Judt

Here is Britain's post-war Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee commenting on Stalin:

"Reminded me of the Renaissance despots--no principles, any methods, but no flowery language--always Yes or No, though you could only count on him if it was No."

This is from Tony Judt's fascinating new book, "Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945."

Here are a few other interesting tid bits (and I'm only on page 125):

Hungary, in 1945, had the worst monetary inflation in recorded history--peaking at five quintillion paper pengos to the dollar. By the time the pengo was replaced by the forint in August 1946, the dollar value of all Hungarian banknotes in circulation was just one-thousandth of one cent.

In the immediate postwar years, Britain was spending $80 million(*) annually to maintain its occupation zone in Germany. This included food to feed a desperately needy German population. As a result, the British government was forced to impose bread rations on its own citizens, something it was able to avoid for the entirety of the war. Hugh Dalton, secretary of the Exchequer, commented that "the British were paying reparations to the Germans." Now that's irony.

(* The amount is in dollars because much of this money came directly from U.S. loans.)