IV. The Wall Street Crash
By 1929, the world economy was in a boom period after the disaster of the First World War. America, having been unscathed by the ravages of war, was economically better off than most of Europe. New York had taken London's place as the world's economic capital. On the 13th day of September 1929 (a Friday [8], as it turned out) the New York stock exchange crashed disastrously. The panic spread and investors desperately sold their shares, perpetuating the crisis. By the last day of the next week, hundreds of firms had declared bankruptcy, and America's economy had fallen into depression. And the world swiftly followed.
In Germany, the government was swift to act, instituting several reforms and programs that saved Germany from the worst of the depression. But in Britain, the Conservative government famously mismanaged and ignored the crisis, an attitude famously summed up in the Prime Minister's quote when questioned on the crisis:
"Such things happen sometimes"
In early 1930, a vote of no confidence was issued to the Conservative government and a general election called. The mismanagement of the crisis in Britain, coupled with the feelings of national humiliation and the bourgeois fear of the working class, would lead to Lewis Hill and his British Imperial Party's landslide victory in this election and the seeds of another world war...
----
FOOTNOTES:
[8] This particular Friday the 13th is OTL (the date, not the events that took place).