Why did Germany lose World War 1

The war ended with the allies of Britain, France and Russia winning the war successfully. There were many reasons to why the Allies won the war. Some of the reasons were the effects of the long war on the German Economy, the Alliance Systems, The Allied Naval Blockade on Germany, The Development of the Tank towards the end of the war, and the leadership.After Germany became united as one country, they were becoming one of the wealthiest and powerful countries in the world. Their industries were mainly based on stuff like steel and coal which played big parts in the lead up to becoming very rich. Since they became so strong, they wanted more colonies, more land and more money. They thought they deserve colonies like any other countries. So the Germans started the war on the upper hand. But as the war started, all started to go wrong for Germany.First since Germany had to fight on two fronts France and Russia, Germany wanted to destroy France quickly then turn on Russia and underestimated Britain and thought they will be effective at sea but would play little part in a European war. However, Germany’s Schlieffen plan completely failed. It was very hard to break down the French resistance. France wanted vengeance on Germany as they stole Alsace-Lorraine away from France when France lost the war in 1870 against Germany. So Germany was attacked from two fronts. The British, who Germany underestimated at the start of the war, were in fact well trained to fight on land causing Germany problems. So the economy declined as the on going attritional warfare at the fronts was wearing down the Germans very quickly.

Another reason was the Alliance problems. Britain had strong allies which served Britain well. For example, the Dominions and Colonies provided great manpower and supplied food. Also in 1917, U.S.A joined the war which provided great manpower and brought resources useful in war. However, Germany’s allies were more or less useless. They did little to pressurize the enemies and unable to provide huge resources. Also, the Italians changed sides as soon as war broke out which was a shock. A big problem for Germany was the Allied Naval blockade. As only the northern part of Germany faced the sea and there were only few major ports, Britain took advantage and stopped all supplies getting into Germany through sea. As the Germans couldn’t get any supplies from their allies and Britain could get lots of supplies from their allies and even neutral countries like the U.S, Germany was on the verge of starvation. So the morale within German citizens was falling everyday.Then Germany made two horrible mistakes which basically made them lose the war possibly because of bad leadership. First they used U-boats (submarines) and attempted to starve Britain into submission by destroying all ships heading to Britain meaning supplies wouldn’t be able to get through. It seemed effective at first, but as the war went on, the allies invented anti-submarine weapons like depth charge to locate the submarines and bomb them. They also used aircrafts to do that as well. Also Germany destroyed a U.S ship heading towards Britain which killed many Americans and angered the U.S. Then the Zimmermann telegram caused America to join the war. The Germans suggested a German-Mexican alliance meaning Mexico will march to the U.S and recover their lost territories such as Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. This telegram was intercepted by the British and the British told the Americans. The U.S was furious and joined the war for world peace to end the war. The Germans’ worst mistake throughout this war. The allies’ leaders like Clemenceau, Lloyd George and Wilson were clever people who were courageous and brilliant leaders. The German leaders like Zimmermann and Schlieffen were no match for them and made horrible blunders which led Germany to a loss. Also as the attritional warfare continued, the leaders didn’t come up with anything new which could end the war. They thought of great defensive weapons like machine guns and poisonous gases but couldn’t build an offensive weapon until the development of tanks.Most people think that the development of tanks had less impact on the war than people suggest it has but it actually added a lot of pressure on the Germans. It was one of the only major offensive weapons so it did some great damages.Looking at all these mistakes which Germany made, it isn’t really that surprising it all went wrong for Germany. So in the end, it was a disastrous war for Germany.

World War I: A Stalemate Ensues

 

 

 

The Strategic Outlook in 1915

With the beginning of trench warfare, both sides began assessing their options for bringing the war to a successful conclusion. Overseeing German operations, Chief of the General Staff Erich von Falkenhayn preferred to focus on winning the war on the Western Front as he believed that a separate peace could be obtained with Russia if they were allowed to exit the conflict with some pride. This approach clashed with Generals Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff who wished to deliver a decisive blow in the East. The heroes of Tannenberg they were able to use their fame and political intrigue to influence the German leadership. As a result, the decision was made to focus on the Eastern Front in 1915.
In the Allied camp there was no such conflict. Both the British and French were eager to expel the Germans from the territory they had occupied in 1914. For the latter, it was both a matter of national pride and economic necessity as the occupied territory contained much of France's industry and natural resources. Instead, the challenge faced by the Allies was the matter of where to attack. This choice was largely dictated by the terrain of the Western Front. In the south, the woods, rivers, and mountains precluded conducting a major offensive, while the sodden soil of coastal Flanders quickly turned into a quagmire during shelling. In the center, the highlands along the Aisne and Meuse Rivers too greatly favored the defender.
As a result, the Allies focused their efforts on the chalklands along the Somme River in Artois and to the south in Champagne. These points were located on the edges of the deepest German penetration into France and successful attacks had the potential to cut off the enemy forces. In addition, breakthroughs at these points would sever German rail links east which would compel them to abandon their position in France.


