Wednesday, September 29, 2010

"...Empire Day, when we try to remember the names of the people of the town of Sudbury who died to keep China British."

Coming up this Sunday, Germany will apparently repay the last of its Versailles Treaty obligations, putting an end to the trench warfare that has apparently been continuing in dusty ledgers across Europe long after the guns fell silent (and then got noisy again, and then fell silent again...)

I wonder if the Frogs ever got around to repaying all the money we lent them during the Great War?

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't we (U.S. Americans) still owe the French for the money they lent us during the Revolution?

Boat Guy said...

If we do, it was repaid at Belleau Wood, Omaha Beach and many other locations.
Gotta wonder at the Germans STILL paying for WWI when the Japanese rarely ever ACKNOWLEDGE their slight incursions in China (Nanking anyone?) and elsewhere (c.f. Bataan etc)

Tam said...

Anon. 9:07,

"Don't we (U.S. Americans) still owe the French for the money they lent us during the Revolution?"

You know, that's a good question...

I wonder if we tried to weasel out of it when Louis le Dernier got shortened, the way the Bolsheviks welshed on their Great War debt by claiming they didn't have to pick up Czar Nicky's tab?

Bryan Reavis said...

@ Anon
As I uynderstand it, that debt was paid of by January 8, 1835.

Tam said...

...and here's your answer.

Anonymous said...

The real question is how much the Brits stil owe the USA (a lot!) thus the why of "The Special Relationship" and how USA ended up in Afganistan and Irak.

Boat Guy said...

The "special relationship" really means that we have people like the SAS, SBS, and many other distinguished Regiments fighting - and dying - by our side in those places. Good on the Brit Forces as well as the Canadians, Kiwis and the Aussies!!!
As for "how the USA ended up" there? 'Cause the Brits owe is money??? One of the more bizarre conspiracy theories of the current war - which is sayin somethin... So how much do the Canadians et al "owe the USA"???

Stretch said...

I think my friends and I shall mark the occasion by firing a triple volley from our SMLEs an '03s.

Posted in memory of:
John Robert Smith, machine gunner, USA, France, 1918.

perlhaqr said...

Boat Guy: I can kinda see it. The British made a complete fucking hash of things in that part of the world, and then got their asses beat on a couple times, and in the course of saving them, we inherited their errors.

Lucky us.

Sebastian said...

That stuff is interesting. Surprisingly, the US government only recently stopped sending pension checks from the Civil War. The last pensioner died in 1956, but dependents of Civil War veterans were still receiving benefits into the late 20th century.

Anonymous said...

The Brits finished paying the debt back a couple of years ago

Marja said...

We paid (Finland).