What is Treaty of Versailles?
{{unsourced|date=August 2009}} [[File: Council of Four Versailles.jpg|thumb|Council of Four]] [[File:The signing of the peace treaty of Versailles.webm|thumb|thumbtime=5|''The Signing of the Peace Treaty of Versailles'']] The '''Treaty of Versailles''' ({{lang-fr|Traité de Versailles}}) was a [[peace treaty]] between the nations of [[Empire of Japan|Japan]], the [[United States]], [[France]], [[Germany]] and the [[United Kingdom]] in 1919, after [[World War I]]. Germany, [[Austria]] and [[Hungary]] did not participate in writing the [[treaty]]. Germany had the choice of signing it or facing its [[occupied territory|occupation]] by Allied troops. Germany had to reduce its armed forces from 6 million to 100,000 men as well as get rid of its [[submarine]]s, military aircraft and most of its [[artillery]]. It was allowed to keep only navy [[battleship]]s. Germany had to give back the French territories that it had occupied, giving up large territories to [[Poland]] and other neighbors and all of its [[colony|colonies]]. It also had to pay [[World War I reparations|huge reparations]] for the damage that had been done to Allied countries, especially France, during the war by German troops. The sum would be very large but was not yet fixed. Many gold marks had to be paid only as the first part of the [[World War I reparations#Impact on German economy|German debt.]] The treaty set up the [[League of Nations]], which was intended to make decisions and to keep the peace after the treaty had been signed. The League solved some international disputes without war but could not stop [[World War II]]. The treaty can be seen as a one-sided peace, which was dictated to Germany. The British economist [[John Maynard Keynes]] thought that it was a great mistake to force such harsh measures on the German people, but his advice was ignored. Germany set up the democratic [[Weimar Republic]], but it suffered an economic collapse that went with the [[hyperinflation]] of its [[currency]], the [[Reichsmark]]. This is because Germany h