 The Fighting Resumes

While fighting had occurred through the winter, the British renewed the action in earnest on March 10, 1915, when they launched an offensive at Neuve Chapelle. Attacking in an effort to capture Aubers Ridge, British and Indian troops from Field Marshal Sir John French's British Expeditionary Force (BEF) shattered the German lines and had some initial success. The advance soon broke down due to communication and supply issues and ridge was not taken. Subsequent German counterattacks contained the breakthrough and the battle ended on March 13. In the wake of the failure, French blamed the result on a lack of shells for his guns. This precipitated the Shell Crisis of 1915 which brought down Prime Minister H.H. Asquith's Liberal government and forced an overhaul of the munitions industry.

Gas Over Ypres
Though Germany had elected to follow an "east-first" approach, Falkenhayn began planning for an operation against Ypres to begin in April. Intended as a limited offensive, he sought to divert Allied attention from troop movements east, secure a more commanding position in Flanders, as well as to test a new weapon, poison gas. Though tear gas had been used against the Russians in January, the Second Battle of Ypres marked the debut of lethal chlorine gas.

Around 5:00 PM on April 22, chlorine gas was released over a four-mile front. Striking a section line held by French territorial and colonial troops, it quickly killed around 6,000 men and forced the survivors to retreat. Advancing, the Germans made swift gains, but in the growing darkness they failed to exploit the breach. Forming a new defensive line, British and Canadian troops mounted a vigorous defensive over the next several days. While the Germans conducted additional gas attacks, Allied forces were able to implement improvised solutions to counter its effects. Fighting continued until May 25, but the Ypres salient held.


Artois & Champagne

Unlike the Germans, the Allies possessed no secret weapon when they began their next offensive in May. Striking at the German lines in Artois on May 9, the British sought to take Aubers Ridge. A few days later, the French entered the fray to the south in an effort to secure Vimy Ridge. Dubbed the Second Battle of Artois, the British were stopped dead, while the General Philippe Pétain's XXXIII Corps succeeded in reaching the crest of Vimy Ridge. Despite Pétain's success, the French lost the ridge to determined German counterattacks before their reserves could arrive.

Reorganizing during the summer as additional troops became available, the British soon took over the front as far south as the Somme. As troops were shifted, General Joseph Joffre, the overall French commander, sought to renew the offensive in Artois during the fall along with an assault in Champagne. Recognizing the obvious signs of impending attack, the Germans spent the summer strengthening their trench system, ultimately constructing a line of supporting fortifications three miles deep.

Opening the Third Battle of Artois on September 25, British forces attacked at Loos while the French assaulted Souchez. In both cases, the attack was preceded by a gas attack with mixed results. While the British made initial gains, they were soon forced back as communication and supply problems emerged. A second attack the next day was bloodily repulsed. When the fighting subsided three weeks later, over 41,000 British troops had been killed or wounded for the gain of a narrow two-mile deep salient.

To the south, the French Second and Fourth Army attacked along a twenty-mile front in Champagne on September 25. Meeting stiff resistance, Joffre's men gallantly attacked for over a month. Ending in early November, the offensive at no point had gained more than two miles, but the French lost 143,567 killed and wounded. With 1915 coming to a close, the Allies had been bled badly and had showed that they had learned little about attacking trenches while the Germans had become masters at defending them.

