Cicero once said that
the “Sinews of war were infinite money.” Never has that been more true
than in the second World War. This little bonus extra history series
is going to be all about the complex economic struggle that underpinned the most colossal conflict in human history. These episodes are happening courtesy of
the good folks at Paradox. who, after seeing those
old Punic Wars episodes we made, approached us asking to sponsor a few episodes about the economic aspects of World War II. in anticipation of
the upcoming release of Hearts Of Iron 4. And it’s a great topic idea, so lets jump right in. First, let me set the stage. The year is 1939 Storm clouds are gathering over Europe.
Hitler has already grabbed Austria, And Czechoslovakia is being gobbled up. The Italians have conquered Albania. Even as many tried to deny it, every nation knows. War is coming. Meanwhile, in the east, the Japanese have annexed Manchuria, and are pushing further into China. Chinese resistance movements have flared up.
For all intents and purposes, the east is already at war. But most of the major players all have one goal in mind. Resources. Economic power, industrial installations,
natural resources. These all needed to be gathered and hoarded as quickly as possible, because every state knows when war truly breaks all bounds, all the trade that keeps the world economy functioning will grind to a halt. Or so it was thought, in fact, many expected that the European nations would avoid war because their economies couldn’t survive economic isolation. But, that assumption hadn’t kept the first World War from breaking out. And it wouldn’t keep the second. In truth, many of the pre-war planners had learned from the first World War And started preparing for just such a breakdown in trade years in advance. So let’s take a look at the economies of some of the major players right at the outset of the war. The first big three are Germany, France, and Great Britain. These are the major European nations that would be in direct conflict with each other from the get go. Germany, having been disarmed after World War I, had come roaring out of the Great Depression with One of the largest armaments programs the world had ever seen. France had invested heavily in static defenses. And Great Britain had restarted its fleet construction program, after the lull from the Washington naval treaty. But to really compare these countries we’re going to have to talk numbers. The way I see it, there are four statistics you really have to consider when talking about countries involved in a global war. First, GDP. Or Gross Domestic Product. This tells you roughly how big an economy is. How much raw production it’s capable of. Which, of course, translates directly into tanks, bombs, guns, the materiel of war. Second, population. When we’re looking at massive global conflicts that are gonna determine the very survival of nations, you’ve gotta look at the manpower they can draw upon. The larger the population,
the larger the armies that nation can field. With more of industrialized countries being able to draw on larger sections of their populace without disrupting the flow of basic goods like grain. If a conflict becomes a long term struggle population count becomes increasingly important as attrition starts to mount. Third, territorial extent. This isn’t a perfect measure by any stretch,
but it serves to give us a surface level idea of
relative natural resource control. In modern economies that require every thing from oil, to rubber, to aluminum to run. Territorial extent gives us a very rough idea of how self sufficient these economies might be if cut off from global trade. It also tells us how much ground a nation can give up without being knocked out of the fight. Though, it is worth noting that greater territorial extent also generally makes mobilization more difficult. And defense more complex, so it’s kind of a trade-off in some ways. Fourth, per capita income. Individual wage may seem like a strange metric when thinking of war time economy, but it gives you a good idea of how developed an economy is. The higher the individual wage, the more advanced an economy you’re usually dealing with. And this is actually super important, because in general, larger economies can take bigger hits without crumbling. Bombing one factory won’t cause production to grind to a halt. They’ll have a greater ability to synthesize or find alternatives for natural resources they don’t have. They have a better internal network for transportation and distribution and such. So a nation that has a more advanced economy,
even if it has the same GDP as another country, it can remain an effective combatant much longer
than a nation with a less advanced economy. This is why china collapsed into a guerrilla war almost immediately, rather than fronting a centralized state effort. And it’s why Italy capitulated so much quicker than Germany. It’s also fascinating to think about in terms of the incredible Soviet effort to actually to pick up and move their entire industrial base in the face of a German invasion. But we’ll get to that later. For right now, let’s look at some numbers. Now all of the monetary figures I’m going to use here are in 1990 U.S dollars. Just because thats how the most comprehensive data set I found converted it So, the U.K has a population of 47 and a half million. A territorial reach of 245 thousand square kilometers. A GDP of 284.2 billion dollars. And a per capita income of about 5,983 dollars. Now, when compared to Germany’s numbers with a population of 68.6 million 473 thousand square kilometers of territory A GDP of 351.4 billion And a per capita income of 5,126 per head The U.K’s numbers may look a bit low, but first we’ve gotta factor in France. Which had a population of 42 million. A territorial reach of 551 thousand square kilometers. A GDP of 185.6 billion, and a per capita income 4,424 dollars. And perhaps far more importantly,
