That all started to change in May , when a German U-boat torpedoed and sank the British passenger liner the Lusitania as it crossed the Atlantic, killing 1, of the 1, people on board. The attack provoked shock and fury across the world. Among the dead were Americans, putting substantial pressure on the government to abandon its neutral stance on the conflict. Nevertheless, the pro-war sentiment in the US continued to fester - and when Germany announced plans to resume its naval strikes on passenger ships in January , it exploded.
Public opinion was further inflamed, writes Gregory, over the emergence of a telegram, supposedly from the German foreign minister Arthur Zimmerman to Mexico offering military assistance if the US entered the war. Observers soon came to believe that the change in public feeling made US entry into the war inevitable, and eight weeks later Congress approved a resolution declaring war on Germany.
The Royal Navy at the time was regarded as the most powerful in the world, although its primary purpose was not military, but the protection of trade. A shipbuilding arms race with Germany began in , but Britain had gained a technological edge over its rival by , with the development of a new class of battleship — the dreadnought. Ultimately, Germany was unable to keep pace with the spending power of its rival and shifted attention away from its navy back to the development of its army.
Attempting to identify which nation or nations should be held accountable for the war is an exercise doomed to failure, Margaret MacMillan argues in her First World War history, The War that Ended Peace.
According to MacMillan, the alliances drawn up between nations before the war could actually have helped to preserve the fragile peace. The Guardian identifies six people who, from a British perspective, had the largest roles in the events leading to the outbreak of war:.
Tsar Nicholas II of Russia , who found himself caught between Russia's loyalty to Serbia, and his desire to avoid war on the continent. Skip to header Skip to main content Skip to footer. In Depth. Remembrance Day: why do we fall silent and wear poppies? How did World War One end? The most moving First World War poems. In fact, many historians believe Germany actively encouraged the war, despite the systems of alliances in place that should have deterred the European powers from fighting.
Going to war to back its Austrian ally was more than enough and Austria had a reason to go to war with Serbia. So Germany kept pushing its ally despite calls for peace from the rest of Europe.
Then the Germans invaded France through Belgium, requiring England to intervene in the war as well. One of the British delegates at Versailles itself, the economist John Maynard Keynes, helped spread the growing interwar perception that Germany had been treated unfairly. Indeed, his now-famous tome, The Economic Consequences of the Peace , became a regular topic for debate in interwar book clubs and discussion circles.
Today, as we reflect on the end of the Great War and the subsequent peace conference, it is still common to hear commentators voice such views.
Yet, is history that simple? While Versailles was certainly an important factor in creating the conditions for a new conflict just 20 years later, it is open to question whether it was the most important factor. A multiplicity of other elements were also involved during that year period, such as the inability of the League of Nations to create sufficient collective cooperation and bring stability to international relations and errors made by diplomats in their misreading of the foreign policies of other nations.
More Armistice articles, written by academic experts:. World War I: the birth of plastic surgery and modern anaesthesia. Wilfred Owen years on: poet gave voice to a generation of doomed youth.
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