BFI

This is the first half of a two-part newsreel documenting the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. Devised to establish how Germany would pay reparations for World War I, it was a document with far-reaching repercussions, as its punitive terms led directly to the German hyperinflation of 1923, the subsequent rise of Adolf Hitler and ultimately World War II.

This part of the newsreel shows the arrival of various dignitaries, including US President Woodrow Wilson, French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau, his British counterpart David Lloyd George, Polish prime minister (and former concert pianist) Ignacy Jan Paderewski, and assorted French and British army officers. The signing of the treaty itself would be documented by the Topical Budget item 'In the Hall of Mirrors'

Michael Brooke

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