Through the voyages of Christopher Columbus, further conquistadors such as Hernan Cortes and Francisco Pizarro were able to understand the landscapes of the geographic regions in the Caribbean and South America, which allowed them to more effectively colonize the regions.
I am not 100% on this so you may want to fact check my response:
Lusitana - it was torpeded by German U-Boats and it sank in 18 minuntes... i also believe it was a passenger ship which also really upset the US submarine- new
The conditions were different because germany had to pay millions of dollars due to the treaty of Versailles.Japan was different because they signed an alliance with Great Britain after WW1
