The Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles:
Relevant Earlier Diplomatic Documents

These are some earlier diplomatic and legal documents that served as models for President Wilson and the diplomats at the Paris Peace Conference.

The German Armistice (11 November 1918) was an important precursor to the Paris Peace Conference because as the armistice evolved into its final form, it increasingly began to be viewed as a preliminary peace treaty. Since I first put this document online, it is now also available at FirstWorldWar.com.

• Armistice (Source: FRUS, 1919, vol. 2, p. 1. From Senate Document No. 147, 66th Cong. 1st sess., p. 8. The three conventions infra are also reprinted from S. Doc. 147.)
  • Annex No. 1
  • Annex No. 2
  • Convention
• 14 points (8 January 1918)
• 4 principles (Addendum to the 14 Points, 11 February 1918)
• 5 particulars (27 September 1918)
• Cobb-Lippmann memorandum

The formal, legal structure of the conference was quite complex.

Some earlier treaties

• Treaty of Westphalia, 24 October 1648
• Treaty of Paris 1763
• The Paris Peace Treaty of September 30, 1783
• Treaty of Ghent 1814