Today on Gus’ Gear I revisit the article on currency used during the War to give a better table of exchange rates as well as the base pay for a common foot soldier. I have not been able to find hard data on all countries, and some have been omitted for that reason, and others I have had to extrapolate or use first person accounts to get an idea of the amount a soldier received. In these cases I will list the source. There are some discrepancies between the different exchange tables that can be attributed to the time they were compiled. Currency exchanges were fairly stable in the first half of 1914, but with the outbreak of the war, they fluctuated rather wildly.
The Austro-Hungarians issued currency for use in occupied Montenegro. The denominations are interesting as the 10 Perper note is exchangeable for 5 Perper in coin, or 5 Kronen, which give an exchange rate on par for the Montenegrin coins and the Austrian currency, but the Montenegrin paper currency is only worth half face value in exchange. Coins are usually in short supply during times of crisis, especially gold, silver and copper coins. The coins of Montenegro were minted in Vienna and are about the same size and weight as the Austrian coins and could be substituted for them to fill the need for hard currency.
Germany issued currency in the territories that they occupied, The 1 Frank note for use in occupied Luxembourg gives the exchange rate between the German Mark and the Luxembourg Frank as 80 Pfinnig to the Frank. The 2 Frank note is 1 Mark 60 Pfinnig to 2 Luxembourg Frank.
According to the World Gold Council,
The British Pound Sterling was equal to
4.87 United States Dollars
12.11 Dutch Guilders
25.22 French Francs
20.43 German Mark
9.46 Russian Rubles
24.02 Austro-Hungarian Kronen
These figures align with the other conversions with only small variations. Currency exchanges can be effected by many factors other than the value of the unit of currency based on the connection to gold. When paper currency is issued, it often drives the hard currency into savings, a person will be more likely to spend paper than silver or gold, and this can drive the value of the exchange down even though the hard currency still has the declared value. The best example of this lessor value of paper to coin is the Austrian issued paper currency of Montenegro referred to above.
As the war progressed the exchange rates changed quickly with most countries experiencing inflation partly caused by most countries dropping the gold standard, but mostly because of shortages of essential items. Most currencies had such high levels of inflation after the war that they ceased to exist as legal tender with only a few exceptions, the Swiss Franc, the Pound Sterling of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, the Canadian Dollar and the Dollar of the United States.
Values of currencies to gold at 1914
Austrian Krone= 0.30488 grams of gold
Belgian Franc = 0.290322 grams of gold
British Pound Sterling= 7.32 grams of gold
Bulgarian Lev = 0.290322 grams of gold
Finish Markka = 0.290322 grams of gold
French Franc = 0.290322581 grams of gold
German Mark = 0.358 grams of gold
Greek Drachma = 0.290322 grams of gold
Hungarian Krona = 0.30488 grams of gold
Italian Lira =0.290322 grams of gold
Japanese Yen = 1.5 grams of gold
Luxembourg Frang = 0.290322 grams of gold
Netherlands Guilder =.60561 grams of gold
Norwegian Krone = 0.403226 grams of gold*
Ottoman Lira = 6.61519 grams of gold
Portuguese Escudo = 1.48 grams of gold
Romanian Leu =0.29032 grams of gold
Serbian Dinar = 0.290322 grams of gold
Spanish Peseta = 0.290322 grams of gold
Swiss Franc = 0.290322 grams of gold
US Dollar =1.6 grams of gold
*The common unit of currency of the Scandinavian countries, Norway, Sweden, Denmark. The Krone was valued at .72 Krone = 1 Franc. The Scandinavian Monetary Union existed from 1873 until 1914.
The British coins were
Farthing = 1/4 Penny
Halfpenny
Penny
Tuppence = 2 Pence
Thruppence = 3 Pence
6 Pence
Shilling = 12 Pence
Florin = 2 Shillings = 24 Pence
Half Crown = 2s/6d = 18 Pence
Crown = 5 Shillings = 1/4 Pound
Sovereign = 1 Pound gold coin
Guinea = 1 Pound/1s
A simple break down of the British currency is;
12 Pence = 1 Shilling
20 Shillings = 1 Pound
The lowest soldier in the German Army was paid 9 Mark per month (Janet Robinson and Joe Robinson, “Handbook of Imperial Germany” page 170). In today’s value, this would be a little over $300 per month, this seems like very little, but the German soldier did not have any expenses to worry about. His clothing, food and board was provided by his regiment, as was health care.
A common soldier in the K.u.K. Service was paid 16 Heller per day (Glenn Jewison & Jörg C. Steiner, “Austro-Hungarian Land Forces 1848-1918 Geldgebühren im Kriege”), or 4 Kronen 80 Heller per month. The Austro-Hungarian Krone was valued at 85 German Pfennig, giving the Soldat just over 4 German Mark per month, or about $135 in current US$.
The Russian soldier was one of the poorest paid soldiers during the Great War. Finding information on what they were paid exactly is difficult, but one source gives the figure to be the equivalent of $.32 US per month in 1914 (Daniel David, “The 1914 Campaign, August-October, 1914” page 15). This comes out to about 1s/4d in British currency, to convert this to a Russian value I have used the exchange given by Florence Farmborough (Florence Farmborough, “With the Armies of the Tsar, a Nurse at the Russian Front 1914-1918” page 319) where she gives an exchange of 50 rubles to 5£ making a ruble equal to 2 Shillings or 24d which gives an approximate value of 1s/4d at 67 Kopek. It would take three days pay to buy an egg on this pay (Florence Farmborough, “With the Armies of the Tsar, a Nurse at the Russian Front 1914-1918” page 181).
In the novel “ Under Fire: The Story of a Squad” it is stated that a French soldier is paid 3 Sous per day (a Sou is 1/20th of a Franc) (Henri Barbusse, “Under Fire: The Story of a Squad” [Le Feu: journal d’une escouade]) or about 4 ½ Francs per month, a little less than $1 US at the time.
The soldiers of the United Kingdom earned a “Shilling a day, blooming good pay!” from a recruiting poster of the time, (Daniel David, “The 1914 Campaign, August-October, 1914” page 15). This amounted to 1£/10s per month, or about $9 US dollars of the time.
The American soldier in 1914 was paid $15 per month (Daniel David, “The 1914 Campaign, August-October, 1914” page 15), by 1918 pay was $20 per month.
Thanks to the Canadian Great War Project, I have numbers for the base pay of a Canadian private at $1.10 Canadian per day or $33 per month on a 30 day month. The exchange rate in 1914 was about $.75 US per $1 Canadian, making the pay just under US$25. This also came with a separation allowance of $C5 to $C10 per month for a wife.