Remak Flashcards
To which historian was Joachim Remak reacting?
Fritz Fischer.
What is the initial complaint Joachim Remak appears to be making regarding Fritz Fischer?
It appears to overly focused on Germany. It “makes an interesting discussion guide, but not a complete one.”
What is the big question Joachim Remak appears to be asking?
“the responsiblliity if each of the belligerents.”
What does focusing on the direct, national causes exclude?
Supranational ones, such as the alliance system, imperialism, economic rivalries,
What is a problem with focusing on supranational causes? They tend to cancel each other out. Consider the alliance system?
Yes, there were alliances, but how binding were they? The Italians did not think so. Also, shouldn’t the alliance system also serve a a deterrent? If the Austrians were certain that Russia would declare war, maybe that would be a deterrent.
What is a problem with focusing on supranational causes? They tend to cancel each other out. Consider imperialism?
Yes, they caused tensions, but some of the fiercest imperialistic rivalries ended up allied (especially Britain and France, but also Britain, France, and Russia).
What is a problem with focusing on supranational causes? They tend to cancel each other out. Consider economic rivalries?
While there were certainly economic rivalries, the “businessmen on all sides were among the strongest advocates of peace.”
Which nation is least responsible for the outbreak of war? Why?
France. They “did not go to war for Alsace”; they “entered the war because they had no alternative. The Germans had attacked them. History can be very simple at times.”
What were France’s main motivations?
Undoing the Treaty of Frankfort and achieving the return of Alsace and Lorraine.
How did France contribute to the July 1914 Crisis
They did not restrain Russia. Everybody knows about Germany’s blank check to Austria, but fewer people know that “the Russians held a similar piece of paper from France.”
How did Britain contribute to the July 1914 Crisis?
(1) They could have made more clear their commitment to Belgium, though “any responsible German statesman must have known that it was a matter of vital interest to Great Britain whether France survived as a power, and who would control the channel ports of Belgium and France.” (2) Also, like the French, they did little to constrain the Russian response.
What were Britain’s main motivations? How was the British perspective unique?
They viewed their global dominance as natural, and any rising power with alarm. Not in the text, but one way to maintain that dominance is to ensure the land powers of Europe were in a balance of power, so Britain could always swing the balance.
How did Russia contribute to the July 1914 Crisis?
(1) They mobilized not only against Austria to protect Serbia, but they also mobilized against Germany. So they bear some responsibility for being the first great power to fully mobilize “at a time when mobilization was understood to equal war.” However, every nation other Germany had “peaceful alternatives … even after the men had been called to arms.” Germany was unique as “each minute counted lest the Schlieffen Plan was to fail.” (2) They “gave Serbia as much reason to rely on Russian support as Berlin was giving Austria to rely on that of Germany”
What were Russia’s main motivations?
More so than the Austrians, the Russians were the main “expansionist power in southeastern Europe”, usually at the expense of the declining Ottoman Empire. They encouraged pan-Slavic feelings in themselves and other Slavs.
How did Germany contribute to the July 1914 Crisis?
(1) The blank check to Austria. (2) Once it became clear that the Austro-Serbian war was likely to engulf Europe, they failed to make any effort at a serous compromise. (3) The triumph of military rationales over political rationale in the invasion of Belgium and France. (See Mombauer, “military concerns and reasoning had become common currency, accepted without question by civilians and determining their decision-making”) necessitating the implementation of the Schlieffen Plan. (4) The incredibly risky diplomatic approach that soon passed fate from the diplomats to the generals.
