Is russia responsible for causing World War 1?

Answer 1

My opinion is that the Russians do bear much of the responsibility for making a small Balkan War into a World War. Serbia was a small, independent country, adjoining the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Serbian nationalists, backed and encouraged by the intelligence service of Serbia, murdered the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, and his wife. Quite naturally, this infuriated the Austro-Hungarians, and they were determined to have revenge on Serbia. Russia had no treaty with Serbia, and was not obliged to take Serbia's part in this sordid business, particularly since Serbia seemed to be very much in the wrong. Nevertheless, the Russians thought of themselves as the "mother of the Slavs", and so the Russians DID meddle, and insert themselves into it. The Russians DID have a treaty of alliance with France, so this dragged France into it. Austria-Hungary did have a treaty of alliance with Germany, so Germany was dragged in. Germany had had a plan for many years, since France and Russia became allies, which meant for Germany that war with either one meant war with both, and that plan was to defeat France quickly in the event of going to war with either Russia or France, and to do that the Germans were going to invade Belgium, to get at France over undefended borders. The German invasion of Belgium brought Britain into it, as Britain (and Germany too, for that matter) was pledged by treaty to guarantee Belgium's neutrality. So, if the Russians had managed to keep their noses out of it, the whole thing would have remained a dispute between Serbia and Austria-Hungary, and be little remembered today. It was the Russian decision to meddle that triggered all the alliances and brought astonished and dismayed people who had nothing to do with the initial murder to war and ruin. It certainly did not turn out to be a wise decision for the Romanoff Dynasty of Russia.