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Topical Budget 410-1: End of the World War (1919)
 

BFI

Main image of Topical Budget 410-1: End of the World War (1919)
 
3/7/1919
35mm, black and white, 323 feet
 
Production CompanyTopical Film Company
PhotographyWilliam Cecil Jeapes
 John 'Bunny' Hutchins
 Walter Evan Davies

Scenes at the Palace of Versailles, where the defeated Germany signs the Allies' peace terms on 28th June 1919.

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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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Video Clips
Complete item (1:38)
GALLERY / SCRIPTS / AUDIO
SEE ALSO
Topical Budget 410-1: Inside the Hall of Mirrors (1919)
Topical Budget 698-1: Why Should Britain Bear All The Burden? (1925)
Topical Budget: War and Propaganda