The Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, at the Paris Peace Conference. Of the many provisions in the treaty, one of the most important and controversial required Germany to accept responsibility for causing the war and, under the terms of articles to disarm, make substantial territorial concessions and pay heavy reparations to certain countries that had formed the Entente powers.

In 1921 the total cost of these reparations was estimated to be at 132 billion Marks (roughly equivalent to US $442 billion), a sum that many economists at the time, notably John Maynard Keynes, deemed to be excessive and counterproductive. The result of these competing and sometimes conflicting goals among the victors was compromise that left none contented: Germany was not permanently weakened. This would prove to be one of the factors leading to the beginning of World War II.