The Germans are to blame for the war because of the fact that they pushed countries to take a side in this war, and they also tried to get many different countries on the side of the Central Powers to win the Great War. The leader of the German Empire, Kaiser Wilhelm II was “an overtly militaristic man, and believed fervently in increasing the strength of Germany’s armed forces. In particular, he was keen to develop a German navy the equal of Britain’s Royal Navy, encouraged by Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz.” (http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/wilhelmii.htm) This man’s attitude towards war was probably one of the reasons why Germany became involved in this war. Also, others may have waged war against Germany for its overly militaristic and empirical past, especially France, because of its loss of the Province of Alsace-Lorraine and for the crowning of Wilhelm I in the Palace of Versailles, which was extremely embarrassing for the French. Germany made some very bad mistakes during the war, especially by sinking the Lusitania, the innocent American ship on its way to England brought down by German U-boats. This is how Kapitänleutnant Walter Schwieger, the man given the order to sink the Lusitania, recounts this event in his war diary, “An unusually heavy explosion takes place with a very strong explosion cloud (cloud reaches far beyond front funnel). The explosion of the torpedo must have been followed by a second one (boiler or coal or powder?). The superstructure right above the point of impact and the bridge are torn asunder, fire breaks out, and smoke envelops the high bridge. The ship stops immediately and heels over to starboard very quickly, immersing simultaneously at the bow. It appears as if the ship were going to capsize very shortly, Great confusion ensues on board; the boats are made clear and some of them are lowered to the water with either stem or stern first and founder immediately. On the port side fewer boats are made clear than on the starboard side on account of the ship’s list. The ship blows off [steam]; on the bow the name “Lusitania” becomes visible in golden letters. The funnels were painted black, no flag was set astern. Ship was running twenty knots. Since it seems as if the steamer will keep above water only a short time, we dived to a depth of twenty-four meters and ran out to sea. It would have been impossible for me, anyhow, to fire a second torpedo into this crowd of people struggling to save their lives.” (http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/lusitania.htm) This aggression on the U.S. commercial ship “Lusitania” gave the U.S. even more incentive to declare war on Germany, even though President Woodrow Wilson was not the kind of person to wage war unless there was a major reason to do so. The Germans caused much chaos during the First World War, partially because of their unrestricted submarine warfare, which had many neutral ships destroyed, including that of the Lusitania. Because of the sinking of the Lusitania, “riots occurred in many countries, and many stores refused to serve Germans.” (http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/lusitania.htm) The alliance system that the Europeans had was one that involved many of the more powerful countries in Europe. After the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Austria-Hungary allied itself to Germany, while Serbia allied itself to Russia, which triggered the entrances of France, England, and later, the U.S. The Germans knew and they “were perfectly aware that a possible warlike attitude of Austria-Hungary against Serbia might bring Russia upon the field, and that it might therefore involve us in a war, in accordance with our duty as allies. We could not, however, in these vital interests of Austria-Hungary, which were at stake, advise our ally to take a yielding attitude not compatible with his dignity, nor deny him our assistance in these trying days.” (http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/officialgermanstatement.htm) The Austro-Hungarians though that the Serbs were the authors of this assassination was because the “Serbian government was implicated in the machinations of the Black Hand,” (http://www.firstworldwar.com/origins/causes.htm). The Black Hand was a terrorist organization from Serbia that was trying to gain independence from the Empire of Austria-Hungary to create an independent Serb country. The Germans were faced with a decision as soon as Russia declared war with Austria-Hungary. They could either ignore the war completely, letting their old allies perish, or they could join them, and perish with them. They also had their geographical location in Europe to take into account. They were and still are located in the middle of Europe, in the middle of all of the action of the war. “In consequence of this threatening step, which was not justified by any military proceedings on the part of Germany, the German Empire was faced by a grave and imminent danger. If the German Government had failed to guard against this peril, they would have compromised the safety and the very existence of Germany.” (http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/germandeclarationofwar_russia.htm) In total finalization, the belief that Germany is to blame for their aggression is quite correct, seeing as their Kaiser was the kind of person that would have waged war even if it didn’t even include him. Also, militaristically speaking, the Germans were a more powerful country in comparison to Austria-Hungary, so they were more likely to be blamed for damages, because they were more able to create those damages.
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