What is the best summary for this cartoon?
World War I resulted from a "chain reaction" involving many nations.
An ignoble [not noble] war has been declared to a weak country. The indignation [outrage] in Russia shared fully by me is enormous. I foresee that very soon I shall be overwhelmed by the pressure forced upon me and be forced to take extreme measures which will lead to war. To try and avoid such a calamity as a European war I beg you in the name of our old friendship to do what you can to stop your allies from going too far.
-Telegram from Tsar Nicholas II
to German Kaiser Wilhelm II,
1914
What best describes the tsar's viewpoint?
He worries that Russia will be forced into war by forces outside his control.
Background information: When the war was over, Germany was forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles, and take full responsibility for starting the war. This excerpt is part of Germany's response to that treaty.
It is demanded of us that we shall confess ourselves to be alone guilty of the war. Such a confession from my lips would be a lie. We are far from declining all responsibility for the fact that this great World War took place or that it was fought in the way that it was . . . But we energetically deny that Germany and its people, who were convinced that they fought a war of defense, were alone guilty. No one would want to assert that the disaster began only at that disastrous moment when the successor of Austria-Hungary fell a victim to murderous hands.
In the last fifty years, the imperialism of all European states has chronically poisoned international relations. Policies of retaliation, policies of expansion, and disregard for the right of peoples to determine their own destiny, have contributed to the European malady which came to a crisis in the World War. The mobilization of Russia deprived statesmen of the opportunity of curing the disease, and placed the issue in the hands of the military powers.
-Count Brockdorff-Rantzau,
1919
According to the excerpt, what were the causes of World War I?
