The war's last months were more destructive than trench warfare had been. Germany remained on French soil, believing herself unbeaten. The Armistice was the Allies' bid to obtain - on paper - Germany's unconditional surrender. At Versailles she was made to shoulder the blame for the war, to force her to pay for it. The war, with losses over 20 million, was later deemed as a senseless waste. For defense against agression. For glory. It curbed militarism, for a while, but was not the war to end all wars. Its terrible message to the century it shaped was that war can fulfill ambitions. That war can work.
