How much did WWI put Europe back?

[Razgovory]

Wait, that's a real thing?  Good God!

[Duque de Bragança]

That fresh daily bread is delicious. Until you have to walk the next day to get more. Going shopping every day...ugh.

Just ride your bike there Pierre.

Or even worse, JUST WALK.

[CountDeMoney]

Could someone hit Tim?  Please.  He deserves it.

He has too many assbuddies and fanbois here.  Like one of Jerry's Kids, you can't just euthanize him.  Too many people would notice.

[Siege]

Something I'd been thinking about lately, and some comments by Shelf made me want to start a thread on it.  How much damage did the first World War do to Europe, economically speaking.  I know that wealth of the average American was greater then his European brethren  even before the war, and it certainly was after.  I imagine the gap widened as a result of the war.  Not only did the have an enormous cost in money, but the slaughter of  generation of men had to have had a devastating effect on the economy as well.

I

War is the engine of civilization and technological development.

Or is it conflict?

[MadImmortalMan]

Something I'd been thinking about lately, and some comments by Shelf made me want to start a thread on it.  How much damage did the first World War do to Europe, economically speaking.  I know that wealth of the average American was greater then his European brethren  even before the war, and it certainly was after.  I imagine the gap widened as a result of the war.  Not only did the have an enormous cost in money, but the slaughter of  generation of men had to have had a devastating effect on the economy as well.

I

War is the engine of civilization and technological development.

Or is it conflict?

It's disorder in general. Doesn't have to be war.

[MadImmortalMan]

No, that's just European quaintness.  Like how they still buy fresh bread daily and shit.

I think it also has something to do with availability and security of petroleum supplies.  Most European countries didn't have oil, and so wasting it on huge numbers of trucks was something they couldn't afford to do.

The mid 1930s had a oil glut on the world market. Nothing stopping those countries from getting oil except in most cases, internal politics. Germany, in particular, was so strangling its trade economy that they didn't have enough foreign currency to pay for the raw materials they needed.

[jimmy olsen]

Wait, that's a real thing?  Good God!

Come on, it looks way more interesting than their ancient alien psuedohistorical crap. They're actually have fun with it and making a retro scifi mockumentary.

[Neil]

No, that's just European quaintness.  Like how they still buy fresh bread daily and shit.

I think it also has something to do with availability and security of petroleum supplies.  Most European countries didn't have oil, and so wasting it on huge numbers of trucks was something they couldn't afford to do.

The mid 1930s had a oil glut on the world market. Nothing stopping those countries from getting oil except in most cases, internal politics. Germany, in particular, was so strangling its trade economy that they didn't have enough foreign currency to pay for the raw materials they needed.

Do you think it would be wise for a country to build their military around a resource to which access could be easily severed at any time?  How did that work out for Japan, whose dependence on US oil exports put it in a position where it had no choice but to start a war it couldn't win?

Embargos, after all, would prevent countries from getting oil.

[MadImmortalMan]

They did build their militaries around it, so I guess they're stupid. Using horse wagons wasn't a strategic decision. They did it because they had to and because the Panzers, Luftwaffe and navies needed the fuel.

[Neil]

They did build their militaries around it, so I guess they're stupid. Using horse wagons wasn't a strategic decision. They did it because they had to and because the Panzers, Luftwaffe and navies needed the fuel.

They were modern armies.  They would have been stupid had they been wasting precious fuel on trucks to cart around the infantry.

[Razgovory]

Something I'd been thinking about lately, and some comments by Shelf made me want to start a thread on it.  How much damage did the first World War do to Europe, economically speaking.  I know that wealth of the average American was greater then his European brethren  even before the war, and it certainly was after.  I imagine the gap widened as a result of the war.  Not only did the have an enormous cost in money, but the slaughter of  generation of men had to have had a devastating effect on the economy as well.

I

War is the engine of civilization and technological development.

Or is it conflict?

It's disorder in general. Doesn't have to be war.

I'm not sure it's either.  War and disorder are rather costly.  Competition can drive economic and technological progress but it need not be disorderly or chaotic.

[MadImmortalMan]

I'm not sure it's either.  War and disorder are rather costly.  Competition can drive economic and technological progress but it need not be disorderly or chaotic.

Perhaps I should have said "a less-structured environment" rather than simply "disorder".