[WhiskeyPapa]

If it were left up to the Tsar and Kaiser Wilhelm, there probably would not have been a war at all.

I dunno. Kaiser Bill couldn't wait to get it on.

Walt

[steve-b]

My recollection is that Bismarck got canned for, essentially, trying to talk Kaiser Bill into making policy based on rational thought instead of overcompensation for his bad arm.

[Goetz_von_Berlichingen]

This has been the English party line since 1914. Recent historiography (see The Pity of War by Niall Ferguson. Basic Books, 1998.) suggests the opposite.

The myth of German war guilt gave the western allies lots of leverage to bring the U.S. into the war. It also provided a moral justification for the peace that was dictated afterwards.