Did Germany have to support Austria-Hungary in 1914?

Answer 1

Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1914Germany was the senior member of the alliance. Austria-Hungary was well aware of that and only issued its very demanding and unreasonable ultimatum after getting the go-ahead from Germany. In fact, the approval (from Germany) was so complete and unreserved that it's often referred to as a 'blank cheque'. At key stages during the crisis, Austria was egged on. The documents sent from Berlin to Vienna make this perfectly clear.

Serbia accepted nearly all the points in the ultimatum, and the 'doves' in Vienna wanted to accept. At this point the German General Staff used all its influence to strengthen the position of the hardliners in Austria-Hungary.

At a late stage in the crisis of July 1914 there seems to have been some internal disagreement at top in Germany. The Foreign Minister of Austria-Hungary, Count Berchtold, noticed apparent discord in Berlin and asked, 'Who is in charge in Berlin - Bethmann-Hollweg [the Chancellor] or Moltke [the Chief of the General Staff]?' It was the latter who was particularly keen on war and on egging Austria-Hungary on ...

A meeting of the German General Staff held in December 1912, chaired by Kaiser Wilhelm II (without even the Chancellor present) resolved in principle to use the next suitable major international crisis to go to war against France and Russia, which they thought were trying to 'encircle' Germany. This is on record, but there is room for discussion as to how far this decision should be taken at face value. (Normally, one would have expected that there would have been substantial follow-up work, but there wasn't. In order words, it's possible that the General Staff was just saying 'yes, yes' to the Kaiser, who was rather keen on this decision in 1912).

Any suggestion that an unwilling Germany was dragged into World War 1 by an aggressive Austria-Hungary is wildly inaccurate. The German General Staff used Austria as a stooge.

To avoid misunderstanding, I'd like to stress that this isn't a point of view dating from the Versailles Treaty. It was the considered opinion of a respected German historian, Fritz Fischer (1908-99), writing in the 1960s with full access to the German and Austro-Hungarian archives.

Fritz Fischer stressed that his findings don't substantiate Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles, as the latter treated every German - man, woman and child - as responsible.

With modifications, Fritz Fischer's view is pretty standard in Germany and in much of Europe among professional historians of World War 1, though there is disagreement about various aspects.

Popular history in the U.S. (and much of the information availalbe online) is strangely hostile to these views. In the U.S. there is a tendency in 'popular' history to cling to outdated views on this.

See the links for "Wikipedia: Fritz Fischer" and for "In Memoriam: Fritz Fischer" below.