The cost of World war One was stunning, and every country soon had to find ways of finding more money to fund it, and this was from the population as a whole. This book shows 138 examples from France, Germany, Britain, Italy and the United States, and reveals a lot about National design styles and attitudes. The message was always the same 'Loan Funds with Interest' only the numbers varied slightly. Very few of the Loans were repaid, even in the USA only about 80% of the face value of Bonds were honored. Germany, Russia, Hungary, Italy had all vanished as Empirical or Royal countries, so no claims were or could be recognised. Britain was simply bankrupt and unable to pay. In the final irony, when the War finished the whole process started again to pay for 'recovery and rebuilding' - the things the previous loans had been used for- to destroy.