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Germany sits in the heart of Europe, and many of the industrial raw materials she can't supply herself can be imported from her European neighbors. The steady toll of attrition against her merchant marine was a major factor in Japan's eventual defeat, but the Allies agreed that the situation was far more complex with Germany, where a range of measures including strategic bombing would be required to achieve final victory. Germany also invested in foreign industries and agricultural schemes aimed at directly meeting their particular needs, such as a plan to grow more soya beans and sunflower instead of maize in Romania.[17]. The blockade became part of people's everyday lives, and it was inevitable that this would eventually be reflected in film. Factories and oil wells were blown up, crops burnt and animals slaughtered so that nothing would be left for the Germans to use. Most of Germany's institutions had crumbled, and its populace was on the brink of starvation. Controlled by the socialist economic policies of the communist Soviet Union, East Germany suffered a decline in the standard of living. Europe After WW2 Economy & Conditions | Economic Reconstruction of Europe, The Yalta Conference and The Potsdam Conference: US Diplomacy & International Politics During World War II. Dutch industry was by now also under complete German control. The German attack on Soviet Union prompted the British to attempt an increase in bombing in the belief that the fighter defences would have been thinned out. This Charter also defined the relationship of various organs of state including the security and police services with one another and initially the minister was the new Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton. The food situation in the present war is already more desperate than at the same stage in the [First] World War. To coordinate the distribution of the reparations between the victor powers, the Allied Control Council was established. Numerous concessions were made to Germany before the rise of Adolf Hitler, and by 1938 only the territorial settlement articles remained. By June 1945 German inventions were said to be in the safekeeping of the Swedish Aniline Company, with patents having been thrown onto the market through Swedish "dummy" intermediaries, and detailed information had been gathered on the financial backgrounds of a number of chemical, carbide and dye companies thought to be active as safe havens for Nazi property. To determine who would be in charge of the areas of occupation, the region was divided into four military zones controlled by the Big Three. In January Herbert Hoover's National Committee on Food for the Small Democracies presented the exiled Belgian Government in London with a plan he had agreed with the German authorities to set up soup kitchens in Belgium to feed several million destitute people. Payments to Israel until 1987 amounted to about 14 billion dollars,[63] equivalent to $36.5 billion in 2022. Finally, there was the need for a vigorous blockade against Germany and Italy. Why was Germany divided after WWII? These territories were incorporated into communist Poland and the Soviet Union respectively and resettled with citizens of these countries, pending a final peace conference with Germany. A land route across the roadless 800-mile (1,300km) expanse of Canada, long discussed, now became vital, and so on 8 March 1942 the American army began construction of the Alcan Highway, a 1,671-mile (2,689km) long stretch from Dawson Creek in British Columbia, north-west through Yukon Territory to an existing road on the Canadian/Alaskan border. It was valued at 640 million Reichsmark in addition to that previously agreed, for which Germany would supply heavy naval guns, specimens of military land vehicles (e. g., a brand new Panzer III Ausf. With Soviet help they began pushing Axis forces beyond Yugoslav borders, leading to further German losses of food and metals. German labour shortages grew so acute that Germany relied increasingly on slave labour and demanded prior claim on all available Swiss labour. They were also forbidden by Hitler from withdrawing to better positions a few miles inland, and as a result suffered a relentless barrage of heavy calibre gunfire from British and American battleships moored offshore. As a result, all sides wanted to make it nearly impossible for Germany to ever start a war in Europe ever again. In Germany, where Hitler had warned his generals and party leaders that there would eventually be another war as early as 1934,[8] there was great concern about the potential effects of a new blockade. Britons were pleased as it showed Britain was able to hit back, and the next day Berliners were reported to be stunned and disillusioned; Gring, who had said it would never happen, was ridiculed by both sides. Create your account. The Big Blockade was written and directed by Charles Frend and made by Ealing Studios