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As nations gear up to mark 100 years since the start of World War One, academic argument still rages over which country was to blame for the conflict.

Education Secretary for England Michael Gove's recent criticism of how the causes and consequences of the war are taught in schools has only stoked the debate further.

Here 10 leading historians give their opinion.

No one nation deserves all responsibility for the outbreak of war, but Germany seems to me to deserve most.

It alone had power to halt the descent to disaster at any time in July 1914 by withdrawing its "blank cheque" which offered support to Austria for its invasion of Serbia.

I'm afraid I am unconvinced by the argument that Serbia was a rogue state which deserved its nemesis at Austria's hands. And I do not believe Russia wanted a European war in 1914 - its leaders knew that it would have been in a far stronger position to fight two years later, having completed its rearmament programme.

The question of whether Britain was obliged to join the European conflict which became inevitable by 1 August is almost a separate issue. In my own view neutrality was not a credible option because a Germany victorious on the continent would never afterwards have accommodated a Britain which still dominated the oceans and global financial system.

Serbia bore the greatest responsibility for the outbreak of WW1. Serbian nationalism and expansionism were profoundly disruptive forces and Serbian backing for the Black Hand terrorists was extraordinarily irresponsible. Austria-Hungary bore only slightly less responsibility for its panic over-reaction to the assassination of the heir to the Habsburg throne.

France encouraged Russia's aggressiveness towards Austria-Hungary and Germany encouraged Austrian intransigence. Britain failed to mediate as it had done in the previous Balkan crisis out of fear of Germany's European and global ambitions - a fear that was not entirely rational since Britain had clearly won the naval arms race by 1910.

The generally positive attitude of European statesmen towards war, based on notions of honour, expectations of a swift victory, and ideas of social Darwinism, was perhaps the most important conditioning factor. It is very important to look at the outbreak of the war in the round and to avoid reading back later developments - the German September Programme for example (an early statement of their war aims) - into the events of July-August 1914.

A handful of bellicose political and military decision-makers in Austria-Hungary, Germany and Russia caused WW1.

Relatively common before 1914, assassinations of royal figures did not normally result in war. But Austria-Hungary's military hawks - principal culprits for the conflict - saw the Sarajevo assassination of the Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife by a Bosnian Serb as an excuse to conquer and destroy Serbia, an unstable neighbour which sought to expand beyond its borders into Austro-Hungarian territories. Serbia, exhausted by the two Balkan wars of 1912-13 in which it had played a major role, did not want war in 1914.

Broader European war ensued because German political and military figures egged on Austria-Hungary, Germany's ally, to attack Serbia. This alarmed Russia, Serbia's supporter, which put its armies on a war footing before all options for peace had been fully exhausted.

This frightened Germany into pre-emptively declaring war on Russia and on Russia's ally France and launching a brutal invasion, partly via Belgium, thereby bringing in Britain, a defender of Belgian neutrality and supporter of France.

WW1 did not break out by accident or because diplomacy failed. It broke out as the result of a conspiracy between the governments of imperial Germany and Austria-Hungary to bring about war, albeit in the hope that Britain would stay out.

After 25 years of domination by Kaiser Wilhelm II with his angry, autocratic and militaristic personality, his belief in the clairvoyance of all crowned heads, his disdain for diplomats and his conviction that his Germanic God had predestined him to lead his country to greatness, the 20 or so men he had appointed to decide the policy of the Reich opted for war in 1914 in what they deemed to be favourable circumstances.

Germany's military and naval leaders, the predominant influence at court, shared a devil-may-care militarism that held war to be inevitable, time to be running out, and - like their Austrian counterparts - believed it would be better to go down fighting than to go on tolerating what they regarded as the humiliating status quo. In the spring of 1914, this small group of men in Berlin decided to make "the leap into the dark" which they knew their support for an Austrian attack on Serbia would almost certainly entail.

The fine-tuning of the crisis was left to the civilian chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, whose primary aim was to subvert diplomatic intervention in order to begin the war under the most favourable conditions possible. In particular, he wanted to convince his own people that Germany was under attack and to keep Britain out of the conflict.

Long before the outbreak of hostilities Prussian-German conservative elites were convinced that a European war would help to fulfil Germany's ambitions for colonies and for military as well as political prestige in the world.

The actual decision to go to war over a relatively minor international crisis like the Sarajevo murder, however, resulted from a fatal mixture of political misjudgement, fear of loss of prestige and stubborn commitments on all sides of a very complicated system of military and political alliances of European states.

