Germany, and the Origins of WW1
Germany and the Origins of the First World War1 Between 1866 and 1871, thanks to the skilful diplomacy of Prussia's great minister, Prince Otto von Bismarck and to the unexcelled military genius of his generals, Albrecht von Roon and Helmuth von Moltke; the situation in what had been the German confederation was completely altered. During the first half of its existence, the confederation had been dominated by the Austrian Hapsburgs. As a result of Prussia's decisive victory in the Austro- Prussian war of 1866, the Austrian Empire was expelled from the confederation and a new North German Confederation was created under a greatly enlarged Prussia.1 By taking advantage of a wave of chauvinism in France, Otto von Bismarck contrived to bring about the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871, in which the German states south of the Main fought as allies against France and at the close of which they joined, in January 1871, with the states of the North German Confederation to establish the German Empire. The Second Teutonic Reich was forged out of 'blood and iron'; a prophetic slogan for such a young nation state whose foreign policy would always be oriente
The Prussian philosopher Carl von Clausewitz in 1832, described war as being ". Where did Germany stand in the summer of 1914? She had increased the strength of the army in the two Army Bills of 1912 and 1913 and had carried out many army reforms. This common thread between Russia and Britain, predicated upon a fear of German expansion, was on of the precursors of the 1907 Anglo-Russian Alliance. 11 In fact, not one European power, not even her Teutonic ally Austria, supported German actions in Morocco; for the former was in the process of securing a rather large loan from the French government. This in turn brought her into ideological conflict with Britain. However in the 1900's, France found spheres of influence as a result of the Entente Cordial of 1904 and the Franco Russian Alliance of 1894. The necessity of fresh and unrestricted markets was vital to German trade and therefore to the whole political and military system. 8 German actions in Morocco were an extension of this policy to increase German hegemony over world affairs vis-a-vis economic control. In 1893, the Anatolian Railway Company had obtained further concessions to construct a branch line to Konia and Baghdad. Germany was consistently being seen by the European community as having a great propensity for aggression and in the words of British statesman Sir Edward Grey, "between Germany and Great Britain there is an antagonism that can be gotten over only be means of an armed conflict". 7 W the geopolitical boundaries of Europe's 4 great powers decided, territorial acquisitions would have to be made in Africa or Asia. Whatever German interests were affected in Morocco in 1905 and 1911, that would warrant action such as the intervention of the gunboat Panther and the violence and Tangier and Agadir were in themselves very odious. The crux of the argument lay in Germany's desire for an open-door economic policy in Morocco. Price Bismarck is noted for saying that in the game of European politics "it is to be in a majority of three great powers.
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