in collaboration with the Ministry of Economic Welfare. Britain's Bomber Command continued to attack German strategic targets, but the task of bombing Germany was made much harder by the loss of the French airfields as it meant long flights over enemy-held territory before reaching the target. The officials meant to ease the chaotic scene by announcing there would be changes made to allow more freedom of movement. The economic war consisted mainly of a naval blockade, which formed part of the wider Battle of the Atlantic, but also included the bombing of economically important targets and the preclusive buying of war materials from neutral countries in order to prevent their sale to the Axis powers. Whereas West Germany developed a strong capitalist economy fully integrated with the rest of Europe, East Germany was fully integrated into the Soviet communist economy. Control ports were often very overcrowded, teleprinters constantly sending out cargo listings and manifests to be checked against import quota lists. The US travel agencies were eventually closed down along with the German consulates and information centres on 16 June 1941. The Proclaimed List a US equivalent to the British Statutory List was compiled and, under British direction, the United States Commercial Corporation was formed to begin making preclusive purchases of strategic materials such as chromium, nickel and manganese to supply future Allied needs and to prevent them from reaching the Germans.[63]. Essential items such as pasta, flour and rice were severely rationed, leading to riots, and any farmer withholding his crops from compulsory storage could be imprisoned for a year. Sources. At the start of 1942 the Allies were yet to achieve a major victory. Under the chairmanship of Vice President Henry Wallace, the new department was made responsible for the procurement and production of all imported materials necessary both to the war effort and the civilian economy. [citation needed], On 3 July Stalin announced a "scorched earth policy"; as Soviets forces and people retreated in the face of the Wehrmacht, everything that could not be moved east was to be destroyed. On 10 April the destroyer USSNiblack, which was picking up survivors from a Dutch freighter that had been sunk detected that a U-boat was preparing to attack, and launched depth charges to drive it away. This was known as Conditional Contraband of War. German states, regardless of their occupying country, were outlawed from keeping any sort of standing army or military presence whatsoever, and any factories in Germany's industrial military complex not already destroyed in the war were dismantled. They also put together the Statutory List sometimes known as the "blacklist" of companies known to regularly trade with, or who were directly financed by, Germany. Indeed, Germany was largely to blame for the two major wars of the 20th century, World War I (WWI) and WWII, both of which cost millions of lives. [36], In the mean time, Poland and Germany concluded several treaties and agreements to compensate Polish persons who were victims of German aggression. Despite impressive statistics of the quantities of contraband captured, by the spring of 1940 the optimism of the British government over the success of the blockade appeared premature and a feeling developed that Germany was managing to maintain and even increase imports. Because of Germany's new proximity on the west European coastline and the decrease in shipping traffic, ships which would normally have been used for patrolling the high seas were diverted to more urgent tasks. Additionally, the U.S. and the U.K. acquiesced to Soviet demands of influence over most of Eastern Europe. Nearly all of this territories were returned to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1957. [3][4] (see also Operation Paperclip). Although the captain went ashore to make a furious protest to the authorities with the American Consulate, the ship was delayed for 40 hours as British Contraband Control checked the records and ship's manifest, eventually removing 235 bags of mail addressed to Germany. The defeat of Germany in the World War II and her occupation by the Soviet Union and the Western Powers gave rise to complications in the field of European and international politics. The Allies publicly acknowledged that Spain had not been aware it was looted, and later Spain returned $1.3 million in gold bars and gold coins it had seized from German State properties at the end of the War. Once the oil sites were bombed out in late 1944, transport became the primary target. The supply problems also led to disagreements, as each commander pressed for his unit to be given priority. The Soviets had not been happy about the division of Berlin, since it was technically in their occupation zone. [10], The Netherlands sought to annex large parts of Western Germany as reparations for WWII. If the early hopes were exaggerated, we must not attenuate the actual