Huzzah, World War I finally ends

Germany made its final reparations payment to England on Sunday.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/8029948/First-World-War-officially-ends.html

 

In the spirit of friendship and economic cooperation and European Unification, England should have forgiven the debt.

 

Lick mein balls, England. We're paid up!



No really. Lick mein balls. I liked that.

 

Hey, we just got the final payment on WWII's Lend-Lease less than four years ago, so better late than never.

 

For some reason, hearing about this, I'm thinking of that Simpsons episode where the kids are running out of the school on the last day, and the history teacher yells, "Wait, I haven't finished our lesson on World War II!"

Kids stop running out, then teacher yells out, "WE WON!" as the kids chant "USA!"

 

Too bad Germany will be getting calls from bill collectors for the next four years anyway.

 

I can think of millions who wish England had forgiven that debt oh, before 1937 or so...

 

reading about this, one can see the brilliance and foresight of John Maynard Keynes, who resigned as the English Treasury Secretary in protest of the excessive reparations imposed on Germany.

 

Smart man. It's also the reason why we ridiculously overdid it when we helped rebuild Japan.

 

Wouldn't have made a bit of difference. Now, if they'd done so in 1927, maybe Germany doesn't turn to Hitler in the wake of the Great Depression, and maybe the past 80 years turns out radically different. But by 1937, it was already too late.

 

No single event in the 20th century had more lasting impact than World War I.

It is absolutely insane how much it meant, even now. More interesting was that it was essentially a family squabble since all the ruling families in Europe were essentially Queen Victoria's kids and grandkids, along with the little fact that she was German.

 

Once he got into power, Hitler knew his options were limited. The only way he could pay off the debt was to steal the identities of Poland, Czechoslovakia, France and Norway.
The whole North African invasion? He was just pissed off that some Nigerian prince sent him a fishy telegram and bilked him out of millions. He was working his way down there when those damned Limeys got involved.