Something I found a bit humorous after reading, A Very Short Introduction, was that the whole war sounds like pre-school children playing games. In the beginning, the conflict was mainly between Germany, the Ottoman and Austria-Hungary empires versus Great Britain, France and Russia. However each side was able to guilt old allies into joining the fray.
As the war went on, new allegiances were forged; empires were destroyed, and the countries were economically starting to falter. Now the war was no longer being fought for or by the ‘original players’, but by those who were brought in as reinforcements, while many of the original players were ready to declare a truce as they felt the war, had dragged on too long. However no one wanted to be the one to surrender, especially Germany who now felt that a victory would be in sight. So the war continued and new players; such as America (originally only a bystander), now joined in the battlefield. So the war which was supposed to be ‘over by Christmas’ now dragged on for several years, because no wanted to be the one to give up first.
This is a funny clip of China, Britain, America, and France, it is a great representation of what I was saying in a nutshell-They are all children: