In 1937, conflicts across the globe wreak new levels of destruction and suffering. A civilian massacre in Ethiopia, the bombing of Guernica in Spain, and the ‘Rape of Nanking’ in China, provide glimpses of what could be endured in another world war. Reports and images from these conflicts are received with horror and increasing alarm, but Britain, France and the USA cling to their policy of ‘non-intervention’. As the alliances that will define the next great war take shape, the drift towards it seems inescapable.