German+Aims+in+WWI


 * __German Aims in World War I__**

Germany had many goals at the beginning of World War I. Germany sought to be a larger and more powerful nation, in both size and military might. Germany also wanted to have its own colonies like other European countries. Germany wanted to follow the model of Great Britain, in terms of their military and naval force. "The world had been carved up before Germany had arrived. The world in terms of the colonies, the world in terms of power politics had been finalized, and the Germans came late. Yet, they felt they deserved a position within this world, according to their self-esteem, according to their size, according to their grandiose history leading back into the Middle Ages” ([]). The Germans also suffered from an inferiority complex thinking their country was on the decline. They were motivated by a rising nationalism which they hoped would make their country rise to the top of all of their European powers. Germany's goals played a major role in the causes of the First World War. In general, the reasons for war included: (1) the great European powers being in a whirlpool of colonial, commercial, and military rivalry for the domination of Europe; (2) fearing security, European nations set up networks of alliances; (3) the death of Franz Ferdinand sparked a crisis between Austria and Russia, which soon led to a war that spread through the continent because of the alliance system.


 * __Historical Background__**

For many years before World War I, Germany aimed to strengthen its military power and take its "place in the sun.” In 1871, Germany fought France, winning the Franco-Russian War and, uniting as a German Empire. France was forced to give up Alsace and Lorraine to Germany. France’s anger at losing made Germany aware that France would want to attack in the future to recover her lost territory. Europe’s balance of power was changed, with Germany replacing France in position as the most powerful nation of the Continent of Europe (Ross, 7). Winston Churchill, quoting a common saying of the time, wrote: "Europe has lost a mistress and has gained a master" (Churchill, 5).


 * __Bismarck's Efforts and Wilhelm's Ineffectiveness__**

Otto von Bismarck, the first Chancellor of Germany, had been a cautious leader who chose to form alliances with other countries to keep France isolated. He concentrated his efforts on winning over France’s allies, Russia, Italy, and Austria. He could also see that a strong Germany might cause her neighbors to unite against her. Bismarck was able to get Germany, Russia, and Austria to form “The League of Three Empires” in 1872, and later in 1879, he forged the “Dual Alliance” between Germany and Austria, which lasted until 1914 when the two entered World War I together, when Kaiser Wilhelm supported Austria's retaliation for the assassination of Franz Ferdinand.

But a new generation was coming about, and at its head was young Kaiser Wilhelm II, who wished to form a new Germany modeled after England and its enormous overseas empire. Kaiser Wilhelm would continually voice Germany's dissatisfaction with the status quo in the colonial empires where Germany had no presence. He also provoked numerous confrontations in North Africa with the French and in the Pacific Ocean over spheres of influence that were claimed by others. Wilhelm overturned Bismarck's prior policy that avoided acquiring overseas possessions and, in turn, Wilhelm desired to expand German business interests and desired to gain sources of raw materials and markets for the country's growing industry by acquiring colonies. Wilhelm II took control of the direction of the empire and looked to new conquests and new colonies to spread German products, language, and culture.


 * __Germany's Alliances and Counter Alliances__**

Germany’s plans to expand were threatened by France beginning to form alliances. To protect its own security, France made efforts to ally with the nations that surrounded Germany. In 1894, the “French and Russian Alliance” was signed. France watched Germany's western border and Russia watched the eastern border. France also made efforts to ally with Italy so that Germany's southern side was contained by Italy, but did not succeed (Churchill, 5). Germany, strong industrially, and confident militarily, resented the alliance between her western and eastern neighbors, France and Russia, so she clung to the Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy created in 1882 (Stokesbury, 18). In January 1909, former Chief of German General Staff, Alfred von Schlieffen, published an article referring to the future of these alliances and stated that: "An endeavour is afoot to bring all these powers together for a concentrated attack on the Central Powers. At any given moment, the drawbridges are to be let down, the doors are to be opened and the million-strong armies let loose, ravaging and destroying, across the Vosges, the Meuse, the Niemen, the Bug and even the Isonzo and the Tyrolean Alps. The danger seems gigantic." (Gilbert, 7) This discussion of the inevitability of war began to affect the thinking of all Europeans.

__**Germany Expansion Efforts**__

Germany’s efforts at military expansion and invasion concerned England and France. In 1898, Germany had announced plans to increase the size of its navy. But Great Britain, who believed it had a right to the water ways, was suspicious of Germany's plans. Eventually, 1905, Count Alfred von Schlieffen, Chief of the German General Staff, drew up a plan to combat France and Russia. It was based on the assumption that: (1) Germany would be fighting France and Russia, with Britain as their ally; and (2) the Russians would take weeks to mobilize. Schlieffen planned to keep Russia away with a small military force, while he captured Paris in precisely 42 days and attacked Holland and Belgium. Later, when war broke out, Schlieffen’s successor, General Moltke, weakened the plan by not attacking Holland and putting a small amount of troops in Belgium.

