Reparations wasn’t the only reason and the price of payment was actually brought down to a more generous level. I would argue that what actually caused the proverbial fire is when the United States, the one that was actually investing and providing credit to Weimar Germany in order for the latter to pay the reparations, experienced Great Depression. With the US bankrupt, Weimar Germany has had no other way to pay back the reparations even if it’s reduced to a more reasonable level. And even with that, the bad genie is out of the lamp because of built up resentment by the Germans as perceived national humiliation, and the rest is history.
I can somewhat see something similar happening again. The current German government is too chicken to look inward towards more European investment to decouple from the US, but instead is still too beholden to Washington.
Reparations wasn’t the only reason and the price of payment was actually brought down to a more generous level. I would argue that what actually caused the proverbial fire is when the United States, the one that was actually investing and providing credit to Weimar Germany in order for the latter to pay the reparations, experienced Great Depression. With the US bankrupt, Weimar Germany has had no other way to pay back the reparations even if it’s reduced to a more reasonable level. And even with that, the bad genie is out of the lamp because of built up resentment by the Germans as perceived national humiliation, and the rest is history.
I can somewhat see something similar happening again. The current German government is too chicken to look inward towards more European investment to decouple from the US, but instead is still too beholden to Washington.