"In the first half of the twentieth century, there were two. So-called because they spanned much of the globe. I arrived here from the aftermath of the second, which officially spanned from 1939 to 1945... though things were rather fraught in the lead-up, too, as you might imagine. From what I understand, things in Asia were already fraught." Susan takes a sip of her tea. She sees no reason to prevaricate, so she says, "Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 - that's nineteen years ago, in my time. This complicated internal friction in China. A civil war was set temporarily aside to resist the invasion, and resumed at its culmination."