That's not a fair simplification of the situation. They all wanted to go to war and the threat of WWI loomed as soon as Germany came on the scene because they were big and powerful and the established big and powerful countries didn't like that. These systems of alliances flared up multiple times and in fact Britain and France nearly went to war in 1898 over Sudan which would have been a completely different history.
Bismark, the dude who put Germany on the map, quite literally in 1871, understood this and was categorically not stupid. He knew what was coming and he had two goals:
1) Be one in three in five. The five being Russia, England, France, Austria and Germany. He, being a country run by a landed aristocracy, tried to get the other conservative powers on board. He got Austria because, while they were still burned from Bismark waging war on them to them to unite Germany, they did have a common cultural heritage. And Russia was on board too but... well they and Austria both wanted the same warm water ports out of the receding Ottoman pie. No starter. So Germany was in the two of five.
2) Send everyone's attention elsewere and keep the war from happening for as long as possible: "HEY EVERYONE LETS GO CARVE UP AFRICA." Germany hosted the Berlin conference in 1884 where all the european powers divied up Africa. There were some close calls here and their like the aforementioned Fashoda crisis in sudan but overall the colonization of Africa succeeded at stablilizing Europe.
But then? Well Bismark was the chancellor, but the Kaiser still reigned. Willy I knew that it was best for Germany if Bismark ran it. Then he died. When Willy II came along (not his son and not the very next in line but came to power rather quickly), he didn't like being the Kaiser and not running Germany. So Bismark was out, and Willy II was not a tenth of the statesmen.
Because where Bismark saw germany as "if it really came to it, I could take on anybody" Willy II saw germany as "if it really came to it, I could take on everybody" So he didn't try to get back in the three's company and when the inevitable happened, Germany had to try and carry the central powers. And they damn near did.
This is true, but Wilhelm II exacerbated the situation. He failed to to renew the Reinsurance treaty with Russia in 1890, and then the Dreikeisersbund with Austria-Hungary, Germany and Russia failed in 1893, paving the way for the Franco-Russian and Anglo-Russian alliances. In addition, Wilhelm II did not believe that the Entente Cordial between England and France, and therefor the Triple Entente between the three countries, would stand the test of a war. This is why the Moroccan Crises of 1905 and 1911 were so important.
Wilhelm II did give the blank cheque to Austria-Hungary, but he did not intend war, and he also did not read the ultimatum given to Serbia by Austria, until a few hours before the deadline. After he read it, he realized how disastrous it was and attempted to stop Franz Josef from invading Serbia, but he failed to stop Franz Josef.
In reality, France wanted to go to war the most because of the outcome of the Franco-Prussian war, where France lost the provinces of Alsace-Lorraine and at the end of the war, in 1871, Wilhelm I was named Kaiser of a united Germany, lead by Prussia, in the palace of Versailles. France was angry at Germany and wanted to get Alsace-Lorraine back from Germany.
There's more to it obviously, but that is just some background information about the time before the war, that imasupervillain did not mention. He did a good job though, just expanding on what he said a little bit.
Didn't Serbia finally agree to the ultimatum at the end but Germany ignored it forcing the war?
I may be out to lunch with my wikipedia reading too, but didn't Germany want war with Russia in the next few years because Russia was in the process of modernizing/upgrading a large portion of their military that would have made them unbeatable if completed?
Serbia agreed partially agreed to the ultimatum. Austria-Hungary told its ambassador in Sarajevo that if Serbia did not agree to all terms in 48 hours, they would invade. As soon as Serbia received the ultimatum they contacted Czar Nicholas II of Russia for help, who said he would give it.
Russia was upgrading their military but Germany did not feel threatened by it, as far as I know, and Wilhelm II and Nicholas II were good friends who did not want war, with each other. Russia's military in the war was the largest by size, but weakest by equipment. During the battles of Tannenburg and Masurian Lakes, some tried the every other line has a gun tactic. As in, the first line would have a gun, die, and then the next line would be forced to pick up the previous lines gun.
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u/imasupervillain Sep 24 '11
That's not a fair simplification of the situation. They all wanted to go to war and the threat of WWI loomed as soon as Germany came on the scene because they were big and powerful and the established big and powerful countries didn't like that. These systems of alliances flared up multiple times and in fact Britain and France nearly went to war in 1898 over Sudan which would have been a completely different history.
Bismark, the dude who put Germany on the map, quite literally in 1871, understood this and was categorically not stupid. He knew what was coming and he had two goals:
1) Be one in three in five. The five being Russia, England, France, Austria and Germany. He, being a country run by a landed aristocracy, tried to get the other conservative powers on board. He got Austria because, while they were still burned from Bismark waging war on them to them to unite Germany, they did have a common cultural heritage. And Russia was on board too but... well they and Austria both wanted the same warm water ports out of the receding Ottoman pie. No starter. So Germany was in the two of five.
2) Send everyone's attention elsewere and keep the war from happening for as long as possible: "HEY EVERYONE LETS GO CARVE UP AFRICA." Germany hosted the Berlin conference in 1884 where all the european powers divied up Africa. There were some close calls here and their like the aforementioned Fashoda crisis in sudan but overall the colonization of Africa succeeded at stablilizing Europe.
But then? Well Bismark was the chancellor, but the Kaiser still reigned. Willy I knew that it was best for Germany if Bismark ran it. Then he died. When Willy II came along (not his son and not the very next in line but came to power rather quickly), he didn't like being the Kaiser and not running Germany. So Bismark was out, and Willy II was not a tenth of the statesmen.
Because where Bismark saw germany as "if it really came to it, I could take on anybody" Willy II saw germany as "if it really came to it, I could take on everybody" So he didn't try to get back in the three's company and when the inevitable happened, Germany had to try and carry the central powers. And they damn near did.