A World Filled with Turmoil

Europe and Asia, on the brink of global war.

This succinct cartographic summary of some of the major political frictions that ultimately led to the outbreak of the Second World War was drawn by Howard Burke and issued in the November 21, 1937 edition of the Chicago Herald and Examiner. Various conflicts between global powers are described within text boxes, while accompanying illustrations of Japanese aggression and the ‘Rock’ at Gibraltar highlight two of the most pressing.

A comparative table at the bottom notes the armaments available or under construction for each power – the absence of Soviet naval strength is exaggerated, but indicative of their relative weakness in that regard.