Germany was most responsible for the starting of WW1.

The entirety of my opponent’s argument is nothing but pure ignorance of history. Firstly, no individual will tell you that something other than the assassination of the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. That would be completely ludicrous, and would never be proven by any insurmountable amount of evidence. Your argument rests on the idea that Gavrilo Princip, the Serbian assassin, caused the start of the war, which he did. However, you forget one key historical fact, that Austria-Hungary took 6 weeks to respond to the assassination.It was in fact the blank cheque system, given by Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany to the Austrians, that allowed for them to carry out this war. The majority of the Hungarian region, which is what borders Serbia, is underdeveloped and agricultural, and lacks proper infrastructure to transport a great amount of troops. On the other hand, Austria was the industrial sector of the empire. The Parliament of Austria Hungary relied on democratic approaches, but failed significantly. The Emperor had to rule by decree, since the Austrian parliament could not agree on key issues and actions. The Hungarians perfected Parliamentary procedure by oppressing the minorities and staffing the legislature with only Hungarians. Rebuttal 1Your argument on the blank cheque is wrong on an incredulous level. The Blank Cheque system was a guarantee by the Kaiser of Germany to the Emperor of Austria-Hungary, that if any war ensued, the Austrians would have full German military and political support. Serbia is among the group of small Balkan states. The only nation that is Slavic that could bear militarily to the other European powers was Russia. The Ottoman Empire has had long standing conflicts with Russia, mainly over the dominance of Crimea. The Ottoman Empire has, on multiple occasion, invaded the Slavic regions of Europe, and has held the territories for an extensive period of time. As shown by the map below, the strait that monitors trade from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean is owned by the Ottoman Empire, which not only has religious and cultural differences from Russia, but has also had terrible relations with them in the past. If the Slavic Regions were to be controlled by Austria-Hungary, then a possible Ottoman alliance against the interests of Russia would have been detrimental to their naval and trade capacity. If my opponent has studied history, he would know that Russia’s largest aim in the 19th and 20th century was to gain a warm water port, as the only ports they had to conduct trade was in the Baltic Sea, which freezes over in the winter. I would also like to mention the fact that the Ottomans did in fact join the War, on the side of Austria Hungary, after the British pursued a German warship into Ottoman territory, thereby angering them tremendously. France, Germany, and Britain When German Chancellor Otto van Bismarck stated that Germany should be in the among the 3 strongest European states (Great Britain, France, Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Germany), the Kaiser did not listen. In fact, he forced Bismarck to abdicate as Chancellor. Germany effectively alienated Great Britain by joining the naval race, in which they tried to create a stronger or at least equal navy to that of Great Britain. The intention of this act was to provide great risk to the British in the event that they joined a war against the German Industrial machine. The result of these actions were adversely different, in which it drove Great Britain further into an alliance with the French, who always had disdain for the Germans. In 1871, the last Franco-Prussian war ended with a Prussian victory. The Prussians, lead by Bismarck, marched into France, proclaimed their newly gained territory as the German state, and forced the French to pay heavy reparations, in order to stop a possible French attack in the near future. The reasoning behind this was revenge, as the French had for a long time done what was possible to keep the dozens of German states from unifying. The rulers of Europe were all related by blood, as their mother was Queen Victoria II of Great Britain. The King of Great Britain had just passed away, and so did British relations with Germany. The new leader of Great Britain, George V, used to stow away on frivolous parties in France, where he engaged in sexual activities with various women. George always had love for Paris, and had unquestionable support for the French during the war.An Alliance of 3In 1882, the Triple Alliance was formed. In 1894, the Franco-Russian alliance was formed to counter rising German aggression. From 1898-1912, the Germans and the British ramped up naval production and technology. In 1904, the Entente Cordiale was signed. In 1907, the Anglo-Russian Entente was created. From 1908-1909 the Bosnian Crisis occurred. The Triple Alliance was among Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. It stated that in the event of a European war, these nations would come to each other’s assistance. Upon renewing this agreement, Italy secretly extended this same alliance to France. This is the reason as to why the Triple Alliance lasted just until the start of World War I in 1914. The Franco Russian Alliance in 1894 guaranteed a united war against Germany in case of German aggression. This is the exact reason as to why the Schlieffen plan was created, in which they would attack France from their strong right wing by running through Belgium. The reason it failed was because the Belgians didn’t allow Germany to go through, so they had to invade. This violated the Treaty of London, in which Great Britain assured Belgian neutrality. Great Britain would not have joined the war if Belgium wasn’t attacked by Germany. The 14 year long Naval Race disparaged British-German relations to the point in which Britain had created a mutual military alliance with France. This was called the Entente Cordiale, which was signed in 1904.The Ottomans and the British had bad relations as well, due to Ottomans wanting control of North African British territory, as well as being the dominant Mediterranean naval power. This led the way for the Anglo-Russian Entente, in which Great Britain and Russia would join together in any war. Rebuttal 2My opponent's counterarguments are badly formed and rather weak. They are quite short, and are explained poorly, and none of my opponents facts disprove any of mine. In fact, my opponents arguments are not even close to being correct. A fundamental cause of World War I was the spread of nationalism, which eventually lead to the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, which was essentially the catalyst of World War I. Militarism was the second most important factor in contributing to the outbreak of World War I, because it started military and naval rivalry and a preference for offensive warfare, which made sure that all the European powers were ready for war by 1914. There was a significant rise in the army and naval estimates of the European powers in these years. Increased war expenditure enabled all the powers to raise more armies and improve their battleships and meant that all the European powers were prepared for war by 1914. Germany’s Schlieffen Plan meant that Germany entered Belgium, which in turn broke the terms of The Treaty of London, which stated that Belgium would remain a neutral country. Britain then declared war to obey the terms of the Treaty of London, which therefore led the countries into war because the alliance system meant that certain countries had to help each other out if help was needed. Imperialism in Europe was the third most significant cause of World War I because it led to increased tensions and colonial and naval rivalry. With the rise of industrialism, countries needed new markets. By 1900, the British Empire extended over five continents and France had acquired large areas of Africa. In 1888, when Kaiser Wilhelm II came to power as Germany’s ruler, the Weltpolitik foreign policy was adopted under his rule. This was the policy of expansion (especially overseas), and the creation of a big navy and colonial empire. Other European powers had “anti-German” fever, especially in England in the 1900’s as a result of Weltpolitik. This aggressive foreign policy led to war because it increased tensions with other powers by expanding colonial interests and threatening their overseas interests. It directly challenged the British naval superiority, and it was an attempt to take Britain’s place as a leading colonial power. Also, in 1905, during the time of the Moroccan Crises, Wilhelm II announced his support for Moroccan independence. War was avoided by the Algeciras conference which allowed France to once again retain possession of Morocco. However, in 1911, the Germans protested against this, but Britain supported France as one of the terms of the Entente Cordiale (1904) and Germany only ended up acquiring a small strip of the French Congo. This colonial rivalry led to even more strained relations between Germany and France.Sources:1. http://www.bbc.com...2. The Long Fuse by Laurence Lafore3. The Guns of August by Barbare Tuchman4. World History by Philip Parker5. http://history.stackexchange.com...6. http://www.firstworldwar.com...7. http://www.thehistoryforum.com...8. History of the World by J.K. Roberts9. All Quiet on the Western Front by Remarque