If only one country were to be blamed for World War 1 which would it be?

Answer 1

==Austria-Hungary== Austria-Hungary. Austria-Hungary's imperialistic ambitions in a recently-liberated Southeastern Europe were both foolhearty and incredibly dangerous. The Southern Slavic peoples had fought brutally against the Turks for their independence and would not trade Muslim-Turkish rule for Catholic Hapsburg rule because most inhabitants of the Balkans were Eastern Orthodox along with several communities of Muslims. Austria-Hungary should have been aware that Russia, ever expanding since the reign of Peter the Great, would make almost any excuse to take a piece out of the weakening Hapsburg empire. While Russia was admittedly weakening as well, Russia's alliances with France and Britain should have made the Austrians much more cautious about risking conflicts with the Russians. International sentiment immediately after Archduke Franz Ferdinand's assassination was pro-Austrian. Had the Austrians declared war on Serbia more swiftly, they might have been able to keep the conflict isolated to Serbia without involving the other great powers. The problem was that the Austrian army was at home helping with the summer harvest and would not be available for a general mobilization for another month. Had Austria moved more swiftly, it might have been able to keep Russia from getting involved and thus triggering the alliance system. Many experts have argued that Germany's unfailing support of Austria was not only a contributing factor to Austria's boldness, but that the Germans may have even been secretly goading the Austrains on in their bid for a hegemony in Southeastern Europe. How much validity this theory holds is open to interpretation. WW 1's beginning is virutally impossible to pin down, or rather the set of circumstances that led to the war are difficult to pin down and very difficult to place all the blame on one country. ***Technically, Austria and Hungary were two separate countries in The Empire of Austria-Hungary.