The Treaty of Versailles of 1871 ended the Franco-Prussian War and was signed by Adolphe Thiers of the Third French Republic and Otto von Bismarck of the newly formed German Empire on 26 February 1871.

[1] It was ratified by the Treaty of Frankfurt on 10 May of the same year which confirmed the supremacy of the German Empire, replacing France as the dominant military power on the European continent.

Adolphe Thiers emerged by the time of a formal treaty as the new French leader as the country began reconstructing its government.

King Wilhelm I of Prussia was declared emperor of the newly created empire in the Hall of Mirrors in the Versailles Palace.

Despite Bismarck's objections, Helmuth von Moltke the Elder and the German General Staff insisted that the territory was necessary as a defensive barrier.