How was Germany able to get back on its feet so fast after the losses it suffered in WW1 and be completely rearmed for WW2?
In: Other
For the after ww2 part of your question, for west germany,a lot of money from the usa, with the col war ramping up the usa game to the conclusion that they needed a buffer in the form of a well armed german army, so they helped the german rebuild there industry there by going back to the old european system of using thr rurh as the factory of europe, this money west germany used to strengten there army
They used the new USSR as their secret place to rearm, a thing that seems to have been memory-holed.
Time to re-up this again: [https://warontherocks.com/2016/06/sowing-the-wind-the-first-soviet-german-military-pact-and-the-origins-of-world-war-ii/](https://warontherocks.com/2016/06/sowing-the-wind-the-first-soviet-german-military-pact-and-the-origins-of-world-war-ii/)
Hitler wasn’t an aberration as far as the German military industrial complex was concerned. They recognized the USSR first, before anyone else in the world, because both nations had a mutual interest in undermining the international order.
WW2 was inevitable. Hitler wasn’t, but WW2 was. As Foch observed, all too presciently, on the signing of the Versailles Treaty, “This is not peace. It is an armistice for 20 years”.
Read Black Earth.
It does an excellent job of chronicling Hitler’s rise. It talks about the history of Europe and Germanys place in it. Quite fascinating, but very heavy, and very dry.
Hitler had some pretty good economic ideas that helped Germany recover. He created the autohbahn, the first interstate highway system of any country. We ended up adopting the same highway system shortly after here in the US
Appeasement policies of other countries.
Hitler’s rise in power.
The national pride being hurt.
Reparations were so extreme, seen as collective punishment, resented by Germans. Ended up going for someone like Hitler.
Treaty of Versailles. Demilitarisation. Reparations. Hyperinflation led to resentment by German people.
Failure of the league of nations.
The depression.
And a few more that led to ww2.
The Dawes Plan of 1924 allowed Germany’s reparations to be restructured in a way that the payments were actually affordable. That helped stabilise the value of the Reichsmark which improved economic confidence. The plan was accompanied by a major loan from the US which in turn allowed further borrowing of about $3 billion (in 1920s dollars). Diplomatic improvements with France, Italy and the UK also meant they were less belligerent towards Germany and were willing to invest in its economy.
There’s sort of a lot of factors that played into germanies apparent ability to fight another world war.
As others have mentioned, Germany’s industrial and economic output was not especially damaged by the war itself, outside of the human capital losses. A large contributing factor to germanies defeat was the unbroken naval blockade and trade embargoes. Much of the damage was actually due to the harsh requirements of the treaty of Versailles, and the occupation of the german industrial heartland.
In the 2 decades between wars, Germany began to ignore the treaty of Versailles and reoccupied the Ruhr Valley. Obviously under the nazis, there was massive investment in re-arming, but an important factor that’s often overlooked is that even at the outbreak of the war, germanies millitary strength was smaller than even the French and was grossly dwarfed by the combined allied forces.
Hitlers military leaders were terrified of a direct conflict with the French and especially the British. On the other hand the allied nations had to deal with a public weary of conflict, and the losses of the first war, and enacted polices of appeasement while Germany gathered strength. If the allies had acted sooner, and decisively, the war would have been over before it stated.
Ultimately Germanies early success was due primarily to capitalizing on a paralyzed alliance that still believed static trench warfare was the way to prevent aggression.
In the end, many historians are doubtful about Germanies ability to have ever won considering there are almost no scenarios where they were prepared for a long war of attrition where the allies could bring the full might of their industrial complex to bear. Hitler knew this but believed the Britsh would agree to peace terms before opening a front to the east.
Get and read the book “The Tower of Basel”, which covers the Swiss Banking company that financed both sides of the war. It’s a horrible situation.
There is the Rothschild quote that goes something like “give me control of banking and I care not who makes the laws”.
Then also read “When Money Dies” by Fergusson. In school I was taught how their particular leader came about in the 1930s because he was such a great orator and by his great words he incised/convinced the people to rally behind his cause. The real story is hyperinflation crippled the economy and starvation caused the people to demand any improvements no matter what, where the first one to toss them a rope of hope they took it. Then they were forced to send their family members into the war machine.
“Those who control the food supply control the nation” is another quote.
How is the US national Debt progressing? … [https://www.usdebtclock.org/](https://www.usdebtclock.org/) What bankers are involved?
.
Latest Answers