Were Germans the bad guys in World War I? Or was everyone else just as evil?

tc.brown56

They were no worse than anybody else. Whether they were the good or bad guys just depends on the perspective.

Gerald

it was equal like today the other guy is always the bad guy and needs putting right

Uncle Pennybags

Well, it's like this. After Austro-Hungarian Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated by Serbs, Austro-Hungary declared war on the Serbs. Russia declared war on Austro-Hungary to help their Serbian allies, then Germany declared war on Russia to defend their Austro-Hungarian allies, then one country after another joined on because they had alliance agreements with various countries. The reason Germany is vilified is because Germany is the country that really went on the offensive first by invading other countries. Germany invaded France and to do it also invaded Belgium.

Natasha

Not really. That's the thing about WW1 it was a very grey and not clear cut war. Europe was house of cards of alliances and global tensions sitting inside a powder keg. But was it really Germany's fault the cards came crashing down? No more so than any other European power. Austro-Hungary purposely gave demands to Serbia that they knew Serbia would refuse. Serbia actually accepted all but one condition which Germany actually thought was completely acceptable and there was no reason for war. But AH wanted war so they declared one so then Russia had to came to their allies defence, which in turn meant Germany had to go to AH's defence which mean France had to go to Russia. None of those counties could have abandoned their allies. That would have been political and diplomatic suicide. As for war crimes and breaking international law, yes Germany committed them. There's no disputing that but they weren't alone. Just about every nation in that was broke laws and committed war crimes, then the "good guys". Hell just take a look at the Entente and Greece before they joined the war. You'd be hard pressed to find any that didn't. No one was a saint in WW1.

John

It was kill or be killed, every factions were evil until the stallmate in 1916 they realized they're fighting a pointless war that neither the citizens behind the front don't know what the hell is the situation of the conflict because their leader kept saying bulshit and propaganda. Mutinies were happening more frequently due to inexperienced, arrogant and cowardly officers and military leaders. In the end soldiers were only following orders but the real evil were the warmongering country leaders

All hat

Any nation that undertakes aggression against another, other than in self-defense, is the bad guy.

Siddhartha

All sides in WW1 were war-mad butchers not concerned with limiting dead and wounded.

Sukrit

All are good ones actually. No bad one in the world. It's nobody's fault. May all be free from punishment.

Jayla

The Japes were evil too

Ludwig

Yes they were!

CandyApple123

The germans/people who were anti-jew