For a long time, the First World War was seen as a senseless war. In the Allied camp, not every participating nation took up arms for noble motives, and some countries should even be condemned for their pre-war performance. But they are all right in terms of choosing to fight rather than succumb. There is a widespread misreading of the First World War, in part because the second world war that broke out later obscured the light of the war with its clear right-wrong relationship.
But many of the factors that made World War II a just battle were evident between 1914 and 1918. The need to oppose dictatorship, naked military aggression, atrocities against civilians, inhumane weapons and genocide, among others, have all emerged in the First World War. So of course, the First World War was a necessary war, but the end of this war did not return to the peace it deserved. Some of the victorious powers demanded too much, Britain and France wanted all but the Allies to return to the pre-war situation, and Germany faced very severe sanctions.
The final peace pact was full of self-interest, and this was one of the reasons why the world was newly involved in war 20 years later. In October 1918, Germany was no longer able to continue fighting; in November, the exhausted Germany had to request a ceasefire. But in the short peace talks, they did not have any bargaining costs, and had to leave it to the Allies to formulate the terms of the peace treaty.
In 1918, Germany experienced great ups and downs between victory and defeat. In June, Germany was able to boast of occupying an unprecedentedly vast territory; but a few months later they were not only trampled under the feet of the Allies, but also troubled by the revolutionary waves at home. Germany lost the war for no reason, but there were many reasons for its position to be unsafe – such as the British sea blockade, such as the continuous influx of American troops into Europe, such as the defeat of the German offensive in France in March and June, and of course, a series of actions launched by the Allies since mid-July. The once-unmatched German army was overwhelmed by low morale and turbulent politics, and in its rear, the spirits of the people were about to collapse due to shortages of daily necessities and political and industrial turmoil.
As military leaders who later took charge of state affairs, Field Marshals Hindenburg and Ludendorff found that the cause of the collapse of the German front was that people had long lost their courage. Although the two men left office at the end of September, they had already persuaded Kaiser Wilhelm II to cease war and accept a new government, which Germany needed that would not be corrupted by royal or nepotism. On 3 October, Prince Bax of Baden became Prime Minister of the New Deal.
Subsequently, Prince Marx issued an armistice request to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, who had made the Fourteen Peace Proposals in January 1918. A diplomatic storm ensued between the Allies and Germany, but Germany eventually agreed to restore the pre-war situation to the Allies and forced Wilhelm II to abdicate on the 20th of that month. On 6 November, Prince Marx also decided to begin substantive negotiations and sent a delegation of mid-level politicians and senior military officers.
On 8 November, details of the ceasefire were discussed in Compiègne, home to the Supreme Allied Headquarters, with The Supreme Allied Commander and Field Marshal Ferdinand Foch attending the talks as the leader of a delegation composed only of British and French representatives. The German delegation, led by Matthier Etzberger, soon discovered that the content of the "talks" did not involve Wilson's "Fourteen Articles" at all, but was merely a list of reparations full of harsh demands.
There were 34 ceasefire agreements, almost all of which were designed to weaken Germany's military and economy, as well as requiring the Germans to withdraw all positions they occupied, including Alsace and Lorraine, within 14 days, and the Allies taking over German territory west of the Rhine within 28 days and building a bridge tower 32 kilometers deep into eastern Germany. Germany must also abandon 5,000 locomotives, 150,000 various transport equipment and 10,000 wagons and all submarines and warships, and return all the funds looted from other countries' banks, that is, reparations, while the British army will continue to maintain the sea blockade against Germany.
The terms surprised the German delegates and looked at each other, but after high-level approval, they signed the harsh armistice at 5:05 a.m. on November 11. At this point, the First World War is officially over, but the peace agreement is not yet completed...