Germany and the First World War
What are the major debates among historians concerning the interpretation of the events/phenomena in question? Do you find one interpretation particularly persuasive?
Several debates have been aroused by various historians and scholars concerning the interpretation of the events that took place during the First World War. The fist world war began because of several factors. Some of the major causes of the First World War were because of the misunderstanding between the nations that were involved in the war such as German, France and Britain. However, most historians are not sure which country exactly started or caused the First World War. Since several nations participated in the fighting of the First World War, the historians were not sure whether it was France, Germany, Belgium, or the United States that started the war. The war started abruptly in nearly all the directions and the nations that participated lacked the specific time to start the fight. The soldiers of each nation had to fight to protect the citizens from harm and defeat from the other nations.
According to Chickering, another debate among historians concerning the interpretation of the historians events is that most of the scholars and the historians were not sure whether Germany was the key cause of the First World War or not. Most of them misunderstand that Germany was the main caused the First World War since it crossed through Belgium to attack France. The historians suggest that the Germans could have attacked the French through the forest without having to pass through Belgium. Because of this, the French thought that Belgium had combined forces with Germany to attack and defeat them easily (Chickering, 2004 pg 143). This to most historians and philosophers was the key cause of the First World War which led to the loss of several lives. Other historians suggest that Germany was the main cause of the war since it gave Austria a blank cheque. This to Austria was a sign that Germany had agreed to fight and was ready to face the other nations that were to participate in the war. This gave Austria- Hungary the go ahead to fight the Serbia since it knew that Germany was going to attack the countries were remaining. However, Germany took advantage of the situation and delayed the attack so that when the Austria-Hungary start the fight, the blame will not be on Germany but will on the Austria. Some philosopher and historians also suggest that Germany is the key cause of the First World War since it forced its neighboring counties to join into fighting.
According to Kitchen, Germany was not the sole reason unto why the First World War began. He suggests that the Germany had its on intentions of fighting with France over the acquiring of more territory and land. There was a pull and push between the two major countries about which country will own a large territory. This made German to fight France with the main intention of gaining more territories and being powerful (Kitchen, 1976 pg 167). However, Germany had sent several reports to different nations that were neighboring warning them not to assist Austria-Hungary or Serbia in the war they had decided to fight. This was to prevent the war from spreading and including more of other nations from participating in the war. Conversely, the other nations which had agreed to assist the two countries, Serbia and Austria-Hungary in fighting so that they can win the fight ignored the warning and went ahead and supported the nation they preferred. This made Germany to take the advantage of the war and attack France with the intention of gaining more territory. When the countries accepted to help the two countries in the fighting, a collusion of the nations took place and lots people where killed. This according to another group of historians is the major cause of the fighting and killings which were involved in the First World War.
An extra debate among historians concerning the interpretation of the phenomena that took place during the First World War, is that the war would have stopped some months before if some of the nations such as Germany that were participating would have surrendered defeat earlier. A number of the Historian argues that some countries continued to persist in the fighting because of various other issues apart from the main factor that had led the nations into war. For instance, France and Germany continued to fight even after that intensity of the war had reduced. This is because of the territory issue that was being struggled in between the two countries and not the idea of assisting of the two nations, Serbia and the Austria-Hungary. The other countries when saw that Germany and France were still fighting, carried on with the attacks not understanding that Germany and France had their own other reason of fighting. This made the First World War to continue for a very long. However some few historians are against this notion and insist that the war took a very long time to end since the countries still wanted to indulge in the fighting and that not the fighting between the difference between Germany and France that influenced the various factors.
An additional debate among historians concerning the interpretation of the phenomena that took place during the First World War is the fact that it was not sure whether the Germans were defeated by the French and the British. Several historians argue out that the Germans were defeated by the British and the French because they were superior. They also claim that France and Britain had well trained and modernized weapons than the Germans; this according to them was the main reason that led to the defeat of the Germans. This is contrary to some other historians who also argue out that the Germans were not defeated by the French and the Britain because of the better fighting skills but because of the exhaustion of the Germans.
Do you believe that putting the German case in comparison with similar developments in other countries might prove useful in explaining their significance?
Putting Germany’s case during the First World War in comparison with other countries that have similar development might be useful in the explaining the significance of having such development especially during the war. This is true since any other country that has the same development as that of Germany can be used to be compared to each other since the same tactful skills and devices will be used in the attacking of the enemies. For example, because of the development of Germany, the country had modern fighting weapons like the gun. This means that any other country that has the same developments such as those of Germany will use the guns in the fighting just like the Germans did use the weapons. The end results of that specific country can be similar to that of the Germany during the First World War because same weapons would have been used.
