Germany Chapter 3

Using the information above and from the chapter, outline a brief essay with support related to the following guiding question: “To what extent was Germany already at war with Europe by 1914?”
I believe that Germany was already at war with Europe due to all of Bismarck’s successors and its unstable government. Germany was not already in an actual war with Europe, but all the competitive acts between the countries seemed to make the war more likely. There were many events that occurred in Germany or had something to do with Germany that led to war with Europe in 1914.
One example is the rapid growth in Germany’s navy that took Britain’s attention, whose navy was supposed to be the strongest of the world. The German navy became stronger during Hohenlohe’s reign. The growth of the navy also brought nationalism in Germany and nationalism is a very important aspect when it comes to war. A sign of nationalism and patriotism was detected when the Navy Office and the War Ministry asked the new Chancellor, Bethmann Hollweg, and the bill was easily passed by the Reichstag. This growth was considered as a threat to Russia.
The Kaiser felt that it was necessary for Germany to have a good relationship with Britain and wanted to improve their relations by publishing a Telegraph, in 1908, that had an interview of the Kaiser saying that he only wanted peace. This shows that the German government already feared that a powerful country like Britain could turn against Germany and easily cause war.
A bigger step toward war occurred when Caprivi did not renew the Reinsurance Treaty between Russia and Germany, since he thought that an alliance with Russia was unacceptable. The fall of treaty not the only thing that angered Russia, but when the Triple Alliance (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy) was renewed Russia felt isolated. Because of her isolation, Russia allied with France. This was Bismarck’s nightmare.
Germany believed that Britain would not get involves with all the alliances and so she did little to win Britain over and have her as an alliance. However, Germany’s actions only caused Britain to turn against her. In 1907 the Triple Entente was formed which included Russia, France and Britain and this formation concluded Europe’s division.
Tensions Occurred after that. A crisis in the Balkans occurred between Russia and Austria and when Germany supported Austria, Russia was forced to step down causing her determination to get revenge. Tensions occurred between Germany and Britain when Britain realized how strong the German navy had become. It was only a matter of time for the war to begin.
The assassination of the new Austrian king, in 1914, was the last step towards war. A Serb extremist had murdered him and therefore if Austria declared war on Serbia, Russia would have to get involved, along with all the allies. Austria declared war on Serbia and thus, the First World War had begun.
All these events show that the countries of Europe knew that war was likely to happen and therefore all they did was provoke it and speed the war. All these alliances and tensions point out that war already occurred in the people’s minds.