Re: So if you ever wonder why Germany and Japan became so strong economically thats why
***Even during the war, the German economy never really went onto a war footing - mostly because they couldn't afford to - all the resources that they gained by invading other countries (including slave labour) didn't make up for the fact that they were living way, way beyond their means.***
The big problem they had was that there just weren't enough resources to go around - especially with steel and the coal you need to make it. So in 1940 a large percentage of the steel had to be diverted to ammunition making as they were running very low on it. Meanwhile aircraft and vehicle production suffer. The next year ammuniton was plentiful for the invasion of the USSR, but it was only by looting the crap out of France and other occupied nations that they could get sufficient vehicles to even attempt to invade. (And of course having 600+ different designs of vehicles in service was a really bad idea when it came time to logistically support such a vehicle fleet in the field).
Of course stealing all of France's trucks, cars, trains and coal meant that the French were no longer able to make and supply steel so instead of adding to Germany's overall power the French were a drain. And this was a pattern repeated in the other occupied states - a crippling of the state for a short term gain followed by a long term liability in which slave labour became the only thing they were good for supplying.
Germany did end up hitting it's peak possible performance in 1943 as far as production was concerned - every available man was in the armed forces or production, and there was effectively no civil economy. By that stage they'd given up any pretence that they could keep their economy under control - inflation rose massively while living standards plumetted. It was all to be sacrificed in the name of the Gotterdamerung on the Eastern Front.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
