Germany should be mainly held accountable for the outbreak of World War 1 in 1914. However, one cannot ignore that fact that it was also due to the involvement of numerous other countries which lead to blood shed all over Europe. During 1870, French military declared war on Prussia marking the beginning of World War 1. However, in my opinion there were other incidents that provoked World War 1 and must be held responsible for the World War 1. Thus Germany cannot be fully held accountable for the World War 1. In addition it was the greed for power that dragged Germany into the World War 1. Moreover Germany is mainly to blame due to its lust for gaining power over most of the Europe, their web of alliances, their intense militarism, nationalism and imperialism which makes them the most accountable country for the World War 1. .
Franco-Prussian war in 1870 was one of the major causes of World War 1, resulting in France being overthrown, humiliated and isolated. In addition to that Germany took over some of the French territory (Alsace-Lorrine). This action of taking over caused major commotion between Germany and France because France wanted Alsace-Lorriane back. To accomplish this a French man named Joffre and the French army executed a plan in 1913 called Plan XVII. However the plan was never implemented due to financial instability. France was very heavily hit by Germany and invested all they had in the first war therefore, when they lost the war they could not recover financially and could not start another war. This upset the French people to core, irritated by their defeat, this maybe the reason for First World War. In addition too much patriotism led to people thinking and acting irrationally whereas, they should have looked ahead figured that if they were to take any actions it would only harm their nation because they were already weakened and could not afford to invest and lose any other resources they had available.
