The origins of the First World War have been debated continually since its outbreak in August 1914. Every possible point of view has been advanced in trying to explain why war broke out, and the heated debates that surround the topic continue to fascinate historians and students alike. Since the Fischer controversy of the 1960s, some consensus has been reached and no one today would seriously support Lloyd George's famous dictum that the European nations had ‘slithered into war’, almost as an act of fate, an inevitable result of alliance policy for which no single government could be held responsible. Rather, many would argue that the fact that war proved unavoidable in 1914 was due to earlier developments and crises, some of which had been instigated or provoked by Germany, whose military and political decision-makers had embarked on Weltmachtpolitik. This intention of securing for Germany a position of dominance both within Europe and ultimately world-wide was at the heart of the origins of the First World War.

The culpability of Germany's political and military leaders can hardly be disputed, and yet the extent of their responsibility for creating a situation that would lead to war is still subject to debate. The importance and dominance of the military in Imperial Germany is almost proverbial, and their responsibility for bringing about war in 1914 can be clearly demonstrated with the help of archival sources that have only recently come to light. These new documents support the thesis that German decision-makers consciously risked war in 1914, in order to improve the country's deteriorating position vis-à-vis her European neighbours. Some of the military went even further in their bellicose designs, and wanted ‘war for war's sake’.