Treaty of Versailles

Versailles, Treaty of, agreement ending World War I, imposed on Germany by the Allies on June 28, 1919. It set up the League of Nations. Under the treaty, Germany lost all her colonies and Lorraine was given to France, Eupen-Malmédy to Belgium, and Posen and West Prussia to Poland. Gdansk became a free city, the Saar (with its coalfields) was to be under international administration for 15 years, and the Rhineland was to be demilitarized and occupied by the Allies for 15 years at German cost. Heavy reparations were imposed, and Germany's armed forces were drastically reduced. German resentment of the treaty's harshness was a factor in the rise of Nazism and the eventual outbreak of World War II.

See also: World War I.