Reparations, the War Guilt Clause, and Keynes's critique

Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles, later known as the "War Guilt Clause," established that Germany and its allies accepted responsibility for the loss and damage the Allies suffered as a consequence of German aggression. Drafted chiefly as a legal foundation for reparations claims, the clause was widely interpreted in Germany as an exclusive moral condemnation, generating deep humiliation and fueling the broad rejection of the treaty. The total reparations bill was left undetermined at Versailles itself; a Reparations Commission finally fixed it in 1921 at 132 billion gold marks, an enormous figure whose real economic feasibility was immediately contested.