A Revision of the Treaty

OF INTEREST TO: readers of 20th-century history, students of economics I do not admit error in having based The Economic Consequences of the Peace on a literal interpretation of the Treaty of Versailles, or in having examined the results of actually carrying it out. I argued that much of it was impossible; but I do not agree with many critics, who held that, for this very reason, it was also harmless. -from "The State of Opinion" Almost immediately after its ratification, it became clear that the Treaty of Versailles, ending World War I, was at least partly unworkable-and in this 1922 work, famed economist John Maynard Keynes dissected the problems he saw as the Treaty was being put into practice. In what he called a sequel to his 1919 book The Economic Consequences of the Peace, Keynes discusses: .