ABSTRACT
Germany emerged from World War I as the principal loser, while Japan and Italy are members of the victorious alliance. The return to a global economy after the war imposed serious hardships on all three, as it did on all the industrial powers. The key to success in the postwar economy was to support the modernization of industry and, even more importantly, to reduce trade barriers. Japan, like the United States, finds the new global markets for its products thanks to the temporary elimination of Great Britain, France, and Germany as competitors that emerge from the war, a creditor nation. By 1928 a full-scale economic crisis was looming in Italy, and when at the end of the year loans from the United States came to a virtual halt the situation grew worse. The fascist regime's experiment with economic liberalism was about to end, and so was its willingness to respect the international status quo.
