Between 1826 to 1830, Spain, Mexico and Brazil defaulted on their debt. Between 1890 and 1900, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela and Portugal defaulted on theirs. To get back some of their investment, the French and German fleets went down to Caracas in 1902, and bombarded it for a week. Then they put a chain up and charged a tax on each ship going into Caracas harbor. Between 1931 and 1940, Brazil , Mexico, Chile and Peru again defaulted on their debt.
The debt crises between the two world wars started with the 1929 default of Bolivia, but it was in Central Europe in 1931 that the biggest collapse took place. The German run came next, with devastating effects.
Read Full Article »