Do you think that World War 1 could have been avoided in 1914?

Answer 1

Absolutely. No question.

To begin with, the Serbs were in the wrong. You can't just go around assassinating the Heir to the Throne of your next-door neighbor Empire and expect to get away with it, particularly if the Empire is ten times bigger than you are.

Probably the Austro-Hungarian Empire was excessive in its demands on Serbia after the assassination. But they asked for it.

Had others not decided to meddle, the whole thing would have remained a local squabble, with the unfortunate Serbs getting what they deserved for getting too big for their britches.

But the Russians saw themselves as the "Mother of the Slavs". Russia had no alliance or treaty with Serbia that obligated Russia to come to Serbia's aid. But, in one of the worst decisions ever made, the Russians decided to help the Serbs anyway. This led directly to the death of the Russian Imperial Family, and fifty or so million other people too.

Once Russia was involved, France was involved, because Russia DID have an alliance with France. Germany had an alliance with Austria-Hungary, though Austria-Hungary would not have needed German help to deal with Serbia by itself.

Germany had a plan for what to do in the event of war with either Russia or France, because, since they were allies, war with one meant war with both. The plan called for quickly defeating France before Russia could get going, the defeating of France to be accomplished by invading by way of Belgium. Going through Belgium brought Great Britain in against Germany and Austria.

So the Russian decision to intervene took what should have been a local affair and made it a world war.

There were other opportunities for cooler heads to prevail, but they went by hardly noticed.