This calls for a beer.
Posted on 10/03/2010 6:32:38 AM PDT by mkleesma
The First World War will officially end on Sunday, 92 years after the guns fell silent, when Germany pays off the last chunk of reparations imposed on it by the Allies.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
This calls for a beer.
It just means that they start a new armament program on Monday.
I heard this on the radio yesterday, and had two questions in my mind.
1) What happened to the debt when Germany split in half? Did the treaty cover this issue somehow? And, related:
2) Were they required to pay reparations after WWII, or was there so little left of the nation that they weren’t even requested? After all, the US virtually rebuilt Germany’s neighbors.
Once all the Germans were warlike and mean
But that couldn’t happen again
We taught them a lesson in 1918
And they’ve hardly bothered us since then
— Tom Lehrer
Knew nothing about this.
It came up at lunch last week that there was this Guatemalan experiment in the late 40s, which we all agreed was evil and it was evil of the US to be involved. My uber lib office mate was momentarily disturbed by the realization that this was during either the FDR or Truman administrations but then started ranting about how “this country is as bad as Nazi Germany.” Notice the present tense. I said that human beings are flawed and we’re all sinners but that I thought it was painting with a very broad brush to say that this country is as bad as Nazi Germany. He just kept repeating it so I left the lunch room. sigh. So I do avoid the libs in my office. Its bound to get worse during the next month.
Its Respect Life Sunday, on another note, and my priest gave a homily on the subject. First time since the 70s I have heard a priest say from the pulpit that those using artificial contraception should not present themselves for Communion. I wanted to clap and cheer out loud.
Same goes with most of us. Wonder if any such demands were put on them and Japan for WWII. Doubt it. And at the payback rate, they would be reading the news of the final WWII payment on a Starship exploring the final frontier many centuries from now.
Next you’ll be quoting “The Masochism Tango”?
Whew, I'm glad we finally got that paid off!
Didn’t we just stop paying the tax that was used to pay for the Spanish-American war a few years ago?
My grandfather, who fought with the US Army in France in WWI will be glad to know the war if now officially over. He is buried in Yuma, where he retired from his last duty post as a US Border Patrol Inspector (known then as a “P.I.”). He and my dad were both P.I’s in Texas during Operation Wetback. My bride and I plan to visit my grandfather’s grave this coming March. He never had much good to say, while in the Army, about those who did not volunteer to join and fight.
Another classic.
Very interesting. Now they have to pay off World War II....that SHOULD cost a fortune.
But why an Austrian beer, and not a German one? They're also not really renowned for their beer-brewing skills. Unless you like dishwater. ;-)
AFAIK there were no reparations for WWII.
On the contrary, Germany (West Germany) received Marshall Plan aid from the US. Which was repaid - under very generous conditions! - by 1971. Britain received about three times as much Marshall Plan aid which was not repaid.
The GDR (East Germany) was bled dry by the USSR. The Russians also received some dismantled industrial installations from West Germany. Read the Marshall Plan article on Wikipedia if you’re interested in further details.
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