Treaty Of Versilles

World War I Ended With the Treaty of Versailles

June 28, 1919

World War I (1914-1918) was finally over. This first global conflict had claimed from 9 million to 13 million lives and caused unprecedented damage. Germany had formally surrendered on November 11, 1918, and all nations had agreed to stop fighting while the terms of peace were negotiated. On June 28, 1919, Germany and the Allied Nations (including Britain, France, Italy and Russia) signed the Treaty of Versailles, formally ending the war. (Versailles is a city in France, 10 miles outside of Paris.) The United States did not sign the treaty, however, because it objected to its terms, specifically, the high price that Germany was to pay for its role as aggressor. Instead, the U.S. negotiated its own settlement with Germany in 1921. Do you know what triggered the conflict, sometimes called the "Great War"?

Disagreements in Europe over territory and boundaries, among other issues, came to a head with the assassination by a Serbian zealot of the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria on June 28, 1914. Exactly one month later, war broke out, and by the end of 1915, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Germany and the Ottoman Empire were battling the Allied Powers of Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Belgium, Serbia, Montenegro and Japan. In 1917, the U.S. entered the war after the British passenger liner the Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine, killing 128 Americans.

The Treaty of Versailles imposed very rigid restrictions against Germany, including limiting its army to 100,000 members. President Wilson, who opposed the treaty, had developed his own form of reconciliation, called the "Fourteen Points." The Points included a provision for a League of Nations to prevent "the crime of war." Wilson also wanted all terms of settlement to be openly negotiated. But the actual terms of the treaty