Economics and World War 2...

Reading Richard Overy's book "Why the allies won", I was fascinated with his analysis of some of the economic issues behind the war. Strangely to some, questions of relative efficiency of resource use are quite fascinating to me.

A teaching colleague by coincidence popped his head around my study door late in the term to ask about some aspects of the economy of Nazi Germany after one of his senior classes had engaged in quite vigourous debate of some of these issues. We did a quick Google search for some information on the nazi economy and I found this fascinating paper "Against the mainstream: Nazi privatization in 1930s Germany" written by Germa Bel.

By the 1930s public ownership of business had become quite widespread amongst western nations as a government repsonse to the Great Depression. However wihtin the first four years of its rule the nazi government had reversed much of this privatisation, well in advance of similar moves by other western governments.

Many scholars have pointed out that the Great Depression spurred State ownership in Western capitalist countries (e.g. Aharoni, 1986, pp. 72 and ff.; Clifton, Comín and Díaz Fuentes, 2003, p. 16; Megginson, 2005, pp. 9-10), and Germany was no exception. But Germany was alone in developing a policy of privatization in the 1930s. Therefore a central question remains: Why did the Nazi regime depart from the mainstream policies regarding State ownership of firms? Why did Germany’s government transfer firms and public functions to the private sector while the other Western countries did not?

Perhaps the most obvious rationale for this re-privatisation programme was the creation of fiscal revenue for the government.

Estimates presented in table 1 show that between the fiscal years 1934/35 and 1937/38 privatization was an important source of revenue for Germany’s Treasury. In the period as a whole, privatization proceeds represented almost 1.4 per cent of total fiscal revenues.

Actual figures are hard to come by as after 1935 the nazi government stopped publishing detailed financial information.

As mentioned, the German budget for the fiscal year 1934/35 was the last one for which detailed information was published (Pollock, 1938, p. 121) and no detailed information on financial operations was published thereafter.

While the author acknowledges the importance of revenue from privatisation as  a proportion of total fiscal revenue, making comparisons with the 1990s privatisations in the EU (a necessary comparison since there was little that was comparable in the 1930s and 40s), he also notes that this was done against a background of increasing state control of the economy in nazi Germany, while the EU experiences of the 1990s took place against a background of increasing liberalisation and reduction in government control.

This doesn't however fully explain the story, for it is one riddles with political expediency, as Hitler's nazi party sought to grant favours in exchange for political support. Indeed, it is my reading that cronyism is the most significant explanation for this privatisation, as the nazi party's philosophy was not one that actually supported private ownership, The compromise was to allow private ownership and control at the micro level, while maintaining strong market control.

It is worth quoting the author's conclusions in full:

"VII. Conclusions

Although modern economic literature usually ignores the fact, the Nazi government in 1930s Germany undertook a wide scale privatization policy. The government sold public ownership in several State-owned firms in different sectors. In addition, delivery of some public services previously produced by the public sector was transferred to the private sector, mainly to organizations within the Nazi Party.
Ideological motivations do not explain Nazi privatization. However, political motivations were important. The Nazi government may have used privatization as a tool to improve its relationship with big industrialists and to increase support among this group for its policies. Privatization was also likely used to foster more widespread political support for the party.

Finally, financial motivations played a central role in Nazi privatization. The proceeds from privatization in 1934-37 had relevant fiscal significance: No less than 1.37 per cent of total fiscal revenues were obtained from selling shares in public firms. Moreover, the government avoided including a huge expenditure in the budget by using outside-of-the-budget tools to finance the public services franchised to Nazi organizations."

So how does this all link with Overy's book? It is my contention, with little or no other evidence, that this cronyism created the very inefficiencies that Overy refers to.

This has, interestingly, fitted in very well with some junior economics I have been teaching this year in which we have been investigating the market as a tool for resource allocation. We see in the case of nazi Germany an example of corruption usurping the power of the market, resulting in poor resource allocation.

