ABSTRACT
The Peace Conference opened in Paris in January, 1919, and completed its treaty-making in June 1920, leaving a good many loose ends to be tied up by a Conference of Ambassadors of the victorious powers, a Reparations Commission and the newly formed League of Nations. The Treaty of Versailles ended the state of war with Germany, imposed many penalties upon it and restored to France Alsace and Lorraine, which Germany had taken in 1870. Monsieur Clemenceau, the tough old French Premier, certainly voiced the feelings of most Frenchmen in demanding punishment, guarantees against any future aggression from Germany, which had invaded France twice in a life-time, and payment for the vast amount of damage done. The Covenant of the League of Nations represented a real desire to create a means of settling disputes without war, altering treaties by consent and promoting international disarmament and co-operation in every field.
