World War I, 20 Facts

1. The topic of who started world war 1 remains one of the most controversial and
interesting topics to discuss in World History.
2. World war 1 got started by Germany
3. The historian Fritz Fisher identified Germany as the chief cause of the war.
4. However you slice it Germany was definitely responsible for starting World War 2.
5. It makes it more plausible that they would’ve started World War 1
6. One nations militarism is another nations strong national defense.
7. The idea of “the glory of war” was a very popular concept all over Europe.
8. The behavior of Kaiser Wilhelm II, the German leader, made some pretty stupid public
statements.
9. Germany offered the “blank check” that Germans would always support Austria's
ultimatum to serbia.
10. Austria was under the mistaken impression was under the mistaken impression that
Germany wanted them to go to war.
11. The Austrians thought they'd give the Germans the war they were so excited about.
12. The Germans were the first to declare war on a major power, Russia on August first.
13. The German advance on France through Belgium is what brought Britain into the war.
14. Russia was the first to mobilize their massive army.
15. It was Russia's mobilization that drew Germany France and Britain into the war.
16. There was really no good reason for Russia to mobilize in the first place.
17. When Austria declared war on Serbia they could not mobilize their own troops for two
weeks because they were on harvest break.
18. Austrias initial plan was an attack on Belgrade not on Russia.
19. Austrians and Germans receiving reports of Russian troops massing on their border
seems like war.
20. Russia became the first power to actually put its war machine into motion.
21. Russia needed to maintain influence in the black sea especially if the ottomans were
going to form an alliance with the Germans.
22. Russia was in danger of becoming a laughing stock in European politics.
23. Russia's foreign policies makers feared that they wouldn't be taken seriously anymore.
24. If the ottomans could have just stopped Austria from annexing Bosnia none of this would
have never happened.
25. People believed that war was a natural and inevitable state of human affairs.