Was Germany Responsible For The Cause Of World War One?

Jan Kocman 5GH

How Far

Was Germany Responsible

For The Cause

Of World War One?

To what extend can we blame Germany for the start of the war? This is the question this essay will be trying to answer, whether we can at all blame Germany for causing the war. First of all we must evaluate the situation in which Germany and the other major countries of Europe were in. Both in events that took place before the July Crisis (Arms Race, Moroccan Crisis, Bosnian Crisis, Balkan Crisis) and the actual July Crisis will help us see how far Germany was responsible for the war.

We know that the situation before 1914 wasn’t a very pleasant situation as tension between the two major ‘groups’ was high. The two major groups: Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy, also known as the Central Powers, and the Entente, which included France, Russia and later even the UK. These two major influencing powers were always present and relations between them weren’t ideal, but not until the beginning of the C20th did the tension increase to such a point for the outbreak of war. Many events created a much more discrete political balance and harmony in Europe, between these powers due to selfish interests of each country.

First of all we have the German foreign policy or the Weltpolitik, which was created by the Kaiser (Wilhelm II) to expand the German ‘empire’; this was to make Germany an Imperial power as were France and the UK, to fight German domestic problems, and create a navy which would make the British more neutral in a European war. Eventually none of the aims of the weltpolitik were achieved; although Germany had gained some colonies there were only a few minor colonies, the failure to gain more, strengthened the position of the SPD and relations to the other countries were soured, as they didn’t accept this rivalry and provocation.

This is a preview of the whole essay

A number of crises also critically altered the path in which events took place, eventually leading to war. Germany’s assertive and aggressive behaviour towards other countries did not ease international relations, as can be seen in the Moroccan Crisis when the Kaiser tested the strength of the Entente Cordial (alliance between France & UK; a Colonial agreement). After the Algeciras Conference when the Entente won diplomatically and became more secure, the losers, the Germans became more isolated and humiliated. Another important crisis was the Bosnian, where Bosnia was annexed by Austira-Hungary (to increase A-H prestige); this angered the Tsar who threatened Austira-Hungary, but Germany fully supported their ally. Russia had backed down because she was weak after the Russo-Japanese war and her allies France and the UK weren’t willing to fight over Bosnia. Therefore Russia started building an army and moved closer to her allies in the Entente. This made Germany even more insecure of her enemies, and the question of whether they weren’t encircling her was raised.

Another factor, which influenced the start of the war, was the system of alliances, eventhough Germany had its permanent ally Austria-Hungary since 1879, the other powers had a geographical advantage. Because Germany lay between France and Russia it was obvious that they would ally against Germany this had actually happened in 1894 in the Dual Entente alliance (defensive agreement). Later when the UK joined this alliance and conducted naval talks with Russia, Germany had the correct opinion that enemies were encircling it and so the Schlieffen plan was introduced. This made Germany evermore so nervous and relations worsened. (The Schlieffen Plan was produced by the German Army High Command and was to solve the problem of encirclement.)

The naval race between the UK and Germany in 1906-1908 over the supremacy of the sea had rendered it impossible for any Anglo-German connection after this date. There were increasing expectations of war, because there was a feeling that if the amount of weapons were increased it was clear that they would eventually be used. The tension strengthened due to the 2nd Moroccan Crisis when Germany had gained a piece of the Congo, Germany had ended the weltpolitik (1912) as it was obvious that after many diplomatic defeats and humiliations the policy wasn’t going to work. But then there was the Balkan Crisis, which showed A-H how large a threat Serbia was to it’s influence in the Balkans (Bosnia) a conflict between them was increasingly likely.

Most certainly the July Crisis was the most decisive crisis, which influenced the balance of power in Europe, which lead to the war in 1914.Due to Serbian nationalism that lead to the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the balance of power in Europe turned drastically. The Kaiser gave full support to Austria-Hungary to provoke Russia and giving permission for A-H to smash Serbia (the Blank Cheque). Therefore Serbia was given a severe ultimatum that they were sure to reject giving A-H an excuse for war. Following this France gave a similar Blank Cheque to Russia, aiming to deter Austria. When a conference was called for, A-H and Germany rejected, so that they wouldn’t have to experience another defeat. This gesture showed the powers how determined Germany and Austria were to smash Serbia.

The real problems were within the military and their plans, Russia was only able to mobilise effectively on both German and A-H borders this insulted the Germans, which had to use the Schlieffen Plan to defeat Russia, as it would prove to be ineffective if Russia was complete with its army reforms. Thus making a war inevitable in 1914 as the July Crisis had created a moment, from a military point of view, most favourable for the plan to be carried out. Germany could not fight a local war with Russia alone. First she was supporting Austria, which wanted a local war against Serbia, Germany’s plans on the other hand were to break the encirclement and become the main power on the European continent, so Germany had to make Russia fight, this meant that France would need to be defeated (using the Schlieffen Plan) causing the Great War.

We can conclude from the evidence that nearly all the countries took some role in creating tension in Europe prior to the war, but after the Triple Entente was created Germany was prepared for a war to break the encirclement. Germany had deliberately used Austira in its journey to power, escalating the July Crisis into a world affair. We can say that German policies weren’t healthy for her relations to the other powers, before Bismarck resigned relations were neutral, but the aggressive actions of the Kaiser and his politics made Germany a target of the powers, which saw her as a threat to there combined interests. After a few diplomatic defeats Germany had realised that her only true ally was Austria-Hungary, this increased German insecurity, and the increasing strength of the other powers had alarmed Germany, which had in response started preparing for a preventative war (“Attack is the best form of defense.”). So Germany is the power most responsible for the war as it was determined to break the encirclement since the triple entente was complete. Germany was the most powerful economic and military power in Europe and there strong sense for Social Darwinism created a feeling for complete domination of the continent and this is probably why Germany has the blame for being most responsible of commencing the war, eventhough other powers have there role in it as well.