German Aggression Responsible for Ww1
‘German aggression was responsible for the outbreak of a general European war in August 1914’. How far do you agree with this judgement?
Many historians argue that the reason for Germany going to war was due to the aggressive behaviour of Germany in the build up to the war. Throughout this essay I will be addressing this issue looking at whether Germany was responsible for the outbreak of a general European war in August 1914. There are many factors which contribute to the outbreak of the war from a short-term trigger such as the assassination of Franz Ferdinand to the long-term annexation aims Germany implemented in the years building up to the war, the most important reason was Germany’s aggressive foreign policy, they had provided Austria-Hungary with a ‘blank cheque’ while also pressurising them into presenting an ultimatum to Serbia, there had been vast amounts of preparation in the follow up to the outbreak of war, the overall military spending of Germany had been increased by fivefold, way ahead of any other developing country, however it is also important to consider other factors which may have played a role in the outbreak of war such as the isolation of Germany by the remaining superpowers which is described as forcing them into a defensive war and the role that Austria-Hungary played in the outbreak of war as well as the individual involvement of the military in relation to the outbreak of war.
Source 1 unlike sources 2 and 3 has a clear opinion, this opinion agrees with the judgement posed in the question that Germany was responsible for the outbreak of war due to high levels of aggression. ‘As early as 1906 Germany had in place a plan for an aggressive war’, this statement strongly suggests that Germany always had intentions of a war based on aggressive motives, most likely to have been driven by annexation views possessed by the Kaiser and the military in general, this was seen within the war council meeting of 1912 where they had decided upon the
Many historians argue that the reason for Germany going to war was due to the aggressive behaviour of Germany in the build up to the war. Throughout this essay I will be addressing this issue looking at whether Germany was responsible for the outbreak of a general European war in August 1914. There are many factors which contribute to the outbreak of the war from a short-term trigger such as the assassination of Franz Ferdinand to the long-term annexation aims Germany implemented in the years building up to the war, the most important reason was Germany’s aggressive foreign policy, they had provided Austria-Hungary with a ‘blank cheque’ while also pressurising them into presenting an ultimatum to Serbia, there had been vast amounts of preparation in the follow up to the outbreak of war, the overall military spending of Germany had been increased by fivefold, way ahead of any other developing country, however it is also important to consider other factors which may have played a role in the outbreak of war such as the isolation of Germany by the remaining superpowers which is described as forcing them into a defensive war and the role that Austria-Hungary played in the outbreak of war as well as the individual involvement of the military in relation to the outbreak of war.
Source 1 unlike sources 2 and 3 has a clear opinion, this opinion agrees with the judgement posed in the question that Germany was responsible for the outbreak of war due to high levels of aggression. ‘As early as 1906 Germany had in place a plan for an aggressive war’, this statement strongly suggests that Germany always had intentions of a war based on aggressive motives, most likely to have been driven by annexation views possessed by the Kaiser and the military in general, this was seen within the war council meeting of 1912 where they had decided upon the