At the end of the war the allies blamed the Germans for starting the feud and made them pay for most of the reparations needed on the cities affected. But the Germans were not to blame for they did not do anything wrong. The Russians were the aggressors as said by the German ambassador” The Imperial German Government has used every effort since the beginning of the crisis to bring about a peaceful settlement. (http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/germandeclarationofwar_russia.htm.) The Germans did not want a war at all they just wanted to get the feud under control and were desperately trying to find a peaceful solution since the beginning.
“………….but Russia, without waiting for any result, proceeded to a general mobilization of her forces both on land and sea.” (http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/germandeclarationofwar_russia.htm.) Said the German ambassador, this worried the Germans. “The German Empire was faced by a grave and imminent danger.” Said the ambassador of Germany. (http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/germandeclarationofwar_russia.htm.) Germany therefore was forced to protect there people from being attacked by the Russians. They had to act quickly so they declare war on Russia august the first 1914.If they had not done so there whole country could have been in jeopardy of being lost and destroyed. They could have been ruled by the Russians.
Before this act was made the Russians had chances to retreat there armies. But they did not comply with these orders for they seem to have on goal in their minds, take Germany down.” the Government of His Majesty the Emperor of All the Russia’s and to insist upon a cessation of the aforesaid military acts.” (http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/germandeclarationofwar_russia.htm. Said the ambassador of Germany to the Russians. Thus showing the ill intensions of the Russians the true aggressors of this war, Germany therefore had no choice but to declare war against them to protect themselves and their country.
The Germans later during the war were blamed to break a treaty of seas. A German submarine shot down the “Lusitania” killing Americans and British citizens. The allies claimed that the boat was only carrying passengers but the Germans did not think so. The Germans launch there torpedoes at the ship causing an explosion but then a second explosion occurred. A journal entry of one of the submarine crew members states “An unusually heavy explosion takes place with a very strong explosion cloud (cloud reaches far beyond front funnel). The explosion of the torpedo must have been followed by a second one” (http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/lusitania.htm) this meant that the ship was not only carrying passengers but also weapons of war. This allowed the Germans to shot at the ship since they had a blockade against any merchant ships at that time of the war. The allies were the aggressors during the war and were always trying to say false things about what the central powers were doing just so there actions would be justified by their governments. The Germans were even kind enough to not shot another torpedo to finish them off. As in the diary of the same submarine crew member, he states “It would have been impossible for me, anyhow, to fire a second torpedo into this crowd of people struggling to save their lives.” (http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/lusitania.htm) Showing that the Germans were not aggressors at all and were very merciful during the war they were at first trying to prevent but could not do so. A fight that the Russians and Serbians had started.
“On June 28th the Austro-Hungarian successor to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife, the Duchess of Hohenberg, were assassinated by a member of a band of Serbian conspirators.” Stated by German government’s official statement. (http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/officialgermanstatement.htm) This was an attack on one of Germany’s allies. The Serbians and the Russians wanted to take parts of Austria Hungary away from them. So they sated to mobilize after the assassination. The German then took this as a threat. This is what a German official said about this “Preparatory military measures by Russia will force us to counter-measures which must consist in mobilizing the army.” “”But mobilization means war.” (http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/officialgermanstatement.htm) The Germans were being pushed into the war which they did not want to enter. The Russians found an excuse to why they were mobilizing as so stated a Russian secretary of war “the Russian Secretary of War, M. Suchomlinof, gave the German military attaché his word of honour that no order to mobilize had been issued, merely preparations were being made, but not a horse mustered, nor reserves called in.” (http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/officialgermanstatement.htm) This excused was quite shocking to the Germans for they could tell that this was a lie. No order of mobilization was issued seemed to be ridiculous because most of the Russian army was near the fronts. And they could tell that the reserves were called too also. The Germans and Austrians were trying to settle this as so the Germans claim by saying “We can all the more support the desire of Russia to protect the integrity of Serbia as Austria-Hungary does not intend to question the latter. It will be easy in the further development of the affair to find a basis for an understanding.” (http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/officialgermanstatement.htm) But the allied aggressors did not care for they were ready to begin the war.
In conclusion I think that the Germans are not to blame for the start of the war or for being the aggressors. Russia was the true aggressor of the war he pushed Germany to declare war on them, thus creating the First World War. As said by the German ambassador “If the German Government had failed to guard against this peril, they would have compromised the safety and the very existence of Germany.” (http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/germandeclarationofwar_russia.htm )The German were forced to war by the aggressor and had no choice but to do it.
