Germany caused WWI
...at Germany started strengthening their navy, Great Britain built more ships; thus, both nations had a huge navy that was ready for fighting. Germany was guilty of making a system of alliances that that helped start WWI. In my opinion this was the biggest factor that started WWI. Otto von Bismarck was the skillful German chancellor that started making alliances with other European nations to help strengthen Germany’s position in Europe. Bismarck was afraid that France would try and take back Alsace-Lorraine, which France lost in 1871 during the Franco-Prussian war. So he made a foreign policy that kept France from getting any allies. Bismarck especially didn’t want France to be allies with Russia because Germany would not only be isolated diplomatically, but if a war broke out between France and Germany, Russia would join the side of France and Germany would be forced to fight a two front war. So in 1881, Bismarck set up an alliance called the Three Emperor’s League. This was a secret alliance between Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary. Now, if a war broke out between France and Germany, Germany would only have to fight on its western border. In 1882, Bismarck got Italy to join an alliance he had made with Austria-Hungary in 1879. He called this the Triple Alliance. Even though Italy wasn’t a strong military power, it isolated France, which was exactly what the chancellor wanted. In 1887 relations between Russia and Austria-Hungary worsened because of the problems that were occurring in the Balkans. Russia was angry because Germany supported Austria-Hungary when they annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina. So the Three Emperor’s League ended. Bismarck didn’t want Russia to ever join France in a war against Germany so Bismarck made a new treaty called The Reinsurance Treaty, which stated “that each nation would be neutral if the other became involved in a defensive war”. Even though these alliances seemed to be very peaceful, they upset the balance of power in Europe, and this was bad because Germany was getting too powerful. Otto von Bismarck’s careful policies didn’t last for long. In 1888, the new Kaiser William II fired Bismarck and abandoned his policies. Unfortunately, William II allowed the reinsurance treaty to expire. That meant Russia was open to become an ally with France. Russia was going through an economic crisis, so France seeing an opportunity to make a much-needed ally: was quick to loan money to Russia. In 1894, France and Russia formed an alliance. This was all Germany’s fault because if it had not allowed the Reinsurance Treaty to expire there would be no Franco-Russian alliance...