 On 18 January 1919 , the Paris Peace Conference began . The conference aimed to establish peace between the war 's belligerents and establish the post @-@ war world . The Treaty of Versailles formed part of the conference , and dealt solely with Germany . The treaty , along with the others that were signed during the conference , were each named after the suburb of Paris they were signed in . While 70 delegates from 26 nations participated in the negotiations representatives from Germany were barred from attending , nominally over fears that a German delegation would attempt to play one country off against the other and unfairly influence the proceedings . 