In contrast to the historian Fritz Fischer who saw German war aims - in particular the infamous September Programme of 1914 with its far-reaching economic and territorial demands - at the core of the German government's decision to go to war, most historians nowadays dismiss this interpretation as being far too narrow. They tend to place German war aims, or incidentally all other belligerent nations' war aims, in the context of military events and political developments during the war.

Whole libraries have been filled with the riddle of 1914. Was the war an accident or design, inevitable or planned, caused by sleepwalkers or arsonists? To my mind the war was no accident and it could have been avoided in July 1914. In Vienna the government and military leaders wanted a war against Serbia. The immediate reaction to the murder of Franz Ferdinand on 28 June 1914 was to seek redress from Serbia, which was thought to have been behind the assassination plot and which had been threatening Austria-Hungary's standing in the Balkans for some time. Crucially, a diplomatic victory was considered worthless and "odious". At the beginning of July, Austria's decision-makers chose war.

But in order to implement their war against Serbia they needed support from their main ally Germany. Without Germany, their decision to fight against Serbia could not have been implemented. The Berlin government issued a "blank cheque" to its ally, promising unconditional support and putting pressure on Vienna to seize this golden opportunity. Both governments knew it was almost certain that Russia would come to Serbia's aid and this would turn a local war into a European one, but they were willing to take this risk.

Germany's guarantee made it possible for Vienna to proceed with its plans - a "no" from Berlin would have stopped the crisis in its tracks. With some delay Vienna presented an ultimatum to Serbia on 23 July which was deliberately unacceptable. This was because Austria-Hungary was bent on a war and Germany encouraged it because the opportunity seemed perfect. Victory still seemed possible whereas in a few years' time Russia and France would have become invincible. Out of a mixture of desperation and over-confidence the decision-makers of Austria-Hungary and Germany unleashed a war to preserve and expand their empires. The war that ensued would be their downfall.

It is human nature to seek simple, satisfying answers, which is why the German war guilt thesis endures today.

Without Berlin's encouragement of a strong Austro-Hungarian line against Serbia after Sarajevo - the "blank cheque" - WW1 would clearly not have broken out. So Germany does bear responsibility.

But it is equally true that absent a terrorist plot launched in Belgrade the Germans and Austrians would not have faced this terrible choice. Civilian leaders in both Berlin and Vienna tried to "localise" conflict in the Balkans. It was Russia's decision - after Petersburg received its own "blank cheque" from Paris - to Europeanise the Austro-Serbian showdown which produced first a European and then - following Britain's entry - world conflagration. Russia, not Germany, mobilised first.

The resulting war, with France and Britain backing Serbia and Russia against two Central Powers, was Russia's desired outcome, not Germany's. Still, none of the powers can escape blame. All five Great Power belligerents, along with Serbia, unleashed Armageddon.

The war was started by the leaders of Germany and Austria-Hungary. Vienna seized the opportunity presented by the assassination of the archduke to attempt to destroy its Balkan rival Serbia. This was done in the full knowledge that Serbia's protector Russia was unlikely to stand by and this might lead to a general European war.

Germany gave Austria unconditional support in its actions, again fully aware of the likely consequences. Germany sought to break up the French-Russian alliance and was fully prepared to take the risk that this would bring about a major war. Some in the German elite welcomed the prospect of beginning an expansionist war of conquest. The response of Russia, France and later Britain were reactive and defensive.

The best that can be said of German and Austrian leaders in the July crisis is that they took criminal risks with world peace.

In my opinion, it is the political and diplomatic decision-makers in Germany and Austria-Hungary who must carry the burden of responsibility for expanding a localised Balkan conflict into a European and, eventually, global war. Germany, suffering from something of a "younger child" complex in the family of European empires, saw an opportunity to reconfigure the balance of power in their favour via an aggressive war of conquest.

On 5 July 1914 it issued the "blank cheque" of unconditional support to the crumbling Austro-Hungarian Empire (trying to reassert its dominance over the rebellious Serbia), despite the likelihood of this sparking war with Russia, an ally of France and Great Britain. However, Austria-Hungary's actions should not be ignored.

The ultimatum it issued to Serbia on 23 July was composed in such a way that its possibility of being accepted was near impossible. Serbia's rejection paved the way for Austria-Hungary to declare war on 28 July, thus beginning WW1.

The largest share of responsibility lies with the German government. Germany's rulers made possible a Balkan war by urging Austria-Hungary to invade Serbia, well understanding that such a conflict might escalate. Without German backing it is unlikely that Austria-Hungary would have acted so drastically.

They also started wider European hostilities by sending ultimata to Russia and France, and by declaring war when those ultimata were rejected - indeed fabricating a pretext that French aircraft had bombed Nuremberg.

