I hear some shit about germany being in the middle of other powers causing the events of ww1&2 to be somehow predetermined. how far is that true?
if you had to make a plan to avoid them, how'd you have done it?
someone
>>1369723
>I hear some shit about germany being in the middle of other powers causing the events of ww1&2 to be somehow predetermined. how far is that true?
It's somewhat true. The entire problem goes as far back as 1871, and from there on Germany made more and more stupid decisions that would make war inevitable. By the time the year 1905 had rolled around, the question wasn't "if" but "when". Let me give you a tl;dr (though if I make a mistake others are free to correct me).
>1871
>France is defeated, German empire declared
>Bismarck favors a gentle treatment of France as to not make them permanent allies, but the rest of the German high command wants to humiliate them and take their territory (Alsace-Lorraine)
>France is now furious and its entire politics is now centered on one goal: taking back Alsace-Lorraine
>Bismarck is now forced to ensure France is diplomatically isolated because France + strong ally = dead Germany
>They ensure the British that this new Germany is no threat to them, buddy up with Italy (muh 1866) and make mutually contradictory promises to Russia and Austria to keep both on their good side
>Status: France pissed off, everyone else ok
>Wilhelm II becomes emperor, fires Bismarck
>Does not renew diplomatic relations with Russia in favor of focusing on Austria
>An insulted Russia joins France in an alliance
>Wilhelm also goes full retard demanding colonies Germany does not need and a gigantic navy Germany does not need
>The British see this as a provocation
>Status: France pissed off, Russia pissed, Britain pissed off
>Early 20th century
>Morocco crisis rolls about: France wants to colonize Morocco to cement its influence in North Africa while Germany wants Morocco purely to piss off France
>Germany thinks this would be a perfect opportunity to play out the French and British against eachother, but Germany goes full retard and presents itself as the villain
>France and Britain ally (entente cordiale)
And then the Daily Mail scandal
cont.
>>1370216
Correction: Daily TELEGRAPH Affair
https://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/The_Daily_Telegraph_Affair
Basically Wilhelm II had an interview with a British newspaper and some political questions were asked. He gave the dumbest answers possible, including but not limited to:
>The British must be MAD, INSANE, STUPID if they think we're a threat
>France and Russia? Yeah, they're totally involved in the Boer War
>Japan? Who the fuck cares?
In one newspaper article Wilhelm II pissed off the British, the French, the Russians and even the fucking Japanese (who had an alliance with Britain). By that point the lines were already drawn on the map: every great power was pissed off at the Germans, and only Italy and Austria remained as potential allies.
Italy was mostly upset that France had taken Tunisia, which they wanted themselves, but did not want all-out war. So what they agreed with Germany and Russia was a defensive agreement: if, and only if, France declares war on Germany, Italy will join on the German side.
If I could avoid this? Well, I'd do at least one intelligent thing, such as
>Not annexing A-L
>Not building a navy purely to provoke the British
>Not act full retard in international politics
>Favor Russia over Austria
Perhaps even declare a war on Austria together with Russia, promising Russia some Slavic territories (muh Panslavism) in return for allowing us to form a Grossdeutsches lösung
>>1370216
>>Wilhelm II becomes emperor, fires Bismarck
>>Does not renew diplomatic relations with Russia in favor of focusing on Austria
>>An insulted Russia joins France in an alliance
>>Wilhelm also goes full retard demanding colonies Germany does not need and a gigantic navy Germany does not need
>>The British see this as a provocation
>>Status: France pissed off, Russia pissed, Britain pissed off
that's beautiful. how can one man fuck up so badly?
God bless Willy for not supporting Bismarck's bloody campaign against the workers and firing that old geezer. At least he did something right.
>>1370216
