War Guilt and the Treaty of Versailles

The arguments for German war guilt

• The Kaiser’s policy of Weltpolitik had raised tensions in Europe

• The so-called War Council held at the end of 1912

• The blank cheque given to Austria-Hungary at the beginning of the July crisis

• Germany falsely accused France of invading German territory

• Germany invaded neutral Belgium

• German soldiers committed atrocities

• German submarines sunk unarmed and neutral shipping

• Germany dropped bombs on civilian targets

• Germany operated a scorched earth policy when it retreated and destroyed French coal mines

The arguments that suggest Germany wasn’t alone to blame

• Germany had a right to its ‘place in the sun’

• The War Council was sensible preparations for a possible war, not a call for war (though this was raised)

• Germany was not the cause of tensions in the Balkans

• Germany was obliged to support Austria-Hungary, its only reliable ally

• Russia was the first power outside of the immediate crisis to mobilise

• The French were the first to use gas (tear gas) and France and Britain used other gases as well as the Germans