The British economist John Maynard Keynes wrote and published The Economic Consequences of the Peace in 1919. Following WWI, Keynes served as a representative for the British Treasury at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference. He argued for a much more generous peace in his book, not out of a desire for justice or fairness, but for the sake of the economic well-being of all of Europe, including the Allied Powers, which the Treaty of Versailles and its associated treaties would prevent.
The book was a worldwide best-seller and was instrumental in creating the widespread belief that the Treaties of Versailles were a "Carthaginian peace" meant to destroy the vanquished Central Powers, particularly Germany. It contributed to the consolidation of anti-treaty sentiment in the United States, as well as opposition to entering the League of Nations. The notion that Germany had been treated unjustly by the British public was a major element in eventual public support for Hitler's appeasement.
The book's popularity cemented Keynes' status as a major economist, particularly among the left. When Keynes was a crucial figure in the 1944 establishment of the Bretton Woods system, he drew on lessons from both Versailles and the Great Depression. The Marshall Plan, which was used to reconstruct Europe after WWII, was modeled after the method described by John Maynard Keynes in The Economic Consequences of Peace.
