Germany is responsible for World War I
Germany is responsible for World War I is a historical claim that World War I was a result of aggression fomented by the German Empire’s political and military leadership. The argument was enshrined in article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles, signed by the Allied Powers and by Germany in 1919. Proponents of this claim rely on cultural, biological, political, ideological, and economic arguments.
Cultural argument
The German people is defined by obedience towards authorities. In comparison to France, Great Britain, and the United States, until the middle of the 20th century, Germany had not developed a strong civil society and a parliamentary system independent of government and the military. German historians like Hans-Uhlrich Wehner refer to this argument as the German "Sonderweg" (special path).
Biological argument
The German people is inherently barbaric and prone to aggression. The biological argument was popularized by the American Jew, Theodore Newman Kaufman, in his book "Germany must perish!" in 1941. Two years before the publication of "Germany must Perish", Kaufman petitioned the US Congress to sterilize the American people to prevent future US invasion of foreign countries.
Political argument
The Kaiser was bad.
Ideological argument
The völkisch movement laid the groundwork for expansionism to the East for Lebensraum (living space).
Economic argument
German industrialists and colonizers needed war with Great Britain and France to expand their territories.
| Statement of the claim | Germany is responsible for World War I |
| Level of certainty | Possible with some support |
| Nature | Factual |
| Counterclaim | A) Germany is not responsible for World War I / B) Competition between Great Britain and Germany over economic and colonial hegemony is responsible for World War I / C) Counterclaim3=French revanchism is responsible for World War I / D) Panslawism is responsible for World War I / E) Many factors are responsible for World War IProperty "Counterclaim of" (as page type) with input value "A) Germany is not responsible for World War I / B) Competition between Great Britain and Germany over economic and colonial hegemony is responsible for World War I / C) Counterclaim3=French revanchism is responsible for World War I / D) Panslawism is responsible for World War I / E) Many factors are responsible for World War I" contains invalid characters or is incomplete and therefore can cause unexpected results during a query or annotation process. |
| Dependent on |
The German people are inherently aggressive |
| Dependency of |
|