Was the Kaiser Responsible for the First World War?

 by Sophie Escott

Kaiser Wilhelm (Wiki Commons)

The First World War broke out in 1914, because of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, the Archduke of Austria-Hungary. But, some believe that that matter was not the only thing that led to the Great War. There are some arguments that state that the German emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm, is responsible for starting the war, not the Black hand assassinating the Archduke. I believe that Kaiser Wilhelm is mostly responsible for starting the war, as he declared war on Russia, he persuaded Austria-Hungary to be more aggressive and to bring on the war. He was generally doing everything he could to start war. But, he is not responsible for the murder of Franz Ferdinand, which sparked off the war. I think the Kaiser could have prevented the First World War, but his actions and aggression brought it on.

An argument that the Kaiser is responsible for starting the First World War is, he rejected an offer from Russia, asking if Germany wanted to make an alliance with Russia and France. This made Russia mad, as they wanted to expand their empire, and make peace with other countries. Then, Germany went on to make an alliance with Austria-Hungary, a short while after rejecting Russia’s offer, leaving Russia and France humiliated and angry. The Kaiser accepted Austria-Hungary’s offer of alliance over Russia’s because Austria-Hungary had more advanced weaponry, which in the eyes of war-thirsty Wilhelm, was a winner. I personally would have made an alliance with Russia, because they have a bigger empire, which means more men can be in the army, which means more people can fight in wars, which then would make Germany, Russia and France more likely to win said wars. 

Another reason why the Kaiser could be held responsible for World War One is, the Kaiser was the one who actually declared war on Russia, as Russia’s army was beginning to mobilize, which was a threat to Germany and her troops. Serbia sensed that Austria-Hungary would send them an ultimatum, so notified Russia to start mobilising their troops. When Germany found out that Russia was the step ahead, they told Austria-Hungary to send an ultimatum to Serbia as quickly as possible, meaning that they were about to start war. If I were the Kaiser at that time, when I found out that the Russian troops were beginning to mobilise, I would have told them that it was unnecessary, and asked calmly to meet and discuss the matter. But unfortunately, I was not. Then, Germany activated the “Schlieffen plan”, attacking France through Belgium, the ally of Britain, then to Russia. They did this because they knew that the Russians would take a long time to mobilize, so they attacked the French first. They chose to go through Belgium because they had an alliance with Britain, therefore bringing Britain into the war, which was creating the massive war which Germany wished for. I personally would have attacked Russia first, if I knew that they would take awhile to mobilize, as I would catch them off-guard, and be more likely to win the battle.

However, the Kaiser is not fully responsible for the breakout of World War One, as he was not the one who planned the attack of Franz Ferdinand. He was not responsible for the actions of the Serbian terrorist group, “The Black Hand”, so therefore not fully responsible for the war. This said attack was allegedly the spark of the war, in that case the Kaiser had little to do with it. But, if he did not act so harshly, and just called for the matter to be discussed and sorted out, then he could have avoided the conflict completely. Besides, there must have been some deep rooted issues between Serbia and Austria-Hungary, because Serbia wouldn’t have suddenly assassinated the Archduke of Austria-Hungary if there wasn’t a reason. 

Finally, another reason why the Kaiser is not fully to blame for World War One, is because of his upbringing. Because of a birth defect, Wilhelm had a withered left arm and an unsteady balance. In those times it was unacceptable to have a ‘cripple’ running the country. So, his father did whatever he could to get rid of his poor balance, as he could not change the fact his son was without a working arm. He did this by placing him on a horse, styrup and rein-less, expecting Wilhelm not to fall off. This took many tries, but after a lot of injuries, tears and excruciating pain, Wilhelm succeeded. His father would constantly tell Wilhelm what a failure he was, no doubt resulting in him having low self confidence. I think that his low self confidence manifested itself in aggression, as if he was the bully, then no one could put him through the pain which he once experienced. And children learn from their parents, so if his dad was acting like that around him, then he would copy. So, the way Wilhelm treats other people is how he was treated as a child, which is the only way he knew how to treat people. He was a bully because he was born and bred by a bully, which is not his fault.

In conclusion, I think Kaiser Wilhelm was mostly responsible for WW1, because of his aggression and how desperate for war he was. But he was not fully responsible, as he did not know how to treat others respectfully, and did not bring in the murder of Franz Ferdinand.