For a good analysis of the issues behind the scenes that led to WW I, I suggest "Dreadnaught," by Robert K Massie, 1991. The war was a much a family fight as it was a matter of alliances and ideologies. The fact that many of the power structures that were in place at the beginning of the war had disappeared by the end of the war is an unforseen result, not a plan. Even so, anyone committing to war should remember what happened around 500 BC. A general/emperor asked a seer what would happen if the met the defending general/emperor on the field of battle the following morning. The seer responded that a great empire would be destroyed. The invader did not realize it would be his own.