Bora Bora wrote:The US helped to rebuild Japan from the ground up after the war - compensation for dropping the bomb on a country that bombed Pearl Harbor killing thousands and sinking/destroying naval ships. If a country wants to rebuild itself all they need to do is go to war with the US. Regardless of who "wins" the US will finance the rebuilding. Japan never felt guilty for bombing Pearl Harbor. The Japanese used the compensation wisely whereas the US keeps giving to a corrupt country that doesn't invest it but banks it for the few involved. One country among many that has no accountability as to where the money goes.
I decided to start a new thread in response to Bora Bora's statements above.
The Lessons Learned from WW1.
After WW1 In 1919, Lloyd George of England, Clemenceau of France, Orlando of Italy, and Wilson from the US met to discuss how Germany and it’s allies were to be made to collectively and individually, accept full responsibility, and to pay for the damage WW1 had caused.
The original 14 point plan that Wilson believed would bring stability to Europe, that Germany expected to be signatory to, bore little resemblance to the final punishing ‘Treaty of Versailles’.
There were, in the end, 440 clauses in the final draft. The first 26 clauses dealt with the establishment of the League of Nations (Later to develop into the United Nations). The remaining 414 clauses spelled out Germany's punishment.
Germany’s Army was reduced to 100,000, the Navy reduced to six ships, the Air Force, Tanks and Submarines banned completely, lands were confiscated and given to France, Belgium, Denmark, Czechoslovakia and Poland, when the final accounting of the cost of the war was complete, Germany was to pay £6.6M in reparations and The League of Nations took control of all Germany's colonies, other treaties determined the fate of those countries that had fought with Germany, which were Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey, all of whom suffered similar losses.
These Countries After WW1, were left demoralised, bankrupt, destitute and alone, and for these reasons, historians today, argue convincingly that it was the Treaty of Versailles 414 punishment clauses and that Germany was ostracised by the rest of the world, which ultimately provided Adolf Hitler the impetus and the German people the appetite for revenge.
Adolf Hitler was voted into power for his promises to ‘Rip up the Treaty of Versailles’, and after his accession to the position of Chancellor in 1933, started to rebuild Germany’s Third Reich, his first campaign was in 1936 where he started to recover the Lands taken away from Germany in the Treaty of Versailles, this eventually led on to the declaration of War and the start of World War Two in September 1939 when Britain and France declared war on Germany following Germany's invasion of Poland.
This was the lesson learned from WW1, to be magnanimous in victory, bring to justice the criminals of war but don’t further punish a whole Nation unnecessarily, make the culprits pay reparations but make it by affordable means and if necessary, help to rebuild that Nation so they will be able to repay their debt to the forces that brought them to book and society.
The rebuilding of Europe and Japan after WW2 was more than just cash donations from the US to the Japanese economy and to Europe through the Marshall Plan, it was provided mainly in the form of Plant and Machinery, Materials and Technical support as exports from the US, it was a win-win scenario for everyone involved, Europe and Japan benefited from the financial aid and the US and Canadian economies benefited from exports through the revised trade barriers that existed pre war.
The aid was provided with conditions and through a system similar to mercantilism, very little cash left the US, in the case of Japan, $2.44Bn and Europe $12.4Bn in aid was made available, how this aid was delivered is as follows;
1. A US authority was established to manage the funds
2. Product, Raw Materials and Technical Support was purchased from the USA and Canada
3. The US or Canadian suppliers were paid by their home governments in $
4. The money was offset against the funds made available for aid to the receiving countries
5. The receiver of the goods had to pay his/her government in local currency for the goods in cash or credit plus a 5% levy for admin costs to the US fund manager
6. The receiving Governments were then free to utilise these funds for further infrastructure investment and maybe even the odd holiday on the Costa Del Sol!
7. The Marshall Plan money was in the form of grants that did not have to be repaid to the US.
Germany and Japan went on to develop into two of the strongest economies in the world today, notwithstanding the financial cost of the reunification of East Germany, and the mounting costs of the current disaster in Japan while yet, are to be fully appreciated, I believe it is widely accepted this will not have a lasting effect on Japan’s economy.
Bora Bora wrote:the US keeps giving to a corrupt country that doesn't invest it but banks it for the few involved. One country among many that has no accountability as to where the money goes.
I’m not sure what monies or which countries are being referred to with the above statement.
. Moreover, Brits had returned money only for 10% undistroyed hardware during 50 years after the war!
