So were the Germans really responsible for starting The Great War?

But the only reason Germany feared Russia is because they we're allied with the French and they French were hankering for a war to regain Alsace, without France Germany would have had no reason to fear Russia.

Everyone was itching for a war.

the network of alliance just gave them an excuse.

AH attacks Serbia. Russia allied with Serbia. France allied with Russia. Germany allied with AH.

>It was Austria-Hungary's fault for going hard on Serbia

And guess who told them to?
One must really be delusional and revisionist to deny that Germany is the most to blame for WW1

Yeah, Germany dindu nuffin
He a good boi

The problem was that every state in Europe wanted to expand it's own territory at the expense of neighbors. With that kind of mindset, wars are inevitable. Germany was not alone in thinking that way; they just happened to be the ones in this particular instance that thought they had an advantage to press. If the other states had felt they had an advantage, they would've done the same. The one possible exception is the British, who usually went autismo over balance of power to try to prevent these kinds of wars from sparking.

>The kaiser was naive and wanted to help his buddy AH and issued a blank check

The kaiser was barely deciding anything anyway
The German general staff (the real rulers of Germany) wanted a general war in order to increase German influence on the continent and to achieve supreme dominance in Europe.
So they escalated a shitty conflict between A-H and Serbia in the Balkans by involving themselves in it and dragging in Russia and France through declarations of war

>And of course if Germany and Austria-Hungary got into a war with Russia, France couldn't simply sit and watch

But they did
And then, after two days of France sitting and doing nothing despite Russia being under attack, Germany got tired of waiting and declared war on France themselves

Wilhelm was strutting around the wilhelm strasse talking about how he would never back down from his brother Kaiser Franz ever never ever.

He issued the blank check basically to virtue posture without thinking the AH would actually use it.

The General staff was shocked that there were no stipulations but happy to use it to thier purposes, just like the Russians, and French and British and AH.

>France sitting and doing nothing
France mobilised the same day that Germany declared war on Russia.

Austria-Hungary didn't have to do it

Your ideas about the US involvement are false

>calling people revisionist while posting an edited screenshot of a wiki page
lmao

Revanchism

Stay mad, Hans
Facts are facts

In order of how much to blame everybody was:

1) Austria-Hungary
2) Russia
3) Serbia
4) Germany

End of list.

Germany should be above Russia
Serbia shouldnt be listed

Give this man a cookie

Can't we all just blame Austria Hungary and be done?

t. admittedly hans

>Serbian government supported secret society that killed the heir of the neighbouring empire which was the spark that set off the war
>Serbia shouldn't be on the list

>Serbian government supported secret society that killed the heir of the neighbouring empire
WRONG

>Germany orders its vassal Austria to start a major war
>"i-it wasnt our fault I swer, can't we just blame Austria for everythin?"

>The eternal hapsburg, a mere generation or 2 after fighting a major war with prussia now pretends to be a vassal when culpability for WW1 is on the table

>vassal
Yes I remember Germany specifically demand Austria Hungary send an unreasonable ultimatum to the Serbs and antagonize a government that didn't order the assassination

Look Germany deserves the shit it gets for invading Belgium but don't give them shit for their bastard allies doing.

Germany slightly edges out France and Russia for most hungry for war

the UK didn't really want total war and were happy with how business was already going for them, Germany looked around her and saw a bunch of juicy land for the taking

The irony is that Germany likely would have continued to remain in a dominant position if war was avoided. They were a scientific and industrial power house, by 1914 they had passed the UK in manufacturing (though the UK's economy as a whole was still larger) and only the USA was ahead. They also had progressive developments like universal male suffrage and a strong social democratic party (at a time when for example the UK didn't have universal male suffrage).

Too bad Willy was autistic

>France ... most hungry for war
r u dum

I think people aren't looking far back enough. People often forget about the 2 Moroccan crises where Germany was completely belligerent to France with war almost breaking out and resulted in UK joining the Entente.

Well that's the problem, you get to a point of strength and superiority, and you know it. Your hands get very idle and there is a power void around you. The natural conclusion is war.

They would have made more progress with it had they not gone full hubris and drawn Britain in.

yes and no user,

Here is how it went down, the black hand shoots Franz Ferdinand in Belgrade, Austria-Hungary is ape shit pissed (as anyone could have predicted) so they had two options; invade smol Serbia at the risk of an intervening Russia who feels it has the same claims over the slavic nations that AH does, or just take it up the ass and be salty.

