Why did G.B hate the germans in the first place during world war 1?

Question

Explain in detail!!!!!

Answer 1

Great Britain did not "hate" the Germans in the first place. That is an assumption on your part.

WWI was primarily caused by a naval arms race and German, French & Russian war plans that came to light. There were several other catalysts to the Great War, and there wasn't one clear-cut reason. Suffice it to say that three nations; France, Germany and Russia wanted more power and land. The resulting conflict drew the British and other nations in.

Answer 2

Kaiser Wilhelm was Queen Victoria's grandson. Relations between England and Germany at the beginning of the 20th century were good. Over the centuries, GB and France fought many wars, and were still on guarded terms. Wilhelm, however, wanted a strong navy, and England had difficulty accepting this. Gaffs by the Kaiser and his ministers as well as by the British government led to the war, especially after the archduke was assassinated in Bosnia. Austria may have been the proximate cause, for they refused the official apology of the Bosnian government.

Answer 3

Here in a nutshell is how WWI started.

First you need to understand that there was a lot of militarization and nationalism running throughout Europe in the years leading up to WWI, and there were a lot of hostile feelings between many of the major powers in Europe that had been simmering for years. But the tensions were primarily between France, Germany, and Russia.

Archduke Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo. Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb, who was part of a Serbian separatist was the assassin. As a result of the assassination of Archdule Ferdinand, who was heir to the throne, Austria-Hungry declared war on Serbia. Because of a treaty between Russian and Serbia, Russia delclared war on Austria-Hungry. Because of a treaty between Austria-Huntry and Germany, Germany declared war on Russia. Because of a treaty between Russian and France, France declared war on Germany.

Germany decided to invade France by going through the Low Countries, Belgium and The Netherlands. Great Britain had a treaty with the Low Countries so they declared war on Germany.

It's much more complicated that this, but there was not hatred between Germany and Britain. In fact, Kaiser Wilhelm was the first grandchild of Queen Victoria and up until July 1914, there were favorable ties between the royal houses in Great Britain and Germany.

Answer 4

In the early part of WW1, there really was no hatred between Germans and British. If anything, they were shocked to find themselves fighting one another, because for many years before the war they had regarded one another as natural friends, distant cousins in fact. Quite apart from the close connection between the royal families, many quite humble German and British families were related to one another. Rivalry - yes; hatred - no.

Almost as soon as Germany invaded (neutral) Belgium, stories of atrocities committed against Belgian civilians began appearing in British newspapers. These were almost always exagerrated (in some cases, completely unfounded), but the German army did indeed behave very brutally toward the Belgian non-combattants. At least amongst Britain's civilian population, anger against "German Imperialism" began to grow.

This anti-German propaganda did not much influence British troops in France in 1914. Most British units were more than happy to observe a completely unauthorized "Christmas Truce" that year; to leave their trenches and swap presents with Germans in the middle of No-Mans-Land. No hatred there.

But the war dragged on; got nastier; casualties mounted; and tempers got worse. Neither side was innocent when it came to dirty tricks and stupid brutalities, but the Germans almost seemed to specialize in them. Zeppelin bombing raids on English cities. Submarine sinkings of passenger liners, even of hospital ships. Poison gas attacks. Flamethrowers. The execution of a British civilian nurse (Edith Cavell) who had been helping POW's escape. All things that, in today's twisted world, sound quite commonplace as part of warfare.

But they were not commonplace to the people of that era. War had not seemed this horrible, this savage, this merciless, since the 30 Years War had ravaged Germany in the 1630's and 1640's. Civilized people were not meant to behave this way. But, the Germans were behaving this way.

And so, gradually, the respect, the moments of chivalry and the near-camaraderie of the first few months of the war gave way to baser emotions. Now the Germans were not "Germans": now they were the "Huns". In cartoons, they were depicted as slobbering, saber toothed gorillas, engaging in savagery for the sadistic pleasure of it.

Front-line soldiers never completely bought into the propaganda being fed to the civilians back home. Throughout the war, there was remarkably little truly bitter hatred between the men actually engaged in the fighting, day-after-day. But any sympathy, other than that which exists between fellow-sufferers, evaporated. Now it was a case of kill or be killed.

But not always. Did you know that (according to Hitler himself) his life was spared by a British soldier, Henry Tandey? See my 2nd link below.

War often creates hatred between nations. But war often creates (grudging) respect between fighting men.

Answer 5

They didn't. That said, Wilhelm II had adopted a very bellicose attitude towards the British over a long time and that caused very great annoyance.