Need a war for your character generation?
Colonial wars in India and Africa, (1919—1939)
Neither Africa nor India was without trouble in the 1920s and 30s, rebellions and minor border conflicts were common. While most were rather limited, they could still qualify as War Zone experience.
Russian Revolution, (1918—1920)
After the collapse of the ancient Tsar system the colossal land was ravaged by a very brutal civil war. The “red” revolutionary armies fought with “white” armies, the later were also halfheartedly supported by the British and French who also sent some troops. Most of Russia’s neighbors also joined in to make the mess complete. Despite this the red army had won by 1920.
Polish-Soviet war, (1920)
A Polish intervention army in Kiev was attacked by a huge red army. The massive drive took the soviets close to Warsaw before a miraculous counterattack led by the French general Weygand crushes the Soviet army and takes 70 000 prisoners. Not many British involved.
War in Asia Minor, (1920—1922)
The large Ottoman Empire was on the losing side of the Great War. But after a Greek massacre on Turkish citizens in Smyrna war erupts between Greece and Turkey. After some strange events (the Greek king died of a monkey bite and Kemal taking over the government) the Turks were in war with French, Greek and Armenian forces. British sheer on the Greeks but their interference is minimal and the Turks are victorious, regaining some lost areas.
Rif’s wars (1920—1926)
When the Spanish tried to expand their territories into the Eastern part of Morocco they ended up in war with the Rif tribes under Abd el-Krim. While it would look like an easy match for Spain, they got defeated at the Battle of Annual and were pursued by the angry tribesmen all the way to the coast. Despite using all technological marvels of the day including mustard gas the Spanish did not manage to defeat the Rif until France got involved. Overconfident Rifs attacked and stormed a large number of French posts, who in turn threw in 300.000 troops and crushed the Rif’s tribes. A number of British citizens served in both the French and Spanish Foreign Legions.
The Cristero war (1926—1929)
The Mexican president Elías Calles was a Freemason who ran an anti Catholic government. It led to problems and being in Mexico it soon turned nasty and then turned in to full scale war. Characters may have been there as government mercenaries or as rebels fighting for the Catholics.
Chinese Civil War (1926—1945)
This long runner was a huge scale affair. When it started China was controlled by a large number of local warlords. A movement of unification raised an army and started to defeat the warlords, when things started to look good they got divided into a left wing and right wing fraction (and a couple of others). These got very busy killing each other, so busy they did not have time to fight the Japanese when they first attacked in 1937. China is a safe bet for any character ending up in war at any time.
Chaco War (1932—1935)
Paraguay in conflict with Bolivia. Ended up as a pure Great War styled trench war that also included the only tank battles ever to take place in South America. Bolivia lost, despite having a bigger army and a cocky German commander. Many mercenaries on both sides.
Colombia-Peru War (1932—33)
A confused jungle war was fleets fought on the upmost parts of the Amazonas and improvised air forces clashed over the rain forest. Strange. Once again Colombia, the underdog, won the fight. Probably lots of mercenaries to keep the airplanes in the air and the fleets floating.
Italian-Abyssinian war (1935—36)
The megalomaniac Mussolini tries his strength on a worthy opponent. Italians attack with tanks, aircrafts and poison gas. Their Ethiopian foes have an army about 500 000 man strong, but it is partly armed with spears and obsolete rifles. Despite this the Italians take a few heavy losses before finally being able to wrestle some land from the Ethiopians. Few British involved as both England and France held a low profile.
Spanish civil war (1936—1939)
Basically a civil war between socialist and fascists. It was ruthless, complicated and bloody. Can be seen as the general rehearsal for the Second World War, at least for Germany and Soviet. Lots of British left-wingers’ fought on socialist side.
Soviet-Japanese Border Wars (1938)
A set of massive armored clashes between Soviet and Japan. The Soviet won most of the battles, something that scared the Japanese enough to never bother the big bear again. The German made a huge mistake in not paying attention to this war.