To what extent was Germany responsible for the outbreak of WWI?

Did Germany fight a war of aggression and conquest?

• Germany wanted to achieve worldwide and European domination
• Kaiser Wilhelm II believed that Germany should have her "place in the sun"
• Historian Fritz Fisher agrees with this view. He believes that German leadership from 1911 consistently pursued a policy aimed at fighting a European war as a means of achieveing world-power status for Germany.

Did they go to war to stabilise an unstable Reich?

• The roots of German expansionism were found in the social, political and economic tensions from before 1914
• Diplomacy before the war was bankrupt of ideas and men of ability
• A few dozen incapable leaders led to a war that was in no way inevitable of destined
• War offered an attractive way…