The End of the Great War
The help from the U.S. to the Allied Powers came just in time. They were in desperate need of new supplies and troops, and America had plenty of those to help the Allies get an edge on the Central Powers. After the Second Battle of Marne, the Central Powers began to fizzle out and lose strength. Finally, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11 month in 1918, the war was officially over. It was a relief to most countries because of the millions of lives lost. Here is an approximate total of deaths per country:
Central Powers
Germany : 2,000,000 soldiers killed
Austria-Hungary : 1,200,000 soldiers killed Turkey : 325,000 soldiers killed Bulgaria : 100,000 soldiers killed |
Allied Powers
Britain : 750,000 soldiers killed; 1,500,000 wounded
France : 1,400,000 soldiers killed; 2,500,000 wounded Belgium : 50,000 soldiers killed Italy : 600,000 soldiers killed Russia : 1,700,000 soldiers killed America : 116,000 soldiers killed |
The Treaty of Versailles and the Fourteen Points
Woodrow Wilson had a vision that the war could be stopped with a philosophy of "peace without victory". His speech, which was named the Fourteen Points, was America's program for peace after World War I. However, when he led a peace conference in France, none of the other countries believed in his vision. They all wanted Germany to pay heavily for the war. This led to the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty forced Germany to accept full blame for the war and pay for the $33 billion in reparations. Its military was also limited to 100,000 men. In all, the Treaty of Versailles might have ended the war, but it left Germany extremely unhappy and set the stage for World War II.