See other History Articles
Title: Germany finally pays off WWI debt
Source:
7 News
URL Source: http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/mp/804 ... rmany-finally-pays-off-wwi-deb
Published: Sep 30, 2010
Author: 7 News
Post Date: 2010-09-30 12:27:12 by X-15
Keywords: None
Views: 226
Comments: 9
Germany not only celebrates 20 years since reunification this weekend, it will also pay off the last of its World War I debts, 92 years after the 1914-18 conflict ended. These "reparations" were intended partly by the Allies, particularly France, to keep Germany weak. But historians say the ultimate effect was the opposite, playing a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power and World War II. Interest on loans taken out to pay will finally be redeemed this Sunday. In 1919, as the loser of the "War To End All Wars", in which more than nine million people were killed and countless more maimed and traumatised by the horrors of trench warfare, Germany was held to be responsible. The victors forced the Germans to admit, in effect, in the 1919 Versailles treaty that the war was their fault, and to commit to pay crippling amounts for decades to come. "The French wanted compensation for the terrible losses they had suffered, but also wanted to use reparations as a means of keeping the Germans weak for years to come," historian Martin Kitchen wrote in "Europe between the Wars." After much bickering among the Allies -- who were also in debt to each other from the war -- the defeated country, on the brink of starvation and revolution, was presented with a bill of 269 billion gold marks. It soon became clear that Germany could not pay. First came hyperinflation, which saw at its height a billion-mark note, and France, frustrated by the lack of payment, occupied Germany's Ruhr industrial area in 1923, the same year as Hitler's abortive Beer Hall Putsch in Munich. The 1924 Dawes plan and the 1929 Young plan dramatically reduced the burden, and the 1932 Lausanne Conference suspended all repayments in the wake of the Great Depression. Many historians say, in fact, that Germany could have paid, particularly after the reparations were sharply reduced and Germany was loaned huge amounts of money. But it was their symbolism that counted and Hitler was able to play on resentment to the reparations -- and the famous "War Guilt Clause" in the Versailles Treaty -- to gain support in the chaotic inter-war years. "The point is that it's not so much the financial burden but a political burden," Richard Bessel, professor of history at York University in Britain, told AFP. "Financially it probably was doable." After World War II, the new West Germany -- but not the communist East Germany -- agreed at the 1953 London conference to repay its inter war debts, albeit a much reduced amount, something it completed in 1980. One loose end though was interest payments on loans taken out under the Dawes and Young plans that piled up between 1945 and this conference in the British capital. It was agreed that this would be paid when and if East and West Germany ever reunified. This was seen as so unlikely at the time that it was akin to forgiving the debt, and the original loan certificates became historical curiosities, for sale at flea markets. But in 1990, the unthinkable happened, and Germany -- whilst celebrating unity after decades of painful division -- said it would repay, costing it around 200 million euros ($A281.35 million). The debts have been resold so many times that nobody really knows whom exactly Germany now owes. But on Sunday, at midnight, they will receive their final instalment of some 70 million euros ($A98.47 million), and a chapter of Germany's traumatic 20th century will be quietly closed.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: X-15 (#0)
"It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brush fires of freedom in the minds of men." -- Samuel Adams (1722-1803)‡
The victors forced the Germans to admit, in effect, in the 1919 Versailles treaty that the war was their fault, and to commit to pay crippling amounts for decades to come. Somebody should start refunding with interest all of the money Germany was forced to pay because the premise that it was responsible for WWI is just insane. Germany had a defense alliance with Austria-Hungary and Italy. Russia had a defense alliance with Serbia and Slavs, France and Britain. After Turkey was driven out of the Balkans, Austria-Hungary intervened in the Balkan conflicts and annexed some territory there. Serbia threatened war against Austria-Hungary in 1908 over (iirc) Bosnia. Russia backed Serbia. The Balkans were at war between 1912 and 1913. On June 28, 1914, a Serb of the Black Hand national group assassinated the heir to Austria-Hungary's throne and his wife. Diplomatic channels between Austria-Hungary and Serbia broke down and Austria- Hungary declared war against Serbia a month after the assassination. Russia mobilized against Austria-Hungary and Germany mobilized to protect Austria- Hungary. The blame for that war should have gone to Serbia, Austria-Hungary, and Russia, not Germany. That it didn't shows how deranged the directors of the world stage were then and still can't even manage to report history correctly let alone manage world affairs correctly.
------- "They're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us...they can't get away this time." -- Col. Puller, USMC
WWI was a squabble amongst the royalty of Europe that got out of control, the common man should have said "NO!" to their king's demand to fight their family feud.
__________________________________________________________ And Germany should have just refused to be blamed for WWI or pay any money because of a bunch of idiotically ahistorical liars.