Others' thoughts would be welcome if there's anyone out there reading this. Of course as usual I could just be talking to myself, but I really am interested in this stuff about Economics and world war 2.

Too little time

Things have been a little quiet of late. Work has a habit of interfering with my hobby - why's that? I did manage to complete a very basic Undead HotT army, and I'll post some photos this week. I even managed to play one game with the army, and... wow!!.. those magicians are pretty powerful with their magic provided you can get the pips to fire them. I even managed to ensorcel the opposing hero to win the game. I was just really lucky that young Simon didn't manage to get his Dwarven blades amongst my skeleton hordes!!! Whew!!!!!

The only other achievements of note were the re-fight of the battle of the St Gond Marshes, September 1914, using my 6mm armies and Great War Spearhead rules (watch The Great Adventure for an AAR), and the purchase of a box of those really cool Esci 20mm Zulu Wars Brits.

I should acknowledge that these photos come from Plastic Soldier Review

These will provide the basis of my VSF HotT army (well the first one anyway), shooters and blades.

I've also been able to start painting some of the 15mm Ottomans I bought recently in preparation for a 15mm DBA tournament next month. So these past months haven't been a complete waste of hobby time, but certainly a little slow.

Jeff Wayne's "War of the Worlds"

OK.. I'm on a VSF (Victorian Science Fiction) roll at the moment. I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of some Esci 1/72nd Zulu Wars Infantry (IMO they are the best 20mm Plastics of this subject on the market at the moment). I'm also keen to get some of the soon to be released HaT Mounted British Infantry from the Zulu wars - all good VSF Brits.


I have a nice artillery piece for the HotT VSF army, and am pondering a good Behemoth (the winner at the moment, given that I feel too lazy to scratch build one) is this fantastic vehicle from the Eureka Pax Limpopo range:

A quick look on Google found the following clip from a 2006 concert performance of Jeff Wayne's "War of the Worlds" .. I just loved it, and had to share it in case any WOTW fans hadn't seen it.

Truly fantastic I thought. Hopefully this link helps another fan to find something they hadn't seen before.

Chaos Hordes...

I guess painting Hordes is kind of addictive. Painting my Chaos army, I thought that, in addition to the Chaos knights and blades, there ought to be some of those shambling human (ish!) hordes. After all no self respecting forces of Chaos would be trying to take over the world without enlisting the help of some humans somewhere along the way, even if they were dead before the powers of chaos got there.

So these are my first attempt at some shambling humans, or Hordes. The first photo shows the two bases in front of the Chaos Stronghold: a plastic skull that came with the dragon, actually.. then attached to a suitable looking stone wall (a piece of polystyrene packing coated in sand, then painted).

I liked the barbarian 'tart'.. dressed in Chaos blue (having sold her soul to the forces of Chaos); so strong is her power that you can see the forces of chaos rippling blue in the ground beneath her feet, emanating from her.... wow, wouldn't want to mess with her in a dark alley!!.

A great DBA/HotT day

I recently had the most exceptional 'gaming day: my son and I met up with two good friends to play a series of DBA and HotT games. We managed 5 games in the day - three DBA and two HotT, and the day was fantastic.

I played two HotT games, once against Stan Walker, and the other against Nick Grant. In both games I used my recently completed Chaos army. This is my slant on Chaos, being rather mediaeval in look, with a touch of GW thrown in with the blue colour scheme. The Chaos warriors show no faces etc at all (there are three knights, four blades, and a Hero general); after all they are hardly human. I used the Zvezda 100 Years War English knights for these.

They are supported by two bases of Hordes.. very zombie looking humans. For these I used a box of Esci Barbarian warriors that have been sitting in the games room for a decade or more. They were simply painted in an exaggerated version of my war games paint style to bring out the blackness of the eye sockets etc, using a mix of Citadel Bleached Bone mixed with Tamiya Olive Drab (go figure.. quite a combination) then highlighted with the bleached bone. And I nearly forgot to mention this dragon.. a favourite of mine, bought from a local $2 Shop, for.. you guessed it, $2.

