During the three years after World War II, Germans—facing a ruined economy and wildly depreciating currency—turned to cigarettes as a medium of exchange on a massive scale. Allied occupation authorities strictly forbade this black-market currency exchange, but it literally saved the lives of many German civilians—and inadvertently made many
With 100 years having passed since the start of the First World War, the view of the war among historians and the public has evolved in many ways. Historian Hunt Tooley examines the turning points in how the world sees the Great War. This audio Mises Daily is narrated by Robert
One hundred years ago, the combatants of World War One fought themselves to a standstill. The warring regimes then used the opportunity to clamp down on internal dissent and a host of other liberties, writes T. Hunt Tooley. This audio Mises Daily is narrated by Robert
Postwar Germany was occupied, in ruins, with an economy in chaos. Germans were reduced to using cigarettes supplied by American GIs as money. Original Article: “ To Smoke or Not to Smoke: The Cigarette Economy in Postwar Germany, 1945–48
[ This is the first post in a series. see Part Two , Part Three , Part Four , Part Five , and Part Six . ] With 2017 now upon us, we are moving toward the hundredth anniversary of direct American intervention into the Great War in April 1917. This intervention became one of those pivotal aspects of the conflict that the Great War a kind of
On the Western Front a hundred years ago, a furious and decisive campaign was in progress. The great German Spring Offensive, often and rightly called the Ludendorff Offensive, was well into the process of launching about three million combat troops against the Allied lines. The Offensive would last from March 21 to July 18, 1918. The combined
Volume 2, No. 2 (Summer 1999) It has long been recognized that the year 1916 was the turning point in World War I, the year in which, as historian René Albrecht-Carrié (1965) put it, the deeper forces broke through. This process is not nearly as mysterious as it sounds on first hearing. On the battle fronts, the bloodlettings of 1916 — Verdun, the
A surprising range of news and opinion outlets have memorialized a string of anniversaries related to the Great War over the last few months: the assassination of the Archduke, the July Crisis, the start of the war, etc. Newspapers, magazines, the blog world, the top ten list sites, and Youtube channels have all feature anniversary observations.
A surprising range of news and opinion outlets have memorialized a string of anniversaries related to the Great War over the last few months: the assassination of the Archduke, the July Crisis, the start of the war, etc. Newspapers, magazines, the blog world, the top ten list sites, and Youtube channels have all featured anniversary observations.
Editor’s Note: Hunt Tooley, Professor of History at Austin College, will be teaching “The Interwar Years” beginning on January 22 at 5:30 p.m. This six-lecture course will examine the years between the two World Wars and cover the “rebuilding” of the war-torn world, inflation and depression, financial manipulation, neo-mercantilism, and the vast
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