The war happened anyway, in spite of the best intentions and actions to prevent it. T he actions of the various governments were reactions to events that they had tried their best to prevent. They did not make a full-blown effort to convince their people of the need for war, until the war had already begun. Had the war been intentional on the part of Germany or any other entity, there would have been plans in place to gain the support of the people long before August 1, 1914.
Only Germany had such a plan in place. However, this does not mean that they started the war intentionally. It might mean that they saw it coming and wanted to be prepared. In the end, only the players know what their motives were on any particular day. The reactionary nature of the actions in the beginning days of the war lend support to Taylor's supposition that the first World War was a big accident involving many players and bad timing.
Works Cited
Primary Sources
The Treaty of Versailles (1919), esp. Article 231, http://net.lib.byu.edu/~rdh7/wwi/versailles.html
Memorandum of Prince Karl Max Lichnowsky (1914)
Secondary Sources
Davis, H.W.C. The Genesis of the War. The English Historical...
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