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World War 1

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World War 1
Germany was to blame for the First World War, but only to a certain extent. Germany were not solely to blame, but did contribute greatly to the sequence of events that led to war. Germany were a major contributor to the Arms Race, caused tension between many European countries, made alliances, were extremely nationalistic and encouraged Austria – Hungary to declare war on Serbia. Despite this, Germany were not the only power hungry nation to blame for the war.
Germany was part of the reason that the Arms Race happened. The Arms race was the naval rivalry between the British and German navies. Britain had always had the strongest navy forces, but a power hungry Germany sought to change this. It goes without saying this would have caused tension between Germany and Britain, especially since Germany thought Britain where overreacting. This was shown by Kaiser Wilhelm in an interview : “You English are like mad bulls: you see red everywhere! What on earth has come over you, that you should heap on such suspicion?” Despite Kaiser Wilhelm denying there was competition between them, both countries, paranoid the other would attack, sought to seek alliances with neighbouring countries. These alliances were a crucial factor to all aspects of the war. If Germany hadn’t been so power hungry, the war may not have been the same war, we know of today.
Germany was an imperialistic country therefore had lusted after Britain's strong navy and thus leading to copying Britain's production of battleships Germany were encircled by land therefore technically had no need for dreadnoughts where as the British were isolated so they had a reason to build dreadnoughts. Germany's hunger for a large army and navy caused tension and jealousy between Britain and other nations. The major cause of the First World War was militarism and it is clear that Germany played a major role in this and was always in favour of settling the tension on the battlefield. Competition for trade and colonies,

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