What exactly led to World Wars I& II? What role did Germany play in the Wars?

Question

I am interested in knowing why Germans are still being taunted today especially by the English for their role in the World Wars. Could the exclusion of Germany from the UN Security Council permanent membership be a punishment for her defeat at the two wars?

Answer 1

Germany became a single nation in the late 17th century, the Germanic states such as Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria etc... were united by Otto Von Bismark.

To prove the strength of their new country, Germany promptly went to war against France, and defeated them in six weeks. Parts of France - especially in Alsace - are still today part German.

Britain had started opening up Africa, and the other countries rushed into the race for territory. Germany came last with "nil points" and gained very little territiory. This rather annoyed them, as part of their new united ideology fostered the idea of the superior German race (long before Hitler).

With the power race running in Africa, it meant Europe started taking up alliances, and an arms race of building up armies and navies ensued. Germany especially spent a massive fortune in building up it's military.

Nerves and tensions were at stretching point when the Heir to the throne of Austria, Archduke Ferdinand was assasinated by a Serbian in Sarajevo. The chap jumped onto the running board of the Duke's car, fired a few rounds into the poor chap.

So WW1 started, with all the factions split up into their different alliances. America kept out of it, until the Germans sank a civilian liner the Lusitania, believing it to be carrying secret cargoes of weapons to the UK. America was outraged and entered the war, but a little later in the year, the Russians had their revolution and withdrew from the war.

The Germans didn't actually lose the First World War, an armistice was declared... a ceasefire if you like.

The League of Nations was created, and Germany was demonised and were made to pay severe reparations. Parts of Germany's territory were confiscated and used to create new countres... Czechoslovakia was made out of parts of Germany, Poland was created from parts of Germany and Russian etc...

In the early 1930's a world wide recession hit everyone (The wall street crash). Inflation in Germany was so high that you weren't paid on a weekly basis at work, you were paid twice daily... the price of a loaf could be like £3 when you went to work, and the £4 at lunch time.

Hitler saw a lot of resentment going on, and used this to stir up hatred, and a form of unity amongst the German people. He used a "new deal" campaign to win over the country, had the autobahn's (freeways/motorways) built, which got rid of a lot of unemployments. He stirred up hatred against anyone "not ayrican" (typically German) so Jews, Blacks, Communists and Homosexuals were discriminated against, banned from owning a business and then eventually had their possessions confiscated and had as many of them murdered in concentration camps, and idea he'd got from the British POW camps in the Boer War.

He then started reclaiming those parts of Germany confiscated by the Treaty of Versailles. Many of the local Germans in those countries, such as Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia, agreed with him and one by one these territiories were annexed by Germany.

His new airforce, the Luftwaffe got some vital experience helping General Franco in the Spanish civil war in 1936, whilst an alarmed Britain practiced appeasement in the hope that he would simply stop... Until his abdication, King Edward led the British Aristocracy in his approval of Hitler, and his solution to the "jewish problem". However, due to obligations and alliances, England was forced to declare war on Germany after it's ultimatum was ignored following the invasion of Poland.

Britain changed it's Prime Minister (and the King by now had already resigned and move to Southern France) and Germany had quite a shock at Englands reaction... until then we had been allies on the quiet, but now we were - through Winston Churchill - highly vocal in our opposition to Hitler.

The turning point came when Hitler was forced to invade Russia. Stalin had been playing Hitler at his own game with treaties, but when the Germans discovered that Stalin planned to let Germany conquer Europe, and then walk into Germany and take over (having let the Nazi's do his dirty work), he had to strike against the Russians. Part of Hitlers rise to power had, ironically, been funded by communists working on Stalins behalf!!

America, as usual, had stayed out of the war until attacked themselves (their ambassador in Berlin reckoned the British would last one week if invaded), but their entry into the war a few months after the Russian invasion more or less sealed Germany's fate.

Answer 2

This is a complicated question, whole books have been written on the origins of these wars. One of the best is "Origins of the Second World War" by A J P Taylor.

In a very brief summary:
the First World War was the result of a conflict between two rival alliances in Europe, fuelled by growing imperial rivalry beyond Europe's boundaries. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo triggered war between the two groups of nations. Britain was in one group; Germany in the other. The specific trigger for Britain entering the war was that Germany invaded Belgium, which Britain was committed to protect.
This was a change for Britain which had 100 years previously been allied with German states against Napoleon.