------- "They're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us...they can't get away this time." -- Col. Puller, USMC
But the unification, unthinkable in 1953, happened just 37 years later and, as agreed, interest repayments began again at 3 per cent. D'oh!
The noblest man will marry the lowest daughter of a base family, if only she brings in money. And a lady will share her bed with a foul rich man, preferring gold to pedigree. Money is all. Good breeds with bad and race is lost. -- Theognis
I agree with you that Germany shouldn't really be pegged as the nation that was responsible for WW1. France, Britain and Russia had an alliance that the German & austrian leadership did not know about. In a way Germany & Austria were lured into the war. the others were as responsible in starting it. but the reason Germany agreed to be blamed at the end of WW1 was because their representatives desired for the fighting to stop. they agreed under duress. the amazing thing is that most of the money they had to pay was to be paid to a group of private banks, not even government. and in 1932 something controversial happened. I've read that after Hitler was elected the bankers told Hitler he no longer had to pay on the debt, the debt was suspended for a long time as soon as the NAZIs came to power. We read different versions of this, but a private bank did decide to forgive the debt.
Psalms 137:1 By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
Schluss!
I would like to direct this to the distinguished members of the panel: You lousy cork-soakers. You have violated my farging rights. Dis somanumbatching country was founded so that the liberties of common patriotic citizens like me could not be taken away by a bunch of fargin iceholes... like yourselves. Thank you. - Roman Moroni
Certainly Germany was lured into it. I'm not so sure if Austria was lured or was in on luring Germany. Another reason the money should be refunded to them with interest. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasi Nasi is a Hebrew title meaning prince in Biblical Hebrew, Patriarch (of the Sanhedrin) in Mishnaic Hebrew, or president in Modern Hebrew.
------- "They're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us...they can't get away this time." -- Col. Puller, USMC
Family Feud: The European Throwdown "Rendering them unassailable (or so they fondly imagined) was the fact that the monarchs of Europe were all closely related. Queen Victoria was sometimes called the Grandmamma of Europe, and there was hardly a Continental court that did not boast at least one of her relations. During World War One there were no less than seven of the old Queen's direct descendants, and two more of her Coburg relations, on European thrones. Before it happened, can anyone blame this family of kings, or their subjects, for assuming that a war between these crowned cousins was all but impossible? One can appreciate why Kaiser Wilhelm II, at the outbreak of war in 1914, exclaimed that 'Nicky' had 'played him false'. For the rulers of the world's three greatest nations - King George V of Great Britain and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia on the one hand, and the German Kaiser on the other - were not simply cousins, they were first cousins. If their grandmother Queen Victoria had still been alive, said the Kaiser, she would never have allowed them to go to war with each other. Instead, World War One proved once and for all that the family ties between the reigning houses of Europe were more or less irrelevant. Their kinship simply snapped, like cotton threads, as the storm of war broke over their heads."
__________________________________________________________
#2. To: X-15 (#0)
In 1919, as the loser of the "War To End All Wars", in which more than nine million people were killed and countless more maimed and traumatised by the horrors of trench warfare, Germany was held to be responsible.
#3. To: GreyLmist (#2)
"This man is Jesus,” shouted one man, spilling his Guinness as Barack Obama began his inaugural address. “When will he come to Kenya to save us?"
-Schweizerische Schuetzenzeitung (Swiss Shooting Federation) April, 1941
#4. To: X-15 (#3)
#5. To: X-15 (#0)
Actual Versailles reparations payments finished in 1983 after first being suspended by Hitler and then renegotiated in 1953. That agreement excused the divided Germany from €125 million in interest until after the country was unified, which Handelsblatt newspaper dubbed a "clever bit of negotiation that was the same as putting off payments until doomsday".
#6. To: GreyLmist (#4)
#7. To: X-15 (#0)
#8. To: Red Jones (#6)
(Edited)
In a way Germany & Austria were lured into the war. the others were as responsible in starting it.
but the reason Germany agreed to be blamed at the end of WW1 was because their representatives desired for the fighting to stop. they agreed under duress.
the amazing thing is that most of the money they had to pay was to be paid to a group of private banks, not even government. and in 1932 something controversial happened. I've read that after Hitler was elected the bankers told Hitler he no longer had to pay on the debt, the debt was suspended for a long time as soon as the NAZIs came to power. We read different versions of this, but a private bank did decide to forgive the debt.
#9. To: GreyLmist, Red Jones (#8)
"This man is Jesus,” shouted one man, spilling his Guinness as Barack Obama began his inaugural address. “When will he come to Kenya to save us?"
-Schweizerische Schuetzenzeitung (Swiss Shooting Federation) April, 1941
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest