Paris Peace Conference, (1919–20), the meeting that inaugurated the international settlement after World War I.

Treaty of Versailles Dignitaries gathered in the Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors) at the Palace of Versailles for the signing of the peace treaty ending World War I, 1919. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (digital. id. ppmsca 07634)

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Although hostilities had been brought formally to an end by a series of armistices between the Allies and their adversaries—that of Salonika (Thessaloníka) with Bulgaria on September 29, 1918, that of Mudros with Turkey on October 30, that of Villa Giusti with Austria-Hungary on November 3, and that of Rethondes with Germany on November 11—the conference did not open until January 18, 1919. This delay was attributable chiefly to the British prime minister, David Lloyd George, who chose to have his mandate confirmed by a general election before entering into negotiations.

Lloyd George’s arrival in Paris was followed on January 12, 1919, by a preliminary meeting of the French, British, U.S., and Italian heads of government and foreign ministers—respectively, Georges Clemenceau and Stephen Pichon; Lloyd George and Arthur James Balfour; Woodrow Wilson (who fell ill at the conference, probably having contracted the flu as the influenza pandemic of 1918–19 raged) and Robert Lansing; and Vittorio Emanuele Orlando and Sidney Sonnino—at which it was decided that they themselves, with the Japanese plenipotentiaries, would constitute a Supreme Council, or Council of Ten, to monopolize all the major decision making. In March, however, the Supreme Council was, for reasons of convenience, reduced to a Council of Four, numbering only the Western heads of government, as the chief Japanese plenipotentiary, Prince Saionji Kimmochi, abstained from concerning himself with matters of no interest to Japan. The foreign ministers continued to meet as a Council of Five dealing with secondary matters.

The five great powers likewise controlled the Supreme Economic Council, created in February 1919 to advise the conference on economic measures to be taken pending the negotiation of peace. Specialized commissions were appointed to study particular problems: the organization of a League of Nations and the drafting of its Covenant; the determination of responsibility for the war and guarantees against a renewal of it; reparations; international labour legislation; international ports, waterways, and railroads; financial questions; economic questions of a permanent sort; aviation; naval and military matters; and territorial questions.

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Major products of the conference were (1) the Covenant of the League of Nations, which was submitted in a first draft on February 14, 1919, and finally approved, in a revised version, on April 28, (2) the Treaty of Versailles, presented at last to a German delegation on May 7, 1919, and signed, after their remonstrances, on June 28, (3) the Treaty of Saint-Germain, presented to an Austrian delegation in a rough draft on June 2, 1919, and in a fuller version on July 20 and signed on September 10, and (4) the Treaty of Neuilly, presented to a Bulgarian delegation on September 19, 1919, and signed on November 27. There had been wrangling among the Allies over both the treaties with Germany and those with Austria. Concerning the former, the Americans and the British resisted French demands affecting Germany’s western frontier and the Polish demand, supported by France, for Danzig (Gdańsk), while the Americans also objected to Japanese claims to Germany’s special privileges in Shantung (Shandong), China. Concerning the latter treaty, the Italians and the Yugoslavs quarreled over the partition of Austria’s former possessions on the Adriatic Sea.

The formal inauguration of the League of Nations on January 16, 1920, brought the Paris conference to an end, before the conclusion of treaties with Turkey (1920, 1923) or with Hungary (1920).