ipl-logo

Was Germany Responsible For World War I

927 Words4 Pages

In the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was blamed for the entirety of World War 1 even though all the nations were equally responsible due to Europeans over competitive militarism which led to destruction, imperialism which angered natives and heightened tensions, and entangling alliances which escalated the war.
In the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was blamed for the entirety of World War 1 even though all the nations were equally responsible due to Europeans over competitive militarism which led to destruction. In the late 1800’s European countries started developing larger armies with more advanced weapons that could potentially be very dangerous in a war. This concept is called militarism. Building of of that is the idea of arms races, where …show more content…

Alliances are nations that team up and help one another for a common goal, especially countries during a war. Alliances were designed to keep the peace, but not when rival alliances are formed (Causes of World War 1 Handout, pg 3 & 4). The Schlieffen Plan, created in 1905 by General count Alfred von Schlieffen, was a German war plan. The plan stated that Germany was to attack France then Russia to avoid war on two fronts. This of course got the French and the Russians mad so they teamed up and became apart of the alliance, the Triple Entente. Germany ended up invading neutral Belgium as well which got Great Britain, Belgium's ally, involved. Later, Great Britain joined the Triple Entente making the Triple Alliance their rival which Germany was apart of. This war plan escalated alliances and formed rivalries (Textbook, pg 412-413). A British writer wrote a memoir called Goodbye to All That which is about his experiences from the war. He reflects, “England declared war on Germany… I was outraged to read of the Germans’ cynical violation of Belgian neutrality” (The Excitement of the War Handout, pg 1). This shows how Germany's actions affected not only Belgian, but other allied countries. The Belgians and the British were now furious at the Germans because the Germans provoked them by the invasion. Germany is partially to blame for World War 1 because they put the Schlieffen Plan into action which caused tension between Germany and the Belgium-Britain alliance, leading to

Show More
Related
899 Words | 4 Pages

It could be said that every European country involved was partially to blame. Each country, at the turn of the twentieth century, built up their militaries and raced with each other for colonial power. Each country made poltical and military alliances with others and were expected to uphold those promises when war began. Many countries went to war to achieve something for themselves. While Germany and Austria-Hungary are easily blamed for the war because of their pro-war ideals and actions, no country in Europe can escape the blame for a war that lasted much longer than a couple weeks and caused the loss of so much

Read More
797 Words | 4 Pages

As a result, Germany increased a war to themselves because they could use their neighbor 's war as an opportunity to spread across. Therefore, Germany caused World War 1 because they used the opportunity to increase the war in order to gain more land. In the end, all countries had some participation and thus, were a “cause” of World War 1. Germany transformed the small war into a widespread and massive war.

Read More
1323 Words | 6 Pages

Alliances had been put in place in order to balance power and prevent a world war to ever happen. Alas, the conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia was not prevented at all. The conflict was what pushed forward the war and caused countries to call for more alliances. This had gotten more and more nations involved in what started as a small conflict to a war. Countries started declaring war on eachother until it was, what some might call, a bar fight.

Read More
374 Words | 2 Pages

Document A ‘‘European Alliances, 1914’’ shows us the different types of alliances that nations had with each other. Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy were known as the Triple Alliance. There was also the Triple Entente, an alliance between France, Great Britain and Russia. Alliances helped cause the war because nations would be against each other and they would also want to be dominant. Although there were many reasons that caused World War I, Militarism, Imperialism, and Allies were the main factors.

Read More
300 Words | 2 Pages

The textbook, Modern World History: Patterns of Interaction by McDougal Littell, states that the causes of World War One is a narrative of multiple factors, but the underlying narrative that the textbook teaches is that the blame for the war on Germany. When the textbook cites nationalism as one of the reasons for the beginning of World War One the first country listed was Germany. When the textbook mentions alliances as a factor that led to the war it does not mention any particular nation by name, but rather it has a picture of Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II. This leads a student to focus their attention to Germany’s ruler as the as the supreme reason World War One began. Additionally, in the caption below the Kaiser Wilhelm II’s picture, the

Read More
667 Words | 3 Pages

Britain had a large and powerful navy. Germany wanted to have the same thing too, or even bigger and better. All the countries felt like they had to build up their militaries to keep up with everyone else. Not just one of the four causes takes the blame for starting WWI. All of these things: imperialism, nationalism, alliances, and militarism combined to make a large war, involving many countries, which took several years to

Read More
1998 Words | 8 Pages

Who started World War 1 and who should be blamed? World War 1 was the first industrialized war, and about 14,663,000 people died. There were many new kinds of weapons which could kill enormous amounts of people. However, it all started with the spread of nationalism. When Napoleon was the ruler of France and he conquered many lands, he spread the feeling of nationalism.