 

World War I: Opening Campaigns

 

The Schlieffen Plan

 

With the outbreak of World War I, the armies of Europe began mobilizing and moving towards the front according to elaborate timetables. In Germany, the army prepared to execute a modified version of the Schlieffen Plan. Devised by Count Alfred von Schlieffen in 1905, the plan was a response to Germany's likely need to fight a two-front war against France and Russia. In the wake of their easy victory over the French in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War, Germany viewed France as less of a threat than its large neighbor to the east. As a result, Schlieffen decided to mass the bulk of Germany's military strength against France with the goal of scoring a quick victory before the Russians could fully mobilize their forces. With France defeated, Germany would be free to focus their attention to the east.
Anticipating that France would attack across the border into Alsace and Lorraine, which had been lost during the earlier conflict, the Germans intended to violate the neutrality of Luxembourg and Belgium to assault the French from the north in a massive battle of encirclement. German troops were to defend along the border while the right wing of the army swung through Belgium and past Paris in an effort to destroy the French army. In 1906, the plan was altered slightly by Chief of the General Staff, Helmuth von Moltke the Younger, who weakened the critical right wing to reinforce Alsace, Lorraine, and the Eastern Front.

The Rape of Belgium

 

After quickly occupying Luxembourg, German troops crossed into Belgium on August 4 after King Albert I's government refused to grant them free passage through the country. Possessing a small army, the Belgians relied on the fortresses of Liege and Namur to halt the Germans. Heavily fortified, the Germans met stiff resistance at Liege and were forced to bring up heavy siege guns to reduce its defenses. Surrendering on August 16, the fighting delayed the Schlieffen Plan's precise timetable and allowed the British and French to begin forming defenses to oppose the German advance.
While the Germans moved on to reduce Namur (August 20-23), Albert's small army retreated into the defenses at Antwerp. Occupying the country, the Germans, paranoid about guerilla warfare, executed thousands of innocent Belgians as well as burned several towns and cultural treasures such as the library at Louvain. Dubbed the "rape of Belgium," these actions were needless and served to blacken Germany's and Kaiser Wilhelm II's reputation abroad.

The Battle of the Frontiers

 

While the Germans were moving into Belgium, the French began to execute Plan XVII which, as their adversaries predicted, called for a massive thrust into the lost territories of Alsace and Lorraine. Guided by General Joseph Joffre, the French army pushed the VII Corps into Alsace on August 7 with orders to take Mulhouse and Colmar, while the main attack came in Lorraine a week later. Slowly falling back, the Germans inflicted heavy casualties on the French before halting the drive. Having held, Crown Prince Rupprecht, commanding the Sixth and Seventh German Armies, repeatedly petitioned for permission to go on the counter-offensive. This was granted on August 20, even though it contravened the Schlieffen Plan. Attacking, Rupprecht drove back the French Second Army, forcing the entire French line to fall back to the Moselle before being stopped on August 27.

Battles of Charleroi & Mons

 

As events were unfolding to the south, General Charles Lanrezac, commanding the Fifth Army on the French left flank became concerned about German progress in Belgium. Allowed by Joffre to shift forces north on August 15, Lanrezac formed a line behind the Sambre River. By the 20th, his line extended from Namur west to Charleroi with a cavalry corps linking his men to Field Marshal Sir John French's newly arrived, 70,000-man British Expeditionary Force (BEF). Though outnumbered, Lanrezac was ordered to attack across the Sambre by Joffre. Before he could do this, General Karl von Bülow's Second Army launched an assault across the river on August 21. Lasting three days, the Battle of Charleroi saw Lanrezac's men driven back. To his right, French forces attacked into the Ardennes but were defeated on August 21-23.
As the French were being driven back, the British established a strong position along the Mons-Condé Canal. Unlike the other armies in the conflict, the BEF consisted entirely of professional soldiers who had plied their trade in colonial wars around the empire. On August 22, cavalry patrols detected the advance of General Alexander von Kluck's First Army. Required to keep pace with the Second Army, Kluck attacked the British position on August 23. Fighting from prepared positions and delivering rapid, accurate rifle fire, the British inflicted heavy losses on the Germans. Holding until evening, French was forced to pull back when the French cavalry departed leaving his right flank vulnerable. Though a defeat, the British bought time for the French and Belgians to form a new defensive line.

World War 1 Summary of Events

Summary of Events

 

 

The Start of the War

World War I began on July 28, 1914, when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. This seemingly small conflict between two countries spread rapidly: soon, Germany, Russia, Great Britain, and France were all drawn into the war, largely because they were involved in treaties that obligated them to defend certain other nations. Western and eastern fronts quickly opened along the borders of Germany and Austria-Hungary.

