WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The Treaty of Versailles (signed in 1919) and the 1921 London Schedule of Payments required Germany to pay 132 billion gold marks (US$33 billion [all values are contemporary, unless otherwise stated]) in reparations to cover civilian damage caused during the war.

Detailed explanation-2: -The so-called “guilt clause” of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles placed full blame for the war on Germany and ordered reparations of 132 billion German marks (roughly $400 billion in today’s dollars). The debt fed a cycle of hyperinflation that pushed Germany to the brink of financial collapse.

Detailed explanation-3: -In January 1921, the total sum due was decided by an Inter-Allied Reparations Commission and was set at 132 billion gold marks, about £6.6 billion or $33 billion (roughly $393.6 billion US dollars as of 2005).

Detailed explanation-4: -World War II Germany After World War II, according to the Potsdam conference held between July 17 and August 2, 1945, Germany was to pay the Allies US$23 billion mainly in machinery and manufacturing plants. Dismantling in the west stopped in 1950. Reparations to the Soviet Union stopped in 1953.