Charmaine Cho 3L (8)

(a) Describe 2 features of either the Triple Alliance or the First Moroccan Crisis (1905-
1906).
The Triple Alliance is a secret agreement between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and
Italy. After the Three Emperors’ League between Germany, Austria- Hungary and
Russia faded away, Germany formed a secret defensive alliance with Austria-Hungary
which was known as the Dual Alliance in 1879. Two years later, Italy was persuaded to
join the Dual Alliance against France after losing North African ambitions to the French,
forming the Triple Alliance. According to the treaty, the three countries would help each
other if either one of them was attacked by France or Russia. However, in 1902, Italy
reached an understanding with France that each would remain neutral in the event of an
attack on the other, leaving the Triple Alliance meaningless. Italy entered the First World
War in 1915 in opposition to Germany and Austria-Hungary.

(b) How far does Source A support the evidence of Source B about the threat posed by
Germany to Britain in the years 1905-1914? Explain your answer.
The main areas of agreement between the two sources are that both Britain and
Germany were saying they were not worried about the economic rivalry between the two
countries and of each other. In source A, it is mentioned that the ‘economic rivalry
between Britain and Germany does not worry the British people who admire Germany’s
growth in trade and industry’ while Kaiser said his ‘heart is set upon peace and to live on
the best of terms with Britain’ in source B. This shows that there is peace between two
countries.
However, the two sources differ about the opinions of Britain and Germany. In
source A, the British believed that Germany was ‘aggressive’ to expand her empire and
plan to ‘dominate Europe’. They thought Germany spending money and resource in
armament was forcing other European powers to compete in the Armaments Race. In
their perspective, Germany was deliberately waging economic warfare, the Naval Race
and the Armaments Race. On the other hand, Germany, represented by Kaiser Wilheim
II, responded that Germany was still a developing empire in source B. It was not
aggressive and had the reason to ‘have a powerful fleet to protect her interests across
the world’. Unlike Britain’s navy which is to protect Britain against any European
aggression, Germany believed it had to build a strong navy to achieve more colonies if
Germany were to become a world power with a large empire. They think it was only
because of Britain’s suspicion that the Naval Race started. Same for the economic
warfare and Arms Race, Germany thinks the British were only blaming them because of
fear and suspicion when they wanted peace between two countries.
To conclude, I think that source A only supports source B to a small extent due to
many differences in opinions between Britain and Germany.
Charmaine Cho 3L (8)

(c) How far do you agree with this interpretation? Use Extract C, Source A and B, and your
own knowledge to explain your answer.
Extract C mentioned that ‘Germany was mainly responsible for the outbreak of the
First World War.’ and I somewhat agree.
German militarism was very popular after the unification of Germany in 1871.
Militarism is the belief in the importance of military strength and in the use of military
force to settle disputes with other states. However, it was not just the Germans who
were militaristic. The Anglo-German Naval Race and the Armaments Race on land
mentioned in sources A and B are good examples to prove that other European powers
were also into militarism and spend much money and resource into their military.
The situation was the same with nationalism. Nationalism, the love of one’s country,
began to develop in Europe during the French Revolution. Nationalism did convinced
germans to believe in racial superiority and created The Weltpolitik, followed by Kaiser
Wilheim II. Regardless, nationalism was not a German thing. By the late 19th century,
nationalism went to the extreme and people called for foreign expansion to gain national
glory. The Balkan war and the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand are results of
nationalism. The Balkans who were under Austria-Hungary or Ottoman empire’s control
were encouraged by nationalism to their own country, triggering the Balkan War. This
led to the assassination of Franz Ferdinand by Gavrilo Princip, ultimatum sent to Serbia
by Austria Hungary, and declaring war. People’s mindset of having war was firm and that
they believe war was the only way to peace.
Nevertheless, Germany played a major role in causing World War I. First, Kaiser
Wilheim’s aggression intensify the greed of germans wanting a ‘place in the sun’. One
way of achieving that was to build a powerful navy to ‘protect her interests across the
world’ like in source B. this help develop tension and suspicion between Britain and
Germany as Britain felt threatened by Germany. Second, Germany’s decision to give
Austria-Hungary a ‘blank cheque’ in case of war adds on her responsibility in raging
World War I. Her unconditional support encouraged Austria-Hungary to declare war on
Serbia who was supported by Russia. Since Russia was the ally of France, the Franco-
Russian Alliance dragged France into war with Austria-Hungary and Germany. France
also wanted revenge towards Germany for annexing Alsace-Lorraine where all their
important industrial areas were, so the conclusion was France, Russia and Serbia were
against Germany and Austria-Hungary. Third, Germany’s Schlieffen Plan to invade
Belgium brought an excuse for Britain to join the war. Although by the terms of the
Entente Cordiale, Britain did not have to join the war in support of France, the British
were afraid of german success which would threaten British trade and independence.
German’s invasion of Belgium broke the Treaty of London, so the British government
decided to honor the guarantee made 75 years earlier and join the war.
To conclude, I think I somewhat agree with extract C. Like in extract C, Germany
knew that they had the decision to not risk war, but they ignored it triggered the First
World War. In contrast with that, nationalism and militarism are some of the causes that
started the war.