TR3.5

Start of WWI w.r.t. Germany

Houjun Liu 2021-09-27 Mon 12:00

1 Germany's Provokations in WWI

Germany's quick success is a little scary for folks because they are used to standard European power structures; this is also scary for Bismark (Chancellor of Germany) because he wanted to keep peace.

1.1 Signing of Allegiances

  • Otto von Bismark feared that the new Germany could be broken by war, so tried to keep peace.
    • Bismark signed two sets of treaties. The first forming the Triple Alliance, which lead to the alliance of AustriaHungary, Italy, and Germany.
    • Also signed a second reverse insurance treaty with Russia, an enemy of the first.
    • The reverse insurance alliance with Russia was way to finagly, which lead to it collapsing under Bismark's successors and eventually lead to France signing a treaty with Russia.

1.2 Building of Navies

Reasons? see KBhHIST201WWIBeginning

  1. By 1898-1912, the Germans rapidly grew their naval power — originally an important source of British power. The Brits feel threatened.
  2. The British policy of always having the biggest navy lead them to enter an arms race vs. Germany.
  3. The British government slowly began a series of diplomatic actions that resulted in a readjustment of relationships with the French, a convention with Russia, and eventually leading the three to form an unofficial alliance + "act together". CLAIM: this perhaps is the immediate cause of the war.