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Germany and Cause of World War I Essay

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Germany and Cause of World War I

In 1914, World War 1 broke out between six main countries. These were Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. The murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was what triggered off the war but I am here to discuss how there was a lot more to it than the murder of just one man. Germany did not cause the war alone, as will soon come clear.

Germany felt encircled, as there was a strong friendship between Russia to the east of Germany and France to the west. Germany felt it was their attempt to surround and threaten them and as Germany was already jealous of the huge build-up of arms in Russia, there was an immediate rivalry between them. Germany had …show more content…

Germany didn't have much of an empire which made Britain outraged, as they could see no reason to build one due to this, but Germany said they needed a navy to protect their growing trade.

Germany had always admired the way Britain ran their empire and had always wanted a navy like them so when Britain raised the stakes by launching the HMS Dreadnought, Germany responded by building their own. From 1906-1914 the two countries raced to build as many dreadnoughts as they could and in 1909 Germany came very close to beating them. By 1914 however, Britain had 29 and Germany had 17 Dreadnoughts.

Britain had every right to be suspicious of Germany, as they had no need for a navy. Germany was jealous and envious of Britain and wanted to be more like them so that's the more the reason why they would want a navy. However, I believe Britain was being unreasonable as they had no right to tell Germany they could not build one as it was within their right, which was what Britain did.

Germany also had wishes for a big empire in Africa and as Britain and France both controlled some parts of Africa they both felt threatened. For France, this was not the first time as in 1871 Germany stole Alsace and Lorraine from France. They did not want this happening again. France wanted to seek revenge.

Before 1908, the Turkish Empire controlled the Balkans and when

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