Paris Peace Conference. The stormy debates were dominated by the four “great” powers: Georges Clémenceau, the French Chief of Government, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, US President Woodrow Wilson, and the Italian Prime Minister, Vittorio Orlando. The defeated countries were excluded from the meeting room. The Paris Conference laid the foundations for the Treaty of Versailles, signed on June 28, 1919.

The Treaty redraws the map of Europe from the ruins of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. Germany is forced to admit its responsibility for the war and stripped of its colonies. Its armed forces are limited to 100,000 men for territorial defence purposes only and Germany is obliged to pay indemnities for war damages to the victorious allies. The Treaty also includes the founding Covenant of the League of Nations.

The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies.
— Treaty of Versailles, Article 231