The Western and Eastern Fronts

The first month of combat consisted of bold attacks and rapid troop movements on both fronts. In the west, Germany attacked first Belgium and then France. In the east, Russia attacked both Germany and Austria-Hungary. In the south, Austria-Hungary attacked Serbia. Following the Battle of the Marne (September 5–9, 1914), the western front became entrenched in central France and remained that way for the rest of the war. The fronts in the east also gradually locked into place.

 

 

The Ottoman Empire

 

Late in 1914, the Ottoman Empire was brought into the fray as well, after Germany tricked Russia into thinking that Turkey had attacked it. As a result, much of 1915 was dominated by Allied actions against the Ottomans in the Mediterranean. First, Britain and France launched a failed attack on the Dardanelles. This campaign was followed by the British invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula. Britain also launched a separate campaign against the Turks in Mesopotamia. Although the British had some successes in Mesopotamia, the Gallipoli campaign and the attacks on the Dardanelles resulted in British defeats.

Trench Warfare

The middle part of the war, 1916 and 1917, was dominated by continued trench warfare in both the east and the west. Soldiers fought from dug-in positions, striking at each other with machine guns, heavy artillery, and chemical weapons. Though soldiers died by the millions in brutal conditions, neither side had any substantive success or gained any advantage.

The United States’ Entrance and Russia’s Exit

Despite the stalemate on both fronts in Europe, two important developments in the war occurred in 1917. In early April, the United States, angered by attacks upon its ships in the Atlantic, declared war on Germany. Then, in November, the Bolshevik Revolution prompted Russia to pull out of the war.

The End of the War and Armistice

Although both sides launched renewed offensives in 1918 in an all-or-nothing effort to win the war, both efforts failed. The fighting between exhausted, demoralized troops continued to plod along until the Germans lost a number of individual battles and very gradually began to fall back. A deadly outbreak of influenza, meanwhile, took heavy tolls on soldiers of both sides. Eventually, the governments of both Germany and Austria-Hungary began to lose control as both countries experienced multiple mutinies from within their military structures.The war ended in the late fall of 1918, after the member countries of the Central Powers signed armistice agreements one by one. Germany was the last, signing its armistice on November 11, 1918. As a result of these agreements, Austria-Hungary was broken up into several smaller countries. Germany, under the Treaty of Versailles, was severely punished with hefty economic reparations, territorial losses, and strict limits on its rights to develop militarily.

Germany After the War

Many historians, in hindsight, believe that the Allies were excessive in their punishment of Germany and that the harsh Treaty of Versailles actually planted the seeds of World War II, rather than foster peace. The treaty’s declaration that Germany was entirely to blame for the war was a blatant untruth that humiliated the German people. Furthermore, the treaty imposed steep war reparations payments on Germany, meant to force the country to bear the financial burden of the war. Although Germany ended up paying only a small percentage of the reparations it was supposed to make, it was already stretched financially thin by the war, and the additional economic burden caused enormous resentment. Ultimately, extremist groups, such as the Nazi Party, were able to exploit this humiliation and resentment and take political control of the country in the decades following.

 

 

 

The Global Effect of World War I

 

Effect of World War I

 

 

 



A recent list of the hundred most important news stories of the twentieth century ranked the onset of World War I eighth. This is a great error. Just about everything that happened in the remainder of the century was in one way or another a result of World War I, including the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, World War II, the Holocaust, and the development of the atomic bomb. The Great Depression, the Cold War, and the collapse of European colonialism can also be traced, at least indirectly, to the First World War.

World War I killed more people--more than 9 million soldiers, sailors, and flyers and another 5 million civilians--involved more countries--28--and cost more money--$186 billion in direct costs and another $151 billion in indirect costs--than any previous war in history. It was the first war to use airplanes, tanks, long range artillery, submarines, and poison gas. It left at least 7 million men permanently disabled.

World War I probably had more far-reaching consequences than any other proceeding war. Politically, it resulted in the downfall of four monarchies--in Russia in 1917, in Austria-Hungary and Germany in 1918, and in Turkey in 1922. It contributed to the Bolshevik rise to power in Russia in 1917 and the triumph of fascism in Italy in 1922. It ignited colonial revolts in the Middle East and in Southeast Asia.

Economically, the war severely disrupted the European economies and allowed the United States to become the world's leading creditor and industrial power. The war also brought vast social consequences, including the mass murder of Armenians in Turkey and an influenza epidemic that killed over 25 million people worldwide.