achievements. The Allied countries of Britain, France, and the United States controlled West Germany including West Berlin. The second period began after the rapid Axis occupation of the majority of the European landmass (Scandinavia, Benelux, France and the Balkans) in 19401941, resulting in Axis control of major centres of industry and agriculture. Despite the effects of her blockade, there was no debate about America's resolve to feed Britain herself, and she was able to, with record harvests. The US now accepted that it needed to increase spending for its own defense, especially with the growing threat of Japan, but there was real concern that Britain would fall before the weapons were delivered. On the morning of 7 December 1941 the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a massive pre-emptive strike against ships of the US Pacific Fleet at its base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii with simultaneous invasions of the British possessions of Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaya. In the years following World War I, there was spiraling hyperinflation of the German currency (Reichsmark) by 1923.The causes included the burdensome reparations imposed after World War I, coupled with a general inflationary period in Europe in the 1920s (another direct result of a materially catastrophic war). All rights reserved. The Allies, who also bought Portuguese tungsten, believed that if they could persuade the Portuguese to stop selling the ore the German machine tool industry would very quickly be crippled and she would be unable to continue to fight. After WW2 was over, the Allied powers occupied Germany. In the years 19491952, West Germany received loans which totaled $1.45 billion, equivalent to around $14.5 billion in 2006. In the aftermath of World War I, Germans struggled to understand their country's uncertain future. [64] In particular, the U.S. abhorred the use of Swedish ships to transport the ore to Germany and of her allowing Germany to transport soldiers and war materials across Sweden and through the Baltic under Swedish naval protection. Cholera broke out in concentration camps, and mass public executions added to the estimated 3 million Poles already killed during the invasion. So, in 1948, under the leadership of Stalin, they carried out a blockade of West Berlin with the intention of starving the western powers. In 1947, the Marshall Plan, initially known as the "European Recovery Program" was initiated. Spain agreed to reduce the German exports in May 1944, although the Allies discovered that she continued making clandestine shipments, transporting more than 800 tons of tungsten through to July 1944 and not finally ending the trade until the closing of the Franco-Spanish border in August 1944. Soon large parts of Germany's remaining transport network were paralysed, and the Ruhr became economically isolated from the rest of the Reich. [6] On 7 October Germany invaded Romania to block the Soviet Army and to get access to the Ploieti oilfields. In Russia, great stimulus was given to emerging industries as a result of frenzied war production, helped in part by advanced industrial plants it took from East Germany after the occupation. Later, a series of events developed that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall. The first territories to be conquered included the most productive. RAF raids on vehicle factories in Milan, Genoa, and Turin on 2 December 1942 only served to unite the Italian population behind the Mussolini dictatorship, and the plan was dropped in favour of the "disorganisation of German industry". It quite certainly made it possible for us to win and has given us the precious time to make ready for the final blow. After the first 6 months of the war, Norway had lost 49 ships with 327 men dead; Denmark 19 ships for 225 sailors killed and Sweden 32 ships for 243 men lost. Loss of the Yugoslavian and other Balkan mines took away the last supplies of chromium and reduced the supply of lead by approximately 40 per cent the position being worsened by the loss of substantial amounts of scrap which were collected in France, Belgium and the Netherlands. When I say 'Germany', what do you think of? UK National Archives. [citation needed]. [29] By 25 November 1939, 62 U.S. ships of various types had been stopped, some for as long as three weeks, and a lot of behind-the-scenes diplomacy took place to smooth over the political fallout[citation needed]. The Netherlands, with 75% of her commercial shipping outgoing from Rotterdam to Germany, had also lost 7 ships, yet all these countries continued to trade with Germany. The Marshall Plan and the German economist, Walter Eucken are largely credited with the German economic comeback. After World War II both West Germany and East Germany were obliged to pay war reparations to the Allied governments, according to the Potsdam Conference. After completing this lesson, you should be able to: