Tracy Ahn 27.09.12 Day 2 1 A. Question: To what extent was Germany responsible for the First World War?

? B. Thesis: Germany was not responsible for the First World War; it was the complicated alliance system, rather, that caused the warming of relationships between other European nations, which pressured Germany into attacking in order to ensure her own safety. While other factors also influenced the beginning of the war, without such a complicated network of alliances, war would never have happened because it was the alliances that forced countries to go to war in order to support their allies. C. Analysis POV #1: The system of alliances formed between several European nations such as Britain and France warmed relationships between those nations and threatened Germany, forcing her to defend herself in an attempt to avoid encirclement; because Germany acted only to defend herself, she was not to blame for the First World War. Source #1: Martel, Gordon. The Origins of the First World War. 2nd ed. New York: Longman Publishing, 1996. Print. - After defeating Austria-Hungary and France in 1866 and 1870 respectively, Otto von Bismarck felt that Germany had to act carefully in order to prevent France, Austria-Hungary, and Russia from forming alliances against her; even though Germany was powerful, Bismarck felt that she was not strong enough to fight against all three nations at once - Bismarck decided to form the Three Emperors League in 1873 with Russia and Austria-Hungary but he knew that, after Frances humiliating defeat to Prussia during the Franco-Prussian War, it would be impossible to become friends with France - The purpose of all alliances formed by Germany was to defend herself from other European nations because it was at a geographical disadvantage, surrounded by France, Austria-Hungary, and Russia, among other countries; in fact, Germany did not want a war, as it knew that despite its military prowess it could not fight multiple nations at once, and only attacked France to avoid war Source #2: Prior, Robin, and Trevor Wilson. The First World War. London: Cassell & Co., 1999. Print. - Germany and Austria-Hungary agreed to the Dual Alliance in 1879, in which both countries agreed to provide aid and protection to one another in case of a Russian attack; although this ensured an alliance with Austria-Hungary, Germany was forced to give up relations with Russia in order to maintain ties with her most trustworthy ally - The Austro-Serbian Alliance in 1881, in which Austria-Hungary agreed to protect Serbia from Russia, further alienated Germany from Russia because Austria-Hungary, who shared a common interest in the Balkans with Russia, was Germanys ally - Meanwhile, the relationship between France and England became increasingly warmer after the Fashoda Crisis of 1898, which was considered the last possible conflict between the two nations - Although Germany and Russia agreed to benevolent neutrality in 1887 with the Reinsurance Treaty, it was not renewed when Bismarck was dismissed; when France and Russia formed an alliance, Germany was being surrounded - To worsen situations for Germany even more, England and France formed the Entente Cordiale in 1904, which divvied up parts of Africa between France and England France got the area west of the Niles while England got the east strengthening their alliance even more - Also, there was an Anglo-Russian Entente in which the two nations agreed to have separate spheres of influence in Persia; this led to a warming of relationships between Britain and Russia as well - The Moroccan Crisis of 1905 also served to alienate Britain and Germany - In 1907, Russia, Britain, and France formed the Triple Entente, which completed the encirclement of Germany - Germany had failed to avoid encirclement and felt that at some point, a war was going to occur, and wanted to avoid fighting on multiple nations at once; some people in Germany asserted that they must be the first ones to attack in order to avoid this - Thus, Germany did not declare war on Russia for wars sake, but wanted only to protect itself from the intricately allied countries including Russia, Britain, and France before it was attacked on multiple sides simultaneously, and is therefore does not deserve full blame for the Great War POV #2: German nationalism was not the cause of the First World War; it was Serbian nationalism that stimulated the war because it was the driving force behind the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913 and the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which directly influenced the beginning of the First World War. Source #1: Martel, Gordon. The Origins of the First World War. 2nd ed. New York: Longman Publishing, 1996. Print. - Nationalism was the main stimulus that drove the Bosnian Serbs to plot to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand - Austria-Hungary was also fighting against Serbian nationalism when she sent her ultimatum of ten demands