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Was Germany Responsible For World War I

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The conventional narrative for the reason of the outbreak of World War 1 mostly blames Germany. The conventional narrative says that after the Archduke of Austria-Hungary was assassinated by the Serbian Black Hand gang, Germany formed an alliance with Austria-Hungary and offered them military support if they attack Serbia. Russia promised to help Serbia, a fellow Slavic state, and France backed Russia. Germany then invaded Belgium, which led to Britain forming an alliance with Russia and France, and then the Great War started. I think that Germany is the country that was most responsible for the outbreak of the Great War. I believe that if Germany hadn't got herself involved after the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the war wouldn't have …show more content…

This made Germany paranoid, as it meant that Germany was vulnerable from attack from each side of the country, from Russia to the east and France to the west. Germany, concerned, invaded Belgium, who was neutral. Then Britain got involved to help Belgium, creating the Triple Entente with Russia and France, and war broke out. Had Germany not got involved, I believe that Austria-Hungary would have still fought Serbian, as they thought that the Serbian government had planned the Archduke's assassination, and they were furious. I think Russia would still have helped Serbia, as they were of the same race and religion, but I don't think France would have got involved, as the conflict would only have been Austria-Hungary vs Serbia and Russia; there wouldn't have been much need for France to involve herself. There would have been a war, but not as large as the Great War ended up being. Christopher Clark thought that Serbia wanted a war so she could get Russia involved on her side, in an attempt to bring Russia and Serbia closer together to promote pan-slavism. This backs my belief that, had Austria-Hungary went to fight Serbia, Russia would still have got involved, but it was Germany that emphasised

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