Before the rise of Germany, France was “Germany,” the scary power always determined to expand.
I don’t think Britain and Germany should have allied against France, but peace in 1914 depended on Britain and Germany working together and on Russia, Austria-Hungary and Germany cooperating with each other. Some of the failure was Britain’s fault, but Germany and Austria were also foolish and reckless.
Austria dragged Germany into it.
The Kaiser really didn’t want it, but he had too many of his generals itching for a fight with Russia, because it was a case of “Now Or Never”, with Russia quickly modernizing.