WWI began because of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. There still would have been a war.
Not if the Brits told the French and Belgians to ‘flip off’.
Screw the French, would things have been any worse if the Germans defeated the French in 1914? Heck, we might never have had to deal with Vietnam.
Britain was not about to do that because Belgium was trying to remain neutral, but Germany invaded it anyway, violating the Treaty of London. Britain wasn't about to allow Germany to take control of the coast and waterways leading into Europe. Germany began bombing London on May 31, 1915, and continued until the summer before the war ended.