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Srlojohn t1_jbt9xz7 wrote

Reply to comment by Cacachuli in Kaiser Wilhelm II, 1913. by Salem1690s

Except he didn’t start it. A serbian terrorist group started it and Germany was obligated to join and France was obligated to ally against them. Britian got involved when Germany swung through Belgium to get to France.

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Cacachuli t1_jbted62 wrote

There were many ways what started as a regional conflict could have been deescalated. Wilhelm was the primary reason it wasn’t.

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Enki_realenki t1_jbz87op wrote

Historians say, that if he wouldn't have started it, the Brits or Russians would probably have started it a few years later. Waging wars to gain something was common practice among nations back then.

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Cacachuli t1_jbz8wru wrote

Not really. The British focused on their colonies and only involved themselves in continental affairs when they had to. The Russians had plenty of challenges at home. The Bolsheviks took over in just a few years.

The Germans, on the other hand, had recently unified and had just gone to war and annexed large bits of France and Denmark and Poland. Germany was expansionist at the time. The other major powers were not.

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Enki_realenki t1_jbzaq21 wrote

They were certainly not to back down. Germany ensured Austria their support against Serbia and Russia. Russia ensured support to Serbia and France ensured their support to Russia.

I think it is not that easy to blame just one side. All Nations were not exactly keen on sending out peace diplomats.

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Luke_zuke t1_jbtnr46 wrote

Yeah, sorry for my bad history. A Serbian terrorist group mobilized millions of Europeans to be slaughtered by machine guns and artillery.

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Srlojohn t1_jbtvcji wrote

He started a war that triggered a web of alliances that had been in place since the 1800s.

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