ABSTRACT
World War II left the global capitalist economy in an extremely troubled state, especially with regard to the European arena. After the war, fascist countries and the courts in formerly occupied countries tried many criminals and Nazi collaborators. Some were imprisoned and even hanged, while many more were dismissed from their previous jobs. The Vietnamese resistance against Japanese occupation that Ho Chi Minh lead during the war transformed into armed resistance against French colonial rule afterwards. France launched a series of years-long colonial wars to preserve its empire. The task of coping with wartime devastation and encouraging postwar recovery posed more than enough challenges by itself. In 1879, the country introduced a rather moderate tariff, but subsequently increased the rate by introducing higher tariffs in 1885, 1888 and 1902. The economic forecasts for postwar Europe generated by the world’s best economists were very dark.
