The correct answer to this open question is the following.
The German populace responded to Wilson's Fourteen Points when they heard about his speech in early 1918 in a negative way because under one way or the other, Germany had to be accountable for the damage and destruction it created during World War 1. After deposing the military leaders, a civilian government negotiated the peace terms under the Treaty of Paris, where nations such as France and Great Britain concluded that Germany had to pay for the reparations, although there was not a specified sum of money.
