Factors Driving Germany To War Essay

The German Command, in planning for a short and swift war, found themselves in a bind when the war started to prolong itself. From the very beginning, their plan started to fall apart, as Belgium, who they assumed would just let them march through to France, took up arms in resisting their approaches (Hull, 2005). The war would get longer and longer and seemed farther away from its conclusion as the months grew colder. As a result of this as well as their Prussian roots, they resorted to dangerously risky and destructive tactics, trying to bring the war to a quicker end while putting more of their resources in jeopardy, a move that eventually did not pay off and ended up leading to the German Empire’s demise (Hull, 2005).

In the year 1961, Fritz Fischer had presented his book, which was known as Germany's Aims in First World War and it had been successful in launching a debate among German historians and scholars as older historians severely criticized and opposed Fischer and his book. However, his contemporaries and younger historians supported his book. The book draws a detailed and comprehensive picture of Germany and its aims during the World War I.

At the end of WWI many countries blamed Germany for starting the war. These countries used the Treaty of Versailles to punish Germany. These punishments included loss of land and military, infeasible reparations, and complete humiliation; this is how the Treaty of Versailles directly caused WWII.

Through the book ‘Europe’s Last Summer’ David Fromkin tackles the issues of pre WWI Europe, and the surrounding political, economic, social, debacles that led paranoid countries to go to arms after nearly a full century of relative peace within the European continent. While Fromkin certainly points his fingers to all the nations of Europe his primary focus lies with Germany and Austria-Hungary. Though he continues to stress throughout much of the book that Kaiser Wilhelm II and Archduke Ferdinand were fervent keepers of the peace within their nations, the fault of the war ultimately could be laid at the feet of their two nations and their constant attempts at war-mongering. He claims the war could have been avoided for the moment, had all the nations of Europe wanted peace, but the two bad eggs of Europe drew them all into an unavoidable general war.

As I’m sure most people know Adolf Hitler was the leader of the Germans from August 2 1934 to April 30 1945, but do you know that as Fuhrer of Germany he was the driving force behind the start of WWII. During his reign he tried to bring Germany back to the powerful country it had been before the First World War. In this paper I will prove that Hitler’s actions lead to start of WWII, and I plan to prove how his direct disregard of the Treaty of Versailles pushed the world into WWII.

From the Treaty of Versailles, to the rise of Hitler, and the failure of the League of Nations, there were many causes that lead up to World War II. World War I left Germany with many shortfalls, thus leaving them in the hands of the Treaty of Versailles. Rather unfair of a Treaty, this left Germany once again looking for another way out. A country resented by many had no other choice but to feel optimistic toward Adolph Hitlers empty promises… making it substantially simple for him to gain power so quick. Throw in the Great Depression, and you have a vastly unstable world, which the Germans believed Hitler would lead them out of.

Many historians argue that the reason for Germany going to war was due to the aggressive behaviour of Germany in the build up to the war. Throughout this essay I will be addressing this issue looking at whether Germany was responsible for the outbreak of a general European war in August 1914. There are many factors which contribute to the outbreak of the war from a short-term trigger such as the assassination of Franz Ferdinand to the long-term annexation aims Germany implemented in the years building up to the war, the most important reason was Germany’s aggressive foreign policy, they had provided

to be more like them so that's the more the reason why they would want

Although more countries than Germany itself is responsible for starting the first World War, Germany in its history to become a nation performed certain actions that helped guide the world toward war. War after war was fought in order to solidify Germany as a nation both politically and morally. These wars gave the German people a sense of unity but also fueled rage, hatred, and fear by those that Germany defeated along its path to become a nation. These feelings are not easily forgotten. These feelings could be seen rising up during World War I by the nation of France, who was defeated earlier by the Germans over land disputes as part of Germany’s quest to become a nation, one of the allied powers in the war. As another result of these wars and the quest to build Germany into a nation, Bismark put together a web of complex treaties with varies nations in Europe. These same treaties where then unraveled by William so that Germany could advance as a civilization. Through the actions that the Germans took in order to become a nation did not see them making too many friends as it made them enemies. It is these actions that lead the nations of France, England, and Russia to go on edge and distrust Germany and build an arsenal to defend themselves. When a nation displays the actions that Germany displayed it leads people, and nations alike, to believe that they are aggressive and that they plan to take military action against them in order to expand. This then causes distrust and fear that lead people to take certain measures so when the time comes for war they can defend themselves. As those nations build their arsenals tensions grow even higher. As these tensions grow high, countries form allies with other countries which

Wilhelm II: Russia was the sworn enemy of Germany since its forsake. After the Germany was unified by Bismarck at 1870s, it became a monarchy state ruled by emperors like me. Bismarck planed to build a stable alliance in order to counteract the hostile from France and Britain. So that, he decided to form an alliance with Russia , Austro-Hungarian empire and Italy. By a series of treaties, this system finally took shape. But, at 1892, Russia betrayed Germany and form alliance with

During the summer of 1914 British politicians believed that Germany would not start war because, despite his angry outbursts, the Kaiser had peaceful intentions. The bureaucrats in Britain believed that Germany did not have the capability to go to war, and if it did go to war, France and Russia would quickly squash Germany. Perceptions of German intention did matter in British decision-making in the summer on 1914. Britain’s position on the war remained ambiguous long after they should have publically made a statement because they believe the tension would die down on it own when Germany eventually decided it would not go to war. This information, and the way politicians and bureaucrats reasoned through Germany’s intentions, follows the guidelines

     Although in the Treaty of Versailles Germany was to accept full responsibility for World War 1 this in not necessarily the case. Many factors have to be taken into account when considering the cause of World War 1. Germany may have been primarily responsible for the war but the other major powers must accept some of the blame for failing to prevent it. The conflict resulting from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinard should have been local and confined but due to a series of factors, militarism, the alliance system, nationalism, this one incident led to the greatest war Europe had ever seen. As a result of underlying hostilities the assassination led to a chain of

backed out without much question! It was far too casual for it to be a

In order to fully understand how Britain’s decision to go to war against Germany is best explained one must engage into the debate revolving around the question of the extent to which Britain and other countries were responsible for causing war. This helps explain the intention Britain had for war which is vital in understanding their decision making process to cause war in the first place. Some schools of thought have come to the conclusion that it was everybody or nobody- the continent “slithered over the brink into the boiling cauldron of war without any trace of apprehension or dismay.”1 That analysis will be considered in this essay as will the widespread thesis that it was Germany’s aggression which not only created the preconditions for war, but also triggered Britain into war with the political imbalance of power being created from the growing naval and colonial expansion of Germany. Other factors that help explain why Britain went to war against Germany

After the First World War (1914-1919), the world was faced with the questions - who was responsible and what was reason for the outbreak of the war. Ultimately it was agreed on the 28 June 1919 that “the Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage” from the First World War. However, there have been many other interpretations on whom and what was responsible for the war. On the one hand, some historians would agree with David Lloyd George’s notion of all “the nations slithered over the brink into the boiling cauldron of war”, however, on the contrary, others would agree with Fischer in arguing that Germany’s aggressive foreign policy was responsible for the First World War. Whether you agree with Lloyd George or Fischer, it is important to understand some of the other possible reasons for the outbreak of the First World War – including the growth of nationalism and imperialism, the alliances within Europe and the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Although this essay will argue that Germany’s aggressive foreign policy was responsible for the outbreak of the First World War, it will also illustrate why other historians have argued against that notion.