... final figure was kinder on the Germans than it might have been. The settlement had the unfortunate effect of dividing Europe into the states that wanted to revise it (mainly Germany) and those that wanted to preserve it, and on the whole, even Britain turned out not to fully support it. The USA failed to ratify the settlement, to the disgust of Woodrow Wilson, and never joined the League of Nations. This in turn left France completely disenchanted because the Anglo- American guarantee of her frontiers could not now apply. Italy felt cheated because she had not received the full territory promised to her in 1915, and Russia was practically ignored. All of this tended to sabotage the settlement from the beginning, and it became increasingly difficult throughout the 1920's to apply the terms fully. Most significantly, it did embitter the Germans, yet did not weaken them sufficiently to prevent ...

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