Grishka, having opened your link and read your post I can only surmise that you must have copied the wrong article in your link:

"Pure Hastings. Note in particular that his world starts in July 1914, and the only alternative he considers is Britain suddenly opting out of the war."

1: July 1914 is not mentioned at all - the "trigger", the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June 1914 quite naturally is.

2: The German Schlieffen Plan is alluded to in the following:

"He also argues that once the Germans decided to invade France through neutral Belgium, it was impossible for Britain, mindful of its own position within Europe and a guarantor of the small state's neutrality, to simply stand by."

So in reality, as some details of the Plan were leaked, then here is a reference that means that "Pure Hastings" world as far as this programme goes starts in 1905.

3: Completely missed the bit that you obviously invented where Hastings offers the opinion that Britain could simply opt out of the war - Where did Hastings say that? Rhetorical question Grishka - He didn't say anything even remotely like that - So you revert to the tactic of attributing to him things that he never said (Hardly fair - or honest).

4: "The simple logic is "the enemy was evil, so we must have been right" ... and will be right in all future wars, since evil influential people will be found in all countries, if we decide to search for them."

Haven't a clue where this came from? In the context of what was stated in the link you provided the sentence quoted above is the most idiotic and simplistic thing I think I have ever read in connection with any historical event.

At what point does Max Hastings identify any of the participants as being "evil"? Rhetorical question Grishka - He doesn't.

Anyone who has studied the history of the British isles going all the way back to the time of Alfred the Great of Wessex would have been able to state what was in Britain's best interest as perceived by those in government at the time in response to the events of that summer in 1914. That, allied to Britain's treaty obligations to Belgium did mean that the First World War was completely unavoidable.