Was Germany To Blame For The Start Of The First World War?
Was Germany To Blame For The Start Of The First World War? I believe that Germany was to blame for the start of world war 1, although other countries were partially to blame. Germany was involved in most events building up to the war and it was one of the first countries to declare war on another country. From 1899-1900 Britain was in a colonial war with South Africa, about the Dutch Boer settlers. Germany without need decided to join in the fight by claiming they supported the Boers and South Africa. Germany always butted into wars that weren't its own and always tried to get involved, which is one of the reasons Germany ended up declaring war. In 1906 the First Moroccan Crisis took place. This was when France wanted to conquer Morocco and Britain agreed to help them, since they had agreed when they joined the Entente Cordiale to help France. However Kaiser Wilhelm, the German leader, suddenly decided to protect Morocco from anyone who threatened or attacked them. Making an enemy of Britain and France. Only four years after the first Moroccan crisis, the second Moroccan crisis, also known as the Agadir crisis, took place. This time it was because France and Britain were frightened by Germany's high intentions. In the end Germany was forced to back down after they were offered a small piece of jungle in Congo. In 1908 Kaiser Wilhelm was interviewed by the 'Daily Telegraph'. He claimed that he was friends with Britain, but later on in the interview he announced that the 'English were mad' and that the German's hated them. Which formed an rivalry with the Britain's. In 1900, the German Kaiser began to expand the German navy, and built a large amount of 'Dreadnoughts', the most powerful type of battle ship. Britain thought that Germany was trying to challenge and threaten Britain. Britain then made an alliance with Japan and began to build dreadnoughts. However, some people argue that this was not a cause of world war 1. The only events that Germany