[64] In particular, the U.S. abhorred the use of Swedish ships to transport the ore to Germany and of her allowing Germany to transport soldiers and war materials across Sweden and through the Baltic under Swedish naval protection. The Germans maintained an aggressive strategy at sea in order to press home their own blockade of the Allies. On 12 November the battleship Tirpitz was sunk by RAF Tallboy bombs near Troms, Norway. Britain and the US again had the option of launching an oil embargo on Spain but hesitated for fear of pushing Franco to side with Germany militarily. [62], West Germany paid reparations to Israel for confiscated Jewish property under Nuremberg laws, forced labour and persecution. by zig-zagging or navigating without lights. 6.9 to 7.5 million Germans had been killed, roughly 8.26 to 8.86% of the population (see also World War II casualties). The Allied powers did not want Germany to have to possibility of waging another war. Around this time the RAF began reducing its attacks on synthetic oil production sites because none of the plants were now operating. [56] In 1960, Germany concluded a treaty with the Greek government to compensate Greek victims of Nazi German terror which amounted to 115 Million German mark. The Allies agreed as part of the Potsdam Agreement, that the Soviet Union collects and distributes the Polish share of reparations. Both East and West Germans wanted their country to be reunified, and after East Germany held its first free elections in March of 1990, a joint East-West Bundestag passed several laws during the summer of 1990 preparing to reunify Germany. As the Cold War ended, Germany was quickly reunified, but the legacy of the division still remains in Germany today. To prevent the enemy gaining a route to acquire supplies, the occupied countries and the unoccupied (Vichy) French zone immediately became subject to the blockade, with severe shortages and extreme hardship quickly following. Repulse sunk? [28] Even more was done at the other two contraband stations at Orkney and Kent. Why did we burn its people? The US travel agencies were eventually closed down along with the German consulates and information centres on 16 June 1941. [citation needed]. As more U-boats entered service, the weekly toll on Allied merchant ships continued to mount, and by June eggs, cheese, jam, clothing and coal were added to the rationed list. Wanting to create economic reforms, he instituted a policy of glasnost, an openness allowing greater economic freedoms. In Scandinavia, an important supply of nickel was now prevented from being delivered from Petsamo in Finland, and the mines at Knaben in Norway were no longer providing molybdenum. [35] The German government takes the same position. [23] From the beginning of the war to the beginning of October the daily average number of neutral ships stopping voluntarily at Weymouth was 20, out of which 74, carrying 513,000 tons, were examined; 90,300 tons of contraband iron ore, wheat, fuel oil, petrol and manganese were seized. [15] The works were located in the area bounded by Hanover, Halle and Magdeburg, which was considered safe from land offensive operations, and a programme was initiated to relocate existing crucial industries nearest the borders of Silesia, Ruhr and Saxony to the more secure central regions. During a debate in the House of Lords about the economic war on 9 May 1944, just before D-Day, Lord Nathan told the House:[43]. In fact, Germany produced large volumes of very high quality coal in the Saar region, but much of it was now being used to produce synthetic rubber, oil and gas. Although the MEW tried to prevent it, neighbouring neutral countries continued to trade with Germany. Although the Allies kept up the round-the-clock pressure, raiding countless lines-of-communications targets in the build-up to the invasion, they were slow to grasp what German commanders were all too aware of that Germany had plenty of tanks and aircraft and their real achilles heel was the oil supply. Although the Ministry resisted calls that the embargo be extended to some neutral countries, it was later extended to cover the whole of metropolitan France, including Algeria, Tunisia and French Morocco.[42]. succeed. Diplomats from the Scandinavian nations, as well as Italy and the Balkan countries, who were also major suppliers to Germany, were given quota lists of various commodities and told they could import these amounts and no more, or action would be taken against them. After the German devastation of Coventry, the RAF raided oil refineries in Mannheim city centre on the night of 1617 December. The US military was not prepared to fight a global war in 1941. Indeed, Germany was largely to blame for the two major wars of the 20th century, World War I (WWI) and WWII, both of which cost millions of lives. [37] In 1975, the Gierek-Schmidt agreement was signed in Warsaw. Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union, Allied plans for German industry after World War II, Allied plans for German industry after World War II Reparations and exploitation, Forced labor of Germans after World War II, Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, Foundation for Polish-German Reconciliation, Constitution of the Polish People's Republic, London Agreement on German External Debts, Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany, Dutch annexation of German territory after World War II, World War II reparations towards Yugoslavia, Economy of East Germany Soviet occupation period, Forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union, Flight and expulsion of Germans (194450), "Agreement on reparation from Germany, on the establishment of an Inter-Allied Reparation Agency and on the restitution of monetary gold", "State Department and Foreign Affairs Records - RG 84: U.S. Delegation to the Inter-Allied Reparations Agency (IARA)", National Archives and Records Administration, "Alltag zwischen Mark und Gulden - der Selfkant unter niederlndischer Auftragsverwaltung 1949 bis 1963", "Das Grenzland von Nordrhein-Westfalen, die Traktatlndereien und die niederlndischen Grenzkorrekturen 1949 bis 1963", "Vor 75 Jahren: Aufbau der Bahn nach Kriegsende | MDR.DE", "Die Stunde Null in der Sowjetischen Besatzungszone (SBZ)", "Wirtschaftsentwicklung von 1945 bis 1949 | BPB", "Gubahn: wechselvolle Historie, ungewisse Zukunft", "Die Entschdigungszahlungen an jdische Opfer des Nationalsozialismus", Wissenschaftliche Dienste des Deutschen Bundestages, "Germany owes Poland over $850 billion in WW2 reparations: senior lawmaker", "Legal Aspects of the Unification of the Two German States", "Die versptete Rechnung. [36] "We cannot understand how men of the German forces can find such a practice in accordance with their honour or humanitarian feelings". German civilian motor traffic had practically entirely gone over to producer-gas, which like all ersatz materials was grossly wasteful in manpower, and this, combined with her colossal losses in the field and the need to keep a disproportionately high percentage of its available labour on the land, had produced an acute manpower crisis requiring the use of some seven million foreign slaves in Germany alone. Austria's iron and steel industry at Graz, and Czechoslovakia's heavy industry near Prague, which included the mighty Skoda munitions works at Pilsen were, though highly developed, as heavily reliant on imports of raw materials as Germany's. [18], The Allies confiscated large amounts of German patents, copyrights and trademarks worth about 10 billion (1948) dollars.[13]. Hitler invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, and Britain and France declared war two days later. The MEW believed that any substantial or widespread relaxation of the blockade would inevitably be exploited by the enemy to his own advantage, and declared that they would "not give him that comfort". In particular the Swiss were, and continue to be, criticised for the way they aided the shipment of Nazi funds abroad and provided banking facilities for the concealment of looted art treasures and gold, much of it stolen from Jews. [4] Sweden provided Germany with 9m tons of high grade ore per year via its Baltic ports, without which German armaments manufacture would be paralyzed. Since before the war, pro-Nazi Spain had suffered chronic food shortages which were made worse by the blockade. [16] Despite his incredible efforts at continually reorganising production after each setback, from early 1945 Speer admitted defeat in the armaments battle. The Swedish Government adopted tightened exchange control regulations in November 1944 and made great progress in identifying German properties and eliminating German influences from its economy. Spain, the world's second-largest producer of tungsten after Portugal, provided Germany with 1,100 metric tons of the ore per year between 1941 and 1943 (between them Spain and Portugal provided 90% of Germany's annual 3500 tons requirement). The great Danube, Elbe, Rhine, Oder, Weser, Main and Neckar rivers were dredged and made fully navigable, and an intricate network of canals was built to interlink them and connect them to major cities. On 22 December the US State Department made a formal protest, to no avail. By early September the only remaining undamaged deep-water port was Antwerp in Belgium, and the SOE, under the direction of the Ministry of Economic Warfare (MEW) was given the task of ensuring it was captured intact. The supply problems also led to disagreements, as each commander pressed for his unit to be given priority. Berlin was located in Soviet-controlled territory, but it was decided that Berlin needed to be divided. They had already lost 23 ships, with many more attacked and dozens of sailors killed, while Sweden, Germany's main provider of iron ore, had lost 19 ships, Denmark 9, and Belgium 3. But by the end of the war, though the UK also lost a quarter of its real wealth,[13] Germany was ruined and she had since then experienced a number of severe financial problems; first hyperinflation caused by the requirement to pay reparations for the war, then after a brief period of relative prosperity in the mid-1920s under the Weimar Republic the Great Depression, which followed the Wall Street Crash of 1929, which in part led to the rise in political extremism across Europe and Hitler's seizure of power. The French claimed that of 30 U-boats sent out in Germany's first major offensive against Allied shipping, a third had been destroyed, and Churchill declared that Britain had seized 150,000 more tons of contraband than was lost by torpedoing. [citation needed] Schacht also proved adept at negotiating extremely profitable barter deals with many other nations, supplying German military expertise and equipment in return. The Mediterranean Sea was effectively blocked at both ends and the dreadnought battleships of the Grand Fleet waited at Scapa Flow to sail out and meet any German offensive threat. Then some people thought and some people said that the war could be won by blockade alone without fighting, that Germany would suddenly collapse for lack of fuel, lack of special steels, even lack of food. When the manifest of the Danish ship Danmark, operated by the Halal Shipping Company Ltd, was inspected, the recipient was listed as none other than "Herr Hitler, President Republique Grand Allemagne". Between 1.5 and 2 million are said to have died in the process, depending on source. 