Few events better reveal the utter unpredictability of the future. At the dawn of the 20th century, most Europeans looked forward to a future of peace and prosperity. Europe had not fought a major war for 100 years. But a belief in human progress was shattered by World War I, a war few wanted or expected. At any point during the five weeks leading up to the outbreak of fighting the conflict might have been averted. World War I was a product of miscalculation, misunderstanding, and miscommunication.

No one expected a war of the magnitude or duration of World War I. At first the armies relied on outdated methods of communication, such as carrier pigeons. The great powers mobilized more than a million horses. But by the time the conflict was over, tanks, submarines, airplane-dropped bombs, machine guns, and poison gas had transformed the nature of modern warfare. In 1918, the Germans fired shells containing both tear gas and lethal chlorine. The tear gas forced the British to remove their gas masks; the chlorine then scarred their faces and killed them.

In a single day at the Battle of the Somme in 1916, 100,000 British troops plodded across no man's land into steady machine-gun fire from German trenches a few yards away. Some 60,000 were killed or wounded. At the end of the battle, 419,654 British men were killed, missing, or wounded.

Four years of war killed a million troops from the British Empire, 1.5 million troops from the Hapsburg Empire, 1.7 million French troops, 1.7 million Russians, and 2 million German troops. The war left a legacy of bitterness that contributed to World War II twenty-one years later

The Battle of the Somme

 

 

The Battle of the Somme started in July 1^st 1916. It lasted until November 1916. For many people, the Battle of the Somme was the battle that symbolised the horrors of warfare in World War One; this one battle had a marked effect on overall casualty figures and seemed to epitomise the futility of trench warfare. 

 

For many years those who led the British campaign have received a lot of criticism for the way the Battle of the Somme was fought – especially Douglas Haig. This criticism was based on the appalling casualty figures suffered by the British and the French. By the end of the battle, the British Army had suffered 420,000 casualties including nearly 60,000 on the first day alone. The French lost 200,000 men and the Germans nearly 500,000.

 

Ironically, going over the top at the Somme was the first taste of battle many of these men had, as many were part of "Kitchener’s Volunteer Army" persuaded to volunteer by posters showing Lord Kitchener himself summoning these men to arms to show their patriotism.

 

Why was the battle fought?

 

For a number of months the French had been taking severe losses at Verdun – to the east of Paris. To relieve the French, the Allied High Command decided to attack the Germans to the north of Verdun therefore requiring the Germans to move some of their men away from the Verdun battlefield thus relieving the French. After the war, Sir William Robertson, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, explained what this strategy was:

 

Remembering the dissatisfaction by ministers at the end of 1915, because the operations had not come up to their expectations, the General Staff took the precaution to make quite clear beforehand the nature of success which the Somme campaign might yield. The necessity of relieving pressure on the French Army at Verdun remains, and is more urgent than ever. This is, therefore, the first objective to be obtained by the combined British and French offensive. The second objective is to inflict as heavy losses as possible upon the German armies.

 

 

Ironically, the head of the French Army, General Foch, believed that the attack in the Somme would achieve little - this view was shared by some leading British commanders such as General Henry Rawlinson. However, orders from the army's political masters in London and Paris ensured that the battle would take place. 

 

Just how backward military thinking was then is shown by the fact that the British put a regiment of cavalry on standby when the attack started to exploit the hole that would be created by a devastating infantry attack. British military faith was still being placed on cavalry attacks in 1916 when the nature of war in the previous two years would have clearly indicated that cavalry was no longer viable. This shows how conservative military thinking was during this war.

 

The battle at the Somme started with a weeklong artillery bombardment of the German lines. 1,738,000 shells were fired at the Germans. The logic behind this was so that the artillery guns would destroy the German trenches and barbed wire placed in front of the trenches. The use of artillery was heavily supported by Field Marshall Haig:

 

The enemy's position to be attacked was of a very considerable character, situated on high, undulating tract of ground. (They had) deep trenches....bomb proof shelters......wire entanglements forty yards broad often as thick as a man's finger. Defences of this nature could only be attacked with the prospect of success after careful artillery preparation

 

In fact, the Germans had deep dugouts for their men and all they had to do when the bombardment started was to move these men into the relative safety of the deep dugouts. When the bombardment stopped, the Germans would have known that this would have been the signal for an infantry advance. They moved from the safety of their dugouts and manned their machine guns to face the British and French.

 

The British soldiers advanced across a 25-mile front. 

