#67: The First World War - Whose Fault Is It Anyway? Part 1

When Diplomacy Fails Podcast

Zack Twamley

19th Century, 20th Century, International Relations, Politics, Thirty Years' War, Korean War, 18th Century, First World War, Phd, 17th Century, European History, History, War

4.8 • 773 Ratings

🗓️ 7 July 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

By now we've seen the absolute worst that Europe had to offer in 1914. We've seen naive statesmen, misinformed statesmen, distrustful statesmen, desperate statesmen, and everything in between. But when it comes to the question of who was responsible or whose fault the outbreak of war actually was, how can you condense the last 60+ episodes into a coherent, satisfying answer? In this first instalment, we look at Austria-Hungary's clear role in the crisis, whether from pushing for war with Serbia, sabotaging negotiations, or keeping its German ally in the dark. Austria had a lot to answer for, and we are determined to pull no punches!

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, history friend, just before we start this episode, I just wanted to let you know that there is a
0:05.7	Q&A coming for this series. I mean, you can ask whatever questions you want, but if you have a
0:12.7	particular question about the July crisis that you feel I haven't covered or you'd like me to
0:16.9	explore in more detail, make sure to go over to the Facebook group or to go to the
0:22.2	Patreon post. If you're a patron, it should be fairly easy to find, but if you're not,
0:27.3	then the Facebook post is where you should go. I won't be fussy about it. If you can
0:32.0	contact me through email and send me a question or contact me on Blue Sky and send me a question,
0:37.4	then by all means do so.
0:39.2	But we will be covering a lot of these questions, already some really fascinating ones have come in.
0:44.2	So yeah, it didn't feel right to bring our coverage of the July crisis to an end without letting you have a bit of input yourself.
0:51.4	So that's what this Q&A will be for. It'll be coming out in the next few weeks,
0:57.0	so you do have time to get your questions in if you have them. Other than that, thanks for
1:04.0	tuning in and not running a mile after 66 episodes of July crisis content.
1:14.4	We still have a bit more to do, as you can see from this episode.
1:43.3	But otherwise, thanks so much and enjoy. When people ask why the First World War happened, what they often mean is who was responsible, who turned the July crisis into a world war. Which power or statesman stands out today as the true villain of the story?
1:48.1	Is it even possible or reasonable to search for answers to these questions?
1:52.9	Or was there so much going on that those in search of a simple answer will always be disappointed?
1:58.8	You may have found this episode while searching for these answers, or you may have listened
2:02.3	all the way through our July crisis series, and now you want to refresh your memory.
2:07.1	Either way, in the next three episodes, I will be engaging in this search for answers.
2:12.0	These episodes will roughly apportion space to the powers I believe were all to blame in some respect.
2:19.2	Austria, Russia, and Germany each played a pivotal role in fanning the flames towards
	...

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