JOHN MAYNARD KEYNESIS’S

CRITICISMS OF THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES

John Maynard Keynes argued that this move is a

counterproductive and that the Germany will take a
lot of time to pay the amounts. Through the various
destruction caused by the Germany the reparation
cost would serve as a punishment for causing World
War 1 and the other countries would also try to
benefit from this post war actions. For instance, the
Britian argued that it was worth compensation for
human life loss which left many widows, orphans
and wounded men who could not provide adequate
labour in their industries. USA also protected the
Germany to do business with them later. The secret
alliances in Europe where also responsible for
starting the war. The treaty of VERSAILLE bared
Germany responsible whereas the other countries
were building armies and waiting for a sign to begin
another war. (ukessays)
At the palace of Versailles outside Paris, Germany
signed the treaty of Versailles officially ending the
war, But John Maynard Keynes who had attended
the peace conference left to protest of the treaty. In
December 1919 John Maynard Keynes published a
book which was known as the Economic
Consequence of Peace, Keynes predicted that the
harsh terms imposed on Germany would eventually
be the downfall of the country leading to financial
crisis and also have serious issues relating to
economic and political development on Europe and
the world. (from history)
The Germany reply to the first draft of the Versailles
treaty saying,
“The German Peace Delegation has completed its
first examination of the conditions of peace which
were handed to it. It has had to recognize that the
agreed basis of the peace of justice has been
abandoned on important points; it was not
prepared to see that the promise given expressly to
the German people and to all mankind would be
rendered illusory in this fashion. The draft treaty
contains demands which are not tolerable to any
people. Much of it, moreover, in the opinion of our
experts, is not possible of fulfilment.”(citation).
While minor modification did occur but overall the
basic structure did not change. The allied responded
by issuing an ultimatum:
“the allied and Associated Powers must make it
clear that this letter and memorandum
constitute their final word… As such it must be
accepted or rejected as it now stands… If they
(the German government) refuse, the armistice
will terminate and the Allied and Associated
Powers will take such steps as they needful to
enforce the terms.” (citation). The German
were rather forcefully surrendered than a peace
treaty. On January 8, 1918 the congress
qualification in question were two in number.
The first was related to the freedom of the seas
and the second was relating to reparation. The
president declared that the invaded territories
were also to be restored as well as evacuated
and made free. The allied governments
understand that to make compensation of the
damage that was caused by the war there
should be aggression of Germany by land, by
sea, and from the air. The payments that
demanded from Germany were bad. “The
German economic as it existed before the war
depended on three main factors 1. Overseas
commerce as represented by her marine,
colonies, foreign investments, exports and any
other connections of her merchants 2. The
exploitation of coal and iron industries 3. And
her transport and tariff system”. (citation) these
three were certainly the most vulnerable.