WAgriculture in the Empire of Japan was an important component of the pre-war Japanese economy. Although Japan had only 16% of its land area under cultivation before the Pacific War, over 45% of households made a living from farming. Japanese cultivated land was mostly dedicated to rice, which accounted for 15% of world rice production in 1937.
WThe AM-lira was the currency issued in Italy by Allied Military Government for Occupied Territories (AMGOT) after the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943. 100 AM-lire were worth 1 US dollar.
WThe population of Japan at the time of the Meiji Restoration was estimated to be 34,985,000 on January 1, 1873, while the official original family registries and de facto populations on the same day were 33,300,644 and 33,416,939, respectively. These were comparable to the population of the United Kingdom (31,000,000), France (38,000,000), and Austria-Hungary (38,000,000).
WLike many other Western nations, Germany suffered the economic effects of the Great Depression with unemployment soaring around the Wall Street Crash of 1929. When Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, he introduced policies aimed at improving the economy. The changes included privatization of state industries, autarky and tariffs on imports. Weekly earnings increased by 19% in real terms from 1933 to 1939, but this was largely due to employees working longer hours, while the hourly wage rates remained close to the lowest levels reached during the Great Depression. In addition, reduced foreign trade meant rationing in consumer goods like poultry, fruit, and clothing for many Germans.
WThe Economy of the Empire of Japan refers to the period in Japanese economic history in Imperial Japan that began with the Meiji Restoration in 1868 and ended with the Surrender of Japan in 1945 at the end of World War II. It was characterized by a period of rapid industrialization in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the dominance of a wartime economy from 1938-1945.
WJapanese invasion money, officially known as Southern Development Bank Notes, was currency issued by the Japanese Military Authority, as a replacement for local currency after the conquest of colonies and other states in World War II. In February 1942 in Japan, laws were passed establishing the Wartime Finance Bank and the Southern Development Bank. Both institutions issued bonds to raise funds. The former loaned money primarily to military industries, but also to a wide range of other ventures, including hydroelectric generators, electric power companies, shipbuilding and petroleum. The latter provided financial services in areas occupied by the Japanese military, and Southern Development Bank notes were in fact used as de facto military scrip. In December 1942, the outstanding balance of Southern Development Bank notes stood at more than 470 million; in March 1945, more than 13 billion.
WMilitary production during World War II was the arms, ammunition, personnel and financing which were produced or mobilized by the belligerents of the war from the occupation of Austria in early 1938 to the surrender and occupation of Japan in late 1945.
WA rock cake, also called a rock bun, is a small cake with a rough surface resembling a rock. They were promoted by the Ministry of Food during the Second World War since they require fewer eggs and less sugar than ordinary cakes, an important savings in a time of strict rationing. Traditional recipes bulked them with oatmeal, which was more readily available than white flour.
WAfter World War II both West Germany and East Germany were obliged to pay war reparations to the Allied governments, according to the Potsdam Conference. First provisionally but later finally, Germany ceded a quarter of its territory as defined by its 1937 borders to Poland and the Soviet Union. Other Axis nations were obliged to pay war reparations according to the Paris Peace Treaties, 1947.