In 1911, Germany formulated plans to establish a port at Agadir on the Atlantic Coast of Morocco (taking it one step further of creating a larger naval force), but when a German gunboat reached the port, Britain made threats which forced the boat to leave. Even with British hostility, the Kaiser was determined to match Britain in naval strength, and so, in 1912, the German Naval Law was created. The law, established by Alfred Von Tirpitz, added 15,000 officers to the naval force. Winston Churchill, Britain's First Lord of the Admiralty at the time, suggested that Britain and Germany pause in the expansion of their navies, but Germany refused. Churchill argued that a powerful naval fleet was essential for Britain's economy and unnecessary for Germany's well-being, but the Germans were offended because they believed that they should be on the same level as Britain in all aspects. Many historians believe Churchill’s view was accurate, given Britain's widespread imperial and trade responsibilities, and Germany's relatively small coastline. Since Germany would not cease its naval development, Britain welcomed Russia's naval expansion. (Stone, 11) On May 12, 1914, the British Cabinet noted that "the large contemplated increase in the Baltic Fleet of Russia must necessarily ease our position vis-a-vis Germany in home waters." Despite Russia’s naval expansion, the Germans succeeded in building their navy. Their ships were marginally better than the British ships, and they were able to build a battle fleet to meet the Royal Navy in the North Sea. Their German ships featured better compartmentalization, and therefore better damage control, than the British ships (Griffiths, 2-5).

Germany's aim of also increasing her army, as well as her navy, was apparent in the spring of 1913 when she increased her army from 544,000 men to 661,000 men (Keegan, 313). When Germany decided to strengthen its naval force, it used one-third of t he defense budget to do so. When that money was diverted from the defense budget, the army was not able to defend the two front war against the Franco-Russian Alliance. The men for this battle could not be properly fed and clothed, and by 1914, when war finally did break out, the German land army was not much bigger than the French army. The French has 40 million men and Germany had 65 million (Straubing, 37). Consequences and Analysis of Goals

Before and during World War I, Germany was an advanced country with a backward governmental structure. Some saw it as a country coming into the modern age, while some of its own leaders believed that its time was running out. Wilhelm’s Second Reich lasted a mere half-century (1871-1918.) Far from achieving "a place in the sun" for his people, the Kaiser managed only a retirement estate for himself. The Germans did not win the war, but they were not so devastated to be stopped from trying to gain dominance in Europe a generation later. Germany remained, although burdened with heavy economic punishments, potentially the strongest power in Europe.

Ultimately, Germany achieved few if any of its goals in pursuing war. Germany was forced, under the Treaty of Versailles, to return Alsace and Lorraine to France. Belgium regained its independence and was given additional German lands. Denmark eventually took northern German lands. Poland seized a large part of West Prussia and other German lands. In total, Germany lost 13 percent of its territory and 10 percent of its people. Under mandates from the League of Nations, Germany's colonies were given to the Allies to govern (England, America, France). As for economic sanctions and war reparations, to show it's good faith, Germany was required to pay 20 million Marks in gold to the victors. Since insufficient gold was available, payment in kind to the Allies was made in the form of 2.2 million tons of merchant shipping, 5,000 locomotives, 136,000 railway cars, 150,000m pieces of agricultural machinery, 135,000 head of cattle, 50,000 horses, 24 million tons of coal, and 15 million tons of industrial machinery (Herwig, 448).

Germany did not expand its military, in fact, its armed forces were decimated. The army was reduced to 100,000 men. Conscription, or the drafting of soldiers, was forbidden. Artillery, aircraft, and tanks were prohibited. The army was required to destroy 59,897 pieces of artillery, 31,470 mortars, 130,558 machine guns, 6 million rifles, 15,714 aircraft, and 27,557 engines. The Navy was permitted to keep only 6 old battleships, and was prohibited from building new ships over 10,000 tons. The Navy was required to turn over to the Allies or to destroy 26 ships and 315 U-boats. Germany was not allowed an air force. A veteran of the "Great War" summarized the thinking of many German soldiers at the end of the war: "Peace, no longer a fatherland, no Kaiser, no comradeship, divisiveness, no love of //Volk,// no pride, reviled, dishonoured, insulted, ...despised" (Herwig, 448). Most humiliating, Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles, required German to accept "sole guilt" for starting the war and Article 232 required that Germany pay all the costs of the war incurred by the victors. The harsh consequences of the war inevitably led to Germany's intense desire to regain its former position in the world and set the stage for the rise of Nazism.

Works Cited Churchill, Winston. //The World Crisis 1911-1918//. Vol. 1. England: Odhams Limited. Print. Gilbert, Martin. //The First World War: A Complete History//. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1994. Print. Griffiths, William R. //The Great War//. Avery Group, 1986. Print. Herwig, Holger H. //The First World War, Germnay and Austria-Hungary, 1914-1918//. New York: St. Martin's, 1997. Print. Keegan, John. //The First World War//. Random House, 1998. Print. Ross, Stewart. //The Causes of World War I//. Austin: Raintree Steck-Vaughn, 2003. Print. "Russia before 1914." History Man. Web. 17 Dec. 2010. Stokesbury, James L. //A Short History of World War I//. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1981. Print. Stone, Norman. //World War One: A Short History//. Basic, 2007. Print. Straubing, Harold Elk. //The Last Magnificent War//. New York: Paragon House, 1989. Print. Winter, Jay. //The Great War and the Twentieth Century//. New Haven: Yale UP, 2000. Print.