jun 28, 1919 - The delegates met at the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles, near Paris, and forced two Germans to sign the treaty.

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The Treaty consisted of 440 articles and was greeted by shock and disbelief in Germany.

Territorial: The Saar, with its rich coalfields, was given to France for 15 years, Alsace-Lorraine returned to France, rich farmlands of Posen and the Polish corridor between Germany and East Prussia were given to Poland, Danzig was made a free city under the League of Nations control, and all Germany's colonies were taken and given to France and Britain as 'mandates'.

Military: The Rhineland was demilitarised - the German army was not allowed to go there, Germany was forbidden to reunite with Austria, and the German army was restricted to 100,000 men, six battleships, no submarines and no airforce.

Financial and Economical: Germany was not allowed to join the League of Nations, Germany was responsible for causing all the loss and damage caused by the war and would have to pay reparations set as 132 billion gold marks.

The Treaty of Versailles is often referred to as the hated treaty - this is due to the fact that the leaders of America, Britain, France and Germany were all deeply unhappy with many different areas of the final agreement.

Germany's reaction: Angry that they were not allowed to negotiate, calling it a diktat, denied the war-guilt clause in 1927, the Kapp Putsch saw a revolution in Berlin in 1920 and hated the idea of being forced to pay reparations in 1921.

Many nationalists saw the Weimar Government as selling Germany to the enemies, as they ended the war too early. They were labeled as the "November Criminal" and the "Stab in the Back"; phrases coined by Adolf Hitler.

Britain: Gained some colonies and the German navy was destroyed, however, Lloyd George believed that the treaty was too harsh, the British diplomat called it "neither just nor wise", and the economist John Maynard Keynes stating that the reparations would ruin the economy of Europe.

France: Received Alsace-Lorraine, German colonies, harsh reparations on Germany, and reducing the German army, but many French people wanted an independent, not demilitarised, Rhineland and did not think the League of Nations would protect France from Germany.

USA: Got the League of Nations and new nations states set up in Eastern Europe but, Wilson thought the treaty was far too harsh, self-determination proved impossible to implement - neither Czechoslovakia or Yugoslavia survive as united countries, and many Americans did not want to get involved in Europe, and so in 1920, the American Senate refused to sign the Treaty of Versailles, or join the League of Nations.

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