Newspaper headlines around the world proclaim, “World War Ends as Pact is Signed” on June 28, 1919, ending one of the deadliest conflicts in history that resulted in over 35 million casualties. Exactly five years after the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the Treaty of Versailles was signed as crowds cheered and wept, while Germany bitterly protested. Many historians claim the peace treaty's harsh terms set the stage for the Second World War. Read more about it!

The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.

The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.