Was World War I Germany's fault?

Yes it was a European war to start then Germany invaded Neutral Belgium the British had a treaty with Belgium and declared war on Germany so did the empire

If Germany had NOT invaded Belgium it would Not have escalated into a WW1

Yes.

Only Germany had a war plan that would turn a localized conflict into a Europe wide,and thus global (because of colonialism) war.

The Kaiser promised Austria-Hungary unconditional support if their attack on Serbia led to war with Russia (which the Kaiser knew it almost certainly would).

Russia announced mobilization only after Austria had invaded Serbia,and then only for its troops along the border between the Russian empire and the Austro-Hungarian empire;the Kaiser's response was to declare war on Russia and set the Schlieffen Plan in motion,which meant an invasion of France and neutral Belgium within 48 hours.

So,WW! was basically Germany's fault - all the Kaiser had to do was tell Austria-Hungary from the beginning their would be no military support if Russia backed Serbia.Its not as if Germany had any big strategic or imperial interest in Serbia,the Kaiser gave his promise to Austria because Germany wanted a general European war.

If you're going to blame someone, blame the Russians. They mobilized first in a response to the Austrian Declaration of war against Serbia. Once Russia mobilized Germany was forced to mobilize. Unlike the mobilization plans of the other nations Germany's called for an immediate attack on France through Belgium. There was no stopping it save an immediate stand down by the French army and notification by the French Government saying they WOULD NOT honor their alliance with Russia, that was the only way out. Beyond that the German mobilization was a train bound for disaster. This is why Germany got the blame for the war, they attacked first because they felt that was their only hope for survival.

They encouraged Austria-Hungary going to war against Serbia (by offering their support against any future aggression from Russia). And, by attacking France through Belgium, guaranteed a war with both France and Britain. Thereby escalating a nasty Balkan conflict into a global war.

The war guilt clause in the Treaty of Versailles is part of a legal document, by acknowledging fault Germany was essentially agreeing to pay reparations. However it should be noted that each of the defeated Central Powers had a similar clause in their treaties with the Allies.

I'll buck the popular folk here, and say yes.

Austria-Hungary went to war with Serbia. Serbia anticipated this, and made a defensive alliance with Russia. Austria-Hungary anticipated this, and made a defensive alliance with Germany. Russia anticipated this, and made a defensive alliance with France. Germany didn't want to fight a two front war, but didn't want to leave her ally Austria-Hungary out to dry. Having run out of people to ally with, Germany opted instead to formulate a military plan to win the dreaded two front war. Germany became convinced that they could win the two front war by smashing France first. They believed they could do so because they had done so forty years earlier (forty four years earlier than the actual war, but a little less than forty years before they formulated their battle plan). Great Britain, for her part, guaranteed the neutrality of Belgium in one of the oldest military alliances in history at the time.

Flash forward now to August, 1914. Serbian agents assassinate the heir to the AustroHungraian dual monarchy. This act of war was met with an AustroHungarian declaration of war on Serbia. Russia mobilized her troops to defend her slavic brothers in Serbia. AustriaHunagry invokes their treaty with Germany, and Germany implements their Schlieffen Plan, which called for an attack into Northern France through Belgium.

The moment they invaded Belgium, the war went from yet another Balkan grudge match, to a pan-European bloodletting. Belgium sought aid from Great Britain. France fought to defend herself from Germany. The Russians mobilized quicker than the Germans expected, and moved into Eastern Germany, where they proved to be teddy bears rather than grizzly bears. The Germans handily repulsed them, which was not what they expected (which was why they devised the "hit France first" strategy). The Serbs repulsed the Austrians at first, without Russian assistance. The French, British and Belgians somehow didn't get utterly crushed, and the quick victory Germany was counting on never came about.