According to the illustration offered by Herwig, the country that is put into consideration with Germany and has the same development factors just like that of Germany will provide the same result in the war. This is because just like the Germans soldier were well trained is the same way that the soldiers of the aspired country will. This is because the country will have equal measurements in the training just like the ones German has. It will use the same means that Germany used to train its soldiers before they could be ready to fight. Although the physical factors of the two countries such as dry deserts, muddy conditions, snow, rainforests and mountains might differ, the soldiers will have the same advantages and devices that they will use during the fighting. Therefore, this illustrates that any country that has the same developments that are similar to that of Germany can be used in the explaining of the significance of Germany in the First World War.
How might developments have followed a different path? How much are the events or phenomena the result of deeper, structural forces, and how much result of conscious decision making?
The First World War had several impacts on the life of the Germans. The war affected both the citizens and the economy of the nation either directly or indirectly. The impact of the end result was severe to the entire community of the Germans since it affected the men who are majorly the main source of workforce in the society. Most of the soldier who participated in the First World War had to leave their employment to go ahead and fight for their country. This made the country to stop the activity that used to generate money which was used in the running of the country. The government also had to stop its major actions such as the collection of tax that generate income which is basically used in the smooth running of the nation. Other major activities that augmented the economical state of the country such as importing and exporting of the commodities to earn foreign exchange which is essential for the development of resources and infrastructures were stopped. These factors made Germans economy to be affected thus stopping some development activities.
The development of Germany just like any other country that would be in the same situation changed its development in a in a different path. This was because the country had involved all the resources, available man-power, skills and technological devices in the fighting. Germany also used most of its capital in the purchasing of guns, bullets, training of the soldiers and the buying of the jets to make their fighting more prosperous (Herwig, 1997 pg 153). The government of Germany used a lot of capital in the investing of the country in the war forgetting that it had no other source of capital.
The developments of Germany industry was also affected since it lacked man-power. The people who had participated mostly in the fight of the First World War were men. Basing on the fact that Germany was defeated in the war, it means that most of its soldiers were killed. Men are generally the source of man-power and labor in any given industry; this made Germans industrial to drop in the performance since very less labor was available (Chickering, 2004 pg 161). The men who were alive had no more energy left in them. They were tired and had lost most of the strength in the participation of the First World War. The machinery had no skilled manpower and techniques to use and run them with the required expertise. The men who were still alive after the First World War had no strength left and had to endure the severe injuries that they had received from the fight.
The development of German was also negatively affected because of the fact that there was shortage of food. The food producing industries lack the appropriate work force since the worker who had been working in the firms were men. The men were the most injured and killed in the First World War because of the poor management and preparation before the war. Those who survived the war and came back home could not work adequately, they had to be treated from the injuries and ailment. For this reason, the food factory and agricultural farms lacked the required energy to cultivate and process the food that was necessary for the human conception. Another factor that hints the economy of the Germans was the lack of raw materials fro the firms. Industries also suffered from the lack of the available resources and raw materials. Germans citizen could not work adequately after the war thus the factories also lack the raw materials since they could neither import or export products. The Germany citizens were also denied the right of driving the cars since it had no enough funds to export the fuel necessary for the running of the cars.
According to Herwig, there are many diverse factors that made the development of Germany to change either negatively or positively. One of the main factors of the First World War that made the development of German to follow a different path was lack of the security in the entire nation of the German country. The people who offer security in the country are usually men. Just like in the rest of the situations, the citizens of Germany who were mostly the men got killed while the serving few who remained and went back home were not physically fit to offer the required security to the entire society of the Germans. Since the country lacked proper security, the visitors were very afraid to travel into the country even after the war. The visitors feared to be attacked, intimidated or even get killed by the other people. The industries also lack proper security during the night shift working hours since there was no proper security offered from the guards.
An extra factor that made the change in the development of government is the positive way is that the women also increased the workforce that was used to replace the force that was initially produced by the men. Since after the First World War, many men had been killed and there was inadequate labor needed by the Germany as a country. The women had to replace the energy that was produced by the men who had died in the struggle of their country Germany (Chickering, 2004 pg 181).
Reference
Chickering,R. (2004). Imerial Germany and the Great War, 2nd edition, New York: Cambridge
Herwig, H. (1997). The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary 1914-1918, London: Arnold
Kitchen, M. (1976). The silent dictatorship: the politics of the German high command under Hindenburg and Ludendorff, 1916-1918, New York: Taylor & Francis
