Versailles Signed: WWI Ends, Seeds of War Sown
The Treaty of Versailles was signed in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles on June 28, 1919, formally ending World War I. The treaty held Germany solely responsible for the war (Article 231, the "war guilt" clause), stripped it of 13% of its territory and 10% of its population, limited its army to 100,000 men, prohibited tanks and an air force, and imposed reparations eventually set at 132 billion gold marks (roughly $400 billion today). The treaty also created the League of Nations, which the US Senate refused to join. John Maynard Keynes warned in "The Economic Consequences of the Peace" that the punitive terms would impoverish Germany and breed resentment. He was right: the reparations contributed to hyperinflation, economic collapse, and the political extremism that brought Hitler to power 14 years later.
June 28, 1919
107 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on June 28
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