 

By the end of the battle, in November 1916, the British had lost 420,000, the French lost nearly 200,000 men and the Germans 500,000. The Allied forces had advanced along a thirty-mile strip that was seven miles deep at its maximum.

 

Lord Kitchener was a supporter of the theory of attrition - that eventually you would grind down your enemy and they would have to yield. He saw the military success of the battle as all-important. However, it did have dire political and social consequences in Britain. Many spoke of the "lost generation". Many people found it difficult to justify the near 88,000 Allied men lost for every one mile gained in the advance.

 

However, during the battle, media information on the battle was less than accurate. This was written by John Irvine of the "Daily Express" on July 3rd 1916 - though his report would have been scutinised by the British military and government and he could only have used what information the military gave him.

 

"A perceptible slackening of our fire soon after seven was the first indication given to us that our gallant soldiers were about to leap from their trenches and advance against the enemy. Non-combatants, of course, were not permitted to witness this spectacle, but I am informed that the vigour and eagerness of the first assault were worthy of the best tradition of the British Army. We had not to wait long for news, and it was wholly satisfactory and encouraging. The message received at ten o'clock ran something like this: "On a front of twenty miles north and south of the Somme, we and our French allies have advanced and taken the German first line of trenches. We are attacking vigourously Fricourt, la Boiselle and Mametz. German prisoners are surrendering freely, and a good many already fallen into our hands."

 

 

"The Daily Chronicle" published a similar report on the battle on July 3rd:

 

At about 7.30 o'clock this morning a vigourous attack was launched by the British Army. The front extends over some 20 miles north of the Somme. The assault was preceded by a terrific bombardment, lasting about an hour and a half. It is too early to as yet give anything but the barest particulars, as the fighting is developing in intensity, but the British troops have already occupied the German front line. Many prisoners have already fallen into our hands, and as far as can be ascertained our casualties have not been heavy.

 

 

However, those who fought there knew what really happened - if they survived:

 

The next morning (July 2nd) we gunners surveyed the dreadful scene in front of us......it became clear that the Germans always had a commanding view of No Man's Land. (The British) attack had been brutally repulsed. Hundreds of dead were strung out like wreckage washed up to a high water-mark. Quite as many died on the enemy wire as on the ground, like fish caught in the net. They hung there in grotesque postures. Some looked as if they were praying; they had died on their knees and the wire had prevented their fall. Machine gun fire had done its terrible work. 

George Coppard, machine gunner at the Battle of the Somme.

 

In the course of the battle, 51 Victoria Crosses were won by British soldiers. 31 were won by NCO's and 20 by officers. Of these 51 medals, 17 were awarded posthumously - 10 to NCO's and 7 to officers.

How world war 1 ended?

World War I Ended With the Treaty of Versailles
June 28, 1919

 

 

 

World War I (1914-1918) was finally over. This first global conflict had claimed from 9 million to 13 million lives and caused unprecedented damage. Germany had formally surrendered on November 11, 1918, and all nations had agreed to stop fighting while the terms of peace were negotiated. On June 28, 1919, Germany and the Allied Nations (including Britain, France, Italy and Russia) signed the Treaty of Versailles, formally ending the war. (Versailles is a city in France, 10 miles outside of Paris.) The United States did not sign the treaty, however, because it objected to its terms, specifically, the high price that Germany was to pay for its role as aggressor. Instead, the U.S. negotiated its own settlement with Germany in 1921. Do you know what triggered the conflict, sometimes called the "Great War"?

Disagreements in Europe over territory and boundaries, among other issues, came to a head with the assassination by a Serbian zealot of the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria on June 28, 1914. Exactly one month later, war broke out, and by the end of 1915, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Germany and the Ottoman Empire were battling the Allied Powers of Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Belgium, Serbia, Montenegro and Japan. In 1917, the U.S. entered the war after the British passenger liner the Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine, killing 128 Americans. 

The Treaty of Versailles imposed very rigid restrictions against Germany, including limiting its army to 100,000 members. President Wilson, who opposed the treaty, had developed his own form of reconciliation, called the "Fourteen Points." The Points included a provision for a League of Nations to prevent "the crime of war." Wilson also wanted all terms of settlement to be openly negotiated. But the actual terms of the treaty included secret arrangements for distribution of conquered German territories among the Allied Nations. Many historians believe these terms eventually led to World War II.