Musa Awais

Mr. Sheahan

HL History

22 Sept. 2014

History: Origins of the Great War Essay

Of all the European belligerents in 1914, Germany was not most responsible for the onset of the Great War for numerous reasons. They were responsible for it to an extent, however mostly the war was caused due to other countries such as Russia, Great Britain, and Serbia. The main faults of these countries which pushed Germany to act or caused the war was the mobilization of Russia, Sir Edward Grey’s (Great Britain) mistakes, and Serbia’s unjust behaviour.

First of all, Russia was more responsible for the war due to mobilization. According to source D, V.R Berghahn said, “In the afternoon of August 1, 1914…the Kaiser’s signing of the German mobilization order that was to activate the Schlieffen Plan,” in one of his readings.1 However, this is clearly countered by Samuel R. Williamson in his readings, in Source E, where he talked about how Russian Foreign Minister Serge Sazonov declared war unavoidable, upon learning about the ultimatum.

After declaring this, Russian Tsar and leadership council agreed to prepare for partial mobilization, in order to stop Austria-Hungary from attacking the Serbs. All these steps were the beginning of the July crisis. On July 28th 1914, the decision to partially mobilize was changed to a general mobilization because Sazonov and his generals thought that this partial mobilization would complicate a general mobilization and would not stop Austria-Hungary from attacking the Serbs. Tsar approved of this, however, was later uncertain of his approval by the messages of his cousin, Kaiser Wilhelm II. The German Kaiser messaged Tsar telling him to stop the mobilization to avoid war; however, these messages did no good, as on July 30th 1914 Tsar ordered general mobilization.2 According to this, it is clear that Samuel’s argument is the most valid one as Russia’s mobilization took place before Germany’s. It was clear that Germany would respond and attack after the decision of this mobilization, because of the warnings Kaiser sent to Tsar, thus Tsar shouldn’t have acted by ordering general mobilization. Therefore, Russia must also share responsibility for the origination of war.

Secondly, another country responsible for the war was Great Britain due to Britain’s Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey. On 4 August 1914, the Daily Mirror (London) published an article, The Declaration of War, which stated, “So far as Great Britain is concerned, her attitude has always been plain, straightforward and perfectly intelligible; she was prepared to stand aside from the conflict that has now involved practically the whole of Europe,” according to Source B.3 This shows that Britain kept a neutral attitude up until the war, which is where Britain’s fault is. Lawrence Lafore and the German Kaiser prove this in Source G and H; these sources talk about how peace could have been achieved only if Edward notified Germany that Britain would take part in the war. In that case, Germany would have not encouraged the Austrian Ultimatum to Serbia and instead would have tried to avoid the declaration of war. There is sufficient evidence backing this up since some Germans even took the stand to say that the

start of war was primarily caused by Grey and his unclear position; Germans would not have allowed the start of war only if Edward made his position clear.4 Furthermore, prior to the war, Edward could have told Berlin (Germany) that the Austro-Serbian problem was regarded as of both European and British concern. In addition to this, he also could have made it clear that Great Britain would take part in the war, on the allied side, if war did break out. Instead of creating peace at the time, Edward made matters worse, as he could have asked for St. Petersburg (Russia) and Paris (France) to be neutral in the war, and furthermore could have even denied to help the two in the case of war; if Edward had done this, Russia and France would have been quiet.5 Thus, Great Britain must also take responsibility for the start of war, because of Sir Edward Grey’s unclear position on not notifying Germany whether Britain would join the war or not, and also because of his mistake of not choosing the path of peace (neutralizing Russia and France).

Lastly, the most important country involved in the start of war was Serbia because of her unjust behaviour. One of the main causes of the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in the summer of 1914; this was the immediate cause of the war, as it raised tensions between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, which brought in other countries (Germany, Russia, etc.). The fault of Serbia lies in the assassination plot, as Serbia was well aware of the plot even before it was carried out. This is proven in Source F by Sidney B. Fay in one of his readings which states, “After the assassination, Mr. Pashitch (Serbian leader) took no steps to dish cover and bring to justice Serbians in Belgrade who had been implicated in the plot… That Mr. Pashitch was aware of the plot three weeks before it was executed, failed to take effective steps to prevent the assassins from crossing over from Serbia to Bosnia, and then failed to give Austria any warning or information which might have averted the fatal crime, were facts unknown to Austria in July, 1914.”6 Sidney’s viewpoint is clearly valid as it shows how Serbia was responsible; they clearly wanted war with Austria-Hungary as they did not do anything to stop the assassination. Thus, Serbia holds the most responsibility for the start of the war, as she could have prevented the immediate cause of the war (the assassination), however didn’t.

In conclusion, it is quite evident that Germany was not the one who was mostly responsible for the onset of the Great War, as many countries escalated the conflict, such as Russia, Great Britain, and Serbia. All of these countries were involved in the war one way or another, whether it was through mobilization (Russia), mistakes of important people (Great Britain), or unjust behaviour (Serbia).

Notes

1. V. R. Berghahn, Imperial Germany, 1871-1914 (Place of Publication Unknown: Publisher Unknown, 1994), Page Number Unknown.

2. Samuel R. Williamson, The Origins of the War (Place of Publication Unknown: Publisher Unknown, 1998), Page Number Unknown.

3. Author Unknown, “The Declaration of War,” Daily Mirror, August 4, 1914, Edition Unknown, Section Unknown.

4. Lawrence Lafore, The Long Fuse: An Interpretation of the Origins of World War 1 (Place of Publication Unknown: Publisher Unknown, 1965), Page Number Unknown.

5. Kaiser Wilhelm II. “Response to a dispatch from the German ambassador at London” (Speech, London, England, July 29, 1914).

6. Sidney B. Fay, The Origins of the World War (Place of Publication Unknown: Publisher Unknown, 1930), Page Number Unknown.

Bibliography

Author Unknown. “The Declaration of War.” Daily Mirror, August 4, 1914, Edition Unknown, Section Unknown.

Berghahn, V. R. Imperial Germany, 1871-1914. Place of Publication Unknown: Publisher Unknown, 1994.

Bethmann-Hollweg, Theobald. “Early War Speech.” Speech, Berlin, Germany, August 4, 1914.

Fay, Sidney B. The Origins of the World War. Place of Publication Unknown: Publisher Unknown, 1930.

Fischer, Franz. Germany’s War Aims in the First World War. Place of Publication Unknown: Publisher Unknown, 1961.

Lafore, Lawrence. The Long Fuse: An Interpretation of the Origins of World War 1. Place of Publication Unknown: Publisher Unknown, 1965.

Poincaré, Raymond. “War Message.” Speech, Paris, France, August 5, 1914.

Wilhelm II, Kaiser. “Response to a dispatch from the German ambassador at London.” Speech, London, England, July 29, 1914.

Williamson, Samuel R. The Origins of the War. Place of Publication Unknown: Publisher Unknown, 1998.