[steve-b]

War, unlike tango, does not require two. It only requires one who is sufficiently pushy. That would be the French.

Er, the objective fact is that the Germans launched the invasion of France in 1914, not vice versa.

One might argue that the Germans were responding to French "pushiness", just as one might argue that the 9-11 Massacre was a response to American "imperialism". In either case, you'd better get your weight down to the point where it can be supported by the tensile strength of straws.

[Goetz_von_Berlichingen]

Strictly speaking, the French launched an invasion of Germany, with the first battle taking place on 7 August, 1914. The Battle of Muhlhausen.

In any case, diplomatic cause and effect occur often behind the scenes, so the person who fires the first shot is not necessarily the one is responsible for the war.

The French minister to St. Petersburg assured the Tsar that he could mobilise the Russian army while the French threat would prevent Germany from supporting Austria. Had a person like Bismarck been in charge of German policy, there is a good chance that this is the way things would have turned out. In such a scenario, Russia could have dismembered Austria-Hungary, annexed the eastern Slavic portions, and left Deutsch-Oesterriech, Bohemia and Moravia to Prussia.

Such an outcome would have been entirely consistent with Bismarckian policy.