The Economic Consequences of the Peace

At the Versailles Conference, John Maynard Keynes advocated for a more lenient peace, arguing that the Treaty was excessively punitive towards Germany. His influential book, a bestseller, shaped public opinion against the treaty and the League of Nations, highlighting the unfair treatment of Germany, which later fueled support for appeasement in Britain. This work solidified Keynes' status as a prominent economist and informed his contributions to the Bretton Woods system and the Marshall Plan post-World War II, reflecting lessons learned from the Versailles experience and the Great Depression.