In The Economic Consequence of the Peace, Keynes (1920) attacked the effects of the settlement for its consequences on Germany. Keynes objected various items that emanated from the peace conference. The peace conference focused on a study of the implications of the peace on the conditions of the Germans. The reports from the conference stated that Germany had transformed from an agrarian economy to an industrial economy. However, when the state depended on agricultural economy, it could sustain its population. Agricultural production could sustain more that forty million people. However, Germany could ensure the means of subsistence for a population of less than seventy million if it were an industrial state (Keynes, 1920).
Changes began to occur in 1913 when food imports increased drastically to more than twelve million tons. Furthermore, before the Civil War, more than fifteen million inhabitants of Germany survived on foreign trade, utilization of foreign raw materials as well as exploration through navigation. The report followed the rehearsals of the pertinent provisions attained from the Treaty that states that after the decrease of German products and after the economic depression that occurred from the deprivation of its economy, commercial fleet as well as the vast investments in foreign countries, Germany could not be in a position to obtain a reliable supply of raw materials from foreign countries. This condition would drastically have negative impacts on the industries in Germany that will be on the brink of destruction. Moreover, it would require import more foodstuffs at a time as the ability to sustain its population by meeting the demands was drastically reduced (Keynes, 1920). The implication to Germany would be the inability to sustain the demands of its population. Furthermore, the Germans who obtained their livelihood from navigation and trade were also affected. Moreover, emigration was materially unattainable because most nations were opposed to Germans. Thus, the objections to the Peace Treaty were based on the loss of many Germans in case the execution of the peace conditions was implemented.
This was catastrophic to the nation because German population had been greatly jeopardized during the Civil War by the Blockade as well as the aggravation of the blockade of famine. There was no appropriate solution that could prevent the suffering of the Germans in large numbers. The report also stated that there was doubt that the effects on Germany, an industrialized state with a dense population and parallel to the global economic system being in the need of getting raw materials from foreign countries would be resilient and bounce back to the original level of development that corresponds to the prevailing economic situation and the demographic composition in the past decades. The Peace Treaty was objected, and it was clarified that those who sign the Peace Treaty would be compromising the health of the German population including men, women, and children.
In conclusion, the Treaty was one of the most complicated conferences that failed to realize the major goals that were designed on its frames (Boemeke, et al, 1998). The negotiations greatly affected the relationships between the allies as well as the economic conditions in Germany, the U.S.A, and the rest of European nations. The effects that Keynes predicted included no provision for economic resilience in Europe as there was nothing to make it stable or to promote any solidarity amongst the allies.
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