Controversy: How responsible was Germany for WW1

Who was responsible for WW1

Interpretations of History

• After WW1 Germany had faced the blame for war with the Article 231 (War Guilt Clause) placing the blame for WW1 in German Hands
• Lloyd George in the 1930s suggested that war had began because the powers had 'slipped into the cauldron' of war
• This was affirmed in the 50s with a French/German commission agreeing with the slipped into war theory

Fischer

Germany was solely to blame for the war, it wanted:

• European domination as a result of war
• The 'Blank Cheque' given to Austria in the July Crisis was in hope that it would begin a war
• Domestic tensions in Ger,amny were pushed outwards with an aggressive foreign policy to keep the elite's status quo

Fischer used the evidence of Bethmann-Hollwegg's secretary's diaries written in Sept. 1914:

• They outline large German annexations following a swift victory in war, with a…