4 ms·
France paid in 1871 a sum in the same ballpark than Germany should have paid in 1918. The difference was that France paid in full and in advance (so much in fu
by shakow 4y ago
France paid in 1871 a sum in the same ballpark than Germany should have paid in 1918.
The difference was that France paid in full and in advance (so much in full that the cash influx actually caused a crash in Germany – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_indemnity#Aftermath https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_indemnity#Aftermath), whereas Germany tergiversed, delayed, and printed money like their was no tomorrow, sacrificing their econoomy on the altar of spiting their debtor – which eventually turned into their favor, as their reparations were shrinked to virtually nothing.
Sources: Tooze, Wage of Destruction; Memories of a Magician, Schacht.
- dmichulke 4y agoThe same amount of money can be a lot or little for the same country, depending on a lot of things. Length of war, manpower losses, economic contraction due to the war, revolutions, famine?
- shakow 4y agoNo: e.g. the USSR paid the Brest-Litovsk reparation while being in the middle of its revolutionary war, France paid Versailles (1871) in a few years while being in the middle of its own Commune. According to Versailles, Germany had actually to pay a third of the total sum in over a decade, all the while having the only intact industrial basis in Europe. It was absolutely doable, had they not adopted the most inane economical policies of the time, and scuttled their economy to spite the Entente.