Rating: 
Summary: The Economic Consequences of the Peace
Review: "The Economic Consequences of the Peace" is a very enlightening book about the attempt at peace for the post World War I era. It focuses mainly on the Treaty of Versailles, and how the Council of Four neglected to solve the most important problems of the world that might have eventually led to peace. First of all, the Treaty did not make provisions for the rehabilitation of Europe, it did nothing to establish good relations between the Central Empires, and failed to adjust the systems of the Old World and the New. After reading this book, I agree with John Keynes' theory and account of the mistakes made by the world's leaders. His call for change and ways to solve the problems are sensible and caused me to think about what might have happened if certain things had been done differently. This book was very educational, but its slow moving and difficult text made it a little hard to follow. However, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the period between World War I and II, because it gives a very detailed, almost firsthand account of what actually happened during the peace conferences, and the economic consequences of those talks of peace.
Rating:
Summary: The Economic Consequences of the Peace
Review: "The Economic Consequences of the Peace" is a very enlightening book about the attempt at peace for the post World War I era. It focuses mainly on the Treaty of Versailles, and how the Council of Four neglected to solve the most important problems of the world that might have eventually led to peace. First of all, the Treaty did not make provisions for the rehabilitation of Europe, it did nothing to establish good relations between the Central Empires, and failed to adjust the systems of the Old World and the New. After reading this book, I agree with John Keynes' theory and account of the mistakes made by the world's leaders. His call for change and ways to solve the problems are sensible and caused me to think about what might have happened if certain things had been done differently. This book was very educational, but its slow moving and difficult text made it a little hard to follow. However, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the period between World War I and II, because it gives a very detailed, almost firsthand account of what actually happened during the peace conferences, and the economic consequences of those talks of peace.
Rating:
Summary: The Economic Consequences of the Peace
Review: "The Economic Consequences of the Peace" is a very enlightening book about the attempt at peace for the post World War I era. It focuses mainly on the Treaty of Versailles, and how the Council of Four neglected to solve the most important problems of the world that might have eventually led to peace. First of all, the Treaty did not make provisions for the rehabilitation of Europe, it did nothing to establish good relations between the Central Empires, and failed to adjust the systems of the Old World and the New. After reading this book, I agree with John Keynes' theory and account of the mistakes made by the world's leaders. His call for change and ways to solve the problems are sensible and caused me to think about what might have happened if certain things had been done differently. This book was very educational, but its slow moving and difficult text made it a little hard to follow. However, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the period between World War I and II, because it gives a very detailed, almost firsthand account of what actually happened during the peace conferences, and the economic consequences of those talks of peace.
Rating: 
Summary: Peace which sowed the seeds of its own destruction
Review: Great British economist John Maynard Keynes second book recounts his assessment of the economic consequences of the Treaty of Versailles, where he was a member of British delegation as an economic expert.
Keynes starts with providing a dazzling psychological analysis on how the treaty came to be.
"When President Wilson left Washinghton he enjoyed a prestige and a moral influence throughout the world unequalled in history ... Never had a philosopher help such weapons wherewith to bind the princes of this world. How the crowds of the European capitals presses about the carriage of the President! With what curiosity, anxiety, and hope we sought a glimpse of the features and bearing of the man of destiny who, coming from the West, was to bring healing to the wounds of the ancient parent of this civilization and lay for us the foundations and the future"
Alas, this was not to be. American idealism, French quest for security and British distaste for alliances and hypocrisy created an unworkable solution. Soul of the treaty was sacrificed to placate domestic political process, and as the result put Germany in the position of defiance and economic insolvency; the position which at the bottom drew sympathy from the former Allies and as the result contributed to brutality of the second conflict.
Keynes draws a picture of pan-European economy which was destroyed by the treaty and rightfully predicted that not only Germany will not be able to pay, but will be obligated to pursue the expansionist policy at the expense of her weak Eastern neighbors. Treaty did not contain any positive economic programme for rehabilitation of the economic life of Central powers and Russia. One just could not disrupt the economic position of the greatest European land power, at the same time strengthening it geo-politically and suffer no horrible retribution. ""The Peace Treaty of Versailles: This is not Peace. It is an Armistice
for twenty years." - said Foch about such a agreement.
Rating:
Summary: What should have happened
Review: In this book Keynes brilliantly presents the nature of political and economical conditions in the Europe after WWI. Keynes in this also criticizes the Versailles treaty, which was aimed towards punishing Germany. He believed it would just make economic conditions worse in Germany, which would lead to the stronger position of Nazi party.
