Before the question can be answered, it is important to look at the situation in Europe at the time before the First World War started. Europe was divided by two alliances: the Triple Alliance, of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy and the Triple Entente, consisting of Great Britain, France and Russia. The Triple Entente countries had been established for a long time and Britain and France had many overseas colonies and huge empires. They were quite happy with the situation in Europe and would not have much reason to start a war, although France was keen to regain the industrial Alsace-Lorraine area, lost to Germany in a recent war. However, this does not automatically mean that Germany was solely to blame. None of the countries in the Triple Alliance was completely happy with the status quo. Germany and Italy were newly formed and wanted their own empires and Austria-Hungary was divided, with inhabitants of many ethnic groups, and wanted to be more stable. The Alliance

When war did finally break out, Germany was a mere spectator. When the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand visited Sarajevo with his wife Sophie, he was murdered by a Serb nationalist, Gavrilo Princip. Austria-Hungary seized her opportunity and issued an ultimatum to Serbia, which would effectively have made Serbia a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Serbia asked for time to consider and Austria-Hungary declared war immediately. Germany was drawn into the war because of her alliance with Austria-Hungary and, in a matter of days, troops from all over Europe were happily setting off to war.

It could be argued that poor planning by all countries was a major factor in the advent of such a large-scale and long-lasting war. Some of the countries involved in the war relied on plans if a war should ever arise, but these were not always well thought out and up to date. The plan on which Germany relied was devised in 1892 by Field-Marshal von Schlieffen, Chief of the German General Staff from 1892 to 1906, and dead for some time. This was the only plan that Germany had. Germany was worried about encirclement by France and Russia, and the Schlieffen Plan instructed that German troops would attack and defeat France quickly, then turn their attention to Russia, as Russia would be slow to mobilise its vast army. Like all plans made for this war, the German plan relied on attack rather than on defence. Attack was getting more difficult as weapons became more advanced, but the generals from all countries failed to realise this. They believed a war would be quick, lasting for about 90 days. How could a war last for much longer – the cost would be too great? Perhaps they should have paid more attention to past wars, like even the American Civil War fifty years earlier.

In 1905, the Kaiser visited Morocco, a French colony. He was disrespectful of the power of the Allies, and he made a speech to say that he supported the Moroccans in their struggle agai

Some topics in this essay:
Britain France, Britain’s Kaiser, Russia Russia, Russia Austria-Hungary, Alliance System, Empire Serbia, Germany Russia, Russia Serbia, Triple Alliance, Civil War, britain france, triple alliance, austria-hungary declared war, austria-hungary declared, declared war, war britain, chief german, german staff, situation europe, britain germany, countries triple alliance, chief german staff, increased tension,