Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles was the peace settlement that ended the First World War with Germany. It was worked out at the Paris Peace Conference, which convened in January 1919 at Versailles outside Paris and was dominated by the delegates of the United Kingdom, France, the United States and Italy, the so called Big Four. Its text opens with the Covenant of the League of Nations and is dated June 28, 1919. Under it Germany surrendered about ten percent of its prewar European territory and all of its overseas possessions, the port of Danzig and the Saarland came under League of Nations administration, the German army and navy were limited in size, and the trial of Kaiser Wilhelm II and other officials was permitted. In Article 231 Germany accepted responsibility for the war and liability for reparations. The United States Senate fell seven votes short of ratification in March 1920, and Washington made a separate peace with Germany in the Treaty of Berlin of August 1921.