For Germany Against Germany

Germany only entered Belgium because they

knew that French troops were approaching the
Belgian boarder to use it as a launching pad into
Germany. German Military Commanders
realized this several years before the beginning of
the war, hence the shlifen plan was created in
order to stop the French from using Belgium as a
position to invade Germany
Under German Kaiser Wilhelm starting about
1900 German foreign policy lost all balance and
was mostly run by the Prussian military that had
united Germany 1870.
In the years 1900-1912 Germany almost started 2
wars (especially with France) in the '1st and 2nd
Moroccan Crisis', started a military arms race
with the rest of Europe, started a naval battleship
race with Britain, stomped all over Africa to try
and grab the other countries colonies, and sided
with the Dutch 'Boers' against the British in the
British Boer War in South Africa
Britain Can be shown as responsible because
they were afraid that Germany would over take
them, so they wanted to crush Germany Britain
was Jealous that Germany became the largest
economy in 1900, and that Britain fell to third
BEHIND the USA and Germany

France Can be shown as responsible because they
were competitive with Germany since the
beginning of German creation, they were jealous
because they were no longer the powerful France
that they once were, but rather were becoming a
fourth rate European power in a position between
Britain and Germany

Russia, bound by treaty to Serbia, announced
mobilisation of its vast army in her defence, a
slow process that would take around six
They bragged they were the best and the
strongest, everyone else weak, and that their
military would defeat anybody when Germany
decided to attack. They made the other powers
afraid, nervous, kept them on the edge of their
seats.
When war came 1914 as you said, Germany
didn't actually cause 'that' particular incident, but
with everyone else so rattled it didn't take much
to set the powder keg off.
weeks to complete. Once the Russian
military machine gets going, it cant be
stopped

Austria
1. They issued an ultimatum to Serbia after the
assassination of the archduke Ferdinand, an
ultimatum designed to be rejected and give them
a pretext for war. This ultimatum was designed to
lead to war as it was given a time period of 24H
2. They asked for Germany to back them up in
the case their dispute with Serbia caused
problems with Russia, thus obligating Germany
to declare war on Russia if it came to Serbia's
defence.
3. They declared war on Serbia after the
ultimatum was rejected.

The Kaiser wanted to have the largest navy in the
world to challenge Britain's navy. The Kaiser
thought that if Britain had to challenge Germany
it would losesupport from its colonies because it
wouldn't have enough ships to supply the
colonies with supplies or to get supplies from the
colonies. This naval race led to extreme
militarism and the war monger wanted to use the
weapons that e had amassed.
Germany
So what was Germanys fault for the war? Lets
look at our opponents GREAT POINTS One by
one:
Apparently, Germany, a new nation, with a great
history, desired to become better for its people, to
become a great nation in the center of Europe.
Because of these moderate ambitions of
greatness, something that everynation strives for,
Germany is made to be the bad guy in these
debates. In reality, Germany was cornered by
Russia, France, and Britain
Germany wanted peace with Britain, only to be
laughed at when the Kaiser desired a strong

relation between the two nations, the Kaiser,
although he may have wanted a strong navy, only
wanted it to be able to defend German ports and
shipping, which was essential to German
economy
The chancellor of Germany and the man responsible
for the Triple Alliance was Otto von Bismarck.
Bismarck wanted to prevent a war on two fronts,
which is why he targeted these two countries
specifically.
Germany formed triple alliance before triple
entente was formed



