For Germany, the harsh circumstances left from the Versailles Treaty of World War I planted seeds for a future war. The Versailles Treaty was really just a chance for the Allies to get revenge on Germany, not solve the problems of the past. Consequently, many problems and conflicts were left over from World War I for Germany and Italy. So at that time those three aggressive powers began building up their military again although they were not allowed to according to the Versailles Treaty. They then began to expand their individual empires, which kicked in the alliance system again because countries like Britain and France backed the invaded countries, thus starting a new World War. Between Wars (WW I and WW II) Twenty-one years before World War II began World War I ended. The Central Powers lost against the Allies and were severely punished. Germany alone was in debt for 33 billion dollars. In total, 10 million soldiers and civilians were lost their lives in World War I. World War I was caused by great tension between many closely packed nationalistic, imperialistic and militaristic countries which were in need of "living space."" Unfortunately these problems were not solved by the war and were carried on to World War II. According to George Washington in 1796, "Europe has a set of primary interests which to us [America] have none or very remote relation."" That was the beginning of what we call isolationism. America lived by that precedent until World War I when the US felt it was legitimate to mediate the situation in Europe. After World War I, the United States went back to their old principle, "We shun political commitments which might entangle us in foreign wars,"" as FDR said in 1936 during the Great Depression . This was America's strategy in the 1930's because Americans had their own problems to deal with, not affairs across the world that did not concern them. The United States went through a lull between the wars, from 1918 to 1939.
