Why did Clem Atlee give so much of our aid to Germany?
So Atlee has just been voted Britain's best PM. Or was he the worst, as he gave more than half the money the USA gave us to rebuild after the war to Germany.
In addition to the money Germany got to rebuild by the USA they wound up with over twice what we had.
Which is in part why Germany by 1959 was rebuilt and England had hardly got started.
On this evidence, he may have been the best prime minister the germans never had.
In addition to the money Germany got to rebuild by the USA they wound up with over twice what we had.
Which is in part why Germany by 1959 was rebuilt and England had hardly got started.
On this evidence, he may have been the best prime minister the germans never had.
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I don't actually know how much Britan gave Germany but all the Allies combined to rebuild because of the fear of the Soviets who had taken over large cghunks of Eastern Europe. Germany was the barrier nation between us and them.
Aid was distributed by the allies on an "as-needed" basis after the war. No regard was given to previous aggressors etc - they had learnt from the first world war that this would lead to longstanding resentment and political instability.
As it happened, Germany, being at the centre of the soviet-allied convergence of warring fronts found their infrastructure to be in a particularly parlous state. As a result, West Germany got a lion's share of the aid bugdet (East Germany obviously suffering at the hands of soviet financial problems).
Incidentally, didn't we recently finish paying off our war loans? Has Germany finished paying theirs yet?
Most recent poll I can find is 2004.
For the more historically illiterate amongst us, can you please provide a source for your assertions regarding aid.
Thanks.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4757181.stm
Interesting that we have paid off WWII loans, but still officially owe the US £40bn (inflation adjusted) for WWI, whilst we are still owed £104 (adjusted) by other countries......although we don't know who! These loans haven't been serviced since 1934. However, we still service consolidate perpetual bonds including issues from the 18th century!
Yes he was the worst as his policies lead to some of Britain's worst years before the Thatcher era, which changed things for the better.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/6182113/brown-the-third-worst-prime-minister-since-ww2.thtml
Have to love the FT's organisation. Compile a list 1-12 but don't display them in order :rolleyes::D
The list in order:
1 Attlee
2.Thatcher
3.Blair
4.Macmillan
5.Wilson
6.Churchill
7.Callaghan
8.Major
9.Heath
10.Brown
11. Douglas-home
12.Eden.
Cameron not present due to time as PM.
(If anybody can explain why the man responsible for the Suez crisis is at 12. While the man who copied him with Iraq is at 3?)
I always feel sorry for Anthony Eden
The reason is a very good one actually. After the First World War the Allies forced the Germans to pay the cost of the war. This impoverished Germany, created mass unemployment and directly led to the rise of the National Socialists as the German people increasingly turned to extreme parties who lay the blame for their situation on other people and claimed they'd restore German pride.
At the end of the Second World War the Allies had learnt the lesson of history and realised that to ensure future peace it was just as important to help their enemies rebuild (they did the same with Japan) as it was to rebuild themselves.
But that's not the reason Attlee is at number 1. He's there because his government introduced the National Health Service and Welfare Reform and kept unemployment at just 3% of the population.
Actually - the Germans defaulted on the annual payments MANY times
It hasn't - there was no real obligation to! Marshall Aid was a different system on different terms to the Lend Lease/postwar loan we received from the Americans; Marshall Aid - for those countries that received it! - was paid back on an as-and-when basis, with minimal interest....AND when (IF!) paid back, it went into a pot to give out more Marshall Aid!
Drivel.
Labour introduced the Welfare State which dramatically improved the lot of much of the population - Churchill would probably used the tough post war economic situation (much tougher than we face now) as reason to go back on previous promises.
Atlee was also vital in the rumming of the Home Front during WW2 and gets nowhere near the credit he deserves there.
As said earlier, Marshall Aid was paid back 'as and when' with very little interest - the importance of rebuilding the Japane and German econoies was recognised.
The US were quite content to harness Britain to much higher interest rates.
After the war the British at first failed to live up to the Bretton Woods Agreement....and when we had to go cap in hand to the Americans for a money loan that was being given freely elsewhere - we were charged levels of interest guaranteed to bankrupt the UK again (they'd done it to us in 1940/41) unless we delvalued the £ against the $
And here's the rub - everyone involved in WWII that needed re-financing got American aid under Marshall's scheme...except the UK :eek: France, Italy, Holland etc. all got similarly huge amounts for rebuilding.
Agreed.
Yes that is quite true, the trouble is, as Churchill put it " In the history of WW2 I will come out on top, as I will write the history" or words to that effect.
Churchill also made a despicable comment during the 1945 election, saying if Labour won they would need to establish a social order with a secret police alone the lines of the Gestapo.
Nonsense :rolleyes:
As for Clement Attlee being the best Prime Minister he implemented the Beveridge Report 1942 during his time in office which led to the NHS, new towns like Stevenage and Welfare Reform. As for the loan from America, I think it was paid off a few years ago.
Well that is not strictly true is it?
Whilst Germany (for obvious reasons) used the Aid to rebuild her industries, and thereby lead to the Economic Miracle we saw in the 60's & 70's - the UK Government by contrast chose to spend the money not on rebuilding our war damaged industry but on social programs like the creation of the NHS and Welfare State. Our industrial sectors (especially Manufacturing and Transport) struggled on for years suffering from lack of investment and it could be argued that we are still seeing the effects of those decisions today.
LMAO
Where did you hear that from? UK recieved the most Marshall plan money. Twice as much as Germany which suffered far more damage than UK during WW2.
Yes the Welfare state which has been sour for so many years now, it is flawed unfortunately. Churchill was a war hero who realised the importance of fiscal Conservatism.