ates of Dortmund and Stuttgart. Most importantly, the Saarland was placed under international rule, and control of its valuable Ruhr coal fields were given to France. In Article 50, Point 34 of the treaty it was determined that after 15 years, the Saarland would be allowed to hold a plebiscite to select, "a) Maintenance of the regime established by the present Treaty... b) Union with France, or c) Union with Germany. Germany's borders had been diminished and the country was now split in half by the Treaty of Versailles.
             The Treaty of Versailles also charged Germany with the task of paying heavy reparations. The treaty set up a reparations committee that would meet sometime in 1921 to determine reparations for Germany to pay. Until then, Germany would pay $5,000,000,000 due May 1, 1921. The Germans would have to wait to see what reparations they would really pay. Until then, though, they started on the $5,000,000,000, already a very daunting task for the nation.
             The economic strain put on Germany was probably the single most important factor in increasing hostility of the Germans towards Britain and France. The Germans by 1921 had paid off almost half of the $5,000,000,000 charged by Versailles. Then the reparations committee finally met and determined that Germany should pay another $25,000,000,000, plus other costs, bringing the total up to $32,500,000,000 to be paid by 1963! This demand, however, was ridiculous. Germany had hardly enough money to pay the entire original fee. In 1918, the German Reichsbank had only $577,089,500 dollars. This demand would crush the German economy, and many experts predicted it could even cause the starvation of the German people. Leading economist of the time John Maynard Keynes said of this, "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 detesta
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