The world has witnessed two great wars in quick succession in the form of world war 1(1914-19) and world war 2(1939-45). The first war engulfed entire Europe and the second was far more complex involving almost all the countries of the world. Till today they''re different views among historians as to who was to blame for these wars. But a large proportion of them lay the blame squarely at the feet of Germany. Kaiser Wilhelm 2 policy of Weltpolitik and Hitler expansionist policy, threatened world peace and plunged the world into two great wars.

Germany and WW 1

• Bismark, who was instrumental in the unification of Germany, wanted to maintain the balance  of power in Europe with Germany as one of the major powers. To maintain this he signed treaties  with almost all other nations of Europe except France.  
• All this changed in 1888 when young and impatient Kaiser Wilhelm II came to power in 1888.  He wanted to expand Germany’s power and influence in Europe.  
• He ended diplomatic relations with Russia, strengthened Germany’s alliance with AustriaHungary, and began to build up Germany’s navy in an attempt to match the naval power of  Great Britain.  
• This aggressive move by the Germans threatened all other nations of Europe and thus began  an alliance system. The first alliance was a triple alliance involving Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy in 1882. This was followed up by an alliance between France and Russia in 1894, Britain and France in 1904 and Britain and Russia in 1907. Thus the aggressive  foreign policy of Germany divided Europe into two armed camps.  
• The final nail in the coffin was Germany''s blank check to Austria-Hungary in its war against  Serbia for the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, heir to the Austria-Hungary throne in  Serbia.  
• With Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia, Russia came in support of Serbia, Thus  Germany declared war on Russia and its ally France. When German troops entered Belgium  on their way to occupy France, the British who swore to protect Belgium declared war on  Germany, thus plunging all major powers of Europe into a catastrophic war. 

Germany and WW 2

• The Treaty of Versailles in 1919 forced Germany and its allies to accept sole responsibility for  causing the First World War and committed it to make territorial concessions, disarming and  paying reparations. As Hitler saw it, this was a great humiliation, and he made it his mission to  rectify it.  
• Political and economic instability in Germany, and lingering resentment over the harsh terms  imposed by the Versailles Treaty, fueled the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and the National  Socialist German Workers’ Party.  
• After rising to power Hitler immediately began secretly building up Germany’s army and  weapons. Although Britain and France knew of Hitler’s actions, they thought a stronger Germany  would stop the spread of Communism from Russia.  
• Obsessed with the idea of the superiority of the “pure” German race, which he called “Aryan,”  Hitler believed that war was the only way to gain the necessary “Lebensraum,” or living space,  for the German race to expand.  
• In the mid-1930s, he secretly began the rearmament of Germany, a violation of the Versailles  Treaty. After signing alliances with Italy and Japan against the Soviet Union, Hitler sent troops  to occupy Austria in 1938 and the following year annexed Czechoslovakia. Hitler’s open  aggression went unchecked, as the United States and the Soviet Union were concentrated on  internal politics at the time.  
• Neither France nor the UK, the countries most devastated by the great war, are willing to  confront Germany in another war. Thus German expansionist policies went unchecked.  
• In late August 1939, Hitler and Stalin signed the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, which incited a frenzy of worry in London and Paris. 
• The pact with Stalin meant that Hitler would not face a war on two fronts once he invaded Poland,  and would have Soviet assistance in conquering and dividing the nation itself.  
• On September 1, 1939, Hitler invaded Poland from the west; two days later, France and Britain  declared war on Germany, beginning World War II.

Germany certainly created conditions that precipitated the crisis but it would be unfair to blame Germany  solely for the world wars. Apart from Germany many major European powers are also to blame either for  creating the circumstances that cornered Germany like during world war I or for their inaction in stopping  Hilter like during world warII.