It’s certainly been argued that WWI was inevitable, as the European powers were spoiling for a fight and everyone had an itchy trigger finger. That tends to be the view I agree with; if Archduke Franz Ferdinand hadn’t been assassinated, another incident (most likely in the Balkans) would have served as a sufficient excuse to launch an all-out European war.
And yep....we’re still dealing with the hangover from WWI. Truly a war that changed the world.
While I agree that all sides were itching for war, I disagree that they wanted one of the “all out” variety. The real tragedy of WWI was that no one understood what the industrialization of warfare meant.
The Austrians thought they could re-fight the Balkans Wars of 1912-1913, with their armies participating in the fight this time. The Germans thought they could re-fight the Franco-Prussian War. The French thought the same, but they thought they could win it this time. The Russians thought they could do better than they had in the Russo-Japanese War. The British hoped it would be no worse than the First Boer War. All of these conflicts lasted under one year each.
WWI was the last of the old style “Stratego” style wars where monarchs fought like they were playing a board game. There had not been a devastating continental war in Europe since Napoleon, and when it happened again the killing was with assembly line efficiency.
WWII was insane, but WWI was just plain stupid.