Economic Chaos in Eastern Europe

Abstract

Almost every element of the prewar economic life of central and eastern Europe seemed to have disintegrated during the war and the years immediately following. What caught the attention of western Europeans was the intensity of famine and disease in the region; relief missions were dispatched and conditions improved somewhat, particularly in Vienna, as a result. A British mission to central Europe, headed by Sir William Goode, arrived at the beginning of 1919. Goode’s reports on the general activities of the mission during 1919 and its work in Poland in that year indicate the extent of suffering. But they also reflect many other aspects of economic dislocation arising from the creation of new states.