The Economic Consequences of the Peace

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Before becoming one of the twentieth century's most celebrated economists, John Maynard Keynes served as a financial representative for the British Treasury at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference to negotiate the Versailles treaty which would officially end World War I. Keynes resigned from the treasury in protest about a month before the final treaty was signed, and The Economic Consequences of the Peace describes his reasons for doing so. Keynes contends that domestic political considerations and a desire for revenge led to an unreasonably high burden being placed on the defeated Germany. In making the argument he paints unflattering portraits of the then French President Georges Clemenceau, the British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, and the American President Woodrow Wilson. According to Keynes, the effect of a negotiated treaty on the population of an already impoverished enemy was considered a far lower priority than disputes involving borders. Meanwhile, the exceptionally high cost of reparations ...