20 August 2017
Treaty of Versailles

“President Wilson signing the Peace Treaty in the Hall of Mirrors, Trianon Palace, Versailles, 28 June 1919.”
© IWM (Q 14997)

Today, for the final activities of the 2017 Beaverbrook Vimy Prize program, the participants are visiting the Hôtel des Invalides in Paris as well as the Palace of Versailles. On 28 June 1919, on the fifth anniversary of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination, the Treaty of Versailles was signed at the Palace of Versailles. This officially ended the hostilities of the First World War.  

Statues and monuments on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles were sandbagged and sheltered to avoid potential damage from enemy bombardment.
© IWM (Q 78183)
© IWM (Q 69618)