by Rachel Stockton

Created on: August 07, 2011   Last Updated: May 04, 2012

In November of 1918, there was a celebration at the Palace of Versailles; it was Armistice Day, and at 11:00 a.m. the final battle of World War I officially ended following  4.5 years of carnage that had spanned the entire globe.

• The Start of Worldwide Discord

In June of 1914, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his fiancee were assassinated in Sarajevo by a Serbian Nationalist.

Of course, leaders had been assassinated before and would be after.  The difference between the ramifications of prior uprisings and the 1914 incident is that the latter set off a perfect storm of international volatility that had never been seen prior, and has only been witnessed one time since. 

The Austro-Hungarian Empire had a political and military alliance with  Germany that insured mutual military assistance, should either country become engaged in a war. Germany stood at the ready in compliance with that agreement, after the double assassination.

The horrific maelstrom of events as they occurred during the war merit a separate article; for this particular endeavor, however, focus is on the treaties, which were crafted to address the aftermath of each of the Central Powers versus the Allies.

Briefly, the "Central Powers" refer to Germany and the Austro-Hungarian empire.  Essentially, the Allied nations refer to Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the United States

The  "war to end all wars" resulted in the deaths of 9 million on battlefields proper, with several million more perishing in the aftermath due to food shortages and other dire circumstances leading to health care emergencies.  Trench war and air raids led the pack of warfare tactics that have changed the way the world has engaged in combat, since.

• Treaty of Versailles

Germany was bankrupt at the end of the war; they had been globally defeated, and no funds were available to reinstate the war.  Rather than risk an assured invasion by the Allies due to noncompliance,  they signed the Treaty of Versailles, an agreement the Western Powers had constructed for them, without their consultation.  This exclusion remained a sore point that resonated throughout the nation for several decades.  Again, another article.

The tribunal in charge of  post-war deliberations consisted of five judges from as many Allied nations:  Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the United States.  

So, the Treaty of Versailles

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