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by merloen 4496 days ago
That is by no means a fact. Nobody expected war in 1914, and most of the Great Powers did not want war. Franz Ferdinand was a force for moderation in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

A lot of domino stones had to fall for WWI to happen. By the way, I can recommend "The War that Ended Peace", excellent book about the causes of WWI.
2 comments
ableal 4496 days ago
> Nobody expected war in 1914

That's not the impression one gets from the popular literature (thriller romances, etc.) of the preceding years. For instance, it is obvious that the English were expecting a naval clash with Germany sooner or later.

What was unexpected was the prolonged slaughter of trench warfare. The previous war of 1870 had been a relatively quick affair ...

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mcv 4496 days ago
Most of the great powers didn't want war, but Germany clearly did. For a single assassination to legitimately trigger a war between Germany and France is silly. It was the trigger, but the tension was already there. They would probably have taken any excuse to go to war.
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