was germany totally to blame for ww1?

Question

kind of stuck on a history assignment in which i have to do - and i was seriously appriciate any advice/help on the question above! thanks all

Answer 1

No, as history or especially wars can never be explained by a single incident (like: who declared war etc, btw. it was Austria- Hungary) - even if it s quite popular to do so - and the pretexts for going to war rarely explain the true reasons for going to war (that still is very much up to date...> Iraq, Yugoslavia etc).

So here s some of the main reasons which led to WW1:

1.French- German War 1870-71 won by Prussia and the foundation of the 2nd German Empire in Paris gives reasons to the ressentment of the French against Germany

2. Economical rivalry, especially between the uprising German Empire and Great Britain (Germany was about to take over the economical hegemony due to many inventions etc and "threatened" the status quo)

3. The international system of alliances which was supposed to grant peace- in the post Bismarck time, Germany and Austria became more and more isolated > Foundation of the Entente Cordiale etc

4. Militarism, exagerated patriotism and Imperialism. Emperor William s plans to turn Germany to a colonial power and to build up a bigger fleet were seen as a danger and a provocation by the British

5. Strongly rising armament in all big nations > armament race

6. At the beginning of the 20th century, none of the big nations were satisfied with the status quo, uprising will to "clarify" the balance of power (also by war which was seen as a legitimate instrument of policy)

7. Tensions between the Austrian- Hungarian Empire and Russia, rising Panslawism in Russia (anti Austrian)

8. Lack of diplomacy and diplomatic exchange between the big players

etc etc

Finally, the murder of Sarajevo... Austrian sources found out that the Serbian government knew about the plans of the separatist group "Black Hand" to kill Ferdinand and issued an ultimatum to Serbia (in fact, it wasn t an ultimatum but a demarche). The Entente Cordiale, especially Russia, influenced the Serbian government not to fulfill it (as mentioned, Russia had an interest in provocating Austria, F/GB in provocating Germany) whereas the German Emperor declared that in ANY case, Germany will stand by the side of Austria... guess you can imagine the rest...

Answer 2

Yes, read the scholarly works post 1961. Enough of the German archives have been made available to implicate Germany. The German General Staff believed a war with Russia was inevitable and needed to strike before Russia became too powerful militarily. It would be important to give the apperance that they were not the agressor so as to keep the British out of the war...which did not work. The General Staff saw the assassination of the Archduke as the best opportunity to ignite the war and in fact was directing Austria-Hungary from behind the scenes throughout the crisis. Vienna followed orders from Berlin for the most part, except in one key situation. Once Austria-Hungary declared war on the Serbs and the alliances of the major nations kicked in, the German General Staff ordered the Austrians to forget marching into Sarajevo and make full speed to the Russian border to hold back the Russian forces. (The Germans had known they would need to first defeat France before tackling Russia, and hoped their allies could delay the Russians long enough for the Germans to quickly defeat France and redeploy its forces to the east.) Austria-Hungary ignored this order, however, and was then embarrassingly defeated by the Serbs. After being removed from his position as head of the German General Staff after the failure at the Marne, General von Moltke later wrote to a colleague how upset he was to be removed from the war that he had "prepared and initiated."

Answer 3

this is a minimum of area of the respond. you're suited, Austria quite started out WWI, yet whilst Germany had not entered, it ought to in no way have become a international conflict. even however the melancholy might have hit Germany regardless, it become very in all probability deepened there because of the country's conflict debt. Then there have been the militia sanctions utilized because of the fact the Allies appeared on Germany as being the aggressor. Hitler performed on all of this & delivered the Germans to fever pitch with the aid of publicly asserting how they were wronged with the aid of being blamed for WWI & how that become the reason for all their issues. quite, extra become at play, yet that become quite a extensive area of it.

Answer 4

No.

The Great War was a result of Serbian Nationalism and the slow collapse of the Austrian Hungarian empire which was sped up by the War.

Germany was simply sticking to its defence agreements as war France with Russia and Britain with Belgium

Answer 5

No.
Europe was already a tinder box waiting to explode.
The assassination of the Arch Duke Ferdinand (Austrian Dude) was what it took to spark it.
The Serbians were occupied by the Austrians so they decided to kill the Austrian leader.This pissed Austria and Germany off so they decided to start a war.

Answer 6

No, one could blame Austria-Hungary for starting the Great War as equally as one could blame Germany.

Answer 7

Yes

Answer 8

in my opinion, they were the big seed, but other people in other countries did not see what was coming until it was too late. some people truly believed in the beginning that he made sense,, but by the time most people got out of denial it was too late. No one is as persuasive as a psychopath.