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The only rationing introduced immediately at the war's beginning was petrol. Despite an initial pathfinding force being sent to light up the target area with flares, only one bomb in 20 fell within five miles (8km) of the town. In total the US provided Soviet Union with $11 billion worth of goods, including 4,800 Grant and Sherman tanks, 350,000 trucks, 50,000 jeeps, 7,300 Airacobra fighter aircraft, and 3700 light and medium bombers. The war changed the pattern of the international economy, leaving the US in a very strong bargaining position, having managed to free up international trade to its benefit as a consequence of LendLease, and forcing the British to agree to currency convertibility. To make up the losses of merchant vessels and to allow for increased imports of war goods, negotiations began with neutral countries such as Norway and the Netherlands towards taking over their freighters on central government charter. Danish farmers paid large taxes, and merchant sailors were driven to work as labourers in Germany because of the blockade. Even in the normally plentiful Balkan region there were now food shortages caused by an extremely hard winter in the east and flooding of the lower Danube which devastated the agricultural plains and prevented the planting of crops. [39] The Swiss Fund for the Victims of the Holocaust (which had obtained settlement money from banks in Switzerland) used some of its funds to pay compensation between 1998 and 2002 to Polish Jews and Romani who were victims of Nazi Germany. I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. RAF raids on vehicle factories in Milan, Genoa, and Turin on 2 December 1942 only served to unite the Italian population behind the Mussolini dictatorship, and the plan was dropped in favour of the "disorganisation of German industry". Before very long, livestock was being slaughtered because of a lack of fodder the pigs so undernourished that they broke their legs walking to slaughter. Norway, a great seafaring nation since the days of the Vikings had lost almost half its fleet in World War I, yet now possessed a merchant navy of some 2,000 ships, with tonnage exceeded only by Britain, the US, and Japan. From late 1944 onwards there were reports that rich German and Austrian Jews were being allowed to leave the Reich after paying special taxes and surrendering all their belongings to the Nazis. On 16 August the Luftwaffe claimed to have destroyed Tilbury Docks and the Port of London, which normally handled a million tons of cargo per week. Over time, relations between the Soviet Union and the United States became strained and it was determined that the best course of action concerning the occupation of Germany was to divide the country into two halves. Maximum prices were fixed for everything, but the black market pushed prices 515 times beyond the official tariff. One US correspondent commented; "Germany worked like a pack of driver ants, picking Greece clean",[68] but the corrupt, collaborationist government also controlled the black market in whatever food was still available, causing rampant inflation of the drachma, which saw the price of a loaf of bread, where available, reach $15. In February 1940 Karl Ritter, who had brokered huge pre-war barter agreements with Brazil, visited Moscow and, despite finding Stalin an incredibly fierce negotiator, an increased trade deal was eventually signed between Germany and Russia. Apart from allowing Hitler to secure his eastern borders and annihilate Poland, the Nazi-Soviet Pact brought Germany considerable economic benefits in August 1939. [23] Ships bound for European ports or en route to the North of Scotland should call at Kirkwall. [citation needed], On 3 July Stalin announced a "scorched earth policy"; as Soviets forces and people retreated in the face of the Wehrmacht, everything that could not be moved east was to be destroyed. many Germans died in the war, leaving a generation gap just like WWI. If the early hopes were exaggerated, we must not attenuate the actual achievements. The children's section of the ICRC sent vitamins, medicine and milk products for children, and in 1944 it was awarded its second Nobel Peace Prize for its work. In early August Germans installed Dover Strait coastal guns. In June 1944 the British finally secured access to the naval bases on the Azores, and the Allies thereafter threatened Portugal with economic sanctions. So much smog was produced by these industries that precision bombing was almost impossible. [citation needed]. There was little effect on production and, with no fighter cover, 7 of the 12 Lancaster bombers were lost, leading to a return to night bombing. At this point Franco saw that the Royal Navy had reduced the German navy in Norway to an impotent surface threat, the Luftwaffe had lost the Battle of Britain, the Royal Navy had destroyed much of the French fleet at Mers-el-Kbir, had also destroyed Italian battleships at Taranto and the British Army was routing the Italian army in North & East Africa. In December 1941 an attempt by the Swiss military to purchase American machine-gun cameras was blocked by Britain's refusal to grant a Navicert,[65] and in April 1942 the US Board of Economic Warfare considered quotas for Swiss imports from overseas sources, identifying Swiss commodities which might be bargained for. Dismantling in the west stopped in 1950. Later, German agents bought non-portable