The sad thing was that the articles were not entirely incorrect… Kaiser Willhelm was incredibly reluctant to go to war and had to be convinced by his generals after the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. the expansive military industrial complex left over from the reign of Otto von Bismarck resulted in an overly powerful military faction within the German government that wanted to see an expansion of its borders and increase its sphere of influence. as part of this, and in alliance with Austria, Germany and Austro-Hungaria wanted access to the mineral riches and trade access of Serbia, which is similarly what the Russians were after. The Russians use this as a justification to engage in hostilities, claiming they were supporting Serbian independence, while the Germans and Austro Hungarians, Fearing Russian expansionism, sought to flex their military might to oppose the Russians. This led to the Russians calling upon France, Germany’s powerful enemy to the west, (cont.)
to engage the Germans on a second front, and the Germans, seeking to avoid French fortifications, decided to attack them through Belgium, which brought in the already pressured British who Sought to honor their alliances with Belgium and France, And in the next four years you had weird ass bullshit like Australians fighting the Turks in Gallipoli because an Austrian was shot by a Serbian.
all of this could very well have been avoided if Kaiser Wilhelm head stuck to his guns about not bringing Germany into the fight, but he was pressured by the military and begrudgingly agreed to condone Germany’s entrance into the war. had Germany not agreed, Austria may very well have not gone ahead, the Russians may very well have held back, and nothing else would’ve happened. Serbia would’ve paid reparations and that would’ve been that. At least, that’s my take. We’ll never know, unfortunately.
all of this could very well have been avoided if Kaiser Wilhelm head stuck to his guns about not bringing Germany into the fight, but he was pressured by the military and begrudgingly agreed to condone Germany’s entrance into the war. had Germany not agreed, Austria may very well have not gone ahead, the Russians may very well have held back, and nothing else would’ve happened. Serbia would’ve paid reparations and that would’ve been that. At least, that’s my take. We’ll never know, unfortunately.
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(TITLE FROM REDDIT r/HistoryMemes)