01:790:324 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: July Crisis, Weimar Constitution, Totalitarianism
21 Jun 2016
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Document Summary
Joll, origins of the first world war, chs. Nye the balance of power and world war 1 in understanding international conflicts. Calvocoressi & wint chs 2 & 3. Nye the rise and fall of collective security (e-res pp. 93-103) + germany is trying to challenge british naval supremacy. + germany is confused about policy-making and does not realize what signal it is giving to britain. Assumes that germany is going with the first possibility. Germany cannot allow to threaten the balance of power in europe in this fashion. Chief of german staff, schlieffen, proposed a plan to have germany initiate war on two fronts (france and russia) Attack france first to get it out of the way, then focus on russia. Germany felt encircled and vulnerable because france and russia were approximate threat geopolitically. In order to attack france, germany had to invade belgium. External balancing: german chancellor, bismarck, unified germany in 1871.
