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Austria-Hungary gave a list of 10 ultimatums to Serbiab in Juky of 1914. Serbia acquiesced to all but the sixth—which would have allowed Austria-Hungary to use their police and judiciary into Serbia to conduct the investigation into the Archduke’s assassination. As a sovereign state, Serbia could not permit that. They knew it would lead to a war they would lose but decided standing up for themselves would be the better road and that Europe would see the demand as unreasonable and sort it out.

The alliances were already in place and war with Serbia precipitated war with Russia which begat war with Germany and begat war with France. Britain jumped in with Belgian nuetrality violated when Germany marched through it to deliver a right hook into France.

Nobody expectated the ruinous war that followed. Nor expected that the conditions that finally ended it would set the stage for the next.

Any nation could have said “Stop! Let’s sort this out…” And no doubt they would have if they had any idea what outdated tactics against modern weapons would do. I’m somewhat surprised that the interelated royal families on both sides didn’t put a stop to it. Maybe I shouldn’t be.

"What’s tragic is that war made little sense. It was fighting for fighting’s sake...."

At the time it often was called "The Cousin's War," a family squabble that spread across the world. If I'm counting right, seven of the beligerents in the war were ruled by a descendant of either Queen Victoria of England and/or King Christian IX of Denmark.

First World War
During the First World War (1914–1918), many monarchs of countries from both sides were closely related due to their mutual descent from either Queen Victoria, King Christian IX or both. The most commonly cited example is the fact that George V of the United Kingdom, William II, German Emperor and Tsarina Alexandra Fyodorovna of Russia were all first cousins via Queen Victoria. Other countries who fought against William II in addition to Russia and the United Kingdom include Romania, whose queen-consort was Marie of Edinburgh, and Greece, whose queen-consort was William's sister Sophia of Prussia. Constantine I of Greece and Nicholas II of Russia, the husbands of Sophia of Prussia and Alix of Hesse respectively, were also first cousins of George V of the United Kingdom as grandsons of King Christian IX. Other first cousins of George V of the United Kingdom, whose countries were neutral during the war, were Christian X of Denmark, Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg (queen-consort of Spain) and Haakon VII of Norway (who was married to George's sister Maud of Wales).

https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/8253260#First_World_War