet Red Army, and in 1937 alone, as many as 353074 people were affected.

Most of the important leading cadres of most armies, divisions, and regiments of the Soviet armies were arrested, including 3 marshals, 13 commanders of group armies, 57 army commanders, and 110 division commanders, and more than 40,000 senior and middle-ranking officers at and above the battalion level were swept away.

The Soviets lost almost all of the best Soviet Red Army generals, almost all of their military talents, and it can be said that this was the weakest time since the founding of the Soviets.

It was at this time that Ribbentrop, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Third Reich, came to Moscow with Hitler's orders.

Japan's loss of Northeast China not only put Japan in a great strategic passivity, but also made the Third Reich feel the danger of being attacked from the belly.

Because this meant that the "International Agreement on Industry" signed by Germany and Japan on November 25, 1936, lost its due value, that is, "to drag the attention of the Soviet Union and stabilize the eastern front of the German Empire." ”

In order to plan the war later, and then determine the third day after Japan lost Tohoku, Ribbentrop, the foreign minister of the Third Reich, flew to Moscow.

As the supreme leader of the Soviets, Stalin was of course aware of the combat effectiveness of the Soviet Red Army at this time, and it was at the critical juncture of the Great Purge, and Stalin did not want to make extraneous troubles at this time, and in addition, at this time the Soviets were concentrating on the planned construction of the national economy, so a stable external environment was needed.

The two sides hit it off, and soon agreed on a draft.

Considering the possibility of a conflict between the Soviet Union and Germany in the future, Stalin took advantage of the situation to put forward a demand to divide Poland in exchange for a strategic buffer zone between the Soviet Union and Germany.

Under the common interests, the two sides reached a consensus, and on this condition, signed the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact.

In the past few years, the United States has pursued a policy of neutrality based on traditional isolationist thinking and analysis of the situation in Europe at that time, far avoiding the storm whirlpool of the Old World.

Britain and France, out of consideration for their own interests, hoped to satisfy the appetite of the Germans, and then lead the troubles to the east, so that the two henchmen could kill each other in great trouble, so that the fishermen could benefit, so they adopted a policy of appeasement and turned a blind eye to Germany's frequent actions.

However, the signing of the Soviet-German Treaty and the fact that Poland was divided by the Soviets and Germans shocked Britain and France, and finally began to abandon illusions and actively began to prepare for war in order to meet the challenge of the Third Reich.

Looking at the unrecognizable situation in Europe, Chen Changming smiled and said to the staff officers present, "I didn't expect that the change of hands in the Northeast would bring such a big chain reaction, and the situation will change." ”

Zheng Shaohua pointed to the results of the performance from the General Staff and said to Chen Changming, "Commander, the pattern of the entire world war has been initially formed. The European continent is now a huge powder keg, and now it's up to who will ignite this decisive spark. ”

"When Japan began to enter Southeast Asia and seize the British and French colonies." Chen Changming said with a good smile, "The moment when Britain and France were restrained from their energy, it was the time when the German chariot started!" ”

In Washington, Roosevelt looked at the information in his hand about Japan's domestic policy changes, "Is it inevitable that Japan will attack Southeast Asia?" ”

"I'm afraid so, Mr. President." The Secretary of State turned out another piece of information and handed it to Roosevelt, "Japan is affected by the economic crisis, the domestic economy is in a mess, and because of the frequent change of prime ministers, it has left a huge mess, once it loses external blood supply, the entire Japanese economy will collapse in an instant, and the road to the north is now interrupted by the mysterious armed forces, and now Japan has only one way to go south." ”

Roosevelt frowned and asked, "How sure are we that we will be able to guarantee our interests in the Pacific while avoiding war?" ”

"I'm sorry, Mr. President, but it depends on how big the appetite of the Japanese Empire really is."

How big is Japan's appetite? The Japanese Army fantasized about occupying the whole of China and establishing Great Japan, while the Navy also fantasized about imitating Britain and building an empire on which the sun never sets.

However, at this time, the Japanese base camp did not want to confront the behemoth of the United States, and was bent on promoting the establishment of a co-prosperity circle in Southeast Asia, but before that, there was a problem that needed to be solved.