assets such as farms, real estate, mines, factories and corporations. Because she was an island, the blockade of Japan was a fairly straightforward matter of sinking the transport ships used to ferry materials from the occupied lands to the home islands, and remained a largely American affair. Even for innocent ships, a delay of a day or two was inevitable; Contraband Control officers were under instructions to be extremely polite and apologetic to all concerned. The MEW stated that 45,000 tons of rubber, 1,500 tons of tungsten, 17,000 tons of tin and 25,000 tons of vegetable oils had been destroyed as well as important far-Eastern drugs such as quinine. In many cases these cargoes proved useful for the Allies' own war effort Contraband Control also intercepted a consignment of 2 tons of coffee destined for Germany, where the population had long been reduced to drinking substitutes not made from coffee beans at all. Under the armistice conditions she had to pay the billeting costs of the occupying garrison and a daily occupation indemnity of 300 to 400 million francs. In December 1941 the United States joined the economic warfare system that the British had created and administered over the previous two years. Churchill thought that the experiment of all-out bomber attack was worth trying as long as other measures were not excluded, and while the commanders of the Allied land forces and navies doubted that bombing would defeat Germany, they agreed that the raids would be useful in weakening Germany prior to the invasion of Europe. On 17 January 1940 the Minister of Economic Warfare, Ronald Cross said in a speech in the House of Commons: We have made a good start, we must bear in mind that Germany does not have the same resources she had some 25 years ago. in April 1940 the war was costing the UK5m per day out of total government expenditure of 6.5 7m per day. Germany considers this treaty as the final regulation which concludes the question of open reparations which had been made in previous treaties such as the London Debt Agreement. The distribution of the reparations from Germany was to be allotted by a pre-determined percentage to which the victor powers agreed to. To help keep her people supplied with imports, and despite having no shoreline, the Swiss government developed its own merchant marine, acquiring several vessels that had been impounded for smuggling or withdrawal foreign flags. The Germans held 1,500,000 French prisoners of war as hostages, feeding them on bread and soup so thin that grass was added to bulk it up, and most items were now heavily rationed, with a worker entitled to a daily diet of only 1,200 calories; many people rode bicycles into the countryside during the weekend to scavenge for food. Germany needed to be divided into four postwar occupied zones. [2][3], The Allies finally agreed for German reparations to be paid in the following forms:[2], To oversee the extraction and distribution of the German reparations in their control zone, the Western Allies established the Inter-Allied Reparations Agency (IARA). D-Day Summary, Date & Invasion | When was D-Day? It also agreed to provide more than $8 million in gold to make up for that amount of Belgian monetary gold sold to Sweden during the War, but negotiations regarding 8,600 kilograms of Dutch gold ($9.7 million) stalled when Sweden argued that the gold had been acquired before the January 1943 London Declaration on looted gold. During the last 4 months of 1939, exports from the US to the 13 states capable of acting as middlemen to Germany amounted to 52m compared to 35m for the same period in 1938. It's one of those bizarre twists of history that might have changed the world as we know it, if not just for a small tweak. Controlled by the socialist economic policies of the communist Soviet Union, East Germany suffered a decline in the standard of living. As more U-boats were commissioned into the German navy, the terrible toll on neutral merchant shipping intensified. The Navicert system was greatly extended, introducing compulsory Navicerts and ships' warrants in an attempt to prevent contraband being loaded in the first place. [27] On 7 September wide-ranging new powers were granted to Heinrich Himmler to punish the populace for 'Endangering the defensive power of the German people'; the next day a worker was shot for refusing to take part in defensive work. The occupied zone contained France's best industries, with a fifth of the world's iron ore in Lorraine, and 6% of its steel production capacity. On 11 May 1940 the RAF bombed the city of Mnchengladbach. Numerous concessions were made to Germany before the rise of Adolf Hitler, and by 1938 only the territorial settlement articles remained. On 24 August 1939, a week before the invasion of Poland which started the war, Germany announced rationing of food, coal, textiles and soap, and Shirer noted that it was this action above all which made the German people wake up to the reality that war was imminent. Spanish companies did important aircraft work for the Germans, Spanish merchants furnished Germany with industrial diamonds and platinum,[65] and General Franco, still loyal to Hitler because of his support during the civil war, continued to supply Germany with war materials, among them mercury and tungsten. Later, a series of events developed that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall. These treaties stripped the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary, joined by Ottoman Turkey and Bulgaria) of substantial territories and imposed significant reparation payments.
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