The Wilhelmine Period that helped force Germany and Europe down the Path to war in 1914 The Wilhelmine period (1890-1918) which will be discussed in this paper was led by German Kaiser, Fredrich Wilhelm II. During this period of time there is a multitude of situations that forced Germany and Europe down the path toward World War I (WW I) in 1914. There is not one defining situation and events that made WW I happen. It was a buildup of events over the past 50 years that resulted in one event that sent everything to dismantle and war to break out on the scale that it did.
The one event that sent it all over the edge was the assassination of Austrian Archduke, Franz Ferdinand and his wife. The buildup of conflicts, and near brink of war situations, before WW I, is the most controversial time period in Germanys history. During this time, Germany had expansion in all areas of a nation, from military to industrial which brought expansions in the area of economic development, political power and nationalism. These factors of a growing modernizing Germany, forced Germany and Europe into war in 1914. 1. Domestic and Foreign affairs The tension in the domestic affairs during this time was high.
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) was on the up rise and was going against common things such as education and art. The SPD wanted a democratic election that they thought would solve the violent class struggle without leading to a revolution. Of course, the people in power did not want anything to do with this because they would lose their power if the people got to vote. The German monarchy and industrialist didn’t like the threat that was becoming from the SPD so they cracked down on the party’s supporting and made it illegal for third parties to meet.
Some in the monarchy said for them to stay in power that they had to distract the people and bring trust back into the government and to do this they would have to have a small quick war. This thought combined with the foreign affairs of gaining new land and expanding Germanys territory coincide one another. Germany was mainly focused on expanding their territory Africa . Even though most European countries were claiming land in Africa; Britain had a problem with the land Germany claimed because they wanted to own a rail system that ran the length of Africa.
France also had a problem with this because they were establishing Morocco as their land. This then led to two significant incidents that happened in Morocco between France and Germany. The first incident was when German Kaiser, Wilhelm II traveled to Morocco and conveyed the idea of Moroccan independence to the people. This caused the French government to send out a series of diplomatic responses and criticizing Germany for provoking another nation. The second incident in Morocco was in 1911 when the French were attempting to handle a rebellion of its citizens.
The Germans landed a gunship called the Panther at the Moroccan port of Agadir. This caused the French and Germans to the brink of war. But the Germans agreed to leave Morocco, terms set out by the French. The Germans felt humiliated by this and the people of Germany felt that their government was weak and backed down. The Germans were not trying to take Morocco as its own territory but trying to split the alliance of the French and British. In doing this the complete opposite happened, Germany drove the alliance to become tighter and both Britain and France to intensify criticism of Germany.
This was another situation where Germany upset France. In the past, France had to give land to Germany known as Lorraine – Alsace, because they lost a war; which did not settle well with the French so this was another situation that Germany would provoke permanent enmity Another outcome to all of the countries trying to acquire new land is the realization that they have to beef up their military, mainly their navy, to be able to protect their new acquired land.
The expansion of other countries military did not settle well with countries that were not allies. 2. Expansion of Military Germany expanding their military, doubling in size from 1870 to 1914, because of expansion of their territory and how they felt to become a world power they had to have a military that could protect all of their land including the land in Africa. The land acquired in Africa was a catalyst for the expansion of the Germany navy, along with the Kaiser wanting to boost domestic attitude towards nationalism and show how strong Germany is.
This caused a naval arms race between Great Britain and German because Britain at the time was known to have the strongest navy in the world; Germany mass producing naval ships made Britain threatened because they were worried about their ability to protect their land. This arms race led to the alliance between France and Britain to become even stronger than it was before because of Britain’s strong Navy and Frances strong army; they decided if Germany would attack either it would be an advantage for the both of them.
The naval race between Britain and Germany heated up even more when Britain launched the HMS Dreadnought in 1906, which was the fastest and most advance battleship of its time. Leading to higher tensions between Germany and Britain, because of how fast each country was putting boats out. This time period all countries military grew significantly because of the industrialism that was happening; especially in Germany, how they were becoming the most modern country of the time in terms of manufacturing and with this the economy was doing very well. 3. Industrial Expansion
With the boom in population during this time it was easy for the industrial expansion to explode at the same time. Germany became the second largest producer of steel and other metals behind America. Germany’s capabilities of producing materials at such a rate made it easy for them to expand their military and exports of all kinds of items, resulting in the enrichment of their economy. The exportation of so many items from Germany such as coal, made tensions even higher between countries such as France because they have already lost two providences to Germany that had a significant amount of rich materials.
Allies The alliances between countries were so webbed together, that once one country went to war with anyone else there would be a domino effect and multiple countries would have to enter. Germany had an alliance with Austria-Hungry and it was called the Blank Cheque. This came about when Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdianed and his wife were assassinated by Bosnian nationalists. The Blank Cheque was set in terms that whatever the Austria people decide, Germany will back them. Great Britain and France had a very dep alliance and France also had an alliance with Russia.
This was the trio-alliance, which ended up winning WW I. Russia also had an alliance with Serbia which is where the assassin came from. 5. Conclusion and Opinion Germany had an important role in starting WW I, from their alliances, need for world power recognition, to their people in power needing a war to stay in power. There is a multitude of facts to what led to the war, but the slightest tremor caused all of it collapse. The Start of the war was the assassination; but, it was not the underlying cause of the war.
I believe that Germany was a contributing factor to the cause of the war, but, I do not believe that they are the only ones to blame for the war. This is not a situation where one country caused everything to happen. It was a multitude of countries that could not communicate and negotiate the way they should have done. All of the countries are to blame because they were all power hungry and wanted to prove that they were a world power by acquiring more land that which caused problems and then led to arms races. These arms races and alliances that were made ensured countries would back one another, causing a very large war to start.