After Germany was defeated in the First World War, the Treaty of Versailles imposed huge financial burdens on Germany. This, combined with economic depression and political upheaval in Europe, created the conditions in which extremism (Communism in Russia; fascism in Germany, Italy & Spain) flourished. Hitler's Nazi regime in Germay was not only cruelly repressive and genocidal within Germany but aimed to take over the rest of Europe.
When Germany annexed Austria and invaded Czechoslovakia the rest of the world stood by, but when Germany invaded Poland, Britain and others declared war on Germany. Once again, Europe was divided into two rival alliances.

Every culture, sadly, seems to have its favourite enemies. For many years, British films and comics were dominated by themes of war against Germany. Sport has taken the place of war in some ways and old rivalries still surface. Most Britons and nearly all Germans however have moved on from this.

It is certainly true that the composition of the UN Security Council reflects the victors of the Second World War. That is why Germany and Japan are not permanent members.

Answer 3

The first world war started with alliances between Austria and Germany and Britain, France and Russia.
Following the assassination of the heir to the austro-Hungarian Empire the Austrians attacked Serbia. The Russians were expected to attack Austria in support of the Serbs. The Germans, following a plan worked out before the war called the Schleiffen plan attempted to simultaneously invade Russia and France which the Germans expected to attack Germany from the West if they invaded Russia. They all thought a show of force would make the opposition back down and it wouild be over in a few months like the war of 1870 between Germany and France. Britain became involved through treaty obligations to defend Belgium as the Germans passed through Belgium to attack France. Unlike WWII Holland was not attacked.
WWII had its origins in Hitler's policy of uniting territory which was inhabited by German speaking people. Poland, which had been divided between Austria-Hungary and Russia after the Napoleonic wars, had been revived in 1919 mostly on land lost by the Russians to Germany in 1917. Hitler's invasion of Poland caused the British to declare war on Germany in 1939.
The other question is why are the Germans taunted. Most of the impressions of Germans by the post war generation come not from first hand experience of the war but from the many films made during and after the war, and are still being made, and tend to ridicule prison camp guards as they are based on books written by people who outwitted them
.
If you are interested in this period you should watch freeview channel 12 History which has repeats of much interesting archive film made during both wars.

Answer 4

Your question is large but, the cause of WW1 was that of Prussian millitarism, and the desire of the Germans to gain greater prominance in Europe and worldwide. To this end the Germans, under Bismark, had attacked previously Denmark, Austria and France. The Germans conducted themselves reasonably honourably in WW1, but in WW2 behaved with a disgusting lack of humanity.

Very few states were offered permenant Security Council Membership after the war (five, if I recall correctly) and besides, Germany was divided into two then.

The defeat of Germany in WW2 was also the end of the British Empire. The British, therefore, view WW2 as their final, and finest hour as a world power. Taunting the Germans occasionally is a way for them to remind themselves of the excellent service they gave the world.

Answer 5

The First World war was actually a trouble that had been brewing for a long time before it started. Everyone was spying on one another and generally the climate for war built up. The one event that trigerred it was the assasination of the Austrian crown Prince Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. However no one is clearly to blame for starting that war. Every involved party had just as much responsability in that as the others. However history is written by the winners so that's why Germany is still made to blame for that. For World war 2 the answer is simple World war one started it. At the end of the first war Germany was forced to give up due to a shortage in funds. At the following Versailles treaty Germany was forced to sign heavy peace terms(heavy debts to be paid, give up land to it's neighbours, take full responsability for WW1 etc.) This brought Germany to the edge of total crisis and beyond. It was the Ideal soil for the seed of Facism and WW2 to grow. At the end of that war the allies realised that it would be foolish to repeat the same mistakes they had made 30 years earlier

