How much did Germany spend in total on the war?

Answer 1

I don't have a perfect answer, however many years ago I read articles about the cost of the war. In the USA we get an imperfect idea on the cost since the USA came out of the war with its economy stronger, its military mighty and it political system sound. Truth is that the rest of the world was practically bankrupted by the war and political systems were overturned right and left. The article I mentioned above added up the cost to Germany of the war and it basically came to having the entire country bankrupted. Every building, savings accounts, public utility, etc. was in hock to finance the war. They had borrowed every dime, sold every bond and confiscated every mark available by the end of the war. The economy was thus running on its last legs, and collapse was certain regardless of military vicories or defeats, special weapons, etc. Off your topic a bit but it is interesting to me what was going on in other nations near the end of the war. Finland - Had withdrawn a large part of her military and demobilized because the economy could not support the effort. Italy and Japan - Both had economic systems that had collapsed to about 20% of prewar output. Britain - Britain was out of resources and would have collapsed economically by 1941 had the USA not propped them up. As it was Britain sold enormous assets all over the world for a fraction of their value to finance the war. Britain thus came out of the conflict greatly reduced in power and influence, unable even to hold on to a few African colonies. I have heard that the military was on the verge of revolt in some units due to low pay, impoverished families, etc. This is probably why Churchill was tossed out of office before the end of fighting. Russia - Also running on empty by the end. They had just enough force to overrun Berlin and run an occupation. Their economy was in such bad shape that armaments production would likely have begun to taper off had the war gone on much longer.