The Outbreak of World War I

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The Outbreak of World War I On the 1st of August 1914 World War One, also known as the Great War, started. The main countries involved were: Germany, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Britain, France and Russia. World War One ended at 11am on 11th November 1918. In 1919, Lloyd George of England, Orlando of Italy, Clemenceau of France and Woodrow Wilson from the US met to discuss how Germany was to be made to pay for the damage World War One had caused. They decided to create the Treaty of Versailles. In this there were a total of 440 clauses. The first 26 clauses dealt with the establishment of the League of Nations. The remaining 414 clauses spelled out Germany's punishment. This makes it seem that Germany was 100% to blame for the war. – But was this really the case? This is what I am going to explain in my essay. Their are many reasons that suggest that Germany was responsible for World War One. The tension in Europe, caused by Germany, really started after The Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), when the German army attacked France. The Germans won this short war. As a ‘prize’ they took the regions of Alsace and Lorraine from France. Alsace Lorraine was a province near the border of Germany and there wasn’t much point of them taking it, only for Germany to have more land. The Germans claimed that the land was rightfully German; the majority of people living here were French however. The French were very upset by this and wanted the land back. This made the French not trust Germany and tension started between the two countries. Another contributing factor to the war was the build-up of tension between Britain and Germany as a result of Germ... ... middle of paper ... ...tion “To what extent was Germany responsible for World War One?” is difficult to answer. It is widely believed that this war was caused by Germany. Germany was accountable for many previous causes but there are many other reasons that led to this war, some occurring as far back to the late 1800’s. The main factors were nationalism, militarism, colonialism and the system of alliances. The alliance system was one of the important factors, which contributed to the war. It arose only because of several other factors, and did not cause the war single headedly. Therefore I think Germany was not solely responsible for World War One, there were many other factors. I also think that the war happened because many countries felt the need to expand therefore causing a major struggle for power. A war cannot be created out of nothing.

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