European Peace Treaties 1919–20

In all, 32 representatives of 32 countries convened at Versailles in 1919 to draw up a peace settlement after World War I. In practice, the ultimate arbiters were the US, France and Britain and, to a lesser extent, Italy. Apart from the centerpiece Treaty of Versailles, there were four other major treaties. Under Versailles, Germany lost West Prussia and Posen to Poland and Alsace-Lorraine to France. Danzig was made a free port and the Saarland a demilitarized zone administered by the League of Nations. The Treaties of Trianon and St Germain confirmed the much-reduced territories of the kingdoms of Austria and Hungary. By the Treaty of Neuilly, Bulgaria ceded western Thrace, Dobruja and northern Macedonia to Greece, Romania and Yugoslavia respectively. The Treaty of Sèvres was concluded with Turkey and ceded eastern Thrace and the Aegean Islands to Greece, while the Allied Powers were granted control of the Dardanelles straits.