Finally, they violated international treaties by invading Luxemburg and Belgium knowing that the latter violation was virtually certain to bring in Britain. This is neither to deny that there were mitigating circumstances nor to contend that German responsibility was sole.

Serbia subjected Austria-Hungary to extraordinary provocation and two sides were needed for armed conflict. Although the Central Powers took the initiative, the Russian government, with French encouragement, was willing to respond.

In contrast, while Britain might have helped avert hostilities by clarifying its position earlier, this responsibility - even disregarding the domestic political obstacles to an alternative course - was passive rather than active.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

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World War One: 10 interpretations of who started WW1

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As nations gear up to mark 100 years since the start of World War One, academic argument still rages over which country was to blame for the conflict. Education Secretary for England Michael Gove's recent criticism of how the causes and consequences of the war are taught in schools has only stoked the debate further.

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28 June 1914

Assassination of Franz Ferdinand

The Balkan states of Bosnia and Herzegovina, had been annexed from Turkey and taken into the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This was strongly resented by many Serbs and Croats and a nationalist group, The Black Hand, was formed.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, and his wife, had decided to inspect Austro-Hungarian troops in Bosnia. The date chosen for the inspection was a national day in Bosnia. The Black Hand supplied a group of students with weapons for an assassination attempt to mark the occasion.

A Serbian nationalist student, Gavrilo Princip, assassinated the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, when their open car stopped at a corner on its way out of the town.

28 July 1914

Austria declared war on Serbia

The Austrian government blamed the Serbian government for the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and his wife and declared war on Serbia.

Although Russia was allied with Serbia, Germany did not believe that she would mobilise and offered to support Austria if necessary.

However, Russia did mobilise and, through their alliance with France, called on the French to mobilise.

late 1914

Early stages of the war

The German advance through Belgium to France did not go as smoothly as the Germans had hoped. The Belgians put up a good fight destroying railway lines to slow the transport of German supplies.

Despite a French counter-attack that saw the deaths of many Frenchmen on the battlefields at Ardennes, the Germans continued to march into France. They were eventually halted by the allies at the river Marne.

British troops had advanced from the northern coast of France to the Belgian town of Mons. Although they initially held off the Germans, they were soon forced to retreat.

The British lost a huge number of men at the first battle of Ypres.

By Christmas, all hopes that the war would be over had gone and the holiday saw men of both sides digging themselves into the trenches of theWestern Front.

1 June 1916

Battle of Jutland

The British and German naval forces met again but the battle was inconclusive. The German ships did a great deal of damage to British ships before once again withdrawing and the British Admiral Jellicoe decided not to give chase.

Although British losses were heavier than the German, the battle had alarmed both the Kaiser and the German Admiral Scheer and they decided to keep their fleet consigned to harbour for the remainder of the war.

This article is part of our extensive collection of articles on the Great War. Click here to see our comprehensive article on World War 1.

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28 June 1914 Assassination of Franz Ferdinand The Balkan states of Bosnia and Herzegovina, had been annexed from Turkey and taken into the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This was strongly resented by many Serbs and Croats and a nationalist group, The Black Hand, was formed.

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How World War I Started: Crash Course World History 209

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WW1 Facts for Kids

World War 1 is still taught in schools today and this important historical event has a lot of interesting events and facts that need to be remembered. The below facts and information cover the most important events in World War 1 as they happened, and why the war began in the first place.

World War 1 began on July 28, 1914. The conflict lasted four years, three months and 14 days, ending on November 11, 1918.

The war began because of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. He was heir to throne of Austria-Hungary and his death was the immediate cause of WW1. Click this link to find out more about how World War 1 began.

There were two sides in the war. The Triple Ententes (also known as The Allies) were Britain, France, Ireland and Russia. The Central Powers were Germany and Austria-Hungary.

Italy originally sided with the Central Powers. They were part of a Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary but they did not enter the way because their alliance was supposed to be defensive, but Germany and Austria-Hungary had took the offensive and declared war.

Later, Italy joined WW1 on the side of the Triple Entente. They declared war on Austria-Hungary in May, 1915 and Germany in August, 1916.

World War 1 has many different names. It was called The Great War, the World War, the War to End all Wars, World War 1, WW1, the War of the Nations and more.

America joined World War I on April 6, 1917. This was because a German submarine had sunk a British passenger ship, Lusitania, that killed 1,195 passengers. 128 of those were American citizens and the people were outraged - putting pressure on the U.S. government to declare war. The President, Woodrow Wilson, wanted a peaceful end but the Germans announced that they would sink any ship that approached Britain. This was when President Wilson entered the war to help restore peace to Europe.

