Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles[lower-roman 1] was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace of Versailles, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which led to the war. The other Central Powers on the German side signed separate treaties.[lower-roman 2] The United States never ratified the Versailles treaty and made a separate peace treaty with Germany. Although the armistice of 11 November 1918 ended the actual fighting, it took six months of Allied negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference to conclude the peace treaty. Germany was not allowed to participate in the negotiations; it was forced to sign the final treaty.

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Treaty of Versailles

Treaty of Peace between the Allied and Associated Powers and Germany[n. 1]
Cover of the English version
Signed	28 June 1919[1]
Location	Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles, Paris, France[2]
Effective	10 January 1920[3]
Condition	Ratification by Germany and three Principal Allied and Associate Powers[n. 2]
Parties	Principal Allied and Associated Powers[n. 1]  United States  British Empire[n. 2]  •  United Kingdom  •  Canada  •  Australia  •  South Africa  •  New Zealand  •  India  France  Italy  Japan Allied and Associated Powers[n. 1]  Belgium  Bolivia  Brazil  China  Cuba  Ecuador  Greece  Guatemala  Haiti  Hejaz  Honduras  Liberia  Nicaragua  Panama  Peru  Poland  Portugal  Romania  Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes Siam  Czechoslovakia  Uruguay  Germany[n. 1]
Depositary	French Government[n. 2]
Languages	French and English[n. 2]
Full text
Treaty of Versailles at Wikisource

Paris Peace Conference
League of Nations Covenant of the League of Nations Members Organisation Minority Treaties Little Treaty of Versailles Mandates
Treaty of Versailles War guilt Reparations Role in the Weimar Republic's hyperinflation Dawes Plan Hague conference on reparations Young Plan Lausanne Conference Locarno Treaties Possible cause of World War II International Opium Convention
Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine
Treaty of Trianon Treaty of Trianon Millerand letter
Treaty of Sèvres Partition of the Ottoman Empire Conference of London (1920) San Remo conference Turkish National Movement Turkish War of Independence Treaty of Lausanne
Others American Commission to Negotiate Peace Commission of Responsibilities The Inquiry
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The most critical and controversial provision in the treaty was: "The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies." The other members of the Central Powers signed treaties containing similar articles. This article, Article 231, became known as the War Guilt clause. The treaty required Germany to disarm, make ample territorial concessions, and pay reparations to certain countries that had formed the Entente powers. In 1921 the total cost of these reparations was assessed at 132 billion gold marks (then $31.4 billion or £6.6 billion, roughly equivalent to US$442 billion or UK£284 billion in 2023).

Prominent economists such as John Maynard Keynes declared the treaty too harsh, styling it as a "Carthaginian peace", and saying the reparations were excessive and counterproductive. On the other hand, prominent Allied figures such as French Marshal Ferdinand Foch criticized the treaty for treating Germany too leniently. This is still the subject of ongoing debate by historians and economists.

The result of these competing and sometimes conflicting goals among the victors was a compromise that left no one satisfied. In particular, Germany was neither pacified nor conciliated, nor was it permanently weakened. The problems that arose from the treaty would lead to the Locarno Treaties, which improved relations between Germany and the other European powers. The reparation system was reorganized resulting in the Dawes Plan, the Young Plan, and the indefinite postponement of reparations at the Lausanne Conference of 1932. The treaty's terms against Germany resulted in economic collapse and bitter resentment which powered the rise of the Nazi Party, and eventually the outbreak of a second World War.

Although it is often referred to as the "Versailles Conference", only the actual signing of the treaty took place at the historic palace. Most of the negotiations were in Paris, with the "Big Four" meetings taking place generally at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the Quai d'Orsay.