To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member. [citation needed], In the U.S., with its tradition that "the mail must always get through", and where armed robbery of the mail carried a mandatory 25-year jail term, there were calls for mail to be carried on warships, but the exercise as with all such journeys was repeated on the homeward leg as Contraband Control searched the ship again for anything of value that might have been taken out of Germany. The Ministry was also of the view that the strong blockade had probably prevented further large amounts from being transported. It's one of those bizarre twists of history that might have changed the world as we know it, if not just for a small tweak. This treaty was supposed to close all open questions regarding Germany and the aftermath of WWII and paved the way for German reunification. The Soviets also received 2.3 million tons of steel, 230,000 tons of aluminium, 2.6 million tons of petrol, 3.8 million tons of food and huge quantities of ammunition and explosives. Scapa Flow was again selected as the main British naval base because of its great distance from German airfields, however the defences built up during World War I had fallen into disrepair. They had already lost 23 ships, with many more attacked and dozens of sailors killed, while Sweden, Germany's main provider of iron ore, had lost 19 ships, Denmark 9, and Belgium 3. These efforts were mostly thwarted by the Western Allies and ultimately only approximately 69 square kilometres (27sqmi) of German territory was annexed in 1949. By May 1944, 15 blockade runners had been sunk and the traffic had virtually ceased apart from submarines carrying very small cargoes. However, negotiations for the return of looted gold allegedly sent to Sweden by Germany as payment for goods dragged on for many years. [8] In the case of Poland, the acquired territory was a compensation for the Polish Eastern Borderlands (Kresy), which were annexed by the Soviet Union. From that point on, the Greek Orthodox Church, through its charity efforts in the United States and the International Red Cross, were allowed to distribute sufficient supplies to the Greek people, though the total death toll from the famine was at least 70,000, probably much higher.[69]. Instead of leaving in 1961, the Allies carried out the Berlin Airlift. The German public realized their currency was now valuable, which put an end to the bartering that had been occurring. Following the results of a plebiscite, France had to relinquish its control of the Saar region on 1 January 1957. That winter was harsh, causing the Danube to freeze and heavy snow slowed rail transport, stalling Germany's grain and oil imports from Romania. Because of its distance from the sea, a naval excursion was impossible, while the RAF believed that a bombing raid would be far too inaccurate and costly in civilian life and aircraft. Germany was divided after WWII because it was to blame for WWI and WWII. Motor launches of new Admiralty design were brought into service for coastal work, and later, a larger improved version of the corvette, the frigate was laid down. Although Spain could gain the restoration of the rock itself and Catalonia under French administration, Franco could see Britain was far from defeated and that British forces backed by its huge powerful navy would occupy the Canary Islands. By this time the Nazis had begun executing otherwise healthy mental patients in German institutions, in part to save on food, and there was a clamour from family members to have their loved ones removed. Meanwhile, in an attempt to assist the Allies in their liberation of the Netherlands, the exiled Dutch government called for a national rail strike to further disrupt German operations. Major Alliances during World War II (1939-1945) There were two major alliances during World War II: the Axis powers and the Allied powers.. 6.9 to 7.5 million Germans had been killed, roughly 8.26 to 8.86% of the population (see also World War II casualties). copyright 2003-2023 Study.com. In July 1940 Winston Churchill asked the Lord President (Neville Chamberlain) to define its structure and the document held at Kew CAB66/1 Extract 2 thereafter became known as the Charter of SOE. [39] Franco continued to play for time. My Lords, I wish to bring to your minds an almost forgotten Ministry. They advised neutrals to shun British waters and trade with Germany, declaring that because of the defensive minefields and contraband control, British waters were not mercantile fairways subject to the Hague Convention regulating sea warfare, but military areas where enemy ships of war must be attacked. [45] This was followed by the first of a series of eight raids on Essen which proved a great disappointment. The West's economic productivity and Soviet-U.S. tensions led to the creation of arguably the most recognizable symbol of the Cold War: the Berlin Wall. The Allied strategy with Spain was identical to that of Portugal: buy enough tungsten