Every European nation knew the implications of what would happen if Russia backed Serbia against Austria-Hungary. Immediately France and Britain declared neutrality as well as most minor nations, like Belgium for example.

After that, Britain and France urged Austria-Hungary to not invade Serbia because of the massive war consequence, however Germany urged AH to go ahead and do it and Wilhelm promised to help against Russia.

Even if nobody pitched an opinion on what to do in the matter, Austria-Hungary was more likely to attack Serbia than not. Still, the treaties and friendships that Germany and AH shared made them much more partial to Germany's opinion and solidified their justification to invade Serbia and start arguably the worst war in human history.

Yeah actually they are not

>The alliance system meant little. Proof is in Italy ignroing the triple alliance and joining the Entente
The Italians meant the triple Alliance was a defensive pact, when AH then started the war, which eventually had it's chain reaction, Italy thought it was a breach of contract, therefore they didn't honor it.

Absolutely, despite what /pol/ might try to have you believe.

The same society also killed the last Serbian king, wanted to kill the Greek king, and tried to kill the Serbian heir.
Serbian government had an organization with the sole intention of taking it out. Literally called the opposite (White hand).
Also, fun fact. Tito executed white hand members and rehabilitated Balk hand members.

No, that's pretty much only anglophone (and French) propaganda.

No.

...

>Germany looked around her and saw a bunch of juicy land for the taking
Do you have any evidence for this?

I'm fairly certain Germany was just deathly afraid of France and Russia. And when Bethmann-Hollwegh learned that Britain was plotting against Germany too, due to a German spy in the Russian embassy who informed him about talks regarding British aid for Russian naval landing operations, they felt completely encircled.

Fact is: Germany didn't even have plans on what they wanted to achieve through WW1.

>Fact is: Germany didn't even have plans on what they wanted to achieve through WW1.
By that I meant: they didn't have plans when WW1 broke out. Most of the plans which were later cited as evidence for German aggression were made 'during' WW1.

Considering the Austrians are German, yes.

...

Poland wasn't the one who invaded Germany retard

underrated btfo

>le French butthurt

Why is this blatantly false narrative still prevalent on a fucking history board?

The revanchist faction in France got put down after the Moroccan crisis, a decade before WW1. In fact, the French government was actually opposed to war, that is of course until autistic Germans declared war on them

I'd have to look around the book but IIRC at some point Clark theorizes that Britain and Russia staying allies was never a guarantee and in fact would likely have gone back to being rivals in a few years if the war hadn't started.

Don't really know what would've happened if that was the case. I can't see Germany signing any kind of alliance with Britain as long as the Entente Cordiale is in effect and same with going to Russia because of their alliance with France.

That's not really helping the Serbian case there. They were a backwards, third world shithole with deleusions of grander egged on by Russia and their Serbophile ambassador.

The Italians were opportunists and were looking to get out of the Triple Alliance for a long time. It was renewed in 1902 and then immediately Italy went to the French with promises of neutrality if either one was attacked so that. The Italians were backstabbing cunts.

Go read the Nye Committee Report. The fucking bankers pushed Wilson to go to war.

>that's a meme
>spergs out at lenght about the malice and cowardice of italians with the strengh of a thousand hurt butts
Are you, dare I say, autistic? Did your grand-grandma get raped by an italian soldier?
My nigga, finally some non-meme explanation of italian conduct

yes, they escalated a squabble between meme states into a world war between actual countries

m-muh Pan-Slavic sphere (but Orthodox moonrune Slavs only hehe)

No it was freemasons and their zionist sponsors

Balfour declaration, Jacob Schiff bankrolling the bolshevist putsch and founding of the federal reserve on christmas eve 1913 were no coincidence
>balder.org/judea/Important-Quotations-For-A-Better-Understanding-Of-WWII.php

it was the anglos
they thought germany will challange their colonial empire if they dont provoke a war soon

you can read about the berlin bagdad trail which could mean they no longer need to use the suez canal

connecting german east africa-gulf of aden-iraq-mainland

this project alont caused worry for britain
they wanted war, they got it

>missing the most important shit, namely mobilization

kys

No, no, no. Don't annex Austria-Hungary guys, completely dominate central Europe and project our power over the Balkans! Let's just maintain this tricky web of alliances and agreements that I'll set up instead. WHAT'S THE WURST THAT COULD HAPPEN?

