Germany ends World War One reparations after 92 years with ?59m final payment
Germany will finally clear its First World War debt by repaying nearly ?60million this weekend.
The ?22billion reparations were set by the Allied victors ? mostly Britain, France and America ? as compensation and punishment for the 1914-18 war.
The reparations were set at the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919, by the Allied victors - mostly Britain, France and America.
Most of the money was intended to go to Belgium and France, whose land, towns and villages were devastated by the war, and to pay the Allies some of the costs of waging it.
The initial sum agreed upon for war damages in 1919 was 226billion Reichsmarks, a sum later reduced to 132billion. In sterling at the time this was the equivalent of some ?22billion.
The German Federal Budget for 2010 shows the remaining portion of the debt that will be cleared on Sunday, October 3.
The bill would have been settled much earlier had not one Adolf Hitler reneged on reparations during his reign.
Hatred of the settlement agreed at Versailles, France, which crippled Germany as it tried to shape itself into a democracy following defeat in the war, was of significant importance in propelling the Nazis to power
WAR FACTS
● World War One lasted four years, three months and 14 days.
● It took the lives of an estimated 9.7million military personnel and 6.8million civilians.
● In today?s money the war cost Great Britain alone ?22,368,229,004.07 to fight.
● A British Tommy?s basic pay in the war was one shilling a day, equivalent to 35 pence a week.
● The biggest war reparations demanded before the Versailles Treaty was 5.5billion in gold francs demanded by Prussia from France after its victory over it in the war of 1870-71. France paid if off within five years.
● In 1917, one year before the end of the war, Britain manufactured 186,000 tons of explosives compared to 144,000 tons by Germany.
● An estimated 40 million horses, dogs, carrier pigeons and other animals in the service of the armies of the Great War died in battle.
● The only British First World War veteran still alive is Claude Choules, 108, who served in the Royal Navy and lives in Perth, Australia. HarryPatch, the last foot soldier to survive, died aged 111 in July last year.
Germany will finally clear its First World War debt by repaying nearly ?60million this weekend.
The ?22billion reparations were set by the Allied victors ? mostly Britain, France and America ? as compensation and punishment for the 1914-18 war.
The reparations were set at the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919, by the Allied victors - mostly Britain, France and America.
Most of the money was intended to go to Belgium and France, whose land, towns and villages were devastated by the war, and to pay the Allies some of the costs of waging it.
The initial sum agreed upon for war damages in 1919 was 226billion Reichsmarks, a sum later reduced to 132billion. In sterling at the time this was the equivalent of some ?22billion.
The German Federal Budget for 2010 shows the remaining portion of the debt that will be cleared on Sunday, October 3.
The bill would have been settled much earlier had not one Adolf Hitler reneged on reparations during his reign.
Hatred of the settlement agreed at Versailles, France, which crippled Germany as it tried to shape itself into a democracy following defeat in the war, was of significant importance in propelling the Nazis to power
WAR FACTS
● World War One lasted four years, three months and 14 days.
● It took the lives of an estimated 9.7million military personnel and 6.8million civilians.
● In today?s money the war cost Great Britain alone ?22,368,229,004.07 to fight.
● A British Tommy?s basic pay in the war was one shilling a day, equivalent to 35 pence a week.
● The biggest war reparations demanded before the Versailles Treaty was 5.5billion in gold francs demanded by Prussia from France after its victory over it in the war of 1870-71. France paid if off within five years.
● In 1917, one year before the end of the war, Britain manufactured 186,000 tons of explosives compared to 144,000 tons by Germany.
● An estimated 40 million horses, dogs, carrier pigeons and other animals in the service of the armies of the Great War died in battle.
● The only British First World War veteran still alive is Claude Choules, 108, who served in the Royal Navy and lives in Perth, Australia. HarryPatch, the last foot soldier to survive, died aged 111 in July last year.
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