First World War officially ends

[meegbear]

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

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. The final payment of £59.5 million, writes off the crippling debt that was the price for one world war and laid the foundations for another.

Germany was forced to pay the reparations at the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 as compensation to the war-ravaged nations of Belgium and France and to pay the Allies some of the costs of waging what was then the bloodiest conflict in history, leaving nearly ten million soldiers dead.

The initial sum agreed upon for war damages in 1919 was 226 billion Reichsmarks, a sum later reduced to 132 billion, £22 billion at the time.

The bill would have been settled much earlier had Adolf Hitler not reneged on reparations during his reign.

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

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WAR IS OVER ... IF YOU WANT IT

[gratuitous]

1. I wonder when the Iraq or Afghanistan wars will be over?

Or am I whining again?

[MrMickeysMom]

2. How about "not in our lifetime"?

Is that good for an answer? I can't even imagine the cost...

[lunatica]

6. The beauty of it is they aren't officially wars.

:sarcasm:

[24601]

17. You don't need sarcasm on when you're right. Just point to OPM's

decision on what's a real war or not. Your government in action.

http://www.fedshirevets.gov/hire/hrp/vetguide/index.aspx

[No Elephants]

10. Hush. Go groom your pony.

[Jackpine Radical]

13. He doesn't have a pony.

Nobody got ponies. Hadn't you heard?

[gratuitous]

14. I have to go get drug tested first

But I'll groom Spreckles as soon as I get back. Tell the nice FBI guys not to leave a mess, unless they absolutely have to, mmmkay?

[saigon68]

22. Outrageous

How about my Alpaca

[melm00se]

24. How about the Korean War/Conflict/Police Action??

(edited to correct subject)

[COLGATE4]

3. Comes under the heading of "be careful what you wish for..."

[rug]

4. Another Wilson promise kept.

:patriot:

[Art_from_Ark]

19. Woodrow Wilson? And what promise would that be?

Wilson's post-war policy was based on his Fourteen Points, which made no mention whatsoever of reparations.

[pampango]

26. True. 1. Open peace negotiations, 2. Freedom of seas, 3. No trade barriers, 4. Reduce national

armaments, 5. Rights of colonial people, 6-13. Deal with specific countries, e.g. Italy, Poland, Belgium, etc., 14. Establish the League of Nations.

Nothing in there about reparations.

[baldguy]

5. Can Obama bring our troops home now?

[Confusious]

7. I can't believe they are still paying that

I thought the allies would have stopped that after world war 2. They forgave everything else.

[Historic NY]

16. Really we kept paying for the Spanish American War & others until 2006.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/99extele.pdf

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/99extele.pdf

[Confusious]

18. That's a little different

That a tax on us to pay for a war, and once implemented, they usually don't go away. This is reparations from one country to another.

[Diclotican]

8. meegbear

meegbear

So the germand did pay up ALL debt from World War one also?... Intersting, as I would belive that Germany was starting from scratch after world war two, with old debt razed, ad it was not mutch about the old times again in Germany 12 year with nazism, and a cripling was had made that a posibility....

Wel, at least the grand-grand children of the one who died, or was cripled by this war, was given some competation from the war... Or at least the government, as I doubt to many of them, was given the whole pacage after the first world war..

It was a lot a easy job, to pay down the debt, not even when the Weimar-republic was on his good side, and the economy in good mood... After Hitler got into power, they might suspend the whole debt.. But it is interesting that, even then, the reparations imposed of them by the allied forces in wold war one had to be paid in full...

But, at least Germany have paid off everything they did was in debt with... Now they can start looking forward - and don't look back, at least from the point of world war one

Diclotican

[proteus_lives]

9. The Kaiser will be pleased.

[Drale]

11. Really?

they still had to pay that back? The reason the US wanted a soft reconstruction in germany after the war was the make sure what happened with the Nazi's didnt happen again. I would think the UN would have through these payments out.

[old mark]

12. Maybe we can use our share to pay down the deficit caused by Bush's wars...

This is amazing to me. My grandfather was a corporal in the Imperial German Army, and died in 1918. My father came to the US in 1920, and is still living, near Galviston, TX.
We still see consequences of that war in the middle east, in the Balkans, and all over the world, actually in the lives of all of us.

If I were still drinking, I'd raise a glass to all who died in that terrible and pointless war to end all wars... I will anyway, and I hope they don't mind if it's iced tea.


mark

[virgogal]

15. Cheers---and iced tea is fine with me.

[Hardrada]

20. Ich hat einen Kameraden...

[Ghost Dog]

21. There is nothing 'official' about 'war' ending here. This is junk media headline-writing.

But the crux of it is:

"On Sunday the last bill is due and the First World War finally, financially at least, terminates for Germany," said Bild, the country's (Germany's) biggest selling newspaper.

Most of the money goes to private individuals, pension funds and corporations holding debenture bonds as agreed under the Treaty of Versailles, where Germany was made to sign the 'war guilt' clause, accepting blame for the war.

[old mark]

23. I'm wondering ifg anyone will have some sort of ceremony, maybe in November,

to mark this, to make it "official".
I am certain that there are in many governments, some small agency or office still waiting for WWI to officially end. It would be nice to let them close up shop and go home.

It was one of the most horrible wars of all time, and it should be put away with relief.


mark

[Blue_Tires]

25. was it delivered by blimp?

[Old Troop]

27. West Germany actually paid off the debt in 1983, but part of the reduction

agreement required additional payments if East and West Germany re-united.