Team Infidel
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Arizona Daily Star (Tucson)
December 29, 2006
By Bloomberg News
Britain will transfer $84 million to the U.S. Treasury today, the final payment on a debt used to finance the World War II defeat of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.
The U.S. extended $4.34 billion in credit in 1945, allowing the U.K. to stave off bankruptcy after devoting almost all its resources to the war for half a decade. Since 1950 Britain has made payments on the debt at the end of every year except six.
At the time it was granted, the loan strained trans-Atlantic relations. British politicians expected a gift in recognition of their contribution to the war effort, especially for the lives lost before the U.S. entered the European conflict in 1942.
"The U.S. didn't seem to realize that Britain was bankrupt," said Alan Sked, a historian at the London School of Economics. The loan was "denounced in the House of Lords, but in the end the country had no choice."
The loan was double the size of the U.K. economy at the time.
"It was vital support which helped Britain defeat Nazi Germany and secure peace and prosperity in the postwar period," U.K. Treasure ministed Ed Balls said in a statement from the Treasury. "We honor our commitments to them now as they honored their commitments to us all those years ago."
December 29, 2006
By Bloomberg News
Britain will transfer $84 million to the U.S. Treasury today, the final payment on a debt used to finance the World War II defeat of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.
The U.S. extended $4.34 billion in credit in 1945, allowing the U.K. to stave off bankruptcy after devoting almost all its resources to the war for half a decade. Since 1950 Britain has made payments on the debt at the end of every year except six.
At the time it was granted, the loan strained trans-Atlantic relations. British politicians expected a gift in recognition of their contribution to the war effort, especially for the lives lost before the U.S. entered the European conflict in 1942.
"The U.S. didn't seem to realize that Britain was bankrupt," said Alan Sked, a historian at the London School of Economics. The loan was "denounced in the House of Lords, but in the end the country had no choice."
The loan was double the size of the U.K. economy at the time.
"It was vital support which helped Britain defeat Nazi Germany and secure peace and prosperity in the postwar period," U.K. Treasure ministed Ed Balls said in a statement from the Treasury. "We honor our commitments to them now as they honored their commitments to us all those years ago."