Why might Germany's location be the reason for its role in the two World Wars?

Question

It was a question I was asked on a homework assignment. I know that Germany's location in Europe isn't the reason for the world wars but how could it have contributed to their role in the wars.

Answer 1

Under Otto von Bismark*, there was a great improvement in Prussian Military equipment and quality.

What many of the Posters seem to miss with regards this question is the fact that Post WW1 - Pre-1936 is that Germany was broken into the large State of Prussia and a lot of smaller independent but subservient kingdoms and Duchy's.**

** The so-called German Empire was created in 1871, after the Prussians and her Allies defeated the French in the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian War.

This created a need to show off their new powers, under Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was always sour at the Great Colonial Powers (Britain, France, etc. etc.) with their powerful navies and foreign colonies, Prussia had very small parts of German East Africa.
The Kaiser decided it would be the right time to expand the Greater Germany by getting involved in WW1.

In WW2 Hitler used the Treaty of Versailles as an excuse to expand the Reich by telling the German people they were short-changed and being bled dry with war reparations (this despite the fact that during WW1 German soil was never occupied or her factories and civilian population subject to the horror of war unlike the French, & Belgian populations) a point often missed by the amatuer armchair historians.
Hitler plan for Lebansraum was justified under his claims that the German people neded to expand as Germany was too small, the fact that their expansionism was to take the lands belonging to others was inconsiquental to Hitler and his cronies as all in the East were "unttermench" - sub-humans.

BISMARK PROFILE:

* = Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, born Otto Eduard Leopold of Bismarck-Schönhausen (1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898) was a Prussian and German statesman of the 19th century, born to a wealthy family. As Minister-President of Prussia from 1862 to 1890, he engineered the Unification of Germany. From 1867 on, he was Chancellor of the North German Confederation. When the German Empire was declared in 1871, he served as its first Chancellor, gaining the nickname "Iron Chancellor".

Bismarck held conservative monarchical views in the tradition of Clemens von Metternich, the Austrian statesman who devised the diplomatic arrangements which governed Europe after the Napoleonic Wars–arrangements which Bismarck upset. Bismarck's primary objectives were to ensure the supremacy of the Prussian state within Central Europe, and of the aristocracy within the state itself. His most significant achievement was the creation of the modern German state, with Prussia at its core, through a series of wars and political maneuvering in the 1860s. The final act, the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, saw Prussia break France's power on the European continent.

Bismarck was very much successful in creating a unified German nation, but was less successful in creating nationalism for Germany rather than for the individual states. His attempts to eliminate the political and cultural strength of the Roman Catholic Church within Germany — the so-called Kulturkampf — was only partially successful and soon reversed, to the relief of the Catholic Church of Germany. His similar struggle against Social Democrats (Sozialistengesetze) was unsuccessful, although under his governance Germany enacted what was at the time progressive social legislation.

From 1862 to 1888 Bismarck served at the pleasure of King (later Emperor) Wilhelm I, with whom he shared a similar outlook and enjoyed a cordial relationship. The accession of Wilhelm's grandson, Wilhelm II, who was more than 40 years younger than Bismarck, marked the decline of Bismarck's influence, and he was eventually forced to resign and retire into private life in 1890.

Already a member of the landed aristocracy, Bismarck was further ennobled several times through his career. He was made a count (Graf) in 1865 and prince (Fürst) in 1871. On his departure from office in 1890 he was also made the non-hereditary Duke of Lauenburg.

Answer 2

Yeah, like the location of German troops in Poland and France.

More sicko liberal historical revisionism, next they're going to say Germany was innocent and the US caused the war in Europe...

Answer 3

I really don't think location was the biggest factor.
The Treaty of Versailles and war reparations/guilt clause from WWI was an enormous factor. The economic problems were also staggering. The bruised pride and poor economics made Hitler and his scapegoating and re-militarization very attractive to the German people. The weak Weimar Republic also was easy for him to get inside and then take power, which he did legally (an important, but oft over looked lesson).

Answer 4

to a certain extent yes. being in the middle of europe and relatively a midsized power, not as big as the great powers france and uk, and moreover then recently united as a german nation, it felt threatened and was constantly competiting both in commerce and war. however, ultimately its own agression and not its location led it to war.

Answer 5

no,it was mainly the awful restrictions placed on it at the end or War 1 that caused War 2...the so called Treaty of Versailles

Answer 6

It was located at the birthplace of Germans.

Answer 7

Germany was castrated at the end of WW1 and they felt they had the right to correct the wrongs of that settlement...

Answer 8

It wasn't Germany's fault, it was hitlers.