Wilhelm most certainly was for all the diplomatic sabotages
The german people for suppourting an incompetent monarch
Britain and France in some ways for not letting Russia annex all the Slavic freed states

You're all thinking of this in the wrong way..
It's Serbias fault in the first place.
If we didn't have any serbs, we wouldn't have Serbia..which would lead to no WWI.

Pretty much this

Read some books about the topic, I highly recommend "origins of the world war" by Sidney Fay

Stop posting this
Ww1
>OOGA BOOGA WHERE DA KILLAS AT, I TAKE GUVERMENT NOW
Germany
>ah how dignified they truly are Germans
Russia
>hol' up you be attacking my linguistic son
Austria
>yes
Russia
>stop
Germany
>no
Russia
>if I mobilise will you stop
Germany
>you're a big nation
Russia
>for (You)
Germany
>that joke is so not funny I declare war
>BRPBPBP sound from eu4
Britain
>look just respect Belgium and I'll stay neutral
Germany
>oh this leaf I just stood on
Britain
>time for a bloackade to save life
America
>oh I died
Fellow American
>THIS MEANS WAR

ww2
England
>look everyone is shit ATM so just take the sudentland and then fight the Russians
Germany
>about that what if I fought the poles with the Russians help

There's a difference you see

youtube.com/watch?v=rIP8Z0LXtZA

All other European nations take note. England did everything it could to try and stop you.

...

But that's wrong because it makes no mention of german troops being ordered out Belgium, as that is the straw that breaks the camel's back

What were they doing in Belgium in the first place when Belgium did nothing wrong and wanted to remain neutral?

Germany, Austria-Hungary, Serbia, Russia, France, Britain - all of them can be said to have some of the blame for the war becoming what it did.

Watch the historical reenactment doc "37 Days" by the BBC. Despite it being produced by the BBC, I thought it did a good job of showing how the British indecisiveness helped to make things worse.

Because the previous war with France had been won with mobility so the german plan was to go through Belgium (hint using their famous railways) and then circle around Paris quick enough to then focus on the east
How do you not know the first year of ww1 at least, what are you African

They almost did take Paris too :'(

It was really everyone's fault.

So the war started because people were jealous of German might.

French are still at fault for unfairly and unjustly occupying Alsace and Lorraine when it is true German soil.

>Britain and France in some ways for not letting Russia annex all the Slavic freed states

Yes, just keep appeasing an aggressive nation. What could go wrong?

I'm talking about violating Belgian neutrality you retard in to response to >makes no mention of german troops being ordered out Belgium,

do you have autism?

Call is by it's real name: Elsaß-Lothringen

WW1 is not a /pol/ topic you fucking retard

Almost all European nations were directly responsible and none of them deserves to stand on a moral high horse.

>letting barbarians into the cultural capital of Europe
If it had secured an Anglo Russian alliance then we would all be happy
Im confused, who do you think was in the wrong

Bloody Portugal starting all those insurgencies

notice >almost

though we can technically connect portugese colonies and trade with the UK

>If it had secured an Anglo Russian alliance then we would all be happy

Hitler and the Sudetenland should show you it wouldn't have stopped and they would have gone to war nonetheless.

>Im confused, who do you think was in the wrong

>get thrown out of country because you want to use them as an invasion route
>invade them anyway because it's their fault for not helping you
>britain is a warmonger for declaring war on you after you declared war on nearly everyone else

It was not any single country. Everybody was eager to test out new technology and thought it would be a quick war. You can't blame Germany and ignore Russian mobilization. You can't say Germany alone was eager for war when Russia did the same exact thing as them, but earlier. It was not any one single party that instigated it, everybody was to blame. It has been over 100 years since Versailles, and if there is anything we can say we have learned, it's that Germany alone should not have sole responsibility for the First World War

No, but German apologism is the very definition of a /pol/ stance.

>it's
It's "Its", you complete mong.

no the serbians autist

Russia tried to prevent a war through posturing.

Germany made sure a war would happen.

The two really aren't comparable.

The French had mostly gotten over the loss of Alsace-Lorraine by 1914, Hans.

>asking if the Teuton is to blame
>any year

They are an evil race

They clearly could've sided with the Central Powers if they wanted. The breach of contact was only an excuse for staying neutral and later joining the Allies. The italians were by all means opportunists in this war

This.

Is that what your commie propaganda textbooks have told you?

>none of them have moral high ground
This is why you don't use absolutes and conditionals in the same sentence
>through trade
So was Caesar and Sulla really murdered because of the Holocaust?