Controversy 1: Was Germany responsible for WW1?

Germany was responsible
1. Fritz Fischer's 'Fischer thesis' - Germany's ruling class was determined to establish Germany as a world power and was ready to wage a war of aggression to achieve its objective
2. Weltpolitik (1897) - Before 1914 the German government was actively planning to achieve domination in Europe and to enlarge Germany's overseas empire
  1. In September 1914 Bethmann-Hollweg drafted a statement of war aims (the 'September Programme') with objectives including: 1) the elimination of France and Russia as independent Great Powers 2) the establishment of a German controlled economic bloc in central and eastern Europe and 3) the creation of a vast German colony straddling Central Africa
  2. Flottenpolitik - Germany began to expand its navy after the 1898 Naval Law and was seen as crucial to the expansion of the empire
    1. This led to Anglo-German antagonism as Britain saw it as a threat to their position as the world's superior naval and imperial power, therefore the naval race developed
      1. 1906 = launch of the British battleship HMS Dreadnought prompted German's massive naval expenditure
    2. The Navy League (1898) promoted the navy as a patriotic symbol so naval expansion won the support of industry, led to jobs and industrial growth - thus Flottenpolitik had support from industrialists and had a positive domestic impact
  3. First Moroccan Crisis (1905-6) = Wilhelm II visited Tangier, Morocco (within France's sphere of influence) and pledged support for Moroccan independence against France (as G had economic interests there). Germany demanded an international conference to discuss Morocco's future (Algeciras Conference, 1906). France was allowed substantial (not full) control of Morocco
    1. Germany's aim was to destroy the Anglo-French entente (believed Britain wouldn't support France) but Britain backed France and the entente was strengthened - this may have been to reduce the threat of an alliance in the case of war and to raise European tension (dividing B, F and R would lead to the opportunity to dominate them)
  4. Second Moroccan Crisis (1911) = disturbances in the town of Fez led to French military intervention, Germany complained this went against the Algeciras Act so they sent a gunboat (Panther) to Agadir. Germany continued attempts to bully France into giving her the French Congo in return for Germany giving up all interests in Morocco - G gained 2 strips of land in the Congo but had to accept French control of Morocco
    1. German actions could be seen as aggressive and aimed at causing tensions, and also was another failure to undermine the Anglo-French entente
    2. German humiliation created bitterness
  5. Haldane Mission = Lord Haldane (GB) wanted to make a treaty to stop German naval aggression but German demands prevent this happening - they wanted Britain to agree not to intervene in a European war. During negotiations, Germany passed another Naval Agreement, thus showing that Germany was determined for war and was willing to antagonise Britain rather than stop war preparations
3. Germany was intent on a general European war before 1914 and saw the Austro-Serbian crisis in 1914 as an unmissable opportunity to bring one about (heir to the Austrian throne was murdered by a Bosnian Serb nationalist - 28 July)
  1. At a meeting of the German Imperial War Council in December 1912, William II and others argued in favour of a war against Russia sooner rather than later
  2. In July 1914 Germany gave Austria a 'blank cheque' to deal with Serbia knowing that this was likely to lead to a general European war
  3. Germany formed alliances earlu, e.g. the Triple Alliance (1882) with Austria-Hungary and Italy and the Dreikaiserbund (1881) - a peace understanding between Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany. These were perhaps to secure support in the event of a war
4. Members of Germany's ruling class, believing themselves to be facing a crisis at home that jeopardised their political future and foreign policy ambitions, saw war as a solution to their domestic problems
  1. The SPD became the largest party in the Reichstag in 1912 and further SPD gains in future elections coud have made it difficult to pass the military budget
  2. The Zabern Incident showed the army and ruling class in general to be unpopular
Shared Guilt - Imperialism
1. The ruling classes in capitalist countries were aiming to expand overseas, making conflict inevitable
  1. French ambitions in the Moroccan Crisis evidenced expansionist aims
  2. Germany's Weltpolitik policy show their aim of 'Empire building'
  3. Britain had been increasing its international control over the centuries and In 1900 The British Empire was the largest in the world with control of over 419,000,000 people
  4. The Balkan League (Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro) was formed with the purpose of seizing territory from the collpasing Ottomon Empire - this led to the Balkans War (1912) that increased tensions between Serbia, Russia, Austria and Germany and thus led to the July Crisis which resulted in war
