Historiography
Immediately after World War I, the blame for the
war was placed on Germany. The Allied historians said that Germany
was entirely responsible and were the sole cause of the war. It was
said that Germany had planned the entire affair. In Article 231 of
Treaty of Versailles, also known as the "War Guilt Clause", stated
that Germany accepted all responsibility for the war and will pay
reparations as a consequence.
However, during the 1920s and 1930s, historians noted that
the countries that participated in the war were equally at fault for
the start of World War I. Some historians favor explanations such as
nationalism, imperialism, militarism, and structure of alliances. A
struggle for nationalism would be the Bosnian Crisis, which
threatened the security and balance of all powers. Each country
tried to prove their power and authority, therefore resulting in a
great amount of tension between the countries, or World War I.
From another point of view, World War I began when Britain
entered the war. It made all of the other countries to join and take
part in the war. The two opposing sides were the Allies (Britain,
France, and Russia) and the Central Powers (Germany,
Austria-Hungary, and Italy). When Britain declared war on Germany
due to their invasion of Belgium, it lit the flame of total war.
Bounded by alliances, the main powers were pulled in and forced to
fight an unwanted war.
Even before the war, Britain and Germany were already rivals.
Germany's industrial and economic power was growing vastly, but
Britain still had an advantage over the Germans. Britain had naval
supremacy due to the Royal Naval and dreadnoughts. It could be
argued that British's foreign policy was also anti-German and
anti-Austrian.
After World War II though, the responsibility and blame
returned to the Germans due to Adolf Hitler. Both wars started due
to Germany's invasions of other countries. The first war was a
result of the invasion of Belgium and then invasion of Poland for
the second.