to satisfy the export need and prevent the rest reaching the enemy by whatever means. [18] They were allowed one bar of soap per month, and men had to make one tube of shaving foam last five months. In September 1936 he established the Four Year Plan, the purpose of which was to make Germany self-sufficient and impervious to blockade by 1940. [7] The country's economic recovery under the newly formed democratic government was, once it was permitted, swift and effective. To stop the people of East Berlin from migrating to West Berlin, the Berlin Wall was constructed in 1961. Though very few people knew of it at the time, the new organisation, the earlier version of which carried out the attempt to dynamite the Iron Gate on the Danube, marked a new direction in the Economic War that would pay dividends later on, providing vital intelligence on potential strategic targets for the offensive bomber campaigns that came later in the war. Germany also made big purchases in Greece and Turkey and viewed the region as part of its supply hinterland. When the manifest of the Danish ship Danmark, operated by the Halal Shipping Company Ltd, was inspected, the recipient was listed as none other than "Herr Hitler, President Republique Grand Allemagne". Spain supplied Britain with iron ore from the Bay of Biscay, but, as a potential foe, she was a huge threat to British interests as she could easily restrict British naval access into the Mediterranean, either by shelling the Rock of Gibraltar or by allowing the Germans to lay siege to it from the mainland. East Germany, though technically its own state, was essentially a client state of the Soviet Union. The reconstruction of Germany was a long process of rebuilding Germany after the destruction endured during World War II. But despite veiled threats and the constantly strained relations between the two nations, Switzerland was of no strategic importance to Germany, and of far more use as a workshop. Allied attempts to stop Turkish sales of chromium had begun to have the desired effect, however. As tensions between the West and the Soviet Union increased, Germany found itself on the front lines of the Cold War. The Nazi official who took the leading role in preparing German industry for war was Hermann Gring. From late 1944 onwards there were reports that rich German and Austrian Jews were being allowed to leave the Reich after paying special taxes and surrendering all their belongings to the Nazis. [1] This included food, weapons, gold and silver, flax, paper, silk, copra, minerals such as iron ore and animal hides used in the manufacture of shoes and boots. [19], Germany concluded a variety of treaties with Western and Eastern countries as well as the Jewish Claims Conference and the World Jewish Congress to compensate the victims of the Holocaust. Griechische Reparationsforderungen an Deutschland vor dem Hintergrund der Schuldenkrise", "Spiegel: 278 . Ultimately it was the sustained Allied bombing of the transport network which broke Nazi resistance. Greece received an additional share of reparations from other Axis powers as a result of the Paris Peace Treaties from 1947. The children's section of the ICRC sent vitamins, medicine and milk products for children, and in 1944 it was awarded its second Nobel Peace Prize for its work. In Scandinavia, an important supply of nickel was now prevented from being delivered from Petsamo in Finland, and the mines at Knaben in Norway were no longer providing molybdenum. Later, high-ranking Nazi officials withdrew their deposits from German banks and transferred large sums to Swiss banks and to the Swedish Consulate at Karlsruhe. Example: A poster with two columns (one for East Germany and one for West Germany) might work best here. The claim rests on the. In December 1944 Allied intelligence sources indicated that German firms such as Schering, IG Farben, Bosch and Mannesmann Rohrenwerke were attempting to sell patents to Swedish firms,[65] and large chemical and electrical trusts, particularly IG Farben, were procuring foreign currency to finance Nazi activities abroad. It was set up by Lord Halifax with funding from the Secret Vote authorised by Prime Minister Chamberlain. [4] In his war speech to the Empire, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain declared: "Already we know the secret of the magnetic mine and we shall soon master it as we have already mastered the U-boat", but shortly afterwards two more ships were sunk, bringing the week's total to 24. They could be threatened with Bunker Control measures, refused further certification or have their cargo or their vessel impounded. Dalton said; "There is no guarantee, nor would we pay any attention to one given by the Germans. Reparations were to be directly paid to the four victor powers (France, Britain, United States, and the Soviet Union); for the countries in the Soviet sphere of influence, the Soviet Union would determine its distribution. [citation needed], In America