Transcript The debate the First World War?

The debate over the First
World War?
Connector
• Draw a spider diagram about
who/what/why is responsible for the First
World War
Spider Diagram
World War 1?
The Historical Debate
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A war of aggression and conquest? GS
A war to stabilise an unstable Reich? ASa
A defensive war? AP
War dictated by military planning? NS
A chapter of accidents? AA
It was always going to happen? AI
A war of aggression and conquest?
• ‘the sole cause of the outbreak of the war
in 1914 was the Schlieffen plan’
• “[The German] bid for continental
supremacy was certainly decisive in
bringing on the European War ...”
• A.J.P. Taylor, The Struggle for Mastery in
Europe (1954)
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AJP Taylor The Struggle for Mastery in Europe 1848-1914
Source
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“One of the most surprising features of the reception of the news of the war
was the enthusiasm shown not only by the half-educated and [nationalistic]
masses, but by intellectuals, too… Running through such responses was
… the deliberate cultivation of values and qualities directly opposed to those
of the liberal civilization of the day... One spectacular example was the
French engineer-turned-philosopher, Georges Sorel. His work, Reflections
on Violence (1908), attributed all great achievements to violence... It is
not, therefore, in the diplomatic documents, or the plans of the war offices
that the whole story of the origins of the war can be found. When they have
been [read], there still remain important questions about mass psychology
and spiritual weariness to be answered before we can confidently say how
so great a conflict came about.”
•
J. M. Roberts in History of World War One (1978)
A war to stabilise an unstable
Reich? (Leninist)
• A historian called Fishcer
• Stated that the war was a result of the
structure of Wilhelmine Germany and the
power allowed to the militaristic Junkers,
who were anti democratic and anti modern
• They felt their domestic position to be
under threat from social democracy and
their aspirations could be blocked by the
power of Britain and France
Source
• “What really marked out the decade before 1914 was a failure of
statesmanship and hope. By 1912, most European governments
had come to believe that a general European war was inevitable and
that the problems which plagued them at home and abroad could no
longer be settled by negotiation and diplomacy… In these
circumstances, war seemed to offer an attractive way out ... The
balance sheet in 1918 proved how wrong they had been.”
• R. Henig, The Origins of the First World War (1989)
“A peaceable, industrious, sensible mass of
500 million [European people], was
hounded by a few dozen incapable
leaders, by falsified documents, lying
stories of threats, and chauvinistic
catchwords, into a war which in no way
was destined or inevitable.”
• Emil Ludwig, July 1914 (1929)
A defensive war?
• Germany after World War 1 believed it was surrounded by a circle of
Great Powers- Britain, France and Russia
• The Germans believed they had no option but to break this ring
• The aggression of the Serbian government (archduke source)
• Austria had to meet this challenge and AH was Germany’s ally
• Britain should have helped localise the conflict (the Balkans) but this
would have been impossible because of Russia’s role
• Germany concluded no single person was responsible for the
outbreak
• They instead published up to 40 volumes of documents to prove that
Germany was innocent
Source A
• “In the so called peace treaty, the unheard of
demand for reparations and the unexampled
exploitation of Germany was founded on the lie
regarding Germany’s war guilt. Did Germany
desire the war, did she prepare maliciously and
begin it wantonly? Today every informed person
inside and outside Germany knows that
Germany is absolutely innocent with regard to
the outbreak of the war. Russia, France and
England wanted war and unleashed it”
• German school textbook 1920’s
But….
• Britain should have helped localise the conflict
(the Balkans) but this would have been
impossible because of Russia’s role
• They admitted errors of judgment on the part of
German leaders ie. The Kaiser believing the
Tsar would not support murderers of a royal
throne or that Britain would not get involved in a
European war
• Germany efficiency in making paperwork
defending themselves provoked other countries
to publish their version of events
War dictated by military planning?
• The Germans had no option but to invade
France – the Schlieffen plan and Plan 14
• How is military different today to 1914
Source
• Historians have both praised and criticised Schlieffen's plan. It has
been called "a conception of Napoleonic boldness", but criticised for
failing to take account of the development of railways.
• Thus, while the German troops would have "to march on their own
feet round the circumference of the circle, the French would be able
to switch troops by rail across the chord of the circle"
• It has been praised from a military and strategic point of view as it
"offered a real prospect of forcing a decision in the west and
avoiding the agonizing trench war deadlock of 1914-18" and
accurately predicted French strategy in 1914.
• However, from a broader perspective it has been condemned for its
"immorality..., the political folly of violating Belgian neutrality, and the
almost reckless indifference to British intervention.
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“The situation in Europe had been dangerously tense for more than
thirty years, Germany, ever stronger and more pugnacious, was
detested by the French... Kaiser William II, the arrogant young
Emperor, [followed] a policy based on strength instead of caution.
Convincing himself that Germany was being denied her rightful
'place in the sun', the Kaiser embarked upon a vast programme of
military and naval armament. For mutual protection, therefore,
France and Russia drew closer together ...The German Emperor,
who had neither brains nor manners, seemed to go out of his way to
give and to take offence. He wrote rudely to his grandmother
[Queen Victoria], openly sided with the Boers, and told Britain to
mind her own business in Egypt instead of complaining about
German plans to build a railway from Berlin to Baghdad. Above all,
he built a powerful battle-fleet which could only be intended to
challenge British sea-power. In this situation Britain could not afford
to remain isolated, and . . . Balfour made an approach to France. .”
• R.J. Unstead, A Century of Change (1963)
Balfour was Prime Minister of Britain 1902-5.
A chapter of accidents?
• In his War Memoirs, the British Prime
Minister seemed to accept the blame:
• “We muddled into war.”
• David Lloyd George (1934)
Past paper
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