Hello,
sorry for being OT, WW1 and such, but this is really interesting - while i always thought to know why WW2 began, the First world war and its beginnings is somehow foggy to me. Sarajevo, yes, but I realized that some historical background was never taught in school here in Germany after WW2, maybe due to the reeducation project, or because the good post war germans wanted some distance to their/our predecessors. And then there was the cold war ...
Kaiser Bill may not have been too intelligent, or witty, but he was also let down by his own advisors - and he himself certainly had let go Bismarck, what was described as "the pilot leaving the ship", which was even translated and printed in the british "Punch".
But after all it was obvious Germany would have had no chance in fighting a two-front war against Russia AND France, so the Schlieffen-plan seemed the only solution - fight France and win as soon as possible, and hold the lines in the east until men from the west become available. It did not turn out that way as we all know.
The British Expeditional Forces were tough, and even if a prussian general (Clausewitz?) had said any army needs a ratio of 3 to 1 to attack anyone successfully, the even much bigger german army did not succeed instantly, and got the first impression of what was to come. Moscowexile, please accept my utmost respect for your great grandfather having fought in this war.
As Moscowexile wrote even before the first battles in the north there was already the french armies who tried to get back the Alsace region they had lost in the prussian-french war of 1871, but they failed here, and left a big gap in the north.
Regarding the Royal Empire it had an uprising rival in Germany, which needed a fleet to support and control its own colonies in Africa, and Asia. There was a real conflict trade-wise, with the invented "Made in England" sign that should represent quality and such, but the products "Made in Germany" suddenly surpassed those products, maybe because Germany had a technological advantage with dynamoes and other technical products back then.
Additionally Germany was building the Baghdad - railway, which would have connected Germany directly to its african colonies, and which the British tried to interrupt, not without success if you think of "Lawrence of Arabia". With a functional railway the Suez canal would have been almost useless.
Anyway Germany's cannon-boat politics were not so successful as what the British Empire or the US did - certainly lack of experience in running overseas countries politically. My personal theory is that our Kaiser was angry for he was not wanted becoming a member of the British Royal Yacht Club - hence his own huge fleet
Greetings,
Catfish