How Far Was Germany Responsible For World War 1 Essay

I believe that Germany was the reason for WWI. There was a lot of chaos and heat that caused World War I. It all started in the year 1914, when Archduke Franz Ferdinand (and all his family) of Austria-Hungary. This is what triggered Austria-Hungary into a war-like mindset as a country. Even though this main cause of World War I wasn’t much of Germany’s problem, that’s not all that turned on WWI. In the end, Germany was responsible for causing WWI.

One of the things that lead me to believe that Germany is the cause for World War I is that Germany wanted everyone’s land. They fought for land in Africa, and even countries like Norway and Poland. The German army/navy invaded more than five countries just to gain land, and achieved most of it. Germany’s series of battles with countries for their land gave them the ability to spend excessive amounts of money to make sure the land they’ve obtained overseas is still standing. (Weeks, 14) Germany continuing to take land from other countries was a form of imperialism. Britain was so alarmed by the exponential growth of German colonies that they began to doubt their hegemony.

Another thing that led me to believe that Germany is the cause for World War I is
that Germany was a huge demonstration of militarism and alliances. Even years before the war, they were notorious for being boastful about their army and how they would defeat anyone should they be encountered by anyone. Also, the Central Powers alliance was a huge contribution to the war because the great powers of Europe was forced into war if their alliances were, too. The country of Germany were allies with Austria-Hungary in WWI. After Archduke Franz Ferdinand was murdered, A-H did not react. Germany stepped in with a “You’re just going to let them do that to you?” type attitude, eventually winning over the country and backed them up in the war.

Another reason that led me to believe that Germany is the cause for World War I is the Schlieffen Plan.
The Schlieffen Plan was Germany’s attack strategy against France. The plan was to attack France once Russia started to release troops near the German border. After the Schlieffen Plan failed Germany, it eventually led to Britain declaring war against Germany on August of 1914. Britain showed no interest in going to war, but they were sucked in on account of Germany’s equalized success with Britain. Even invading Russia and Belgium, being a part of the Schlieffen Plan, didn’t force them into war. Britain sitting out the war was what Germany wanted. They also wanted the British to ignore the treaty they had with London and allow German passage through
Belgium.

The thing that started anything related to WWI was the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, who was from Austria-Hungary. He and his family were shot down by a Serbian nationalist. After this murder, there were many war-like events such as Britain declaring war on Germany, and that took place between countries, until the war to end all wars began. However, Germany was still responsible for persuading Austria-Hungary to go to war with Serbia.

Overall, Germany has done many things during World War I that triggered and upset other countries, like attacking them, demonstrating militarism and taking land from other countries. Even though the main and brutal start of the war wasn’t Germany’s fault, it was still hard to avoid Germany in the war.