to Serbia - Nationalism was also what made the Russians consider themselves as protectors of the Serbians, who were, like them, Slavic - This nationalism amounted to an explosion of imperialistic expansionism, a movement that dominated the 19 th century Africa and Asia had been split by Europeans and the Chinese and Ottoman Empires were rapidly declining - Although it can be said that Germany did strive to expand her empire, it cannot be said that she was the only nation responsible for causing the Great War because it was Serbian nationalism that caused the events that led directly to the Great War Source #3: Evans, David. The First World War. London: Hodder Headline, 2004. Print. - The growth of nationalism in the Balkan states led to the creation of the Balkan League, an alliance comprised of Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Greece; their goal was to rid the Balkans of Ottoman influence, agreeing to unite because as Slavs, they were all motivated by pan-Slavism - There was also a strong nationalist movement in Austria-Hungary; Franz Ferdinand called for the Slavic nations to become part of his empire as the Third Slavic State and Austria-Hungary was determined to stop pan-Slavism - There were also Serbian terrorists working in Bosnia to gain Bosnian freedom from Turkish influence - A Serbian terrorist group called the Black Hand working in Bosnia against Austria-Hungary assassinated Franz Ferdinand on June 28th, 1914; the reactions by multiple nations to this assassination played a huge role in causing the First World War - Austria-Hungary realized that Serbian nationalists were responsible for the murder of her archduke; angered, she threatened the

nation of Serbia, even though there was no proof that the Serbian government was responsible - On July 5th, Germany gave Austria-Hungary what became known as the Blank Cheque, which declared that Germany would support Austria-Hungary, her ally, no matter what happened in the Balkans; in this sense, Germany is not completely free of blame because she publicly declared her support for Austria-Hungary, even though she knew this could lead to war - Austria-Hungary consequently sent an arguably unfeasible ultimatum to Serbia; there is debate as to whether this was done deliberately to provoke Serbia, but it was without doubt an action influenced by nationalism, and Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28th - As a result, nations had no choice but to their armies and declare war on each other in order to support those countries that they were allied with because of the complicated network of alliances such as the Dual and Triple Ententes - Before long a war, which grew quickly from a European war to a global one, had begun; these events leading up to the war were known as the July Crisis - Serbian nationalism, therefore, was the underlying movement that had triggered the Balkan Wars, which in turn led to the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, which in turn led to the July Crisis and full-out war - Therefore, pan-Slavism as well as Austro-Hungarian nationalism was more influential than German nationalism POV #3: England was responsible for the First World War because its alliances were ambiguous therefore Britains position in the Triple and Dual Alliances was unclear and led to misunderstandings as other nations were unsure of what actions Britain would make if there was to be a war. Source #1: Martel, Gordon. The Origins of the First World War. 2nd ed. New York: Longman Publishing, 1996. Print. - By the beginning of the 20th century, England was the only great power that had not joined either of the two main alliances - Although Germany had offered her alliance to Britain, Britain consistently refused, partly because Britain did not want to become involved in a war for Germanys sake, and partly because Britain had never thought of Germany as a threat - At one point, however, Britain was interested in cooperating with Germany in order to stop Russia from gaining control over Manchuria; thus, Britains unclear stance in her relationship with Germany was confusing to the latter nation - Further ambiguity on Britains part is shown in the actions of the British foreign minister Sir Edward Grey, who could not decide whether to stop Russia or to warn Germany that England would fight with France and Russia in the case of a war - England is also to blame since Germany would not have gone to war if she knew England would become involved because she would not have been able to defeat England Source #4: Ferguson, Niall. The Pity of War. New York: Basic Books, 1998. Print. - Sir Edward Grey kept an ambiguous attitude regarding entering the war; Germany was confused therefore over Britains position on the war - Germanys expanding her navy was not intended to be a challenge against Britains navy; rather, the Kaiser only wanted a larger navy to satisfy his own pleasures - England was fully aware of the Kaisers such intentions