herself, while many small businesses which relied on overseas trade were badly affected; because cheaper foreign imports were unavailable, home producers, such as the North Carolina peppermint trade and the handmade glassware industry in Maryland and Pennsylvania now had the entire domestic market to themselves. In late 1943 safes at a Swiss bank at Interlaken were rented by high-ranking Germans to store funds. In 1942 the RAF dropped 37,000 tons of bombs on German targets, probably three times the weight dropped on Britain in 1940 and early 1941. The Navicert system was greatly extended, introducing compulsory Navicerts and ships' warrants in an attempt to prevent contraband being loaded in the first place. Despite early success, caused in part by severe Allied supply shortages, particularly of fuel, the operation eventually petered out. He commented; At present their plight is lamentable and will become much worse. At night, aircraft of RAF Bomber Command and RAF Coastal Command flew the short distance across the channel and attacked the shipping and barges which were being assembled in the ports at Antwerp, Ostend, Calais and Boulogne to carry the invasion force across, eventually destroying over 20% of the fleet. On the night of 1617 May 1943 the RAF carried out the famous Dambusters raid (Operation Chastise) to breach the Mohne, Eder and Sorpe dams which supplied the Ruhr industries with hydroelectric power and fresh water needed for the production of steel. During this time, Germany was held accountable for the Allied occupations expenses, amounting to over several billion dollars. The MEW continued to receive requests for a partial relaxation of the blockade, often in the belief it would make no appreciable difference to the effect on the enemy, but the pleas were steadfastly refused. The Spanish Minister for Industry and Commerce defended Spain's position, saying that Spain felt it impossible to deny Germany a commodity which had a very high value in wartime. Housewives soon spent hours standing in line for supplies; shopkeepers sometimes opened otherwise non-perishable goods such as tinned sardines in front of customers when they were bought to prevent hoarding. On 9 February Albert Speer became the new head of the German Armaments Ministry. Commercial agreements were negotiated with Spain, Turkey, and Greece, aimed at limiting material to Germany. In Normandy, Brittany and along the Channel coast, rain spoilt the potato crop and tomatoes and beans did not mature. In some cases these new resources were considerable, and were quickly reorganized for the Nazi war machine. succeed. E tank), thirty of their latest aircraft including the Messerschmitt 109, Messerschmitt 110 and Junkers 88, locomotives, turbines, generators, the unfinished cruiser Ltzow and the plans to the battleship Bismarck. [46][47] According to the German government, there is no legal basis for further compensation payments. It also bought commodities, e.g., tobacco, it did not really need,[65] and sent Turkey's armed forces modern equipment under Lend Lease to replace obsolete equipment, to help maintain her neutrality. Despite the Allied sympathy with Switzerland's position, some individuals and companies actively supported the Nazi cause for financial or ideological reasons. Even so, the combined Allied air forces and navies eventually began to track down the blockade runners. [64] Despite the German occupation of the Balkans in spring 1941, no military action was taken against Turkey, who in October 1941 began selling Germany large quantities of chromite ore for the production of chromium. [44] On September 14, 2022, the Sejm passed (418 for, 4 against, 15 abstentions) a resolution stating that: "The Polish state has never renounced its claims against the German state; the Sejm of the Republic of Poland calls on the German government to assume political, historical, legal, and financial responsibility for all the effects caused by the unleashing of World War II. After Italy's disastrous invasion of Greece on 28 October the British intervened in accordance with the Anglo-Greek Mutual Aid Agreement, occupying Crete and establishing airfields within bombing distance of the Romanian oilfields. [41] There had already been some trading of silk products early in the European war. Norway, with extensive mountainous areas relied on imports for half its food and all its coal; shortages and hunger quickly affected Belgium which, despite being densely populated and producing only half its needs, was still subjected to the widespread confiscation of food. In February 1945, they met at the Yalta Conference in the Soviet Union and decided the final partitioning and division of Germany. Allied economic warfare experts believed that without the Swedish exports the war would grind to a halt,[64] but Sweden was surrounded by Axis countries and by those occupied by them, and could have herself been occupied at any time if they failed to give Germany what she wanted.