we also have to factor in the British empire. If you add in all of the colonies and dominions that Britain held at the time, that’s a whopping 483.8 million people 34,179,000 square kilometers in territory, and 391 billion in GDP. But granted, if you leave out some of the more economically advanced dominions like Canada and Australia, the colonies’ collective per capita GDP was only 627 dollars. So, less great. Sorry, I know that was a lot of numbers, but what does it all tell us? All of those numbers basically tell us that Germany needed to win this war before the U.K could bring it’s empire to bear. But it also tells us that British empire was unwieldy. It was spread out and had an incredibly low per capita GDP in a lot of places. which meant that there wasn’t a lot in those places that could be diverted to war production. and those sections of the empire would probably collapse at the first show of hostile force. And that reality very much played into the overarching strategy of the war. Blitzkrieg was not only a tactical or even a strategic idea but an operational one. Germany had stockpiled materiel before the war. They believed that they had better military leadership, and better esprit de corps Their great hope was to expand fast enough using those early advantages to win total victory, But their more realistic planning told them that they still had no choice but to expand rapidly. So that they could bring in the resources, population, and industrial capacity that they would need to fight a protracted war. Seizing an early advantage was Germany’s best chance. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Japan was in much the same situation. The famous Japanese admiral Yamamoto estimated that he could win for 6 months If the U.S entered the war. But if Japan had not secured victory by then,
loss was assured. If we look at the statistics for Japan and China, which I’ll put down below just so I don’t belabor you with more numbers We can see that China has a substantially higher population, and thus also a higher GDP but, a much lower per capita GDP. Meaning that China would probably lose a conventional war but they’d still be very hard to occupy if they got any outside help. And then there were the two wildcards. The United States and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union had vast natural resources, a huge population and a high GDP. but, with a low per capita wage. Meaning they had a less advanced economy than many of the other European powers. Russia would play an enormous role in the struggle to come, But economically it’s entire focus would be using what industrial resources it had to arm and equip the vast forces it could muster. The United States on the other hand, for the entire length of the war, From 1938, well before it was involved, to the war’s conclusion in 1945 Had a GDP greater than every major Axis power combined. A GDP which was also greater than all the other major Allies put together. Not only that, but the U.S was protected by oceans from the conflict itself. This is why the United States would serve as the arsenal of democracy. Join us next time as we talk about Lend-Lease, and how American industrial output would be used to keep its beleaguered soon to be Allies afloat, before the American nation gathered the will to fight. See ya then.
HAHAHA omg I'm watching this in the overlay playing Heart of Iron.
0:45 funniest drawing.
that's not the German flag, at least not during WWII
Love the ending song!!
What happened to the narrator, if you go in later videos it’s someone else.
hearts of iron IV
What about french' colonies you morron american,
Arrêtez de penser qu'à vous même imbéciles!!!! On existe gros ******!
Wait, this video is not a DLC?
Forgot to mention space marines
Four things:
Manpower
Civilian factory’s
Industrial factories
Air superiority
Hoi4 btw
I thought Heart of Iron 4 don't have Economic system
Economies win wars Squidward.
It’s surreal to hear the opening when already playing hearts of iron 4
Abbisinia
Anybody watching this video in 2019!!!
Friday
I thought you would put in the French empire
HOI4 REEEEEEE
7:27 the us flag 61 to 62 stars
British had tea!
That picture of Hitler quite literally eating Czechoslovakia will haunt my nightmares
Draw more pictures of hitler eating countries
At 4:26, He said we'll get into that later, then NEVER DOES :O
Almost every war ever had been about resources and money.
Got a test tomorrow got to study
0:44
NO
NOT HOI4
I loveee HoI4
Great sponsor you got there
I THOUGHT THIS WAS ABOUT FALLOUT
Anybody know what the intro song is?
Cannabilism
Ah the fine people of the Other Company Inc™ will surely never fail to provide the needed other product our war machine craves.
Dang I thought this was about fallout
Well, the Income per capita would be the same for everyone in Russia cause ya know….
Communism
I heart hoi4
I love your ww2 series can you do a series on Vietnam war
4:20
ussr anthem plays
Lmao
They made the resource war on fallout a real thing
Love paradox interactive
0:53 the Japanese were complete monsters. I don't know what the Manchurian is smiling about.
