>>Isn't that a bit meaningless. Germany and Japan went on to become the economic powerhouses post war despite the devestation. Some in the UK say that our lack of industrial growth post war was caused by a lack of devestation (and hence the required rebuilding and new investment).

That was the basis of an Irish joke in the 1970s (which I can get away with telling because of my name ;) )

Ryan and Fitzgerald were talking about how to rejuvenate the (then) stagnant Irish economy. "What we need to do," said F, "is declare war on the Americans. They'll bomb us to smithereens and wreck the place. Then they'll be so sorry they'll rebuild all our cities and factories. That's what happened to the Germans and Japanese, so why should we miss out? Soon we'll be building better cars than the Germans and everybody will have a job."

R sipped reflectively on his Guinness, before shaking his head slowly and sadly. "What?" asked F. "You haven't thought it through," said R. "What if we won?"