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** To add to the mess, the war itself was, in all likelihood, inevitable: nobody had thought very hard when signing mutual defense treaties saying that "If somebody declares war on X, we will declare war on them." [[Hilarity Ensues|Hilarity,]] [[Black Humor|of a sort,]] [[Hilarity Ensues|Ensued]] when somebody actually finally ''did'' follow through with their treaty obligation to do just that, a dead guy's war plans went into effect automatically, and there's some evidence for the theory that the US was dragged in because some people in Europe felt that it wasn't fair to let the US stay out of the party. That probably counts as 'ignorance' of a sort, given that it could have easily enough backfired horribly.
** To add to the mess, the war itself was, in all likelihood, inevitable: nobody had thought very hard when signing mutual defense treaties saying that "If somebody declares war on X, we will declare war on them." [[Hilarity Ensues|Hilarity,]] [[Black Humor|of a sort,]] [[Hilarity Ensues|Ensued]] when somebody actually finally ''did'' follow through with their treaty obligation to do just that, a dead guy's war plans went into effect automatically, and there's some evidence for the theory that the US was dragged in because some people in Europe felt that it wasn't fair to let the US stay out of the party. That probably counts as 'ignorance' of a sort, given that it could have easily enough backfired horribly.
** In everyone's defence, the Italo-Turkish war and the two Balkan wars were all mostly settled within weeks, and it too would have been if it wasn't for the Marne victory. A quick war was not an unlikely event. It just didn't happen.
** In everyone's defence, the Italo-Turkish war and the two Balkan wars were all mostly settled within weeks, and it too would have been if it wasn't for the Marne victory. A quick war was not an unlikely event. It just didn't happen.
**Then too it almost was [[Home by Christmas|over by Christmas]] and if the Great Powers had decided to call it a day and start negotiating then it would have been considered a bloodier redo of the Wars of Unification rather then "The Great War". In a way the problem was that the Germans were both to successful and not successful enough; they hadn't overthrown the French government but it was almost impossible to let what they had won pass without a getting up for another round. Sort of as if the bully set out to take your little brother's lunch and ended up breaking his arm. It automatically becomes harder for you to avoid fighting him and therefore harder for him to avoid fighting you.
* A ''very'' controversial theory, put forward by the British historian [[AJP Taylor]], suggests that [[Adolf Hitler]] was ''not'' the evil scheming mastermind who had filed on his plans for world domination since the "Beer Hall Putsch" (as described in a certain piece of prison literature called ''Mein Kampf''), but instead was a more or less buffoonish opportunist, who initially never thought of actually pulling through any of his ”world domination schemes" (i.e. the invasion of Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, France, Soviet Union, etc).
* A ''very'' controversial theory, put forward by the British historian [[AJP Taylor]], suggests that [[Adolf Hitler]] was ''not'' the evil scheming mastermind who had filed on his plans for world domination since the "Beer Hall Putsch" (as described in a certain piece of prison literature called ''Mein Kampf''), but instead was a more or less buffoonish opportunist, who initially never thought of actually pulling through any of his ”world domination schemes" (i.e. the invasion of Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, France, Soviet Union, etc).
:According to Taylor, Hitler was a small fish in the big pond who got real lucky with his new title of "chancellor", and actually tried to [[Metaphorgotten|weasel]] his way up as he swam with the stream, and that it was not until Britain and France had demonstrated their lack of stamina in enforcing the Versailles Treaty towards Germany that Hitler decided he could go even a step further and become more bratty. For Instance, when he attempted to remilitarise the initially demilitarised Rhine area (whose demilitarisation was in return surveilled by France), he sent over troops on ''bikes and horses'', just in case the French retaliated and he needed to make a speedy retreat. When they didn't, he simply tested the patience of the Entente nations all the way to the invasion of Czechoslovakia and finally of Poland, when France and Britain finally declared war, realising that they had missed too many opportunities to stand up to Germany rather than appease. [[Sarcasm Mode|Thank you very much indeed]], [[Neville Chamberlain]].
:According to Taylor, Hitler was a small fish in the big pond who got real lucky with his new title of "chancellor", and actually tried to [[Metaphorgotten|weasel]] his way up as he swam with the stream, and that it was not until Britain and France had demonstrated their lack of stamina in enforcing the Versailles Treaty towards Germany that Hitler decided he could go even a step further and become more bratty. For Instance, when he attempted to remilitarise the initially demilitarised Rhine area (whose demilitarisation was in return surveilled by France), he sent over troops on ''bikes and horses'', just in case the French retaliated and he needed to make a speedy retreat. When they didn't, he simply tested the patience of the Entente nations all the way to the invasion of Czechoslovakia and finally of Poland, when France and Britain finally declared war, realising that they had missed too many opportunities to stand up to Germany rather than appease. [[Sarcasm Mode|Thank you very much indeed]], [[Neville Chamberlain]].
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