June 28, 1919: The Treaty of Versailles

Left to right: Prime Minister David Lloyd George of Britain,

Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando of Italy,

Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau of France,

and President Woodrow Wilson of the United States.

June 28, 1919: The Treaty of Versailles is signed in the Hall of Mirrors, at the Palace of Versailles, outside Paris, as the conclusion of the Paris Peace Conference. It is signed 229 days after the signing of the Armistice that ended what was then known as the World War or the Great War, and 5 years to the day after the event often credited as launching the war: The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Archduchess Sophie of Austria in Sarajevo, Bosnia in 1914.

The most critical and controversial provision in the treaty was: "The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies."

The other members of the Central Powers signed treaties containing similar articles. This article, Article 231, became known as the War Guilt clause. The treaty required Germany to disarm, make ample territorial concessions, and, most controversially as it turned out, pay massive reparations to certain countries that had formed the Entente powers. In 1921, the total cost of these reparations was assessed at 132 billion gold marks (then $31.4 billion, or £6.6 billion, roughly equivalent to US$442 billion or UK£284 billion in 2023). Because of the way the deal was structured, the Allied Powers intended Germany would only ever pay a value of 50 billion marks.

This led to hyperinflation in Germany by 1923, and they basically had to scrap their entire economy and start all over. This basically put Germany in a depression before the rest of the world fell into one in 1930. And the National Socialist Party, led by Adolf Hitler, took advantage of this.

The United States never ratified the Versailles Treaty, because Republicans in the U.S. Senate objected to the British having control over some of the countries in the League of Nations, and thus having more power. So the U.S. made a separate peace treaty with Germany.

John Maynard Keynes, then the world's leading economics, said the treaty was too harsh, the reparations demand excessive and counter-productive. But Marshal Ferdinand Foch, the greatest French military hero of the war, said it was too lenient, and would allow Germany to rebound, and become a threat again: "This is not peace. It is an armistice for 20 years."

Twenty years, two months and 3 days later, Germany invaded Poland, and World War II began.

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June 28, 1919 was a Saturday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees split a doubleheader with the Boston Red Sox at the Polo Grounds. The Sox won the opener, 2-0. The Yankees won the nightcap, 4-1. Carl Mays was the Sox' pitcher of record in both games. A little more than a month later, Mays was sold to the Yankees. Babe Ruth went 4-for-6 with a walk and an RBI over the 2 games. Six months later, he was also sold to the Yankees.

* A doubleheader was split at Braves Field in Boston. The Boston Braves won the 1st game, 6-5. The New York Giants won the 2nd game, 5-3 in 14 innings.

* The Brooklyn Robins (as the Dodgers were known during the managing of Wilbert Robinson from 1914 to 1931) swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-0 and 6-3 at Ebbets Field. Leon Cadore pitched a 3-hit shutout.

* The Washington Senators swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Athletics, 4-1 and 6-3 at Shibe Park. (That ballpark would be renamed Connie Mack Stadium in 1953.)

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-0 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Slim Sallee pitched a 4-hit shutout.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 3-1 at Navin Field in Detroit. (That ballpark would be renamed Briggs Stadium in 1938, and Tiger Stadium in 1961.) Dutch Leonard outpitched Stan Coveleski. Ty Cobb did not play. Tris Speaker went 0-for-4.

* The Chicago Cubs beat their arch-rivals, 6-5 at Cubs Park in Chicago. (That ballpark would be renamed Wrigley Field in 1926.) Rogers Hornsby hit a home run.

* And the Chicago White Sox beat the St. Louis Browns, 3-2 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. (That ballpark would be renamed Busch Stadium in 1953.) Shoeless Joe Jackson went 1-for-2 with 2 walks and 2 RBIs. George Sisler went 0-for-4.