The United States was extremely late in joining World War I. They only ended up participating in about six months of fighting. The U.S. troops were more for morale boosts and manpower than anything else, and Germany was left feeling somewhat overwhelmed. When the war finally came to an end, people all over the world praised Woodrow Wilson as their savior. Now that the war was over, it was time for Wilson to work more of his "magic" on the Treaty of Versailles. Yet the Treaty left everyone feeling greedy and hungry for more, and would eventually give way to the horrors of a new, devastating war. .
Wilson did not make sense of his smartest political moves in getting what he wanted on the Treaty of Versailles. He essentially ignored the Senate and the House in making his decisions. He also only took Democrats with him to Paris to work out the Treaty of Versailles. These actions did not sit well with Republicans. Wilson's chief goal for the treaty was for there to be a League of Nations. To him, creating such an alliance would help in preventing future wars by allowing nations to sit down and talk things out. The League of Nations did end up being created, but the United States never joined, and was technically still at war with Germany. This failure upset Wilson tremendously. Indeed, the Treaty of Versailles was not as good as people had thought it would be. Though Rhineland was made into a demilitarized zone, France was given back Alsace-Lorraigne, and Belgium was restored anew, there were several parts of the treaty that ominously foreshadowed coming horror attractions. .
For one, Germany was to be unarmed, with just enough left for self-defense. Hitler would later re-arm Germany, breaking the Versailles treaty. In addition, the Saar coal mines in Germany were taken over, and 15 years later, the Germans could vote whether they wanted to stay under someone else's rule or not. Of course, Germany would vote for the latter and would remain angry about having been under someone's rule or not.
