<P> French economist Étienne Mantoux disputed that analysis . During the 1940s, Mantoux wrote a posthumously published book titled The Carthaginian Peace, or the Economic Consequences of Mr. Keynes in an attempt to rebut Keynes' claims . More recently economists have argued that the restriction of Germany to a small army saved it so much money it could afford the reparations payments . </P> <P> It has been argued (for instance by historian Gerhard Weinberg in his book A World At Arms) that the treaty was in fact quite advantageous to Germany . The Bismarckian Reich was maintained as a political unit instead of being broken up, and Germany largely escaped post-war military occupation (in contrast to the situation following World War II). In a 1995 essay, Weinberg noted that with the disappearance of Austria - Hungary and with Russia withdrawn from Europe, that Germany was now the dominant power in Eastern Europe . </P> <P> The British military historian Correlli Barnett claimed that the Treaty of Versailles was "extremely lenient in comparison with the peace terms that Germany herself, when she was expecting to win the war, had had in mind to impose on the Allies". Furthermore, he claimed, it was "hardly a slap on the wrist" when contrasted with the Treaty of Brest - Litovsk that Germany had imposed on a defeated Russia in March 1918, which had taken away a third of Russia's population (albeit of non-Russian ethnicity), one - half of Russia's industrial undertakings and nine - tenths of Russia's coal mines, coupled with an indemnity of six billion marks . Eventually, even under the "cruel" terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany ′ s economy had been restored to its pre-war status . </P> <P> Barnett also claims that, in strategic terms, Germany was in fact in a superior position following the Treaty than she had been in 1914 . Germany ′ s eastern frontiers faced Russia and Austria, who had both in the past balanced German power . Barnett asserts that its post-war eastern borders were safer, because the former Austrian Empire fractured after the war into smaller, weaker states, Russia was wracked by revolution and civil war, and the newly restored Poland was no match for even a defeated Germany . In the West, Germany was balanced only by France and Belgium, both of which were smaller in population and less economically vibrant than Germany . Barnett concludes by saying that instead of weakening Germany, the treaty "much enhanced" German power . Britain and France should have (according to Barnett) "divided and permanently weakened" Germany by undoing Bismarck's work and partitioning Germany into smaller, weaker states so it could never have disrupted the peace of Europe again . By failing to do this and therefore not solving the problem of German power and restoring the equilibrium of Europe, Britain "had failed in her main purpose in taking part in the Great War". </P>

When and where was the treaty between france and germany signed