plan. Germany declared war on Russia, and later France. Germany had to invade neutral Belgium to get to France. When Great Britain heard of the invasion of Belgium, they decided to take action against Germany. (The Twentieth Century, p. 102) Germanys actions to this point pulled in countries that were more, or less uninvolved. Thus the alliance system started to play its role. Germanys continual encouragement of hostility fueled the war. In addition, I believe that the fragile economic state of the world after the war can be directly blamed on Germany and its allies. Germany and Austria-Hungary increased their military expenses almost double of what they had in previous years. Due to their increase in armament the Allied forces were forced to increase their expenditures, just in order to keep up. Russia, France, and Great Britain were among some of the ones that were spending billions of dollars on a better armament for their country. These high increases put a major strain on the economy, and it can all be related back to the initial expenditures of the Central forces. I absolutely agree with the councils decision to name Germany and its allies as being responsible for World War I, and I support what the treaty stated about the reparations. Germany was at fault, and its completely fair that they were branded as the instigators, and made to give something back to each of the countries involved for their losses....
