any analysis of the second world war necessarily takes the great depression into account. It is common to believe that the depression was ended by the start of the war, but the process that occurred was actually a resumption of international trade. In 1919 in Paris while the end of the first world war was being discussed and treaties were drawn up. it was decided that Germany and the other central powers should pay reparations to the allied powers. Germany was the only one who had any gold reserves left, and Germany was universally seen as the central powers. Germany doesn't have significant stocks of what are often referred to as primary products. primary products are things that aren't made they are mined/farmed whatever. in order for Germany to produce sufficient output to pay the reparations it was necessary for them to export more than they imported, but for that to occur it would be necessary for the other war powers to import more than they exported.
Britain and in particular France weren't in a position to allow that. one of the reasons for their insistence on reparations was very practical. To fund the war Britain had borrowed significant amounts of money from the united states as had France. France had also borrowed a lot of money from Britain, but was the principle creditor for Tsarist Russia. when the Bolshevik revolution occurred it through the French financial system into shambles. they needed the reparations to repay Britain and the United States, Britain also needed the reparations. they had any additional danger. Britain was the only Great power that didn't meet its own food requirements a credit worthiness crisis in London would jeopardize England's ability to feed itself. so desperate was this situation that the United States Loaned significant money to Germany so they could pay France and Britain and then they could pay the United States, but at the same time this pressure to push exports on the part of all concerned had a damaging effect on international trade.
the German reparations were cancelled after the Stock market crash and the inauguration of the Great depression. with the cessation of reparations payments France and Britain were in a position to diminish their tolerance for German exports. this coming at a time when the United States and Great Britain devalued their currencies (actually a few years later but part of the same process) this push to their own export markets didn't so much stimulate exports as restrict imports, other nations followed suit. with the collapse of the international economic order, the credibility of those who criticized it was greatly increased, in particular Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. Hitler and the Nazis spent the next six years attempting to increase German exports, but the increasing tensions prevented any restoration of the international trade system, this lent credence to the idea of lebensraum, which was based on the idea that the German people were vulnerable to international manipulation because they weren't economically self sufficient.
It is in this sense that I lay some of the blame for the war and the holocaust at the feet of the allies, not because they were responsible for the German actions in those horrors, but because they were responsible for creating the situations that enabled the Nazis to realize as much of their insanity as they did. to use a crude metaphor, they didn't shoot anyone they just left a loaded gun next to the bed of a mad man.
-John 12-1-2009
the above is the product of mental ramblings and has been edited not at all, please forgive the results.
