Emma McVicar- Block 5

WWI: Who Caused It and Why Were They to Blame?

World War I was a tragic period of gruesome warfare and violence. There were treaties and

rivals made before hand and during it, changing its course as it went along. Although many countries in

Europe played a part in the beginning of this war, there was definitely one country that was the most to

blame, and that country was Germany. Germany’s main goal in this war was simply to expand their

empire, and they were not considering the well being of their people, but the power of their leaders.

The only reason that they started fighting was to expand, and most other countries were opposed to

what their plans were. Most of the countries that participated in WWI were at fault, but Germany was

the one that did the most damage.

One reason that Germany was an important factor in the start of WWI was its pervious part in

the Franco-Prussian wars. Otto Von Bismarck was the Chancellor of Germany at the time and when a

relative of Kaiser Wilhelm, the Prussian king, was asked to take the Spanish throne. France did not

want Prussian power to increase, so they tried to prevent this from happening. When Bismarck heard of

this, he took the liberty of bending the story into something that made the French seem power hungry.

This began a war between France and Germany, which Germany won. When Germany took Alsace and

Lorraine, people began to realize what a danger they were to the peace and most wanted revenge.

France was a peaceful country and they wanted to avoid wars, but they were forced into it by their deep

desire for revenge on Germany. If they had not been harassed by Germany, the war would have been

much smaller, or even non-existent, without the French armies fighting against their will, just to

survive.

Another reason the Germany should be held accountable is that they wanted to increase their
power by building a railroad from their capital, Berlin, to the Middle East. This would help them

control the Balkans and get oil from he Middle East. Most countries around them were opposed to the

construction of this railroad, but Kaiser Wilhelm had no interest in the opposition. He assumed that the

only reason they were unhappy with this was because they didn’t want Germany to become that

powerful; they figured that the others were jealous of them. The railroad that he wanted to build would

give him relative control over many other colonies around it, and it would prevent the unity of the Slav

nations. Overall, this would separate all of the nations and make the countries around it enemies of

Germany, causing war.

Germany played a large part, but on the other hand, Serbia was also a cause for trouble. In

Serbia, a society called the Black Hand and its leader, Apis, was determined to unite the Slav nations

into a country called Yugoslavia, and they usually used terrorism to take control. Germany did not

bother the southern countries other than wanting to build their railroad through there, they only affected

the northern countries, but they did very deeply affect them. In order to gain power and start a

revolution in Austria, the Black Hand planned to assassinate Archduke of Austria, Franz Ferdinand,

and his wife, Sophie. When they successfully killed them both, all of Austria was angered, and they

declared war on Serbia. All over the continent of Europe, the Black Hand continued to menace people

in order to take control of the Balkan Peninsula. This did nothing but cause hatred towards Serbia and

make more wars. Germany caused the majority of war in northern Europe, but in the southern parts,

Serbia was mostly the cause, along with their Black Hand society, and the rage they brought to

surrounding empires.

The German government and military had no mercy on peaceful, weak countries, such as

Belgium and France. They both wanted to keep the peace, and only fight if necessary. Germany made it
necessary for both of them and it brought great destruction to these places. Germany was greedy and

their greed brought nothing but suffering in the countries around them and the ones they attacked. In

the end, if Germany had been happy with what they had and had not forced other countries into war,

WWI would have been much less substantial and it would have been completely different, most likely

in an improved fashion.