WALL STREET AND RISE OF HITLER

[medo]

Hello,

If you have some time and if you are interested in this subject of USA's past.
http://www.reformed-theology.org/html/books/wall_street/

Medo

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[MiKe85]

medo:

Thanks for the link, i'll take some time over the weekend to read the site.. I am interested in the whole World War II and Adolf Hitler scenario (Not a nazi or a rascist)


Mike

[gyoung]

I'll take a look at it this weekend also. I'm a huge WW2 buff and fascinated with how it came about.

I've read all kinds of books and biographies of Hitler. I find it confusing, strange, interesting, and scary that a character like this could mobilize an entire nation to do his bidding (no matter how sadistic).

I too am not a nazi or a racist.



[This message has been edited by gyoung (edited 01-12-2001).]

[MiKe85]

gyoung:
I suggest if you haven't already read Hitler's own book - Mein Kampf you should read it...

It explains his rise to power, what kind of stuff he went through...

Gotta look at it this way, Germans had two choices...Become a NAZI or a Communist...They picked Nazi ...

(Hitler was a nut case, but he was still a genius..)


Mike

[justy]

Mike, there's a very thin line between genius and madman.

I have to confess, alot of Hitler's idea's were fantastic, but in reality the good idea's did not outway the bad. He was a madman in my opinion. If he had have shown true genius, we would all be speaking german as a second language now.
Instead we remember a dictator that brought one of the finest nation's in the world to it's knee's.

All the best, Justy.

[Dputiger]

I'll admit, I've not had time to read over the full amount of material here. But I think the author's main thesis is faintly ridiculous.

Without outside invervention in the 1920s, Germany could never have possibly hoped to pay its war debts. As the author himself states, the total sum of money demanded of Germany was hundreds upon hundreds of times greater than they could afford to pay.

As any beginning economy student knows, the only way to increase funds under conditions like Germany was in is to print more money--which they did. This caused widespread currency devaluation and had the German government frantically printing million mark bills--which were so worthless they were used as wallpaper.

Now, once again, as the author points out, NET German reparations were very small. However, what he carefully neglects to mention is that there was no way for this to be avoided.

Germany's industry was smashed, her labor force decimated, her population starving, and her industrial structure in ruins. When she couldn't meet her war payments, France indeed invaded--but France herself was in no shape to actually launch a sustained invasion of Germany, and she knew it.

What the Dawes Plan provided was a system that let everyone save face. The Germans made reparations payments, even if they were nearly worthless, and the French government didn't have to tell its people that they were getting 'soft' on the Germans.

The fundamental problem here, however, wasn't the Plan (though it was fatally flawed) but the European Allies INSISTENCE (over Wilson's strenuous objections) on leveling an 11 BILLION dollar war debt on a crushed country.

The causes of World War II are written in the Treaty of Versailles.

[medo]

Hello,

This book is not about reparation and The Treaty of Versailles (one of the few main reasons for the rise of Hitler); this book is about involvement of USA's money in the rise of the Nazi regime and consequences of that.

Medo

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[Dputiger]

Medo:

My point is this:

If, in your home, workers came and installed a gas line (for a stove, say) and then improperly hooked up the line so that it leaked gas in the house, you could conceivably light a match and blow the house apart--but it wouldn't be the match company's fault.

No doubt, the Great Depression helped to launch World War II, as did certain conditions of the Dawes Plan. My point, however, is that given the overall condition of Germany and the demands set on it by the Treaty of Versailles, I can't see a very different outcome occuring.

[MiKe85]

justy:
oh well of course he was a madman...but yet again he was crazy, especially during the end of the war, because the NAZI empire was crumbling, and reports say that he was using Crystal Meth at the time (That wouldn't help either)

The Treaty of Versailles was a legitimate excuse for Hitler to try to take over the world he figured he would say it was just "Payback" and you know what people say payback is http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

The United States didn't know that Hitler was going to rebuild Germany into a war machine, Henry Ford and American banks thought that he was just going to help Germany get back on his feet (Which he did but he also started WWII)
Because i'm sure if Ford knew that Hitler was going to try to take over the world i doubt Ford would have kept funding him..

On another note, England and France DID bring this upon themselves, Germany really did get the screw end of treaty...and everything they made went to England or France; considering the fact that the U.S. saved their butts, but we even got screwed out of the deal...

Then when Hitler went into the Rhineland (Where most of Germany's natural resources and factories are located) France and England just kept appeasing Hitler until it was too late.....
Just my thoughts...


Mike

[Dputiger]

If you want to start talking about major, direct, causes of World War II (or at least a big chunk of its devastation) look at Hitler's annexation of the Sudetenland.

This is where the Skoda Arms Facility lies which, at the time, was one of the largest and most advanced war facilities of its day. The German Panzer tank, in fact, was modeled on a theoretical Czech design obtained at Skoda.

Acquiring that factory complex in 1938 nearly doubled Germany's total output of military hardware.

[medo]

Hello,

I did not minimize the impact of The Treaty of Versailles on post-war German policies, what I wanted to point to is the impact of unselective support for dictators and after that all others have to pay for that (Indonesia, Philippines, Chile and so on).
Whoever had a chance to read or listen Hitler’s speeches long before he took power he could have a good idea of what he would do but they hoped and encourage him to turn towards the east. Ford and others were aware in 30’s; but the smell of money might have lured them, so there is no excuse for them. The Big flow of money between Germany and USA stoped in 1942 (through Switzerland).
If anybody could stop them (the Nazi’s), they were French and Britons but they didn’t.

Medo

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