So, was the initial shooting Germany's fault? No, that was Serbia's doing. But the actions which converted a local Balkan scrum into a world changing war spanning three continents, they were all German. Because, regardless of plans and allies and threats and counterweights, somebody had to fire the first shots, and that someone was Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Partly

Not entirely. Kaiser Wilhelm and his military staff made a lot of aggressive noises since his ascension to the throne of the German Reich, mostly against Great Britain and the Royal Navy. That made Britain nervous, and caused a competition between them to build warships. Britain also insisted that passenger liners under construction (Cunard's Lusitania and Mauritania, the three Olympic class White Star liners, etc.) could be converted into battleships when war would be declared. (Either the re-fitting didn't work, or the White Star liners were more easily converted into troop and hospital ships. We know what happened to the Titanic before the war and the Lusitania was torpedoed, perhaps because Germany honestly believed that British passenger liners were a hidden threat.)

France hated Germany for defeating them in 1870-71, so it agreed to scrap their old hate for the English for their new hate for the Germans and signed an Entente with Britain and later Russia.

Russia considered itself the protector of the Slavic peoples, so when Austria gave the ultimatum to Serbia, Serbia called on Russia to stand up for them, and Russia, nursing its wounded pride from the 1905 war with Japan, thought a winning war would be popular - and lower the revolutionary anger.

Germany had made the same promises to Austria that Russia made to the Slavs, and Austria called on those promises when Serbia called on Russia's.

Serbia housed the Black Hand that killed the Austrian arch-duke and heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire. It was always a thorn in the imperial side, since it wanted Bosnia and Austria had it.

So, World War I was not entirely Germany's fault; but German sabre rattling and militarism did play a part in raising the temperature of Europe to boiling point. Had the Kaiser not bombastically postured ... Had the French not lost the Franco-Prussian War and Russia not lost the Russo-Japanese war and felt humiliated ... Had Serbia kept its assassins within the country ... Had Austria not provoked the assassination by staging a military display in Bosnia on their special slavic anniversary... Had Britain not felt threatened by Germany's shipbuilding that it built dreadnaughts and insisted that even their new passenger liners be converted for eventual war service...

No not really. It was petty much everyone's fault.

Absolutely, they insisted that Austria invade Serbia unless Serbia signed a treaty which basically saw Serbia giving up it's sovereignty to Austria after the assassination of the Arch Duke Ferdinand by an anarchist.
Czar Alexander mobilized his troops as a result of this threat and German declared that an act of war which it was not as the Czars troops never left Russian territory. From captured documents it appears the German high command forced the war to prove their superiority in Europe and basically take control of the continent. The Kaiser was unaware of any of this.

No. The Serbian Military recruited an agent, Princip, to assassinate Arch Duke Ferdinand of Austria. There was no war; this was a terrorist attack. The Austrians claimed the right to see that there would be no more such terrorist attacks and Germany backed them. Russia used this as an excuse to make war on Germany. France was allied with Russia; Germany invaded France. Britain jumped into the war for no particular reason at all enlarging what would have been a local war. Woodrow Wilson claimed to be neutral but in fact supported Britain with food and military supplies from the beginning in 1914. Wilson knew the American public would never agree to the war so he avoided declaring war in 1914. Based on peace he was re-elected in 1916. He then turned a European war into World War I by provoking Germany. Germany did cooperate with the Zimmermann Telegram. With that Wilson got Congress to vote for war in 1917.

The was was started by Serbia and then Russia. France joined in followed by Britain and the US under Woodrow Wilson. Many historians believe Wilson was responsible for World War II also.

Yes. Actually, the WWI is caused by the Sarajevo Incident which a Serb in Bosnia shot and kill the Austra-Hungary king, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The Austria-Hungary set an ultimatum to Serbia to ask Serbia to stop all anti-Austrian movement and allow Austrian officials to try and arrest the murderer. Germany gave unlimited support to Austria in this movement. If Germany didn't gave such support, I am sure that Austria was not able to make such movement to declare war on Serbia. Serbia are willing to settle this dispute in a peaceful mean but because of the umlimited support given by Germany, their ambitious grew therefore it led to the outbreak of WWI


Hope this help ;)

Yes

Pretty much - although the other participants weren't exactly blame free...

Germany overstepped the line by invading Poland, hence the outbreak of WW 2.

No, Britain and France wanted war and so guaranteed the neutrality of Belgium. When Germany invaded Belgium the Brit's and France declared war on Germany. None of Britain's business really !

no it was not