The contribution is the grief of the vanquished

Woe to the defeated! These words of Brenn, the Gallic leader, remained in history because he laconically expressed the essence of the situation of the country that had suffered a military fiasco. The winner dictates the conditions under which he wants to receive material compensation for the losses incurred by him in the course of military operations. At the same time, he determines the amount of damage himself, guided by his own considerations and calculations.

The contribution is the amount expressed in monetary units, which is to be paid (often very long) to the defeated country in favor of the winner. Most often, the latter is not limited to such a form of calculation, but requires territorial concessions and, as a rule, receives them.

Contributions, reparations, annexations and other punishments

The word itself became widespread in Russia after the proclamation of the "Decree on Peace", held directly (the next day) after the October Revolution of 1917. In it, the Leninist government called on the belligerents to immediately end the war without determining the winners and losers, while refraining from annexations, indemnities and other methods of compensation for losses. The decree was frankly demagogic-populist, as the future defeat of Germany and Austria-Hungary no longer aroused doubts.

Of course, England, France and the United States rejected this proposal. After the signing of the Campiopian truce, a huge indemnity was imposed on Germany. This, of course, facilitated the restoration of the economies of the victorious states, but later contributed to the emergence of the Nazi movement, which received massive support from the population of the humiliated and plundered country.

Pursuit of the Second World War

Contributions and reparations have again become measures of influence on Germany after its defeat in 1945. During the Second World War, vast spaces of the western part of the territory of the USSR were devastated. More than 60% of Soviet industrial potential was destroyed, and the number of cultural values exported by the Nazis was estimated at millions of units. According to the Yalta and Potsdam agreements, reparations were imposed on Germans in the form of industrial equipment, technologies and even movies.

During this period, monetary compensation was practically impossible, therefore it is rather difficult to determine whether the contribution is a reparation or not, and legal differences on this matter remain today. The claims against the Russian Federation over the cultural values displaced after the Second World War are brought by eight states, however, without much success.

Historical precedents have been before. In the Louvre of Paris, there are many exhibits captured during the predatory campaigns of Napoleon Bonaparte, and the likelihood of their return to the country of origin can be assessed as extremely low.

How to calculate damage?

The main problem remains the method of counting, or rather, the absence of such in determining the amount, which should be an indemnity. Determination of the amount of damage remains the prerogative of the winner country, and therefore is subjective in nature. In addition, it is difficult to give a material assessment of the lives of tens of millions of people mercilessly killed by the invaders.

Apparently, in the near future a breakthrough in the part of international jurisprudence, which is in charge of these difficult issues, is not foreseen. The contribution is a punishment for the aggressor country, expressed in monetary units accepted by the world legislation, but in order to realize it, it is necessary to completely defeat the armed forces of a militant state and establish an occupation regime on its territory. Otherwise, sooner or later it can stop further payments, as happened in 1935, when Germany unilaterally refused to comply with the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.

And as long as the world order is based on power balance, the old-old motto remains: "Woe to the defeated!"