Next summer will mark the 100th anniversary of the chain of diplomatic missteps that led to World War I. In light of recent economic blunders, this also should be the opportunity to revisit the war’s aftermath, when miscalculations seeded the conditions that led to World War II. In 1919, at the Versailles Peace Conference, France and the U.K. resolved to impose draconian “reparation” payments on a defeated Germany. The idea was both to compensate the U.K. and France for the horrific costs of the war, and to ensure that Germany could never again threaten Europe. The terms required Germany to make an initial payment of ... (full story)