This channel has learned me more about history then my school had
The reason of the war isnt only about economic power,industrial installations,natural recources. For some county,like Japan,Japan wanted to expand its land too
Welcome to ‘Earth’!
What mode would you like to play on?
America: Easy.
WAAAAAAAIT HOI 4 ONLY CAME OUT 2016 ??????
I like how you got the wrong flags for Germany and China I mean China was t communist well at least most of it it was ruled by Chang kai sheck and his nationalists and for Germany you used their ww1 flag not the nazi Germany flag
ya yeet
Anyone else play hoi4?
I miss this OG narrator. RIP OG narrator man
Oh hey I have that game!
Ya these Brits gullied up thier whole colonies
Destroy them
Me and my mum is a resource war
The Nazis did not consider resources to be important, the Nazis believed in the power of the "Will" the idea that harsh resource realities did not really matter as the individual's "Will" to win.
Rip factoring in the French empire
This is hoi4 in a nutshell
Picture at the 7:44 Mark is not accurate, those russians, all of them, have guns only one should, because russia had lots of man power but not a lot of equipment(like guns)
To convert to 2019 USD from the 1990 figures, you can basically multiply by 2 (the exact multiplier is 1.94).
War is always about numbers. From the men you can bring to the fight, to the tanks you can build per day, to the barrels of oil you can produce. The reality of the Second World War is that the Allies' numbers were greater in every aspect. What the British lacked in wealth or resources, the Soviets and U.S. more than made up for. Thus, the manpower and production shortages that plagued the Axis never troubled the Allies. You can't just go to war with the biggest economies in the world and hope to come out on top.
5:18 France sucks, as always
I was playing hearts of iron 4 while watching this
wouldn't you just finish the conversion from 1990 dollars to current prices? Not that viewers couldn't but then you wouldn't have to say "1990 dollars" anymore
extra credits is my favorite podcast
Gathering Storm… that HoI4 reference…
Wow, this is from a time when Hearts of Iron was still upcoming
USSR:*drinks sum vodka* fug, de germs are bacc
Miss this dudes voiceover
Not a word on the USSR. Disappointing to say the least.
oh cool a video about world war ii can’t wait to learn about all the battles and warfare and- oh.
Were so fucking rich.
0:44 vore
I wish the world would show respect to the only nation that fort for all of ww2 BRITON my home!!!
What about french colonial empire?!!
Was the bombed factory called The Factory Inc.?
Can you a video on DescriptionOperation Bernhard was an exercise by Nazi Germany to forge British bank notes. The initial plan was to drop the notes over Britain to bring about a collapse of the British economy during the Second World War
Where is part 2 ??????
0:43 VORE!
Love ya guys
WHY COULDN'T YOU BE MY MATH TEACHER BACK QHEN I WAS IN SCHOOL?! 😱
HOI4 FOREVER!!!
Why cant actual history subjects be this engaging? I mean… You make even money and economy sound interesting!
Every time Europe goes to war we redifine the meaning
Uo
suuper USA
In hindsight, the cute depiction here is far too much of a normalizing act, the entire series should be removed considering people's feelings.
DEMOCRACY IS NON-NEGOTIABLE.
American BIAS lel
Well,Germany had almost 2 times more GDP than France in the beginning of the WW2 and if we add Austria-Czech Republic population making 80 million.Also Germany had %14-15 of World industrial output at the time only %5 for France.Despite the all of this how some stupids say France had most powerful military in Europe in 1939-40 ?
You are the best history channel ever
I am playing Hearts of Iron IV while watching this
0:44 C A N N I B A L
0:43 These are fetish levels that cant be seen by mortal men…
The Italians have taken over Albania. LOL. The are one of Europe Nobodies.
All of this very much makes sense to me in a Civ5 context.
Italy: does anything
Also italy: heyyy Germany can ya…
Germany: we already did
Italy: still proceeds to fail
Germany: WERES THE AUCHSLESS BUTTON
You had one job to save fallout. ONE JOB TO SAVE THEM FROM THE RESOURCE WARS
Stonks
Man Dem Germans Like To cause Dem World Wars
USA joined the server
Ah, Military Economics and Logistics…
If there's a more satisfying subject, I don't wanna hear it…
A decent video from helium-voice guy.
The funny thing is, hoi4 has a minimalistic economic system. Infact, it barely even exist. So… why would paradox sponsor these videos?