Question

Background information: This passage was written by famed British economist John Maynard Keynes in 1919.

According to [the French] vision of the future, European history is to be a perpetual prize-fight, of which France has won this round, but of which this round is certainly not the last. . . . The policy of reducing Germany to servitude for a generation, of degrading the lives of millions of human beings, and of depriving a whole nation of happiness should be abhorrent and detestable, – even if it were possible, even if it enriched ourselves, even if it did not sow the decay of the whole civilized life of Europe.

–John M. Keynes,
The Economic Consequences of the Peace

What is Maynard Keynes’s view of the treaty?

It is the last round of a prize fight that France has now won.
It is detestable and will bring about the end of European civilization.
It will ensure millions of human beings will find happiness.
It enriches the lives of the French and British.

Answer 1

It is detestable and will bring about the end of European civilization.

Keynes calls the treaty “abhorrent and detestable” and warns it will “sow the decay of the whole civilized life of Europe.”