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I blame primarily the Russians among the Great Powers for starting the war. They had no defense treaty with Serbia whose state sponsored terrorism had drawn down the wrath of the Hapsburg Empire - yet despite that they clamored for war. Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany spoke with his cousin the Tsar and after he explained Germany could not allow the Russians to fully mobilize along his border without having to go to war (Germany’s only Defense was its ability to mobilize faster....allowing the Russians a head start would have rendered Germany defenseless in the Germans’ estimation) the Tsar assured the Kaiser he would only partially mobilize along the Hapsburg border.

Then the Russian generals told him they had no plan for partial mobilization. Yet Russia demanded war so the Tsar agreed to full scale mobilization. How does anybody think that looked to the Germans?....like the Russians had deliberately lied to them and were planning war with Germany too all along. When the Germans then asked the French if they would mobilize to attack Germany due to their treaty with Russia when it was the Russians who were starting the war, the French responded that they “would have to consult their interests”....ie that yes indeed, they would attack Germany.

That lit the fuse.

Of course, the Serbs are the ones whose government supported the terrorists even providing them the Browning model 1910 pistols they used to carry out the assassination. It’d be like the Cubans assassinating the President-Elect. Obviously no country is going to tolerate that. We wouldn’t.