Source C was written by Admiral Scheer of the German Navy after the world war. The source points out that Germany’s cause for her naval increment was to protect their colonies, political and economic expansions. Germany also felt that they had little freedom as Britain was always in competition and never granted the freedom of the seas. “By creating a fleet we strengthen our claim to sea power, without which the German empire must wither away. Britain was never willing to grant the freedom of the seas, even if it had to come to war.” The source then tells us that Germany never intended to be a threat to Britain for their power and that their naval ambitions were only for little amounts of ships which Britain far outweighed them by number. Despise this Britain still felt that it was a threat to them. “Our aims were limited to a small number of ships, which nowhere approached the British total. Nevertheless Britain considered herself threatened and saw in us a rival who must at any cost be destroyed.” We can observe that Germany felt that they were a small time naval force that didn’t compare to Britain’s but still felt she was being threatened. However the last paragraph of the source reveals that Germany felt responsible to their contribution in building up tension from the naval race. “Our fleet construction there was more tension in our relations with Britain than would have resulted from peaceful competition alone.” We can observe from this source that Germany knew that it was a threat to Britain’s naval army and felt responsible but at the same time defended itself with the reason for this was to protect its colonies and economic ambitions with no intention to replace British world power. However because this was written after the war the opinions of the Admiral of the German navy may not have been the same as it was. The intentions for constructing a rapid growth of the German navy could have been intended for war however in Source B the British government states that “The naval expansion of Germany has not been provoked by British naval increases”. This was written in 1912 which supports source C statement of “we never wished to replace British world power”. We can conclude from this that Germany certainly felt that it shouldn’t been blamed on the naval race as they have not demonstrated aggression but only growth in numbers with only defensive intentions and instead Britain’s intimidation of Germany’s naval fleet caused more tension therefore disagreeing that they should be more to blamed.
Source D was written by Kaiser William II, the source tells us that from conversations with Bismarck. The source tells us that William intended for the Germany’s navy as a defense for the country’s important assets in foreign colonies. Telling us also that the colonies relied on naval protection, which required a fleet constructed in time. “Bismarck intended to use the colonies only for trade or as objects to exchange land in treaties and not to make any other use for them in Germany. Colonies relied on protection from a navy. For this reason, I pointed out that steps must be taken for gr getting a fleet constructed in time.” We can observe so far that the source tells us Germany’s naval was for no other purpose than to protect its colonies, assets, trade and other defensive purposes. We can also understand from the Kaiser’s point of view that the rapidly development of the country’s navy was for the purpose of defense too and was misinterpreted by Britain as a threat. On the other hand however the Kaiser blames Bismarck for causing tension between Britain because he responded to them aggressively. “But he turned a deaf ear to my statements and made use of his pet motto “If the English should land on our soil, I shall have them arrested. His idea was that our army at home would defend the colonies” This tells us that the Kaiser accepted responsibility for causing tension but blamed in on his henchmen as his initial intensions for the navy was purely for Germany’s defense. We can relate this as evidence for source C “we never wished to replace British world power” as this source does serve as evidence that they Germany did not want to cause tension. However in source D we are told that Bismarck was acting aggressively to the British “if the English should land on our soil, I shall have them arrested” which can also be related to source C, of Germany’s frustration that Britain was treating them unfair. “Britain was never willing to grant the freedom of the seas, even if it had to come to a world war”. This source from all that we see seems to support Germany’s naval growth as a defense for them rather than a way to intimidate the British. However because we can see that a blame for Germany’s own actions may have caused threat also justifies source B for Britain’s statistical evidence of competition that lead to their naval increment. We can come to a conclusion that the source disagrees that Germany was more responsible.
Source A was a meeting with the British chancellor and the German ambassador that took place in 1908. The source tells us that Britain felt that it was both parties fault for producing a naval race. However the Kaiser response to this was “Wrong! A result of Britain’s ambitions for world empire and a tendency to imagine threats”. The source then further blames Britain by saying that they would do anything to remain the superior navy “Every British citizen would spend his last penny to preserve their superiority at the sea” followed by the Kaiser’s aggravated response “They already have it 3 times over!!.” Further on the source reveals that Britain was asking for war because of its demands to remain the naval superiority “Lloyd gorge believed that a slowing down in Germany’s fleet would help public opinion. He said that Britain would meet us half way to limit the size of the fleets on both sides. (This demand is unheard of! I am not impressed by their shouts for war.)” So far the source seems to be telling us that Britain should be the one to blame for their shouts for war and paranoid ambition for naval supremacy. We can see in source C that Germany remarks that Britain was unjustly intimidated “Britain considered herself threatened and saw in us a rival who must at all cost be destroyed.” Tells us that after the war the truth about British intentions of, in source A “Anybody who knows Britain a little knows that Britain has no intention to threaten Germany with the British fleet or attack Germany at all.” Was false and that they were wanting war like the Kaiser stated “I am not impressed by their shouts of war”. We can conclude that in this source Germany felt like Britain was to blame as they were being unfair in regards to the unfair demands of ship numbers even though there were no plans or intentions stated or shown from Germany asking for war.
To conclude we can see that overall that all sources agree that both parties had reason to be blamed from sources A,D,C as they all pointed out that Germany’s navy was for the intentions of protections of their own colonies and businesses. Even Source B stated this as well and that these sources were written before, during and after the naval race and world war, to prove that their intentions were real. Source B’s Statistical evidence didn’t prove that Germany was a threat and was merely used as an excuse to build more ships. From all this we can see that to a certain extent of wanting peaceful competition was Germany responsible but mostly it was Britain’s fault to a large extent for causing aggravation from unfair demands and restrictions.
