The First World War was supposed to be the war to end all wars. Instead, the Treaty of Versailles, which formally ended the war, helped give birth to Nazism in Germany, ensured the victory of communism in Russia, and led to another world war that cost the lives of nearly four times more people than the first, including over six million Jews. At the time the Treaty of Versailles was signed in June 1919, British prime minister Lloyd George despaired that its harshness and injustices toward the defeated Germans would lead to a future war worse than the last within twenty-five years. Germany had surrendered to the Allies on the basis of President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points, but the final treaty excluded seven of those that were favorable to Germany.
As late as January 1917, President Woodrow Wilson had called for “a peace without victors,” which is exactly what Europe so desperately needed to prevent the outbreak of the Second World War. However, that same month, German emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II met with his top military commanders. He was told that if Germany were to engage in unrestricted submarine warfare, America would likely declare war on Germany, but they could likely starve Britain within six months before the Americans could send large numbers of troops to the Western Front. The Kaiser decided to take a risky gamble on the future of the Reich by approving the plan, and German foreign minister Arthur Zimmerman doubled down on the Kaiser’s fateful decision with an offer of German support to Mexico in reclaiming lost territory if the United States declared war on Germany. Ultimately, it was the revelation of this Zimmerman Telegram that pushed Congress to declare war on Germany less than three months later.
