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Among all the participants in the First World War, should Germany bear the sole
responsibility for the outbreak of the war?
The Triple Alliance, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, fought against the Triple
Entente, France, Britain and Russia, in the First World War. Each of them engaged in the First
World War for different selfish aims. Eventually, the war was ended in the victory of the
Allied Powers in 1918. However, Germany had to bear the sole responsibility for causing the
war. It was unfair for Germany to accept the responsibility exclusively because the other
participants, especially Austria-Hungary and Russia, also contributed much to the outbreak of
the First World War.
Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles states that "the Allied and Association
Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for
causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their
nations have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the
aggression of Germany and her allies". The article stated very clearly that it is not proper to
attach all liability to Germany only.
Germany did not plan for the First World War although she was eager to become a great
power. She tried her best to consolidate her national power by peaceful means. After the
unification of Germany, Bismarck realized that a peaceful international environment was
essential for Germany to strengthen herself. Bismarck thus initiated the Alliance system to
make alliances with other major European countries so as to uphold peace. Since Germany
was very worried about the revenge from France after her victory in the Franco-Prussian war
and her acquisition of the Alsace and Lorraine, she decided to isolate France diplomatically
by making alliance with others. Germany was the most active nation in making alliances.
This also reflected the effort made by Germany in maintaining peace.
However, other European powers made alliance with each other for their selfish nation
interests instead of maintaining peace. France always regarded the Triple Alliance as an
attempt to stop her from recovering her control over Alsace-Lorraine; she thus made alliances
to encircle Germany. Russia made alliance with France because she wanted to get French
investment and to minimize Germany’s military threat. Austria –Hungary made alliance with
Germany was to get German support to expand into Balkans and to fight against Russia. The
Alliance system finally broke Europe into two camps. Any local conflict between the ally of
the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente would develop to a large-scale war. When
Austria-Hungary used the Sarajevo assassination as a pretext to wage war with Serbia and
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asked for German help to prevent Russian intervention, as the died-heart ally of
Austria-Hungary, Germany had no choice but to give a “Blank Cheque” (unconditional
support) to Austria-Hungary. It is very different from the Fischer thesis that claimed that
Germany encouraged Austria-Hungary to start war with Serbia. Serbia also received the
support from Russia as they are of the same race. The war soon became a world war.
In this regard, Germany should not fully responsible for the outbreak of the war. She
was just partly responsible but Austria-Hungary was largely responsible for the outbreak of
the First World War as Austria was the first power to resort to force. Russian was also largely
responsible for causing the war. Russia was too romantic and naive to think her could restrain
Serb/Slav nationalism. She thus promised to give support to Serbia and this affected the
Serbia’s decision in rejecting the Austrian ultimatum. This angered Austria-Hungary and she
finally declared war on Serbia. The participation of Russia in the war between
Austria-Hungary and Serbia brought Britain and France, her allies of the Triple Entente, in
this war. Russian participation directly made the matter worse and enlarged the scale of the
war.
On the surface, the Alliance system seemed to be an aggressive act and military alliance
of Germany at the beginning, in fact it was a measure to protect and empower Germany. The
Alliance system showed that Germany did not plot the war, but devoted to prevent war. It was
unreasonable for Germany to take up the sole responsibility for the outbreak of the war.
The nationalism was prevalent in the Europe throughout the 19th century and it made
Germany, Russia and other European countries more aggressive in expansion and annexation.
A German historian, Fritz Fischer (1975) apportioned chief responsibility to Germany for
preparing and launching the First World War, and he claimed that Germany was prepared to
launch the First World War in order to become a great power. However, I think his claims
were not convincing enough. Originally, nationalism is the desire of people of the same
race to form self-governing states. However, the idea of nationalism develops into a more
aggressive way in the late 19th century. After they experienced several defeats in wars,
European powers strongly believed that their nations could be strengthened by conquering
other nations.
The extreme nationalism convinced the European powers to regain lost prestige or
territories and to be a great power. This became the common aims of many European
countries such as Germany, France, and Russia. It was not the aggression of Germany only.
Germany believed that the idea of Pan-Germanism, which called for unity among all German
people including those in Germany, Austria-Hungary and other parts of Europe, could make
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Germany stronger. France was eager to take revenge on Germany after her defeat in the
Franco-Prussian War and to recover her control over Alsace-Lorraine. Russia also aimed at
getting control over Constantinople and the Straits. In order to achieve their own aims, they
annexed those areas where they were of the same race and cultural background. As they made
alliances with each other, they had to support their allies when their allies were under the
attack of the other powers. If Germany planned for the war, the other participants were also
well prepared for a world war. Without the selfish aims of these powers, the war could not
develop to a large-scale world war. Why Germany was the only participant to be blame? It
seemed that the other participants of the First World War shifted all the responsibility to
Germany.
Under the effect of the extreme nationalism, Germany and other European powers
acquired more and more colonies. In military aspect, colonies were very important and
crucial for maritime nations since they could serve as naval bases as well as coaling stations.
Economically speaking, “there was a commonly-held belief at the time that bog industrial
nations must have colonies to provide them with cheap raw materials and to give them new,
expanding markets and opportunities for investing surplus capital.”(M.L.R. Isaac, 1971:75)
France had colonial rivalries with Britain and Italy while Germany had colonial rivalries with
Britain, France and Russia.