This is followed by a shot of a couple of the blades (Chaos knights on foot) pushing through the centre.. my eventual undoing, I hasten to add, as they were isolated and killed by four Horde bases.. oh the shame!!!. In true Chaos fashion, I was too greedy for world domination.

The final two shots above are of two of the DBA games. In the first my Polybian Romans (well, my son's army, and nicely painted it is, too, but I was commanding them in this game) hold the line against a LOT of Numidian Light Horse commanded by Nick Grant, while in the second my son's Persians are at it against some New Kingdom Egyptians commanded by Stan Walker.

What fantastic 'gaming, in the company of three most excellent fellows who are good 'gamers. A damned fine day was had by all.

'The War of the Worlds': the real thing…

I bought my copy of 'The War of the Worlds' album by Jeff Wayne when it was first released – vinyl of course, and was completely taken with it. When it seemed that vinyl was on the way out, and tapes were the thing, I bought the double album on tape (of course tapes were already on the way out then too.. I was something of a late adopter you know) because it was a real favourite.

My kids grew up loving it, and my daughter in particular used to love listening to the album while poring over the vinyl album artwork.. those tripods, fantastic war machines, the red weed. Perhaps that's where she got her love of things Sci-Fi, and to this day she is (amongst other things) a 'Stargate' nut.

The sad thing is that I had never read H G Wells book 'The War of the Worlds', the real thing that is .. until recently. While away on a brief holiday this week I found a copy of a re-issue of the book selling all too cheaply on the bookshelf of a small local bookseller. I grabbed it, and read it in less than a day, and marvel at this incredible book. Now I still think that the Jeff Wayne musical version of the book was fantastic, but it hardly 'holds a candle' to the book in my opinion.

In the forward to this particular edition, Bruce Brooks wrote:

"However, prediction of technology isn't really what impresses us about old-timers; that's just a pretense. What really impresses us is their understanding of human beings, like us, and the ability of these old writers to command timeless, irresistible humour, or passion, or – in the case of 'The War of the Worlds' – terror.

'The War of the Worlds' is a masterpiece of fright. It is many other things, too – a sly allegory of British colonialism, a treatise on the question of nature vs. artifice, a satire of religiosity – but most of these matters come to mind only after we have finished reading the novel and then, a few weeks later, resumed our normal sleep patterns."

It isn't hard to understand why I might be writing about this book on a war gaming blog: it's the very stuff of the hobby, from the man who almost 'invented' the modern form of the hobby with his book 'Little Wars'. The book has fired my imagination; just as I have been blogging about a Victorian Science Fiction army – this is it. Wells creates visions of Victorian armies, pith helmets, red tunics, blue trousers, combined with giant fighting machines. In his case Wells saw tripods manned by Martians. War gamers today see not only tripods, but steam driven tanks and all manner of fighting machines, modern in outlook, but driven with the arcane technology of the Victorian era.

"Forthwith the six guns which, unknown to anyone on the right bank had been hidden behind the outskirts of that village, fired simultaneously. The sudden near concussion, the last close upon the first, made my heart jump. The monster was already raising the case generating the Heat Ray as the first shell burst six yards above the hood.

I gave a cry of astonishment. I saw and thought nothing of the other four Martian monsters; my attention was riveted upon the nearer incident. Simultaneously two other shells burst in the air near the body as the hood twisted round in time to receive, but not to dodge, the fourth shell.

The shell burst clean in the face of the Thing. The hood bulged, flashed, was whirled off in a dozen tattered fragments of red flesh and glittering metal."

I reckon that these words, written 110 years ago, are as riveting today as they must have been to Wells' readers in 1898. The words are of course much more for the average war gamer: they are a source of inspiration and excitement. And of course let's not forget that 40 years after they were written, in 1938 (October 30th to be precise), Orson Welles' radio dramatisation of 'The War of the Worlds' was sufficiently believable to have thousands of Americans believing that a Martian invasion of Earth was actually taking place: powerful words indeed.

