The Wages of Destruction: Difference between revisions

* [[Sunk Cost Fallacy]]: In ''spades'', both for the German economy under Hitler and the subsequent war in particular.

* [[Too Clever by Half]]: Not long after Hitler took power, he sought to remove the economic shackles that bound Germany to the American and European markets. It succeeded, which was essential to preventing what he considered an economic straitjacket that would otherwise apply later on where those parties could squeeze Germany dry. However, it succeeded a bit too well, as it made Germany an outlaw nation in terms of financial credit, cutting off several sources of funding that otherwise could have bolstered the economy later, and still left late 1930's Germany in an economically regressed state in the long-term despite outwards signs of growth. The second item would be a chicken come home to roost later in the WWII period, as Germany found itself even more destitute than it was after WWI.

** Tooze spends a fair amount of time deconstructing one that was built up concerning how Albert Speer was credited with keeping the Nazi economy going in the later half of the war. He does note the substance of the myth wasn't, by itself, lies, as Speer did wield great influence over the economy and did implement actual measures to reform the economic system, but most of what actually applied to the practical implementation was firmly in the realm of this trope, as Tooze explains in exhaustive detail.

* [[What Could Have Been]]: Tooze notes Hitler might have never risen to power had the circumstances of the years 1918-1933 turned out much different. In fact, as he summarizes it: