September 28, 2010 3:28PM 

# First World War Ends 

By [Marian L. Tupy](https://www.cato.org/people/marian-l-tupy) 

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On September 26, 2010 — 92 years after the WWI officially [ended](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/8029948/First-World-War-officially-ends.html) — Germany made her last payment of $94 million in reparations “to private individuals, pension funds and corporations holding debenture bonds as agreed under the Treaty of Versailles.” As Keynes rightly predicted, the unreasonably high French demands for financial reparations led to German economic weakness. The end result was hyperinflation, which was one of the principal causes of Hitler’s rise to power and the start of the Second World War. In spite of losing two world wars, Germany did eventually become the most powerful nation in Europe — through trade, capitalism and German ingenuity.

##### Related Tags 

[Defense and Foreign Policy](https://www.cato.org/defense-foreign-policy) 

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