On June 28, 1919, Germany and the Allied Powers signed the Treaty of Versailles in the Hall of Mirrors at the famous Palace of Versailles, officially ending World War I. World War I, or the Great War, lasted from 1914 to 1918, and claimed the lives of nearly ten million soldiers and approximately thirteen million civilians. Germany and its allies in the Central Powers had lost the war, so representatives of the victorious Allied Powers including the United States, France, and Britain negotiated the terms of the treaty. President Woodrow Wilson and his allies wanted the treaty to provide a lasting peace following Wilson’s Fourteen Points speech delivered on January 8, 1918. European powers sought peace but also wanted to punish Germany, who they blamed for causing the war. Germans also expected that the Fourteen Points would be the basis for the peace talks when they signed the armistice in November 1918. When the Allied Powers met in Paris to discuss the world after the war, however, a much more punitive plan emerged.

 U.S. History is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of most introductory courses. The text provides a balanced approach to U.S. history, considering the people, events, and ideas that have shaped the United States from both the top down (politics, economics, diplomacy) and bottom up (eyewitness accounts, lived experience). U.S. History covers key forces that form the American experience, with particular attention to issues of race, class, and gender.Senior Contributing AuthorsP. Scott Corbett, Ventura CollegeVolker Janssen, California State University, FullertonJohn M. Lund, Keene State CollegeTodd Pfannestiel, Clarion UniversityPaul Vickery, Oral Roberts UniversitySylvie Waskiewicz

American Isolationism and the European Origins of the WarThe United States Prepares for WarA New Home FrontFrom War to PeaceDemobilization and Its Difficult Aftermath