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End of World War I

Momentous day today.  World War I is officially over today. 

The treaty of Versailles included an agreement that Germany pay reparations for the war they waged.  So the payment began shortly after the treaty. Unfortunately, the cost of the devastated country was too much.  The citizens were starving to death and the debt contributed to the Great Depression.

Within a short time, a man with a stupid haircut and funny little mustache rose to power with fantastic promises, breaking the treaty by halting payments, manufacturing war machines, and invading Poland which surprisingly, ended the Great Depression).  Six years later WWII ended and payments resumed for awhile.  Then Germany became two separate entities with East and West and payments ceased.

On November 9, 1989, Gorbachev ordered the wall to come down, which it did.  Reparation payments for World War I resumed, however greatly increased. 
 Today, Sunday, October 3, 2010, the last reparation payment is expected. 

Now go have some bratwurst and sauerkraut and let's celebrate!

Comments

  1. Kristina P.October 4, 2010 at 8:17 AM

    Oh, very cool! I should bring a present to my German coworker. David Hasselhoff poster, perhaps?

    ReplyDelete
  2. CrystalOctober 5, 2010 at 10:43 AM

    great history knowledge. Very interesting. Love your posts!

    Crystal
    http://survivingandthrivinginmom-dom.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. CountessLaurieOctober 6, 2010 at 7:54 PM

    Thank you for sharing this tidbit. I had not heard anything about this but it is fascinating. I shared it with my husband!

    Danke!

    ReplyDelete

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