That was an excuse, not a trigger for war. War was desired by all parties - at least in the beginning. People celebrated when war started - look up archive pho

That was an excuse, not a trigger for war. War was desired by all parties - at least in the beginning. People celebrated when war started - look up archive photos and movies. Everybody thought that they'll have a nice fight, down a beer at the pub afterwards and be home by Christmas - effectively rehashing the last Prussian war 30 years before. What nobody perceived at that time is technology changed enough to make the war catastrophic, and it took 2 world wars for that perception to sink in.