Treaty Of Versailles Dbq

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The United States had watched the fighting in Europe from a distance. One of the Allies, Russia, sustained great losses and signed a peace treaty with Germany. The treaty ended fighting on the Eastern Front. Germany began to focus on the Western Front and weakening Britain on France even more. The United States remained neutral even when Great Britain and France put pressure on it to join the Allies. Truman was re-elected in 1916 using the slogan “He Kept Us Out of War.” He did for a long time. When a German submarine torpedoed the Lusitania, more than a hundred United States citizens lost their lives. Germany apologized for the disaster and agreed to stop submarine attacks. In early 1917, they broke their promise and started sinking American cargo ships. On April 2, 1917, Wilson went to Congress and asked for war to be declared. War was declared and troops were sent to Europe. The policy of United States Isolation was over. War continued and ended on November 11, 1918 with the signing of an armistice. The Treaty of Versailles followed and was signed on June 28, 1919. …show more content…

National leaders from Britain, France the United States and Italy didn’t allow the defeated nations any say in the drafting of the treaty. The terms were severe, unjust and unfair. Germany’s territory and population was reduced. There was a war guilt clause that named Germany the aggressive nation in the war and responsible to make reparations to the Allied nations. This meant that losses and damage had to be paid for by them. The four nations wanted to keep Germany from becoming a threat again. The military was restricted. The Germans felt they were being dictated by the treaty. In 1936, Hitler remilitarized Germany in a violation of the treaty and the Allies did nothing to stop

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