To give some context, I’ve been reading William Shirer’s “Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” and there are some passages that lead me to believe that Germany wasn’t solely responsible for the events that transpired as a result of World War I.
To be brief, I am mentioning specifically the contention that Germany was the sole instigator of conflict, the unfavorable terms of the Versailles treaty (ceding of territory to Poland, France, Czechoslovakia, Lithuania etc., ceding of her colonies etc., disarmament—to name a few).
I’m going to put a disclaimer out right now and say that I am in no way, shape or form a Nazi sympathizer. I’m trying to understand why Germany was treated and/or blamed in the way it was for this war because it seems to shed a lot of light on many of the motives for Hitler’s rise to power and for the ultimate appeal of Nazism to Germany in the decades following this conflict.
Edit: after seeing a few comments regarding my timeline, I am aware that the book I am reading is about World War II. I should definitely have mentioned that in the beginning chapters of Shirer’s book, he goes through Hitler’s mind, the prevailing political sentiments of the time before the Third Reich and some of the events that inevitably led to World War II, namely, the results of World War I and the Treaty of Versailles. I am asking about why Germany was blamed so harshly for World War I when there were many systems of alliances between countries and treaties guaranteeing a country fighting with or for another in a time of dispute. I hope this clears up the confusion. I know I mention the rise of Nazism, which in retrospect I can see would be confusing for a WWI question, but that’s what I was asking. If you have any other concerns, please message me directly. Thanks!
Note: This is my first contribution here and I am not a professional historian. While I tried to fit the standards of this sub If it does not then please remove it.
As always in history the issue is quite complex. Very few historians would argue that Germany alone is to blame, although in the public mind the war guilt clause in the treaty of versailles certainly contributed to the widespread view that this is the case. Furthermore Germany did indeed have expansionary ambitions and an aggressive foreign policy, exemplified in the Moroccan crises. As an actor on a global scale Germany was reacting as well as acting in this wider context. The issue of who started ww1 is very complex (look into the Fischer-Ritter debates to see just how contentious it is), and several perspectives exist. Here are some of the views on the reasons of ww1:
Constructivist
The rise of nationalistic and imperial rivalries between the powers would lead to war. The people of this time had become proponents of their nation’s exceptionality in the world and seeked to further their goals by expanding. Issues of nationality became prominent and would continue to dominate the world for the coming century as well as being essential to the course of the war. Especially austro-hungary had problems with the nationalistic ambitions of its subjects.
Liberal
The liberal analysis of the causes would focus primarily on the breakdown of international diplomacy and the balance of powers. The changes in economic power from Britain and france towards Germany and america as well as the stagnation of Russia would be considered by liberals to be very important and explains the failure of the interdependence of economies to prevent war.
Realist
The realist search for causes would be dominated by the military buildup resulting from Germany challenging British hegemony. The actors are definitely the states between which diplomatic means had been failing while individual actions and actors such as the assassination by Gavrilo Princip are seen as only symptoms of the inevitable conflict between an established and a rising power.
Marxist
The marxist, following his or her theory of class conflict would blame capitalistic imperialism that wanted to expand into new markets to exploit. At the same time they might also see it as an attempt to suppress revolutionary movements at home by preventing international cooperation of workers. The two key actors would then be the bourgeoisie and proletariat.
The long and medium term reasons have occupied historians for over a century and there is plenty written on the subject. I would myself like to propose a short term analysis to evaluate who technically started it, and made it a world war. I am sure this approach will not satisfy everyone but when it comes to the straight forward reasons for the war I believe it is the easiest way to go about it and provide a (more or less) clean cut answer.
The first declaration of war as part of what would later be called world war one was from the Austro-Hungarian empire to the kingdom of Serbia and therefore one could say that it is uncontroversial that Austria started it. Austria was however enabled in their actions by the germans issuing a blank cheque assuring Austria that they would receive all support needed if they were to go to war. Thus Germany could still indirectly take the blame since Austria most likely would not have declared war without this German support. However at this point it was not really a world war, more of another balkan war which were always popping up at this time.
So who turned it into a world war?
Fighting was limited to Europe until the British Empire became involved, after which it spread to the Middle East, Asia and Africa. The cause of the British involvement was the violation of Belgian neutrality by Germany who was implementing their Schlieffen plan, therefore from this perspective Germany was rightfully to blame for starting the war.
Sources
Fischer, Fritz. World Power or Decline: The controversy over Germany’s Aims in the First World War. Littlehampton Book Services Ltd 1975.
Löffelbein, Nils: War Aims and War Aims Discussions (Germany) , in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, ed. by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson, issued by Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin 2017-09-06. DOI*:* 10.15463/ie1418.11153.
Clark, Christopher M. The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914. London: Allen Lane, 2012. Print.