Clarendon Paperbacks The Spoils of War

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The dispute over 'who should pay' for the Great War poisoned international relations, destabilized world finance, and helped the rise of the Nazis in the 1920s and 1930s. This is the first comprehensive study and it makes an important contribution to our understanding of the politics and economics of the inter-war period. This is the first comprehensive account of the dispute over who should `pay' for the First World War - a dispute which poisoned international relations, destabilized the world's financial system, and encouraged the rise of the Nazis in the 1920s and 1930s. Dr Kent's systematic analysis of the origins and persistence of the financial demands made upon Germany after the war sheds new light on the `beggar-thy-neighbour' tendencies of liberal democracies in times of financial crisis. He argues that the victors had no coherent policy of eliminating Germany as a commercial or strategic threat. The indemnity illusion was fostered by British, French, and American statesmen to conceal the financial implications of the war and to defuse radical agitation for heavy taxation.

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Pages: 480, Paperback, Clarendon Press