History II / From 1870 to 1914: Towards the First World War
Practice question · True or false

Historians have reached a settled verdict that Germany deliberately provoked a general war in 1914.

Hints
  1. Ask whether Fischer’s thesis has been accepted without challenge.
  2. Clark and others distribute responsibility differently, and the argument is live.
Show the answer

False

Why

False. Fischer’s 1961 argument for deliberate German responsibility broke a national consensus and remains influential, but Clark’s account in 2012 distributes responsibility across the powers and stresses Serbian and Russian decisions, and other historians weight Russia more heavily. The question is open, and a good answer argues rather than asserts.

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