Timeline of Events
June 28, 1914: Serbian irredentists assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand of the Austro-
Hungarian Empire. June 2829: Anti-Serb pogrom in Sarajevo
July 23: Austria-Hungary, following their own secret enquiry, sends an ultimatum to Serbia,
containing several very severe demands. In particular, they gave only forty-eight hours to
comply. Whilst both Great Britain and Russia sympathised with many of the demands, both
agreed the timescale was far too short. Both nevertheless advised Serbia to comply.
July 24: Germany officially declares support for Austria's position.
July 24: Sir Edward Grey, speaking for the British government, asks that Germany, France, Italy
and Great Britain, "who had no direct interests in Serbia, should act together for the sake of
peace simultaneously."[29]
July 25: The Serbian government replies to Austria, and agrees to most of the demands.
However, certain demands brought into question her survival as an independent nation. On these
points they asked that the Hague Tribunal arbitrate
July 25: Russia enters a period preparatory to war and mobilization begins on all frontiers.
Government decides on a partial mobilization in principle to begin on July 29.
July 25: Serbia mobilizes its army; responds to Austro-Hungarian dmarche with less than full
acceptance; Austria-Hungary breaks diplomatic relations with Serbia. July 26: Serbia reservists
accidentally violate Austro-Hungarian border at Temes-Kubin.[30]
July 26: Russia having agreed to stand aside whilst others conferred, a meeting is organised to
take place between ambassadors from Great Britain, Germany, Italy and France to discuss the
crisis. Germany declines the invitation.
July 27: Sir Edward Grey meets the German ambassador independently. A telegram to Berlin
after the meeting states, "Other issues might be raised that would supersede the dispute between
Austria and Serbia ... as long as Germany would work to keep peace I would keep closely in
touch."
July 28: Austria-Hungary, having failed to accept Serbia's response of the 25th, declares war on
Serbia. Mobilisation against Serbia begins.
July 29: Russian general mobilization is ordered, and then changed to partial mobilization. July
29: Sir Edward Grey appeals to Germany to intervene to maintain peace.
July 29: The British Ambassador in Berlin, Sir Edward Goschen, is informed by the German
Chancellor that Germany is contemplating war with France, and furthermore, wishes to send its
army through Belgium. He tries to secure Britain's neutrality in such an action.
July 30: Russian general mobilization is reordered at 5:00 P.M.
July 31: Austrian general mobilization is ordered.
July 31: Germany sends an ultimatum to Russia, demanding that they halt military preparations
within twelve hours.
July 31: Both France and Germany are asked by Britain to declare their support for the ongoing
neutrality of Belgium. France agrees to this. Germany does not respond.
July 31: Gemany asks France, whether it would stay neutral in case of a war Germany vs. Russia
August 1 (3 A.M.): King George V of Great Britain personally telegraphs Tsar Nicholas II of
Russia.
August 1: French general mobilization is ordered.
August 1: German general mobilization is ordered. August 1: Germany declares war against
Russia.
August 1: The Tsar responds to the king's telegram, stating, "I would gladly have accepted your
proposals had not the German ambassador this afternoon presented a note to my Government
declaring war."
August 2: Germany and The Ottoman Empire sign a secret treaty.[31] entrenching the Ottoman-
German Alliance
August 3: Germany, after France declines (See Note) its demand to remain neutral,[32] declares
war on France. Germany states to Belgium that she would "treat her as an enemy" if she did not
allow free passage of German troops across her lands.
August 3: Britain, expecting German naval attack on the northern French coast, states that
Britain would give "... all the protection in its powers."
August 4: Germany implements the Alfred von Schlieffen Plan (modified).
August 4 (midnight): Having failed to receive notice from Germany assuring the neutrality of
Belgium, Britain declares war on Germany. August 6: Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia.
August 23: Japan, honouring the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, declares war on Germany.
August 25: Japan declares war on Austria-Hungary



.The naval strength of the powers in 1914
Country Personnel
Large Naval
Vessels
(Dreadnoughts)
Tonnage
Russia 54,000 4 328,000
France 68,000 10 731,000
Britain 209,000 29 2,205,000
TOTAL 331,000 43 3,264,000
Germany 79,000 17 1,019,000
Austria-
Hungary
16,000 4 249,000
TOTAL 95,000 21 1,268,000
(Source: Ferguson 1999, p. 85)


So let me get this straight, Britain France and Russia were afraid that german military
might was dangerous and unstabalizing, but they fail to admit that there was no german
navel strength compared to the triple entant. Compared to Germany, they had 5 times the
number of navel personnel than Germany
They had 4 times the number of navel vessels, and carried 3 times the amount of tonnage
Where was the threat?

1. Germany was not trying to escalate the war to a world war
--Bethmann Hollweg went against the blank check and urged Austria to isolate the war in
Belgrade, and to halt in Belgrade in other words, do not go further south than Belgrade
--that message was sent in a telegram
--Occurred after Grey said the Bethmann that if the war in Europe escalated to a continental war
then England would join on the July 29th
--Strachan agrees that neither Bethmann nor the Kaiser nor Hollweg
--Were going into the war because they needed to protect austria (origins of the war 87-88)
2. Triple Entente - (we dont have pages for this)
-
3. Germany was justified in going through Belgium because of self defense (Pg 250)
^Why were they justified in going through a sovereign nation?
- Russias mobilization forced Germany to act, despite the previous peace attempts
- before a German soldier even passed the German frontier, French aeroplanes flew overhead via
through Belgium, a supposedly neutral country, yet Belgium did not warn Germany of the
impeding threat


4. Triple Entente
-The resolution is, be it resolved that Germanys actions on the international stage were not the
primary cause of World War 1
-One of the key differentiators about whether or not Germany caused the war was the
prominence of the Entente
-The alliance system was a cause for war, but the entente was created before the alliance, and
Germany assumed correctly that its rivals were attempting to cut it off. Therefore the alliance can
be considered reactionary to the entente
-The Triple Entente wasnt even created to avoid war, as England was acting more out of self-
interest than any commitment to Belgium, and in fact Britain elected to mobilize against
Germany before it decided to honour any commitment to France (Page 100)
-British diplomacy was unsustainable if it let the Entente fall apart (Page 100)
-Additionally, by joining the Entente Britain was better able to manage its increasingly
hostile relationship with Germany
-It gave Britain military power on the continent through the militaries of its allies
-In joining, it committed Russia to a rivalry with Germany as well as relieve Britain of its
main competitor in Central Asia
-If Britain did not support France and Russia, it would be forced into an Anglo-German
alliance.
-Neutrality was no longer an option for France because of its imperial consequences
(Page 95), which was, of course, an important factor for the British
-For these reasons, England, too, was a primary instigator of what made the conflict into a world
affair