First World War Ends With Germany's Last Reparation Payment

[dalaigh lllama]

I just found this mind boggling.

First World War Ends With Germany's Last Reparation Payment

Today, on the twentieth anniversary of its unification, Germany is paying the last instalment of its World War I reparations.

The October 3rd payment of nearly 70 million euros goes mostly to private investors, pension funds and corporations holding bonds originally issued by the German government in the 1920s and ‘30s. The bonds were issued to pay for the war reparations and boost the economy, but their payments were suspended when Hitler came to power in 1933.

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The idea of war reparations was particularly popular in France and Britain, the two nations that wanted to ensure Germany would not be able to fight another war for years. In Germany, on the other hand, it caused first disbelief and later bitter resentment. It was cleverly used by Hitler to radicalize public opinion in Germany. An eminent British economist at the time, John Maynard Keynes, who was an adviser to the British delegation at Versailles, also criticized the idea, saying that these punitive measures would prevent the recovery of Germany, which was the motor of Europe, thus preventing the recovery of Europe as a whole.

http://www.suite101.com/content/world-war-i-officially-ends-today-a292712

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[mix]

1. Keynes has to be among the wisest and most prescient men of the 20th century. nt

[tigereye]

2. makes you wonder if WW2 could have been avoided for that reason... :(

[mix]

3. I believe so, in part.

If Germany and Europe had been able to regain their economic strength in the 1920s, it might have hindered the rise of Nazism and lessened the effects of the Great Depression.

Japan, however, is a different story, though the global depression did contribute in part to the nationalists holding power in the 1930s.

[tigereye]

4. we just read Hans Keilson's The Death of the Adversary for my book group

fascinating and somewhat imagistic book about the author's view of the rise of Nazism early on, written while he was in hiding during the war. Brilliant book.

[dalaigh lllama]

5. Especially considering how incredibly stupid WWI was

not that any war is smart, but WWI had to have been just about the most unnecessary war ever fought. It just seems like the mindset of the world before it started was just itchin' fur a fight - any fight -- for any reason. And the funny thing is, Germany didn't even want to participate at first.