In the meantime, I must get that box of Esci 1/72nd British Infantry of the Zulu Wars, just the thing for a Victorian Sci-Fi army for HotT (I need some Shooters, and some Blades (British infantry with bayonets), for a start..), all inspired by words written 110 years ago by H G Wells: 'The War of the Worlds', the real thing…

HotT: an easy introduction to fantasy war gaming

I flirted briefly…. with the idea of a Warhammer Fantasy army. Why? The beautiful GW miniatures, and the sniff of a rules set that looked like it might take me back to those good old 70's war gaming values: I still harbour the fondest memories of war gaming the way it used to be (but of course we always do.. it's a shame that the 'good old days' rarely ever are.)

I took advantage of the opportunity to buy some second hand figures for a Tomb Kings' army at a fraction of their new cost, and even picked up a copy of the newest rules set in soft cover form from someone who had bought the latest WFB boxed set. Even now I read those WFB battle reports in White Dwarf, salivating at the appearance of the multitude of GW figures populating a beautifully set up table.

However, at my age I've learned to be realistic. I rarely get to either of our local war games clubs to play games, and that's where I'd need to go to play WFB (because that's where the players are), since my own local war games opponents just don't play WFB. What they do play though is HotT (Hordes of the Things) - the fantasy version of the DBA rules. Now this is also familiar territory for me; I started playing WRG rules back in the days of 3rd edition Ancients, and have grown up/cut my teeth on their rules systems. I did give away the DBM system a number of years ago when I discovered rules sets like Volley and Bayonet and Spearhead that finally allowed me to play periods in a way that I'd only ever dreamed of before.

But in the meantime, I have begun to feed a long dormant desire to play fantasy war games using HotT. I can vividly remember several of my very long time gaming friends playing Lord Of The Rings games way back, using home grown rules, and piles of Airfix plastics converted for the purpose. What’s more, I have this feeling that HotT will allow many other 'gamers to feed their own fantasy war games desires as well.

In 5 weeks I have been able to paint up two complete HotT armies: 'Lost World's, and 'Mediaeval Chaos', and very pleased I am with the results. The armies aren't exactly world beaters in terms of effectiveness, but there's one thing I have learned after reading White Dwarf for 7 years: theme is important. My HotT armies are themed around specific visions (not original I hasten to add, my themes are derived from others' fertile imaginations), and they are an absolute joy to field. The Chaos army uses a White Dwarf inspired painting theme that has come up a little short in the execution department, but still looks great to my eyes. The Lost Worlds army is an eye catcher, begun with a self-set challenge to create an interesting army using cheap plastic toys (hence the dinosaurs, and the gorilla).

But that's another wonderful aspect of the HotT system. While sample army lists are derived from the enormous range of fantasy literature available in bookstores, the system allows the imagination to go wild while governed only by composition guidelines the sole purpose of which is to ensure playable balanced games.

I have discovered that this tool unleashes powerful imagination as I have watched boys develop their own interpretations on the fantasy themes created by writers over the past decades. For my part my third HotT army, a Victorian Sci-Fi army, is already in gestation: 300 years ago claims that I had visions of steam driven behemoths might have lead to my incarceration. Today, my wife just smiles quietly and waits for me to return home with another box of plastic soldiers.

I may well go back to WFB: I still like those old-fashioned rules approaches, and I do still adore the GW figures. But in the meantime I have seen HotT generate enthusiasm and excitement in young minds (and in this not so young one as well!!). It has given me an easy introduction to fantasy war-gaming, that'll do for a start.

Here are two photos of elements from my recently completed Chaos army: a Dragon, and several bases of Chaos knights, seen here in their second action of the day when a few of us recently got together for a day of DBA and HotT games.