and did not look upon Germanys naval expansion as a threat; the supposed Anglo-German naval race, therefore, did not really ever exist, and so there was never tension created between the two nations from this - Because Germany did not pose a true threat to Britain and because none of Germanys colonies interfered with those of Britain, Britain did not have a legitimate reason to form alliances against Germany; however this is exactly what she did, not because Germany was truly threatening her, but only because this was in Britains own interests - Thus, Germany is not to blame for the First World War; Germany had no choice but to declare war on Russia before Russia had time to mobilize in order to prevent fighting a war on multiple sides simultaneously, an event that seemed very likely especially since Britain had formed powerful alliances against Germany POV #4: Russia was responsible for the First World War; although Germany was blamed for having ignored Britain, France, and Russias attempts to negotiate, in reality it was Germany who made efforts in negotiation and it was Russias decisions that led to war. Source #5: Montgelas, Max. The Case for the Central Powers. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1925. Print. - Germany was accused of forcing Austria-Hungary to war and ignoring all attempts at negotiation by declaring war on Russia and France; however, this was not true: Germany did not want to have a war, but was just supportive of her ally Austria-Hungary - In fact, when Serbia replied to Austria-Hungarys ultimatum, Germany told Austria-Hungary to avoid a full-out war, suggesting to her ally to carry out smaller military actions that England was not against - Although Germany failed to stop her ally from declaring war on Serbia, she did lead the attempts at negotiation between St. Petersburg and Vienna, which were the most hostile parties; this would have led to an agreement if Russia had not mobilized her army - Also, while France encouraged Russia to go to war, Britain made no attempts to stop war and realized too late the significance of the mobilization of Russias army - Britain, France, and Russia advocated and made mistakes that led to war; Germany, on the other hand, tried to prevent war because she realized how dangerous it could become if she were to have a war on two fronts Source #6: Fay, Sidney B. Origins of the First World War. 2d ed. New York: The Macmillan, 1930. Print. - Germany supported Austria-Hungary because the latter country was the only ally she had - When Germany realized that Russia was becoming involved, she told her ally to negotiate - When Germany told Russia to demobilize, Russia did not concede - Austria-Hungary ignored her allys advice and declared war on Serbia; this led to a domino effect, in which Germany, Russia, France, and Britain were forced to go to war in order to support each of their allies - In a sense, therefore, Austria-Hungary also deserves some blame because she gave Germany no choice but to go to war, even though she could not prove that the nation of Serbia was responsible for the murder of her late Archduke POV #5: Germany was responsible for the First World War because she decided to go on the offensive thus creating the Schlieffen Plan and consequently declaring war on France in order to initiate it even though she was not really

threatened by the armies of France and Russia. Source #3: Evans, David. The First World War. London: Hodder Headline, 2004. Print. - Kaiser Wilhelm II formed multiple alliances, which he claimed were for defensive purposes - In reality, however, Germany was not in any real danger; even though the alliances that had been formed against her had created the possibility of Germany having to fight a war on two fronts (against France and Russia), the armies of France and Russia, even combined, were not strong enough to be able to fight against that of Germany - If Germany had realized the actual abilities of the French and Russian armies, she would not have come up with the Schlieffen Plan, which was an offensive move in all prospects - Germany declared war on France with no other reason than to carry out the Schlieffen Plan Conclusion: The complicated alliance system was most responsible for the First World War because it created hostility between the two sides France, Britain, and Russia and Germany and Austria-Hungary , thus creating a rivalry that consequently led to war. It is insufficient to claim that Germany was solely responsible for the First World War because multiple nations were involved; Germany only formed alliances to try and avoid fighting a war on multiple fronts and to protect herself from nations that were forming alliances against her. Although she deserves some blame because she declared war on France, in reality Germany did not want war; she did this only to avoid being attacked first and not out of expansionist desires, as the Treaty of Versailles wrongfully claimed in 1919. Word Count: 2,475