"Germany cannot be blamed for the First World War" Discuss.

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Germany cannot be blamed for the First World War.  Discuss

The First World War, for many years known as the Great War, or even European War, raged for four years; it devastated parts of Western Europe, destroyed three Empires, killed 9 million men and caused feelings of such bitterness and resentment that attempts were made to find a scapegoat who could be made responsible for the grotesque losses.  This scapegoat was Germany, who was made to sign the Versailles Treaty with its war-guilt clause, placing the blame for the war squarely on Germany’s shoulders.  In many ways, the posturings, ambitions, and sheer recklessness of Germany’s governments, and most particularly the Kaiser himself, created an atmosphere in which war could easily break out.

The Kaiser was a young man with a mission to prove to his European cousins and neighbours that his country was a first-class world power, ready and able to take its place in events on the world stage.  The dramatic increase in Germany’s industrial strength enabled her to embark on grandiose schemes that brought her into direct conflict with her neighbours.  The Franco-Prussian war of 1870 had been a foretaste of what German military might could perpetrate on Europe.  The so-called Naval Race with Britain, was part of the Kaiser’s personal ambition to challenge the supremacy of GB on the world’s oceans.  His meddling in the affairs of Morocco on two separate occasions brought him into conflict with France, antagonised other nations with his bullying tactics, and achieved a remarkable Entente Cordiale between Britain and France, which saw them enter into amicable and fateful collaboration in the years that preceded 1914.

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The Kaiser inherited a legacy of European tension from Bismarck, caused through his system of alliances..  Bismarck, a wily master of diplomacy, sought ways to prevent an encirclement of Germany by a series of treaties which committed Russia, Austria and Italy to mutual friendship and support in times of trouble.  However, instead of creating a climate of peace, his secretive dealings created suspicion and mistrust of Germany’s motives and this lack of openness was to have disastrous consequences when more serious issues were at stake following the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo.

As Liddell Hart has stated, ...

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