The international tensions among the Great European powers, which had led to the outbreak of WW1, can be expressed in the formations of the political alliances. With Germany having a natural ally with Austria-Hungary they had expanded this towards Italy by 1882 thus creating ‘The Triple Alliance’. This alliance had the intent of purely being a defensive one as they didn’t want to cause war rather prevents it. But the Fisher Thesis states that Germany was the one in which had provoked war with their intentions of political influence on Europe and their allies. This is best shown during the July crisis when they had made Austria-Hungary reluctantly declare war on Serbia. With the alliances being made in secret it had created suspicion or what Morrow stats as ‘Diplomatic deceits and deceptions’ Stuart had agreed with the statement that if there was to be one disagreement all the powers would be involved thus creating war on a great scale. But there was an opposing alliance that came under the name of ‘The triple Entente’ in 1907. The reason for the formation of this alliance between Britain, France and Russia was to match the treat that Germany posed on them thus also supporting the Fisher thesis. With the 6 European powers divided into 2 blocs (Source 4) Thomas believed that it was a system of allies in which had transformed a system of defensive management into one of offense. With the signing of the treaty of London or the Scraps of Paper (Source 5), due to the fact of this when Germany had crossed the Belgium border Britain had declared war showing how a simple alliance treaty, which was purely made for defensive measure, could be changed into one of offense. While the alliance system was crucial into the understanding of the war militarism was another cause into the outbreak of the war and is also related towards the July crisis.
The crucial impetus that had caused the outbreak of the world war was militarism. The nationalist rivalry recurring around militarism was between Britain and Germany concerning their navy and armies. As the 20th century began, however, tension between these two powers had deepened. Kaiser Wilhelm II, who had come to the throne in 1888, dreamt of making Germany a world power and of replacing it with the Greatest German empire. Mason stats “You could see through the spending of Germany in their armies and navy that they wanted to be a forced to be reckoned with” (Source 2) Wilhelm had made naval developments his personal obsession, and he had both admired yet envied the British’s role in international affairs with them being the major sea power. Morrow believed that The German navy had begun to build-up thus beginning to challenge not only the British’s navy but also their domination on the globe, which was essential for the survival of their empire. At the same time Germany sought to expand their empire and push to new colonies overseas (Source 3). Stuart stats “This new-course that Germany had followed after 1890 meant that it came to challenge Britain in 2 vital areas: its navy and its empire.” This had also supported Fisher’s thesis as Germany’s role in international affairs had great thus putting the blame onto Germany. But this was only one of the long-term causes in which had caused the outbreak of World War 1 while the July crisis was a debatably one of the immediate causes for the outbreak.
With the July crisis being said as one of the short-term causes of the outbreak of the war, due to the assassination of Archduke Duke Franz Ferdinand on the 28th of June 1914, historians believe that it was a intermeshing dynamics that had drove a sequence of decision across Europe. With Fisher believing that it was Germany in which had caused the outbreak of the war Fitzgerald stats it was just a scapegoat for countries to blame it on each other. However Keegan opposed this statement as he suggests that whether it was a long-term or short-term cause war wasn’t inevitable, thus putting the blame on all the countries for the lack of communication during the crisis. When Germany had prompted Australia-Hungary to take immediate action against Serbia for the assassination, thus reluctantly declaring war on the 28th of June after the ultimatum had been declined, this showed Germanys heavy involvement in international affairs almost to the point of them wanting war. It is during the July crisis that Fisher strongly believes that Germany was the one to blame due to their heavy involvement and almost reluctantly making Austria-Hungary declare war. Morrow stats another event during the crisis that supports the thesis was the scraps of paper signed in 1839 (Source 5) involving Germany, Britain and Belgium. The thesis stats that while Germany were trying to make an imperialist empire thus knowing to step into Belgium borders would trigger the Britain, thus having a chance to defeat them and becoming the biggest power. This was why the July crisis may have been a short-term cause but it was one of the immediate reasons for the outbreak of WW1.
