Historian's Views of WWI Flashcards
(11 cards)
Treaty of Versailles, Article 231; the ‘war guilt’ clause said:
“… as a consequence of a war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies.”
Fritz Fischer
“A planned and executed war of aggression”
Very controversial view that outbreak of war was Germany’s fault as a result of its aggressive foreign policy (Weltpolitik). He believed that Germany went to war to achieve European and worldwide domination. His evidence was rooted in the 9 September Programme which he believed was a pre-meditated set of war aims drawn up before July 1914.
A.P. Mayer
Believed war was the fault of all the great powers who wanted to use the war to distract from their own internal problems such as Britain with the Northern Ireland conflict and the Suffragette movement.
Pogge von Strandmann
Germany took a ‘calculated risk’
Believed Germany’s leadership too a ‘calculated risk’ to strengthen their diplomatic and domestic position. Although the war was not planned, Germany saw war as a viable option in July 1914 as they believed they could win it.
Believes that Germany deserve most blame for all that followed the July crisis as it failed to take the only two necessary to prevent war: to tell the Austrians to pull back. Rather they mobilised against Russia.
Sir Max Hastings - “the Germans refused the one step that could have prevented a general European catastrophe: telling the Austrians o pull back. Instead, they themselves prepared to mobilise against Russia.”
Believed that domestic pressures such as the Zabern affair, the rise of the Social Democrats and the budget deficit led to an internal crisis. This crisis led to Prusso-German elites to pursue war in order to deflect political opposition and preserve their own threatened positions.
Berghahn - ‘Escape forwards’
Believed that Germany’s geographic position constrained their political and military planning (geostrategic) an this led to their expansionist foreign policy.
Sturmer - ‘An offensively conducted defensive war’
Believed that Germany were to blame, suggesting their foreign policy was in fact an aspiration to world power. Also suggested there was a ‘great consensus over these aims’ such as from civilian ministers, civil servants, liberal intellectuals, etc.
David Blakbourn - “German war aims not only exceeded those of any other combatant; they were aspiration to world power.”
They believed that Germany only acted defensively as a result of a feeling of encirclement, particularly after the failure of the 1st Moroccan Crisis.
Hildebrand and Hillgruber
Marxist, structuralist view - believed that the disruption of industrialisation caused tensions in Germany’s social and economic structure. These tensions were thus diverted into foreign and diplomatic policy to maintain status quo.
Wehler
Believes that no one nation was to blame. The major powers were all guilty of ‘sleepwalking’ into war, however he does put extra emphasis on the situation in the Balkans.
Christopher Clark
