... gave way to an epoch of world wars the question of whose fault it was is trivial."1 Germany may have indeed seemed the aggressor in the immediate crisis of relations between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. However, if we look at international relations between the powers in the prior to July 1914 we can see that there are a number of factors contributing to the outbreak of the war. By the time that war broke out, Europe was divided into two distinct alliance blocs; the Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy and the Triple Entente between Britain, France and Russia. It has been suggested by many historians that the powers had manoeuvred themselves into a situation where some sort of conflict was inevitable. Germany had originally allied with Austria-Hungary in 1892 to ensure that Russia attempted closer relations with her but this failed leading Russia to ally with France in the Franco-Russian ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now