The Treaty of Versailles (1919) was a document signed between Germany and the Allied Powers following World War I that officially ended that war. The treaty enacted severe punitive damages on Germany including seizure of territory, loss of colonies, reduction of its military to a symbolic size, and requirements it pay reparations to the victors. The treaty assigned Germany sole responsibility for starting World War I, despite the complex causes behind that war, and the requirement to pay reparations contributed to the financial and social instability of the Weimar Republic. The terms of the treaty are often blamed for helping create the conditions that led to World War II, a major reason that European integration, not retaliation, was the leading priority in 1940s post-war Europe.
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