Answer 6

World War 2 was a direct effect of World War 1 (give or take, Hitler's antagonised anger with the countries who won WW1 and robbed from all the countries which lost the war and had to go into deep financial depression).
WW1 happened because an Austrian prince (something Ferdinand) was assasinated by a foreign terrorist in some foreign country (I think, and i will call the country A). Because in those days, a lot of European countries were allies with each other (but resulting in two sides/oppositions), Austria got a bit unhappy. They said to country A to take responsibility to arrest the terrorist but they refuse. So this lead to Austria with war with A. Austria had the Germans, etc. as allies and they were going against A. A on the other had had UK, France etc.
The other areas around the world thought it would be nice to have some dictatorship over other areas local to their country whilst the commotion was going on, hence WW1 (US wasn't involved until later, they weren't bothered by all this until a US-UK relationship kin of evolved).
Anyway, the side with US, UK, France won WW1. (And like Ive said), the side that lost was in dire poverty, inflation and depression (if I am right, it took a wheelbarrow's load of vouchers and money just to buy some cheese in Germany). Hitler was Austrian. When he returned to Austria, he lost his livelihood and his country stunk (financially) as everything was in ruin and could barely be restored back to a descent state. Austria was too poor at the time to even restore itself. As Germany used to be an ally of Austria, but better off, Adolf decided to run over to Germany and exact revenge on the world for creating WW1.
The cruel and totally illogical thing about him was that he persecuted Jews because he thought that they were 'polluting' the 'elite race' of human beings i.e. Germans. Problem being, half of the nation agreed with him. Those that didn't got the 'chop'. So everyone was living in fear and misery and the rest is history.
Make sure you have made he distinction though: there's a difference beween Nazis and Germans. Nazis were the ones who persecuted everyone because they though they were better than everyone else. The Germans were the ones who didn't ageed with Hitler.

Answer 7

Gee you could easily spend years reading the answers to these questions. And yes Germany's exclusion from permanent membership on the UN Security Council is directly related to its defeat, mainly for losing World War II.

Answer 8

On a point of order Germany didn't start World War II. The UK declared war on Germany. Having abandoned Czechoslovakia to it's fate, Hitler's invasion of Poland (a UK ally) was a bridge too far. The UK and France issued an ultimatum to Hitler on 1st September 1939, that he should withdraw German troops from Poland. On 3rd September, it was announced that sadly no such agreement had been received and that Britain was at war with Germany.

Answer 9

World War I, On June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austrian throne, and his wife, in Sarajevo leading to. Princip was a member of Young Bosnia, a group whose aims included the unification of the South Slavs and independence from Austria-Hungary (see also: the Black Hand). The assassination in Sarajevo set into motion a series of fast-moving events that escalated into a full-scale war. Also Germany's building of arms made many other countries feel threatened by their increasing military. However, the distal causes of the conflict were multiple and complex. Historians and political scientists have grappled with them for nearly a century without reaching a consensus on what definitively could be said to have caused the war. World War II, Commonly held general causes for WWII are the rise of nationalism, the rise of militarism, and the presence of unresolved territorial issues. Fascist movements emerged in Italy and Germany during the global economic instability of the 1920s, and consolidated power during the Great Depression of the 1930s. In Germany, resentment of the Treaty of Versailles — specifically article 231 (the "Guilt Clause") —, the belief in the Dolchstosslegende, and the onset of the Great Depression fueled the rise to power of the militarist National Socialist German Workers Party (the Nazi party) of which Adolf Hitler was the leader. Meanwhile, the Treaty's provisions were laxly enforced from fear of another war. Closely related is the failure of the UK and French policy of appeasement, which sought to avoid or postpone another war but actually encouraged Hitler to become bolder. The Soviet Union's signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact freed Germany of fear of reprisal from the Soviet Union when Germany invaded Poland. The League of Nations, despite its efforts to prevent the war, relied on the Great Powers to enforce its resolutions and was unable to prevent the start of The Second World War. In addition, France and Britain's prejudices when dealing with the Soviet Union before the war prevented an alliance forming between Western Europe and the only European power able to deter Hitler's ambitions.

Answer 10

the germans were the main agressors during those wars-especially the second world war.i think that whilever there are people around who lived or fought through the second world war this attitude will prevail-it doesnt help that the germans didnt just start the war-they also presided over the holocaust-which is the single most shocking event in the history of the world.i personally dont have a problem with any germans today-my boss is german and whilst he is ruthlessly efficient and likes cheesy europop he doesnt start wars or kill any passing jews he sees-its wrong to blame the third generation for the things that their grandfathers did.

Answer 11

World War 1 was due to the assassination of Arch Duke Ferdinand - the surrounding countries had loyalties and ties with other countries - hence the world was dragged into it.

World War 2 was the work of the manic rantings of a mind deficient lunatic - he promised his country a better way of life, more economic growth - better living conditions and more money - his cronies ensured people went along with it - his greed in world domination brought the rest of the world into the fray