CHAPTER IV.—THE PRELUDE INEUROPE

RUMBLINGS OF DISASTER

IN 1930, the stage was set for one of the world's greatest financial upheavals in history. The flimsy international financial structure built up after the war with the aid of American capital functioned well enough in the halcyon days of inflation, but with the first onslaught of the economic depression its inherent weakness was revealed. The collapse of the speculative boom in the United States, the sudden cessation of the international movement of capital, and the inability of the European statesmen to face economic realities evidenced in the negotiations concerning the Young Plan were severe shocks which rocked the international financial machinery to its very foundation.

The German elections ...

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