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 dest