Shared Guilt - Realpolitik, the alliance system and arms race
1. The Arms Race was a source of tension before 1914
  1. Britain wanted a larger navy than France and Russia combined and already had a superior navy in Europe so wanted to maintain this
    1. Germany wanted to challenge British naval supremacy so began Flottenpolitik and Navy Laws - this sparked the naval arms race with Britain wanting to expand further (led to the development of the HMS Dreadnought (1906)) and Germany also launching massive naval expenditure to avoid falling further behind
2. Alliances caused much tension in Europe as some (e.g. Triple Entente) were seen as a threat
  1. The Moroccan crises originated as an attempt by the Germans to destroy the Anglo-French entente
  2. All major powers in Europe made allliances prior to 1914, not just Germany
3. Realpolitik
  1. All countries compete for survival and want to be powerful to reduce threats from other nations and as it's in the national interest - this competition led to the war
    1. Alliances made between countries to deter other nations led to tension and fears of threats from powerful nations in alliances
Shared guilt - Inflexible war plans and 'Schlieffen Plan'
1. Schlieffen Plan = German high command's solution to the problem with fighting France and Russia at the same time - G didn't want to fight 2 full scale campaigns against numerically superior opponents so aimed to take advantage of Russia's inability to mobilise quickly and to defeat France first, before turning to Russia
  1. This was Germany's only plan for a war against Russia - a war against Russia inevitably meant a war against France as well therefore the Schlieffen Plan limited Germany's options in the July Crisis - also it had involved 10 years of planning
2. The Great Powers in 1914 found themselves boxed in by war plans they had made (main advocate of this view = British historian A.J.P Taylor
  1. On 29-30 July Russia's generals, knowing it took 6 weeks to move the country's widely dispersed forces into position pressured a hesitant Tsar into ordering mobilisation as a precautionary measure
  2. Army chiefs used the requirements of their war plans to try to pressure political leaders into making decisions
Encirclement - Triple Entente to blame
1. After the Kaiser refused to renew the Reassurance Treaty between Germany and Russia (guaranteed each country wouldn't attack the other) France saw the opportunity to gain an ally in the newly isolated Russia - France and Russia became allies in 1894, both committing to support the other in the event of a German attack
  1. Early 20th Century = Britain ended 'splendid isolation' by aligning itself with France and Russia against Germany - not a formal alliance but Anglo-French military conversations took place from 1906 onwards (e.g. discussed deployment of of British troops in France in the event of war against German, also 1912 Anglo-French naval agreement = Britain promised to defend France's north coast against German attack
2. Following Russia's defeat in the Russo-Japanese war (1904-5), Russia began a major reform of the armed forces - this alarmed Germany, could have been seen as a threat
3. The First Moroccan Crisis increased German's fear of encirclement
  1. A humiliating event for Germany which strengthened the Anglo-French entente and didn't destroy the French/Russian friendship from the Treaty of Bjorko (1905) as was hoped - Germany hoped closer bonds would be made between Berlin and St Petersburg but those in the Russian foreign office didn't want their friendship with France to be damaged
  2. At the Algeciras Conference Austria-Hungary was the only country that supported Germany
  3. Germany may have intervened in Morocco in an attempt to destroy links between Britain, France and Russia as it felt threatened, and this may have also been the case in the Second Moroccan Crisis
4. German was fearful of the power of the Triple Entente
  1. 1904 = combined armies of Russia and France outnumbered those of Austria and Germany by 260,000, by 1914 the figure was over 1 million
  2. In the years before 1914, the military spending of the Triple Entente was much higher than that of the Triple Alliance
  3. Many surviving documents show prominent German political and military figures expressing concern about Russia's growing military power
  4. Britain moved away from 'splendid isolation' and began increasing its navy (Two Power Standard)
    1. Germany attempted to convince Britain to join the Triple Alliance but Britain refused
5. The Balkans War strengthened Germany's ideas of being encircled
  1. Germany's Army Bill of June 1913 increased the army's size by 170,000 troops and in response the French and Russians increased the length of service in their armies

Next up

Controversy 1: Was Germany responsible for WW1?

Description

Resource summary

Similar

	Created by lydiarosejack about 11 years ago