The country also felt threatened as its neighbouring country, Russia was part of the Triple Entente and was itself building up a vast army. Keeping a strong army was important to Germany because it helped to demonstrate to the rest of the world that they were a rising power. In addition, Germany was also in competition with Great Britain. At the time Britain had the largest navy; something Germany envied. Once Britain started introducing their new battleships, named the Dreadnoughts, Germany followed suit.
The war was caused by grudges countries had held against each other from previous wars. Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy were the Triple Alliance. Britain, France and Russia were the Triple Entente (friendly agreement). These agreements meant that if ever war broke out you would help the country you are in agreements with. Germany was 30-40 years old and wanted to have a bigger empire and navy than Britain, which had the biggest empire and biggest navy out of all of the countries.
Fischer’s argument that the outbreak of the First World War was due to Germany’s aggressive foreign policy, with a harsh focus on annexation, can be regarded as one of much significance. This theory has been backed up by historians such as Berghahn who claims that Germany ‘[tried] to shift the balance of power in their favour’, and did this through a weltpolitik policy of aggressiveness. This, it can be argued, can be shown by The Navy Race, in which Germany attempted to expand their navy in order to compete with Britain. Despite this being regarded by some as an attempt to
Why did Germany go to war in 1914? There are many reasons as to why Germany went to war in 1914 such as fear of encirclement, various alliances formed, internal policies and domestic and military factors. I personally think the most important reason was due to their internal politics. Germany was formed as a country in 1871 and so felt like they had to prove themselves as a nation to the rest of Europe. They did this through aggressive policies, which they hoped would achieve their aim and build up their empire.
What were the aims for Weltpolitik? To what extend did the Germans achieve these aims by 1907? In 1897 Germans pursued a World Policy called “Weltpolitik” as a reaction to the conservative “Realpolitik” of Bismark. Weltpolitik didn’t have a precise meaning but generally describes the specific phase of German history in which the Kaiser asserted the right to rule the country personally, appointed Bernhard Bülow as a Foreign Minister to secure the country’s place in the world map and the good relations with Britain and selected admiral Von Tirpitz to expand the navy. In that year Bülow stated officially that Germany now pursued such a policy.
Great Britain, France, and Russia all formed the Allies while Germany, Austria- Hungary, and Italy formed the Central Powers. The position of Germany might have led to an early declaration of was because it was surrounded by the allied powers. Nationalism and extreme patriotism towards the country was also a reason for the outbreak of the war. This over-confidence gave birth to a fatal misconception: that in the event of war in Europe, one’s own country would be victorious
Each country had different aims for entering the war. Germany wanted to unite all German people and unify Germany. England desired to keep the price and possession by occupying the Empire, so their aim was to make sure that there is no competition among other countries. France wanted to be even with Prussia because Germany embarrassed them in ‘Franco-Prussia war’ by forcing them to sign on treaty. Russia was keen to expand their territory and to get a warm water port.
There are many events which highlight the importance of this policy no more so than the first and second Moroccan crisis. This event pronounced German military strength as the gunboat panther moored off the coast of Agadir during a minor revolt in French colony of Morocco. Consequently Germany was given land in Congo in order to pacify the growing state. He goes on to say ‘ as early as 1906, Germany had in place a plan for an aggressive war’ which suggests that Germany had planned for war in order to secure assets such as ‘lebensraum’ which would satisfy the desire of the growing pan German movement and raw materials which would satisfy the desire of the ever growing Industrial machine. Fischer strengthens this
* Germany was competing with the UK to build battleships. * The British feared an attack on their Empire. * Germany was competing with Russia and France to expand their armies A= Alliances * Agreement with another country. * Competition caused European countries to make alliances with each other (retain peace and increase strenght). * The Triple Alliances was between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy.
The Naval rivalry which was between Great Britain and Germany. Great Britain had the best navy. Then Germany started to obtain colonies and began to build strong navies also. These two rivals going at it is one cause of World War One. Another cause of World War One is imperialism.