So are you saying that we should have demanded that Germany surrender unconditionally in 1918 and that we should have continued the war until they did so?
That’s exactly what US leaders like General Pershing said at the time.
They correctly predicted that otherwise Germany would just continue the war in 20 years.
Pershing recommended the Allies do in 1918 what they did do in 1945.
But Pershing was a Republican, from the Unconditional Surrender school of US Grant, while President Wilson was a Southern Democrat from the “peace without victory” school.
The rest, as they say, is history.