Essay plan/draft: Causes of WWI

In 1914 the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian Hungarian Empire, was murdered in Sarajevo by Serbian terrorists. This triggered the system of alliances by which the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente got into a war that would last for 4 years. The Triple Alliance lost the war and, in the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was forced to accept the blame for having started the war, as well as to pay reparations and surrender a lot of her territory. The aim of this essay is to discuss the extent to which Germany actually caused the war. In order to do so, I will first explain why some historians believe Germany was rightly blamed for starting the war. Then, I will explain why others point out that all the major powers helped start the war.

There are several reasons why Germany can be blamed for having started the war. To begin with, Germany can be said to have started a naval competition against Britain, which allowed the two countries to be ready for an eventual war. Kaiser William II had announced his intention to build a powerful German navy and Britain felt very threatened by this. Britain had built 29 dreadnoughts while Germany had only built 17. Even though Germany had fewer boats, it was easier to the Germans to attack since Britain's boats were spread all over the world protecting their overseas empire. Secondly, Germany also caused the war to start with their aggressive military strategy, in which they had already planned their defense in case of war. The Schlieffen plan consisted of surrounding Paris, and then taking their troops to fight Russia. In this plan, they had to pass through Belgium. But Belgium had signed a treaty with Britain by which they promised neutrality, in this case Britain would defend them. So, by 1914, when Germany stepped on Belgian soil, war broke out. For all these reasons, many historians claim that Germany is to be blamed for having started the first world war.

On the other hand, it can be said that the first world war started, not only because of Germany, but because of the imperialistic, militaristic and nationalistic tendencies of all the major powers in Europe as well as because of the system of alliances. To begin with, imperialism --> all the countries had colonies --> competed to get more and were ready to fight over them. Militarism --> all the countries improved their armies (give some example of new weapons). Nationalism -->Russia wanted to help their Slavs get their independence. The Germans were very patriotic and willing to die for their country. System of alliances --> a chain of friendship à if one country goes to war, all of them go to war. Examples of why the other countries were to blame.

All in all + summary of what you have said. + something for the reader to think of (for example: the winners always write history so it is understandable that many people consider Germany was to blame. After all, they lost the war, and they had to accept the terms of the treaty just as France had been forced to accept the terms of the Franco-Prussian war)