Read More
204 Words | 1 Pages

The invasion of belgium took place on august 3rd, 1914 and ended on October 31st, 1914. It was the schlieffen plan that orchestrated this attack of belgium, it made plans for germany to cross through belgium to effectively invade france and reach paris. But belgium refused germany's demands for passage. And the germans declared war on belgium. Belgium refused the demands because it was a neutral country, if they allowed it they would by definition not be neutral.

Read More
390 Words | 2 Pages

After World War 1 Germany was in bad conditions. “The war guilt clause of the agreement believed Germany the attackers in the war and therefore made Germany responsible for making damages to the Allied nations in payment for the losses and damage they had caused during the war”. This means Germany did all the damages to the allied. The Germans were angry with this as it was agreed by the Allies, without referring them.

Read More
208 Words | 1 Pages

There is various of people who bears the most responsibility for World war one but World war one started with just an action of a Serbian Nationalist that turned the world upside down for 4 years. Serbia bears the most responsibility of the war because the main cause was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand the heir to the throne of Austro-Hungarian Empire and his wife Sophie. Secondly, another reason why Serbia bears the most responsibility is that they gave them supplies and trained the Black Hand to assassinate the heir of Austro-Hungarian. Even though the Serbian had the Black Hand’s back, therefore, Serbian Nationalism and Expansionism so these 2 was the main key to Serbia having the Black Hand’s back.

Read More
345 Words | 2 Pages

As part of the Schlieffen plan, the German army invaded Belgium, thus, violating its neutrality. It was thought that Belgium would comply with Germany’s wishes, however, this did not occur. The Belgian King Albert I justified Belgians resistance on 4 August, by saying "Never since 1830 has a graver hour sounded for Belgium. The strength of our right and the need of Europe for our autonomous existence make us still hope that the dreaded events will not occur." However, the primary justification of Belgium's actions was that after Belgium became independent in 1839 it was bound by the Treaty of London to remain neutral.

Read More
376 Words | 2 Pages

The way in which Europeans saw themselves after the industrial revolution is the only thing that should be blamed for the occurrence of WWI. The extreme Self-confidence or the megalomania that Europeans had during 19th century contributed significantly to WWI. The historical events and patterns created that megalomania. Victorian culture, successful practice of imperialism, successful nationalism movements in Germany and Italy all made Europeans to believe that there has to be something in their blood; so that could completely shape a new world.

Read More
925 Words | 4 Pages

Germany is still to blame, however, also are the other Great Powers such as Austria - Hungary, Russia, Britain, and

Read More
817 Words | 4 Pages

The Causes of the First World War Carmen There were quite a few causes of the first world war (WW1). The long-term causes were the militarism, alliance system, imperialism and nationalism- MAIN. The short-term cause was the fact that Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for killing Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife. I personally think the most significant cause to WW1 is the alliance system and here, I will justify why I think like this. I think the most significant cause of WW1 was the alliance system.

Read More
1016 Words | 5 Pages

Germany was one of the major players in the First World War that started in the year 1914. The Treaty of Versailles, a peace treaty published after the war in 1919, largely blamed Germany for the war, forcing the country to disarm and pay a generous sum of reparation to the victorious side. Many historians still argue over whether this blame was justified or not; while most claim that Germany was the inexcusable cause, some counter that there were other factors to blame, such as Austria-Hungary. I believe that Germany was indeed responsible for WW1, not solely but for the majority of it, because they were what started the war in the first place.

Read More

More about Was Germany Responsible For World War I

Related Topics

Open Document