Over 8 million soldiers died in World War 1, and another 21 million injured. A staggering 65 million soldiers were mobilized during the war.

Chemical weapons were first used in WW1. Using poison gas was considered a war crime, but tear gas wasn't considered to be a conflict by the troops. The Germans were the firs to use lethal gases when they used a chlorine gas attack. Later they also developed and used the most effective gas of the First World War - mustard gas. The British were shocked at the German use of poison gas, but developed their own gas warfare to retaliate.

The U.S. were only in combat for 7 months. During this time, around 116,000 soldiers were killed and 204,000 were injured.

In 1918 the German citizens began striking and demonstrating against the war. The people were starving and the economy was collapsing because British navy boats were blocking all the German ports. This led to the people protesting to try and end the war.

German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II stepped down on November 9, 1918. The leaders of both sides of the war met at Compiegne, France and the peace armistice was signed on November 11, 1918.

WW1 officially ended on June 28, 1919. This was exactly five years since the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. The armistice on November 11, 1918 ended the fighting, but it took another six months to negotiate peace before the Treaty of Versailles could be prepared.

The Treaty of Versailles had a lot of requirements. Germany had to accept full responsibility for causing World War I. Also, they had to surrender some of it's territories and colonies, and limit the size of its military.

A League of Nations was also formed to prevent future wars. It helped Europe to rebuild after WW1 and 53 nations had joined by 1923. The U.S. Senate refused to let the United States join and President Woodrow Wilson, who actually established the league, suffered a nervous breakdown - spending the rest of his term as an invalid.

In 1926, Germany also joined the League of Nations. Many Germans were resentful of the harsh conditions of the Treaty of Versailles and Germany and Japan both withdrew from the League of Nations in 1933. Italy also withdrew in 1936.

The League of Nations could not stop Germany, Italy and Japan from expanding their power. They took over smaller countries and many believe that World War 1 didn't really end and World War 2 was an extension of it.

Unbelievable Facts about World War 1

You might have known the basics of World War 1, how it started, who was involved and some of the facts listed above. Below, we have some really interesting and unbelievable facts about WW1 that you probably didn't already know.

British Army generals were banned from going "over the top". A stereotype of the war was that people high up in the military were afraid to fight and used the ordinary soldiers instead. Actually, there were so many British generals that wanted to fight they had to be banned. This was because if they were killed, the experience of a general would be lost and make it more difficult to fight the war.

9 out of 10 British soldiers survived. In World War I most British soldiers moved around the trench system constantly and were not very often in the firing line. Their lives in WW1 would have been quite boring, with lots of routine jobs and duties.

Blood banks were first used in WW1. Blood transfusions were used routinely to treat injured soldiers - transferring blood from one soldier to another. U.S. Army doctor Captain Oswald Johnson established a blood bank on the Western Front in 1917. Blood was kept on ice for up to 28 days using sodium citrate to prevent it from coagulating and becoming unusable.

The youngest British soldier was just 12 years old. A boy called Sidney Lewis lied about his age so that he could join the war and fight for his country. He was one of 250,000 underage soldiers and many of them lied so that they could enlist. Most did it because they love their country, and some to escape their poor lives.

Plastic surgery was invented because of the First World War. Surgeon Harold Gillies helped shrapnel victims who had terrible facial injuries with one of the earliest examples of plastic surgery. The twisted metal caused many facial injuries that were far worse than a straight-line wound of a bullet. The techniques used by Dr Gillies pioneered the techniques for facial reconstructive surgery.

Over 12 million letters were delivered to the front line every week. It took only 2 days for a later to be deliver from Britain to France - even during the war. In Regent's Park, London, a mail office was built to send letters to the trenches. Over 2 billion letters and 114 million parcels were sent by the time the war ended.

Journalists risked their lives to report on WW1. Journalists were banned from reporting because the British Government wanted to control the information from the trenches and the War Office actually considered reporting on it as helping the enemy. If caught, a journalist would face the death penalty. Despite this, a handful of journalists did report on the war to show the harsh conditions the soldiers faced.

A battlefield explosion in France was heard in England. The majority of WW1 was fought in muddy trenches but one group of miners dug underground tunnels to detonate mines behind enemy trenches. One mine, in Messines Ridge in Belgium, detonated 900,000lbs of explosives and completely destroyed the German front line. This explosion was so loud and so powerful that the British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, heard it all the way back in Downing Street, London - 140 miles away.

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World War 1: Facts & Information for Kids - History for Kids

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WW1 Facts for Kids World War 1 is still taught in schools today and this important historical event has a lot of interesting events and facts that need to be remembered. The below facts and information cover the most important events in World War 1 as they happened, and why the war began in the [...]