| worst depression of the modern era. Exacerbating economic woes, Great Britain and America created a prohibitive tariff which prevented Continental Europe from selling their goods in either country.
1930 was inarguably the year in which Hitler and the Nazis rose from a minor party among many to become the single most powerful party in Germany. As repercussions of the worldwide depression began to be felt in Germany, votes for the Nazi party increased by an astounding eightfold in two years, from less than a million in 1928 to 6.5 million in the next national election of 1930. The period of 1930-32 also marks an important transition in which the Nazis began to be much more open about their racism and anti-Semitism, attacking Jews and forcibly removing them from positions of authority.
Joseph Stalin set in motion events designed to cause a famine in the Ukraine to demolish the inhabitants seeking independence from his rule. As a result, an estimated 7,000,000 persons perished in the "breadbasket of Europe."
Largely conceived as a defense measure against potential attack from Germany and Italy, France begins to build the Maginot line, a series of fortified and artillery-laden bunkers that line the French and Italian borders.
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