Why Did Germany Cause The First World War?

The First World War has been called an unnecessary war, and though Germany paid the heaviest price for its participation, it was not the solely responsible nation. Part of the reason why Germany is faulted for inciting the war has to do with the fact that its elite class failed to prevent it, or rather, they were preoccupied with their own status in society than the conditions of the whole country. All layers of the German elite, including the Junkers, the financiers/bankers and the Social Democrats, found themselves more concerned with keeping their positions of power than with accommodating the needs of their fellow German people. This is most noticeable in the period before the Great War, but the same pattern presented itself prior to the

The same SPD that fought against oppression during Bismarck’s second preemptive strike dissuaded their party members from a Russian-inspired movement, and by 1914, voted unanimously for an imperialist war. Conclusively, the only force against the long-established power organization surrendered their initial interests to those of the bureaucratic bourgeoisie. Furthermore, when a real possibility for a full-scale German revolution showed its head after the First World War, the SPD did everything in its power to quell it. Individual revolutionaries within the ranks of the party, such as Rosa Luxemburg, were silenced. The goal of the post-war Weimar Republic had already been achieved in their eyes. Democratic reform became the key element of Social Democracy. This was also the downfall of the SPD; as reform began to seem unattainable in a desperate and depressed Germany, the party lost its favor. National Socialism sprouted forth as a counterargument to Weimar, giving way to Hitler and the ultimate demise of all of the previous power structures including the persecuted Junkers, the outlawed Socialists, and, in some cases, the ruined financiers.

Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 was, in many ways, the end of an era for Germany’s elite. Everything Bismarck had created up to his death was turned over onto its head. Some of the opportunist members of the upper class used the Nazi party as a way to get ahead or to maintain their status. Some managed to do this, while others paid the price of joining a fascist regime. All in all, the end of the Second World War also marked the end of the aforementioned power