France, Britain and Russia had colonial disputes with Germany. They might find that
attaching the sole responsibility to Germany for causing the First World War was a way to
vest their wrath and hard feeling towards Germany. Germany was in fact a later starter in the
race of the colonies. She became much stronger since her colonial expansion began. This
threatened Britain as a large part of the German colonial empire bordered that of Britain. The
interests of Britain were badly affected and the Anglo-German ill feelings were intensified.
There were colonial rivalries between France and Germany over Alsace-Lorraine and
Morocco. Both of them had an interest in Morocco where was rich in mineral resources that
could help to increase industrial development and production. The weather of Russia was
cold and she lacked warm water. Thus, framing there was difficult and she could not produce
enough food for her people Russia wanted to break up the Ottoman Empire and dominated
the Balkans in order to gain warm water ports there. However, Germany also had an interest
in the declining Ottoman Empire. This further enhanced the anti-German feeling among the
Russians. Later, these three powers used the idea of “sole responsibility” as a means to
weaken the German power and to take revenge on Germany.
The colonial rivalries between the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente proved this
saying of Germany should bear the sole responsibility for the outbreak of the First World War
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is wrong. Since Germany was just a later starter in the race for colonies, it was unfair for her
to bear the sole responsibility for the outbreak of the war. The Triple Entente injected too
much national grievances and hard feeling into the treaty of Versailles, the term to made
Germany solely responsible for the outbreak of the First World War was unjust.
The desires of European powers to enhance the international status, to expand territories
and to protect the nation security urged them to build up military force. There were armament
race among the European powers. They considered wars were the only effective solution to
settle their conflicts and the best way to achieve their desires. After 1870, compulsory
conscription and universal military training were adopted in every power, except Britain. All
able-bodied male adults were forced by law to receive military training and to serve in the
armed forces. This enabled a government to mobilize the whole nation for war within a short
time. After 1900, the major powers spent a great amount of their budgets on military purposes.
From 1870 and 1914, military expenditure by the European powers increased 300%. A large
standing army was formed in most major countries. The growth of military expenditure and
the size of the army were particularly obvious in Germany, France and Russia. On the eve of
the First World War, Russia had an army of about 1.3 million men. For Germany and France,
each had about 0.8 million. Although this showed that Germany had put great efforts on
military strengthening, she was not the most active one and the only power which devoted to
build up the military forces. Germany, France and Russia had to share responsibility for
causing the war.
Besides the building up of the army, Germany also developed her navy that was quite a
weak subject of Germany. William II, the German Kaiser, declared that “the future of
Germany lies on the water” in 1898. Germany believed that she would never be able to
enlarge her colonial empire and to regain her lost prestige unless she had a strong navy.
Britain thought that Germany wanted to take control of the sea. She gradually found her naval
supremacy was being challenged by Germany. She was afraid of the growing German naval
power and thus tried to preserve her naval supremacy by starting her own naval programme
in 1903. in 1906, Britain introduced a powerful new battleship called the Dreadnought.
Germany responded by building her own “Dreadnoughts” and a naval race began between
this two powers.
Although there were conferences to discuss the limitation of the armaments, they all
ended in vain. The powers thought that war seemed to be inevitable at that time. For instance,
there was no disarmament was reached in the First Hague Conference in 1898. None of the
powers were willing to disarm owing to their mutual suspicion and distrust. It was not the
problem of Germany. There was no point for Germany to bear the sole responsibility for the
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outbreak of the war since she was not the only state refused to disarm.
The generals of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia also played a significant role in
influencing their governments to mobilize and declare war. It was not reasonable for
Germany to bear the sole responsibility for the outbreak of the war. When the war first broke
out, the powers from the Triple Alliance except Italy and the Triple Entente entered the war
without serious consideration because they were allies and they deeply believed their military
forces were the most superior. Therefore, each participant had to share the responsibility for
causing the war. It would be fair to say that Germany was largely responsible for the outbreak
of the First World War. The war guilt clause aroused the German resentment. This paved the
way for the outbreak of the Second World War and posed an obvious threat to peace.
References
Isaac, M.L.R. (1971) A History of Europe since 1870 (2nd Edition). London: Arnold.
Fischer, F. (1975) War of Illusions: German policies from 1911 to 1914. London: Chatto
and Windus.
Thomson, D. (1966) Europe since Napoleon. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Comment:
The report produced many relevant facts, but was narrative in nature. It did not define the
issue in question properly. Discussion was obviously lopsided to the ‘Germany should not
take all responsibility’ view. The confusing conclusion – ‘each participant had to share the
responsibility for causing the war. It should be fair to say that Germany was largely
responsible for the outbreak of the First World War’ – further blurred the already weak
argument.
評語：
報告所列史實均與題旨相關，但內容以敘事為主。報告沒有為有關議題下一個恰當的定
義。討論明顯側重於「德國不應承擔全部責任」的看法。報告的結論──「每個參戰國
須對戰爭承擔責任。德國應對第一次世界大戰承擔大部分責任，這是公允的。」──進
一步削弱業已無力的論點。
評級 Level: L3
評分 Marks: 9