As I have constantly stated the origins of the First World War are complex, and as the original post demonstrated different historians have varying opinions and observations - I have been privileged enough to sit listening to their arguments. Alsace-Loraine to many is a side issue, and the Balkan wars of 1912 and 1913 are the crucial issue. The "Third Balkan War" which should have been kept a local conflict was allowed to develop into a full scale war by extremely poor diplomacy in the July of 1914. As I stated before, Russia's mobilization heightened the tensions, and coupled with the flawed diplomatic process going on around Europe, Germany acted and furthered the by then unstoppable path to full scale war.
Britain however could have stayed out of it all, but the aforementioned bad diplomacy resulted in terrible miscalculations in especially Berlin of what Britain would do, and just worsened an already awful situation. Britain put itself in the thick of it on August 4th 1914 by declaring war on Germany and mobilizing it's military forces, including a small standing army that was not ready for modern warfare. The German army was. All this was in the midst of political confusion in London, with emotions running high, and various cabinet ministers resigning over this progress into a war they could not agree to, although in principle Britain would support France in any conflict. Confusion led to telegrams being sent threatening war, and then being amended after the Foreign Office received false information of war being declared on Britain by Germany. A complete mess ended the awful diplomatic events of the last 13 days and Europe found itself at war. 
Thanks for chatting Lizzie, I really enjoyed 
Laszlo
Thanks, so did I Laszlo!
It is great to have a chat about history with someone who obviously enjoys it all as much as me!
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Topic: Which countries were responsible for WWI? (Read 3340 times)