Source 3 also agrees to a certain extent with the opinion, as the decisions made from 1900-1914 were essentially to let the Schlieffen plan determine events, this is evident that it wasn’t a decision that would help Germany or at least the outcome of war as Keegan describes the Kaisers attitude as though he panicked into making the decision. This occurred in 1914 and so just before the outbreak of war 1914 so the motives of the Kaiser at this time could be questioned, as he may have felt humiliated following the actions of both Moroccan crises. The source itself however should also be questioned to how far Keegan’s opinion could be trusted, as it was published in 1998 which shows it’s a secondary source and not as reliable as if it was a source from the actually period in question. Both sources 1 and 3 also comment on the aggressive nature of Germany which in itself may have been the cause for the outbreak of war. In source 1 Wehler says ‘ there was no doubt that to Germany’s aims’ which supports the idea that Germany had been making preparations for war, this would also support Fischer’s interpretation of a meeting of German officials he called the ‘war council’. However this is only based in Fischer’s beliefs about the meeting and its purpose as it was never officially a war council. Although this meeting suggests Germany had prior intentions about the outbreak of the war, events such as a dramatic increase in commercial rivalry in the world’s markets could be plausible reasons leading to the outbreak of war.
However, source 2 disagrees with the opinion that war broke out as a direct link from the decisions made in Berlin from 1900. For instance Ferguson states that "the Great General Staff we uncannily relaxed in July 1914" which could seem somewhat unbelievable due to the date, as a month before a war would show no real motive to go to war and this source theoretically protests Germany's innocence in being responsible for the outbreak of war in 1914. As, the senior members to decide the fate of a possible war were on holiday and as he states sarcastically that they were ‘in separate resorts’ and so would relate to no discussions made to go through with a war as they were all too busy 'relaxing'. This is even more evident in the first line of the extract that "the extent of German malice aforethought must not be exaggerated", which would insinuate that Ferguson believes many people would exaggerate how aggressive Germany were despite evidence from various sources. However, this source is from a historian and as it is already shown is based upon opinions that are not factual and so can be interpreted in their own ways.
Furthermore, source 2 suggests that it wasn't just decisions in Berlin that determined the war in Europe but also other countries like the Russian military activity. So much so, that it would trigger Capt ain Kurt Neuhof to "step up surveillance" if such events were to occur. This protests Germany's innocence further as spies were sent out to find out if France and Russia were to make the first move and so these decisions were based on those made first by countries they were threatened by such as France and Russia. This would disagree with the opinion due to not being a decision made from Berlin but a decision based on whether France and Russia were to make the first move, however this would lead to the tactic of the Schlieffen plan which is seen as a motive for war.
These sources argue whether it was decisions made in Berlin that triggered the war, sources 1 and 3 argue for this but not to the same extent as the opinion and this is the opposite effect from s ource 2. And so the decisions made in Berlin that were seen in these sources were responsible for some influence in deciding the outcome of war in Europe but not to the extent the opinion offers, due to the way it was the decisions made prior to 1900 and i n areas other than Berlin. It also comes down to the fact that if it was Germany to blame for the war, and the outbreak itself. But as this opinion narrows down the blame to just decisions based in a certain time period (1900-1914) it's difficult to agree with it to the same extent but decisions that were made were almost definitely another cause to add to the already colliding countries involved in the war.
by
rhyswill01 (student)
