Conquering land sounds like a pretty good deal ... which is why it was a very popular activity for most of human history! But, as with all good things, someone eventually comes around and spoils the fun for everybody: in this case, that someone was German philosophers, who decided that conquered land should carry its debts to its new owner.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
If you'd like to see more of these videos, consider supporting me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sidequest_channel
Have a fancy historical idea you'd like me to cover? Drop a comment and let me know!
-------------------------------------------------------------------
A big THANK YOU to the selfless supporters of SideQuest for their limitless generosity:
JK, Leloo Wolf, DeityTV, Oskari Liukku, Robbie Trencheny, pmck, Sam
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Further Reading:
The Succession of States and the Problem of State Debts by P. K. Menon - https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/71463051.pdf
The Concept of Odious Debt in Public International Law by Robert Howse - https://unctad.org/en/docs/osgdp20074_en.pdf
Sovereign Debt Defaults: Insights from History by Kim Oosterlinck - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270786128_Sovereign_debt_defaults_Insights_from_history
Bondholder gains from the annexation of Texas and implications of the US bailout by Richard Burdekin - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/4950583_Bondholder_gains_from_the_annexation_of_Texas_and_implications_of_the_US_bailout