@gregger Ugh, ever studied history? Aside from war reparations in most modern post warfare also meant providing aid to re-establish the economy of certain countries giving clauses, rights among other things to the winning party of the war, making sure the enemy state can remain solidarity and not fall apart, while also being a productive member of the global community.
I do agree with this being a rushed and romanticized version, but if you can get 4x on something that doesn't lead to immediate inflation of currency that would make the economy crumble, you sure as hell would take those terms with any sort of medieval capitalist mindset that was already in the brooding (mercantile way of thinking).
Edit: Non-political, but historical fact that the US would provide funds and or weapons to both sides of a conflict (even when they themselves were "at war" against them) sometimes even providing intelligence and or more weaponry to a third party that might have interest in the conflict, just to keep the economy flowing.