Was Germany Responsible For The Great War Essay

Once Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated, it gave the countries a reason to declare war on each other. Document A shows the alliances between European countries at the start of WWI in 1914. France, Britain, and Russia were an alliance. France and Britain were the most powerful out of imperialist Europe, so they made an alliance to combine that strength. Russia owned no colonies, so it would make sense they would want an alliance with what seemed like the strongest colony owners. Germany owned the third most colonies, but they were scared of Britain and France taking over (look at the analysis of Document D). Austria-Hungary was in a place similar to Russia in that they needed an alliance with a stronger country, Germany fit the type of alliance Austria-Hungary was looking for because Germany had a strong military and was already united to Austria-Hungary by common fear of Russia and Russia’s alliances. Germany allied with Austria-Hungary because they believed Russia wouldn’t wage war against two empires. This led Russia to ally with France and

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.

After Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia their allies began declaring war on others. Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary, Germany declared war on Russia, France declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary, and Britain joined Russia and France (DBQ Project Background Essay). Which all this caused an outbreak of war in Europe. Everyone was trying to support their allies, so if the opportunity arose and their country ever needed them they would have their support in

The trigger for the war, was the assassination of the Austrian Arch Duke in Sarajevo, but in reality, it was just the precursor towards the war. Citizens of these European states captivated by nationalistic pride and feeling that the war would be over in couple of months

According to Document ten, the Germans believed a European war was going to happen since 1911 (likely due to the poor diplomatic relations between countries caused by imperialism, according to document five), and they wanted to be the ones to start it in order to gain an advantage. In addition, according to Fritz Fischer, Germany had long aimed to expand in Europe, consisting of, “An eastern empire [and] predominance over Belgium and France. ”(Document Ten) This excerpt provides support to the claim that Germany was using the war to further their imperial control, with the “eastern empire” referring to expansion into russian territory. It could also entail that Germany wanted the belgians and the french to cede their colonies, which would be of great interest to the expansion of the German Empire.

While the recent assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand is what led to the war, there are multiple underlying factors that imitated the war. One of such factors is imperialism. In the past few decades, countries in Europe have been competing for land to expand their empire. This had led to various feuds igniting a hostility between countries. Nations did not trust each other and were cautious. Another factor is patriotism, people believe there country is the best and want their country above the rest. They like to promote their culture and beliefs to other nations. All the hidden factors meant the Great War was a war waiting to

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

Leading up to the First World War (WWI) was a series of crises -- Serbian unification efforts, the Ten-Point Ultimatum from Austria to Serbia, the Kruger Telegram, the Dreadnought Race, the Moroccan Crises of 1905 and of 1911, the Balkan Wars, and the Bosnian Crisis -- that generated significant conflict and division among the countries of Europe, all of which seemed to lay the foundation for the start of WWI. With concern for its own power and security in a rapidly changing Europe, Germany set out to undermine the power of as well as the alliances between other European countries. In his book The Sleepwalkers: How Europe went to War in 1914, Christopher Clark points out that, while ‘not one of the great powers has escaped the

The defeat of Germany in World War Two was due to many factors. All of these factors were influenced by the leadership and judgment of Adolf Hitler. Factors such as the stand fast policy, Hitler’s unnecessary and risky decision making in military situations, for example when attacking the USSR, and the declaration of war on the US. Plus other factors, like Hitler’s alliance with Italy, despite its obvious weaknesses, and the pursuit of the final solution, can all be attributed to the poor leadership and judgement of the Fuhrer, which would eventually lead to the downfall of the Third Reich.

As a result of World War I, Germany was forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles, made to pay for the war, and had to disarm themselves, which directly led into World War II. Germany went down the tubes after they were forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles. There economy crashed and there money had just about no value. Many people that World War II was just a 20 year break from World War I. They were right because just about 20 years later World War II started. There are many things that could contribute to starting the war but these are the main point and the most recognized.

What actually started the war was the alliances between countries. Countries in Europe formed alliances with each other (e.g., Russia, Britain, and France in the Triple Entente and Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy in the Triple Alliance) (Doc A). The countries in the Entente all blamed Germany for the war and felt the need to intervene (Doc B). Germany was backing up Austria-Hungary and Russia was backing up Serbia whom were in a spat. Which lead to invasions and more friends of these countries joining the war to aide them.

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.

While there is never just a single event that has led to the start of a world war, or any other serious war, there is often one thing that triggers long lived tensions and thus war ensues. Such was the case in WWI with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. There were many tensions that existed prior to his assassination, but it was his assassination which triggered the war, his assassination that served as an excuse, and perhaps the last straw, so to speak, which led to the First World War. The following paper examines the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and its relationship to the start of WWI.

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Why Germany lost the war (despite its early tactical successes) is a simple question with a complex answer. And, over the years since Germany’s surrender at Reims, France on May 7, 1945, scholars and historians have provided a number of arguments to warrant their perspective answers. Consequently there are a