Reasons For Germany To Blame For World War I

Germany played a major role in causing World War I and should mostly be blamed for it because German militarism forced other countries to join the war and fight back with full force, the Germans introduced new deadly technologies which increased the death toll and lead to further participation of other countries, even though the alliance system is what engendered Germany and other countries into the war, not Germany itself.

Germany should be blamed for World War I because Germany’s militarism and arrogance forced other countries to join the war and fight back with full strength. Militarism is a policy of glorifying military power and keeping a standing army always prepared for war. The Germans shows militarism in World War I by implementing
The Germans integrated the use of many advanced technologies in World War 1. Some new weapons the Germans introduced in the war included poison gas, flamethrowers, and artillery guns. In 1914 the Germans introduced Chlorine gas and in 1915 they introduced phosphine gas. Poison gas grenades were launched into the French Army. Poison gas was a common way to kill opponents because of how easily it could kills thousands of people at once. The poison gas caused asphyxiation which lead to thousands of deaths due to deprivation of oxygen. Not only that, but the poison gas also burned the eyes out. The flamethrower was a “hose” that sprayed out fire to destruct anything including soldiers, trenches and bushes. Artillery guns were heavy guns used to destroy trenches and break up attacks (Into the Furnace: The Battle of Verdun Video Notes). This demonstrates Germany’s blame from World War 1 because the Germans were the first ones to bring in these new and advanced weapons at the battlefront. All these new technologies used in the war lead to millions of deaths, an unexpectedly large amount of people, because of the specific weapons the Germans used. More and more deaths caused a more active participation of France in the war. Not only because the French soldiers were dying at a fast
The alliance system was a formal agreement or treaty between two or more nations to cooperate for specific purposes. Due to the alliance system, a single problem between 2 nations caused the inclusion of various countries to battle against of each other, making it a world war. On June 28, 1914 a member of a Serbian Nationalist group, the Black Hand, assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary. Shortly after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany signed a “blank cheque” with Austria-Hungary stating that the Germans would unconditionally support Austria- Hungary with whatever actions they chose to take with the Serbians. (World War l Lecture Notes). Around the same time, Austria-Hungary presented an outrageously harsh ultimatum to the Serbians. Even after the Serbians agreed to it, Austria-Hungary still declared war on Serbia. This action angered the Russians, who were close allies with the Serbians, so they sent their troops along the German border to mobilize. Hence, Germany declared war on Russia on August 1, 1914 (Powder Keg Video Notes). In no time, other European countries such as France, Great Britain, Belgium, and the United States were being sucked into the war due to alliances. In a matter of months, a crisis between Serbia and Austria-Hungary had turned into a world war. It was