The outbreak of war in Europe in 1914 was due to an aggressive German foreign policy which had been waged since 1900. How far do you agree?

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“The outbreak of war in Europe in 1914 was due to an aggressive German foreign policy which had been waged since 1900.” How far do you agree?

Germany admitted to being responsible of pushing Europe into a war in the signing of the Treaty of Versailles despite the protests of the majority of the German people. However, to what extent this can truly be considered the truth is still up for debate to this day. A number of historians such as Fischer have blamed an aggressive German foreign policy influenced by internal factors while other historians are slower to place blame and believe that Europe slipped into war.

From the sources it is clear to see that many historians do believe that the outbreak of war can easily be explained by blaming Germany. Source W tells us “German actions going back to the 1890s had done much to create international tension” clearly blaming German foreign policy for pushing Europe towards war, a view supported by Source X which seems to blame Germany even more reverently claiming that “the German plan to unleash a continental war...was fully realised” indicating that the author of the source John Moses, fully believed that Germany had planned a war on a grand scale for some time. Historians such as Fischer would support this view and would use the document known as “The September Programme” to back up their claims. This document, drawn up in September 1914 shows us what the demands of the German state would be should they be victorious in the war, Fischer argued that this was proof that the German government had been planning a war in Europe for some time and had fully intended to do so in order that they may see through the demands of the September Programme and annex large areas east and west of Germany. However, it should be noted that these demands were drawn up only after the war had started and so it does not seem legitimate to argue that this proves this was the intention of Germany before the war, it is to be expected that once engaged in a war Germany should have aims. Fischer has no evidence to prove that prior to the outbreak of war with which he can legitimately prove that Germany wanted a war in order to expand in Europe as he suggests. Fischer would point towards what is referred to as the War Council of 1912 to back up his argument, this was supposedly a meeting called by the Kaiser involving his closest generals to agree upon plans for war with France and Germany. This seems to be rather damning evidence and could be argued to prove that Germany had for some years planned war and is therefore to blame. However, this evidence is questionable, there are few records of this meeting and so it is not clear what was discussed; the importance of the meeting is also highly suspect as the political course taken during the July Crisis of 1914 supposedly differs totally from that which was laid out in 1912 and was in fact led by the Chancellor Bethmann and his government who had not attended the war council. Therefore to argue that Germany had premeditated plans for war does not appear to be the best argument that they are to blame for the war as the evidence for such a thing seems questionable at best.

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The main argument in contradiction to the view put forward by the likes of Fischer is that Germany was actually threatened by the other European powers and acted in their own defence and that the war was “an offensively conducted defensive war”. Source V stresses this point explaining how Germany “felt encircled...by the triple entente.” Which stands in clear contrast to sources W and X which both advocate the idea that German aggression alone had led to war. It is clear that the alliance system threatened the safety of Germany and that they had a right to feel intimidated. France ...

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