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| Hall of Mirrors, Château de Versailles |
On June 28, 1919 the allied powers
that had ended World War I and Germany met at the Château de Versailles, in the
Hall of Mirrors, to sign a peace settlement. The conditions listed in the
Treaty of Versailles were used to discipline Germany, which some people believe
helped initiate the rise of Nazi-Germany, which eventually lead to World War
II. The treaty was discussed at the Paris Peace Conference in January of 1919,
with famous diplomats including our President, at the time, Woodrow Wilson. In
May the documents were handed to Germany and they were given three weeks to
accept the treaty; Germany in return sent back a list of complaints, most of
which were ignored by the allied powers.
By accepting this treaty Germany
had to take full responsibility for any damage caused in WWI (The “War Guilt”
clause). They also had to decrease the size of their army down to 100,00 men,
and pay a large sum of money to the allied powers for repairs. So on June 28,
1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Hermann
Muller and Johannes Bell, representatives from Germany, entered the Hall of
Mirrors and signed the Treaty of Versailles.
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