Versailles, Treaty of

1. The treaty that officially ended World War I, signed at the Palace of Versailles in France. The leading figures at the treaty negotiations were Premier Georges Clemenceau of France, Prime Minister David Lloyd George of Britain, and President Woodrow Wilson of the United States. The treaty was far more punitive toward Germany than Wilson's Fourteen Points; it required Germany to give up land and much of its army and navy and to pay extensive reparations for damages to civilians in the war. The treaty also created the League of Nations.

Example Sentences

It took about 20 years from the Versailles Treaty of 1919 for Germany to respond to perceived humiliation by sending the Third Reich’s war machine across its neighbors’ border, igniting World War II. It took about 30 years for Mr. Putin’s brooding resentment over the perceived humiliation of the breakup of the Soviet empire to lead to a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

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Agreements between nations are often named for where they were crafted: Kyoto Protocol, Oslo Accord, Geneva Conventions, Treaty of Versailles, Treaty of Paris.

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The Versailles Treaty of 1919, which many people blame for World War II, was an anomaly.

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Versailles, treaty of, 236, 241, 244, 292, 296.

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The Versailles Treaty of 1919 that ended World War I put Germany under a huge reparations bill.

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