re: Knowing What we Know now, does Gavrilo Princip pull the Trigger?

quote:

---

This.

There had not been a major European war in some time (not since Prussia pushed France's shite in in 1870, giving rise to Germany) and they were itching to rumble.

---

While there were some who saw war as a chance to gain everything from glory to financial and territorial gain, the main players, namely the monarchs of Germany & Russia, pleaded with one another right up until the last moments to pull back from the brink of war.

LINK

The problem was that Germany supported Austria-Hungary in the matter of Austria going to war with Serbia over the assassination of the Crown Prince. But the Germans saw this as a matter between just Austria-Hungary & Serbia and wanted Russia to stay out of it. The Russians on the other hand were not about to let Austria-Hungary gain any more power in the Balkans which the Russians saw as being in their sphere of influence due to the Slavic populations there. And once Russia's ally France stepped in and gave Russia assurances they'd stand with Russia if it came to war in the defense of Serbia, Russia's mind was made up. If Austria-Hungary went to war with Serbia, Russia would go to war against Austria-Hungary.