The year is 1931. US president Hoover on June 20 announces the so-called Hoover Moratorium. Hoover’s proposition was to put a one-year moratorium on payments of World War I and other war debt, postponing the initial payments, as well as interest. This obvious is especially a relief to Germany and Austria. The proposal outrages a lot of people and especially the France government is highly upset by the proposal.

July 23, 1931. After finally gaining French support, President Hoover announced that all of the important creditor governments had accepted the intergovernmental debt moratorium. While the U.S. government rejected the notion that inter-Allied war debts and reparations were connected, the European governments adopted the stand that Allied debts and reparations would stand or fall together. The delay in action on the debt moratorium contributed to the closing of all German banks by mid-July. (From youtube)

Here are the historical pictures from the Paris conference in 1931.

80 years on – now we are again talking about European debts. This time things a different now it is now Germany who are in need of a debt moratorium, but Greece. And guess who is upset this time around??