From what I recall,The European leaders at the time all thought that the War was going to be over in weeks .But since all of the royalty at the time was related their ego’s got a bit ahead of them and there was no willingness to end the war.
After the Germans sank the Lusitania.That was it.It was a fight to the finish.
There was ALL KINDS of willingness to end the war. It's just that all sides intended that end to be a victory for their side. Which obviously couldn't be true for everybody.