World War One's Financial Crisis

[Skipman]

Did Britain come close to bankruptcy in 1914? an interesting article from the Beeb's Hugh Pym Click

Mike

[James A Pratt III]

I know England was is real fiscal trouble in mid 1917 but the US was able to bail England out fiscally. What helped trigger the February/march 1917 revolution in Russia was the economic mess the country was in at this time and things went from bad to worse after this. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was kept fiscally afloat by the Germans. The Germans could not have continued WW I into 1918 if they had not overrun Rumania in 1916 and plundered the country of all its resources. But even this could not keep Germany going for ever the bad shape of the economy helped lead to the collapse of Germany in late 1918.

[RobertBr]

There was a programme on TV last wek about a run on the banks during the last week of July 1914. A lot of people tried to withdraw their cash and buy gold.

This was followed by a closure of the banks until 7th August.

The government then encouraged the purchase of War Bonds. The programme then made a 'howler' by refering to then as 'Tank Bonds' and showed a Tank on the streets of London with someone posting an application through a gun port. This was supposedly in 1914!

Bob