I had a late night conversation with a man who told me that the real intrigue and power struggles that led to the second war took place in Africa. Any insight or research resource recommendations would be appreciated.
that's quite a broad range of historical events spaced over an entire continent that your looking for. Maybe narrow your question down to what happened in French Morocco between 1917-1938 for instance.
Perhaps he's referring to the Italian invasion of Abyssinia?