7:The German Question and the Great War

Question 1

the 3 foundations of German Power

Answer 1

demographic
industrial
military

Question 2

how was the German demographic a foundation of its power?

Answer 2

-German population rose from 49.2m in 1890 to 67m in 1914
-French went from 38.3m to 40m in the same period

Question 3

how was Germany industry a foundation of its power?

Answer 3

-Germany’s share of world manufacturing output rose from 8.5% in 1880 to 14.8% in 1913

Question 4

how was Germany’s military a foundation of its power?

Answer 4

-The German army was 2’398’000 strong by 1914 and its general staff the model for other nations

Question 5

what was the explanation behind Weltpolitik?

Answer 5

-colonies were regarded as a badge of prestige, Britain and France has huge empires
-Germany felt it had a right for “place in the sun” as well as the economic benefit

Question 6

what was the benefit of weltpolitik domestically?

Answer 6

• radical nationalist societies: Pan-German League and Navy League
  -nationalism and imperialism were used by elites to distract germans from domestic issues and class division

Question 7

what did Weltpolitik mean for international affairs?

Answer 7

-a destabilising factor
-concerns other European nations
-what it achieves is limited

Question 8

Weltpolitik in 1898

Answer 8

-Germany seized Kiaochow, sparking the scramble for china
-Kaiser visited the Middle East, British sceptical when he visited Jerusalem

Question 9

Weltpolitik in 1905:

Answer 9

Morocco crisis worsened German relations with France and Britain

Question 10

Weltpolitik in 1911

Answer 10

second Morocco (Agar) crisis further intensified Anglo-French suspicions about German ambitions

Question 11

German actions that exacerbated the Anglo-German Antagonism

Answer 11

-German support for anti-British forces in South Africa
-German ambitions in the Middle East: Berlin-Baghdad railway
-1898:Germany began a major naval expansion programme
-1908: anti-British interview by Wilhelm II

Question 12

Anglo-german Naval rivalry

Answer 12

1898:Germany began a major programme of naval expansion
Britain see Germany as a potential strategic threat
Arms race based on the construction of ‘Dreadnought’ battleships

Question 13

Germany’s alliances

Answer 13

1882: Germany,A-H,Italy formed the Triple Alliance
1890: after Bismarck was ousted, Germany ended its treaty with Russia

Question 14

other alliances in Europe

Answer 14

1894: Franco-Russian alliance
1904: Anglo-French Entente
1907:Anglo-Russian Entente

Question 15

Diplomatic mission in Jan 1912

Answer 15

-a mission to Germany by Lord Haldane (British Minister of War) failed

Question 16

what did the European alliances mean for the concert system?

Answer 16

-the concert system was replaced by a destabilising system of competing alliance blocs

Question 17

what was the July crisis?

Answer 17

-rapid change from peace to war
28th June 1914: assassination of Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo
28th July:Austria declare war on Serbia
29th July:Russia mobilised against Austria

Question 18

events of the July crisis in August

Answer 18

1st: Germany declared war on Russia, France mobilised
3rd: Germany declared war on france
4th: Britain declared war on Germany

Question 19

World War 1 began as a war of 2 wars, they were linked but distinct. what were they?

Answer 19

1.Austria fought Russia to determine who was to be master in the Balkans
2.war fought to expand the power of recently united Germany

Question 20

what did the British decision to go to war in 1914 mean for the war?

Answer 20

-it ensured the European war would be transformed into a global conflict, it was an imperial power around the world

Question 21

why did Britain go to war?

Answer 21

-support Belgium
-triple entente obligation
-controlling channel ports, a hostile Germany doing so would be a threat
-balance of power considerations

Question 22

Events of the Great War in 1914

Answer 22

-Russian advance in the east halted at Tannenberg
-German advance on Paris halted at the Marne
-onset of stalemate on the western front
-race to the sea

Question 23

Gallipoli Campaign

Answer 23

-Feb 1915-Jan 1916
-an anglo-french operation against the Ottoman empire

Question 24

Events of the Great War in 1916-1917

Answer 24

-Battle of the Somme,Verdun, Passchendaele
-USA enters the war on 6th April
Russian Revolution nov 1917

Question 25

British Victories outside of Western Europe in 1917-1918

Answer 25

victory over the Ottoman Turks in the Middle East (modern day Iraq,Palestine and Syria)

Question 26

the Great War: March 1918

Answer 26

Russian defeat, Germany imposed the punitive treaty of Brest Litovsk

Question 27

The Great War: April-November 1918

Answer 27

final German offensive and the eventual collapse of the western front

Question 28

What did the Treaty of Versailles mean for German power?

Answer 28

-a punitive settlement that left the foundations of German power intact -it was diplomatic, but it was heavily criticised and harsh

Question 29

Where did Germany stand after the war?

Answer 29

its position, geopolitically, was arguably stronger in 1919 than 1914 unlike France which was severely weakened

Question 30

Germany's territorial losses as a result of the Treaty of Versailles

Answer 30

-loss of all German colonies -Alsace-Lorraine to France -Eupen& Malmedy to Belgium -Memel to Lithuania -Danzig a free city under LON

Question 31

How was German power restricted in terms of Land?

Answer 31

-Rhineland occupied for 15 years by the French and Germany were forbidden to station military forces there -France given ownership of coal mines in Saar region

Question 32

How was German power restricted militarily?

Answer 32

-Army limited to 100'000 men -no tanks, heavy artillery,aircraft,general staff -Navy limited to 6 battleships, 6 light cruisers, 12 destroyers and 12 torpedo boats, no submarines or naval aircraft

Question 33

How was German power restricted economically?

Answer 33

they had to pay huge sums in reparations

Question 34

Debates about German war guilt

Answer 34

-The Treaty’s “war guilt clause” held Germany legally responsible for the war -Revisionist historians focused on structural explanations rather than german guilt -By 1945, a new consensus argued that the great powers had stumbled inadvertently into war

Question 35

criticisms of the Treaty of Versailles

Answer 35

-key problem was more the failure to enforce, than the treaty terms themselves -Germany left resentful and embittered -Versailles was an outdated European settlement in a globalising world-artificial eurocentricity

Question 36

consequences of the Treaty of Versailles

Answer 36

-Bolshevik Russia was isolated and marginalised -The US senate rejected the Treaty- an American retreat into “isolationism”? -Britain and France proved to be unable or unwilling to enforce the Versailles system in the face of increasing costs and challenges

Question 37

the Great War and popular memory

Answer 37

-The pity of war and the myth of “futility” -“rediscovery” of the poetry of Wilfred Owen in the 1960s -The influence of TV comedies like “Blackadder goes forth” -Niall Ferguson has criticised Britain’s decision to join the war as “the biggest error in modern history”