Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World

by Liaquat Ahamed

The reaction within Germany to the peace treaty reached a pitch of hysteria. All forms of public entertainment were suspended for a week as a sign of protest. Flags across the country were lowered to half-mast. The chancellor, Philipp Scheidemann, characterized the terms as “unbearable, unrealizable, and unacceptable,” and proclaimed that it would make the Germans “slaves and helots . . . doing forced labor behind barbed wire and prison bars.” The Germans were given a deadline of five days to agree to the terms or face a resumption of hostilities. Scheidemann resigned rather than put his signature on the document, of which he said, “What hand would not wither which placed this chain upon itself and upon us?” On the day that Germany accepted the terms, its Protestant churches declared a day of national mourning.