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| Europe |
| Germany set to pay off last WW1 reparations |
| 2010-09-30 |
| Germany marks the end of an era this Sunday when, 92 years after the end of hostilities, it will make the last of its First World War reparations payments that once provoked a wave of resentment strong enough to sweep Adolf Hitler to power. The payment date, which coincides with the 20th anniversary of Germany's peaceful reunification, will quietly close the last chapter of a conflict that arguably did more than any other to shape the nation's future. Germany's debt derives from the massively unpopular 1919 Versailles Treaty. This Sunday, Berlin will pay the last interest instalment on foreign bonds issued in 1924 and 1930 to cover the huge reparations demands made by the victorious First World War Allies. The event will take place without ceremony and, despite its historical significance, has received only scant public attention, largely because it is a reminder of a terrible period that most Germans would rather forget. Gerd Krumeich, a Great War historian, said that Germans' sense of injustice was stirred by the despised article 231 of the Versailles Treaty, which gave Germany sole blame for the outbreak of the war and forced it to make massive reparation payments. That sense of injustice, he said, was quickly seized upon by Hitler. "The central factor behind Hitler's rise to power was his promise: 'I'll win this war in the end, I will undo this injustice, tear up this treaty and restore Germany to its old greatness," he told Der Spiegel magazine. "The reparations payments compounded everything. Not only was Germany morally to blame, it was also to pay an outlandish sum most people had never even heard of." The sheer scale of the reparations, plus galloping inflation, was enough to bankrupt the unsteady Weimar Republic of the 1920s. Germany's reparations bill was set at the then mind-boggling figure of 269 billion gold marks before it was reduced to 112 billion gold marks, payable over 59 years, during the 1920s. Germany suspended payments during the Great Depression and Hitler refused to continue them when he came to power in 1933. But, in 1953, West Germany agreed to honour its Great War reparation obligations. Communist East Germany, however, declined. It was agreed that Germany should be allowed to wait until it was reunited before paying some 125 million euros in outstanding interest on foreign debt accrued after 1945. The fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 followed by Germany's reunification less than a year later fulfilled the conditions of the agreement. |
| Posted by:Beavis |
| #5 Macaulay"s words on the subject: Heap heavier still the fetters, bar closer still the grate; Patient as sheep we yield us up unto your cruel fate. And by the shades beneath us, and by the gods above, Add not unto your cruel hate your still more cruel love........ Spare us the inexpiable wrong, the unutterable shame,That turns the cowards heart to steel, the sluggards blood to flame. Lest when our latest hope is fled ye taste of our despair, And learn by proof, in some wild hour, how much the wretched dare. |
| Posted by: notascrename 2010-09-30 22:48 |
| #4 Next in line for German dinero settlements: Did Germany ever pay back Rome (now simply [in more ways than one] Italy for the massacre of Varus's 3 Legions by Arminius (aka "Hermann the German"? If not, why not? Mebbe the debt was voided by the 1930's "Pact of Steel"? Or perhaps since the allies voided the "Pact of Steel", the original debt is still due? |
| Posted by: borgboy 2010-09-30 16:41 |
| #3 Procopius2k: The Apaches and Commanches were raiding and killing peaceful tribes years before the white man settlers (there's that word again) the west bank of the Atlantic Ocean - now known as the east bank of the Pacific Ocean. BTW: up to this very day, if the USA didn't exist, the Hopi and Navaho would resume exterminating each other. ____________________ As for south of the Rio Grande (or Rio Bravo if you prefer) I will not go into the history of the "peaceful" Yaquis, Mayas, and Aztecs... |
| Posted by: borgboy 2010-09-30 16:31 |
| #2 IIRC an old Guinness record book entry stipulated that in the 4000 year of recorded human history, there have only been around 200 years of peace in the civilized world (those keeping records). Sitting behind two massive oceans and without a major threat, other than ourselves, Americans have enjoyed a Disney World existence from the history that others have experienced which alters their perception of 'reality'. Central Europe is now on a Peace Streak that it hasn't experienced since the fall of the Roman Empire. It took the Americans and Soviets sitting on them to get that to happen. The American Revolution and the French Revolution were fueled by debt accumulated by the ruling class and the methods they sought to address it. Gerd Krumeich, a Great War historian, said that Germans' sense of injustice was stirred by the despised article 231 of the Versailles Treaty, which gave Germany sole blame for the outbreak of the war and forced it to make massive reparation payments. That sense of injustice, he said, was quickly seized upon by Hitler. Now we're watching another generation of the 'best and brightest' running up unsustainable debt and ignoring warnings of history, because they no longer study real history. Whether it's to win a war at any cost or win the seat of government at any cost, the massive debt at the end of the day will destroy anything you think you may gain. "We burned the village in order to save it." |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-09-30 09:43 |
| #1 I thought WWI would never end, and here we are already in the middle of WWIV. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-09-30 03:28 |