Rating:
Summary: The real consequences of the peace in 1st world war
Review: John Maynard Keynes is the most famous and important economist in the 30¡¦s decade of 20th century. The insight of this book is very thorough. Keynes¡¦s way of analysis is well worth to learn. He can balance between the real situation and ideal situation. He suggests three compensation approaches:
¡P Conservative prediction: 20 hundred million
¡P Realistic prediction: 30 hundred million
¡P Optimistic prediction: 40 hundred millionHowever, none of the parties support his recommendations. They believe that Germany must bear full responsibility for the war. Therefore, Keynes have written this book and exposed a plot of the Versailles Peace Treaty, which was not only highly exceeded the compensation capacity of Germany, and also it would led the middle part of Europe become pauperization. Therefore, Keynes was disagreeing with the Versailles Peace Treaty. He believed that the Versailles Peace Treaty would bring another crisis to the world and affect the peace of the world. Germany will arouse another war for revenge. To conclude, the economic consequences of the peace is the beginning of another war.
Rating: 
Summary: A classic on its subject. And well written too.
Review: One of the most influential books of the early 20th century. Keynes' insightful criticism of the Paris Peace settlement are a must read for anyone interested in the Versailles settlement or interwar Europe. While the opinions and conclusions Keynes has are open to debate, it was this work which has set the standard for agreement or disagreement about the effects of the conference. As much as to its arguments about trade, Keynes book owes its success to its suburb writing and lively style.
Rating:
Summary: A classic on its subject. And well written too.
Review: One of the most influential books of the early 20th century. Keynes' insightful criticism of the Paris Peace settlement are a must read for anyone interested in the Versailles settlement or interwar Europe. While the opinions and conclusions Keynes has are open to debate, it was this work which has set the standard for agreement or disagreement about the effects of the conference. As much as to its arguments about trade, Keynes book owes its success to its suburb writing and lively style.
Rating:
Summary: An unknown classic
Review: The art of writing a valuable work on a conjuntural topic of politics is a difficult one. One must at the same time have an eye for the detail of ongoing developments as well as grasp the concrete goals of the main protagonists, and eventually be able to devine the overall logic of the general process. Few writers on politics mastered this art. One, for instance, was Marx in his accounts of contemporary Franch politics- "Class Struggles in France" and the "Eighteenth Brumaire". Another was this work by Keynes, that dealing with an event fraught with bitter partsan struggles, was able at the same time to wite a history of the Versailles Treaty and at the same time an history of the crisis of XIXth. Century laissez faire capitalism. Simply a classic.
Rating:
Summary: A prophetic book on the Second World War.
Review: The Economic Consequences of the Peace was written in 1920 by Keynes, who was not already recognized as the most influential economist of the 20th century, a condition he would only attain when he wrote his famous General Theory some years later, and can be interpreted as a personal outburst against the heads of state of the four countries who participated in the Group of Four (France, Italy, UK and the USA) and decided the fate not only of the defeated countries (Germany and Austria) but also of the whole world, in a way that Keynes was adamantly against and which led to his resignation of his capacity of an important negotiator in the British delegation. One has also to remember that Keynes had always been against the war and lost some important friends in the conflict. The portrait he gives of the different negotiating abilities of French's Clemenceau, United States' president Wilson and British Prime Minister Lloyd George is a devastating picture of the different motives each one of them had at the time: the aim of Clemenceau was to exact revenge to French's traditional enemy and to debilitate Germany as much as possible, thus postponing her return to prosperity and to menace again France. WIlson's, portrayed as a good man but lacking any negotiating feature a man of his stature should have, was a frail man only to save his face in the moral stances he took in his preliminary 14 points Armistice proposal, which led to the initial surrender of the Germans to the Allied forces. The British Lloyd George was only worried about upcoming elections in his country and was playing all the cards (good or bad) he had to save himself from an humiliating defeat to the Liberals. The outcome of it all was a Peace Treaty who despised each and every point of reality, representing a burden Germany would not be able to pay, thus leading to the dismantling of an economic European system that led famine, social disturbance and finally to the World War II. The book is a best-seller ever since and very easy to read and should be also recommended to every one interested in the power broker skills one has to have to succeed (Clemenceau) or fail (Wilson) in negotiation as hard as this one.
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