Article 231 of the Versailles Treaty, which was designed to provide the
legal basis for reparations, reads as follows:

"The Allied and Associated Governments affirm, and Germany accepts, the
responsibility of Germany and her Allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associate Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of a war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her Allies."

Marks, Sally, The Illusion of Peace, International Relations in Europe,
1918-1933, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1976, p.13