Verified answer

WW1 was a lot more than just a family quarrell between cousins.

The attitudes of Wilhelm II and Nicholas II helped to push their respective countries towards war. But there were many other factors - French desire for revenge, the military alliance systems, global competition for resources and overseas colonies, german-british naval rivalry, and geo-politics that pushed all the countries towards war.

And then there were the actual 'triggers' of the war - the assasination of Archduke Franz Ferdidnand at Sarajevo, the Austiran desire for revenge, the Russian support of Serbia, the desire of the Ottoman Empire to be a real power in Europe, the U.S entry into the war in 1917 - that actually triggered a world war.

Wilhelm II of Germany was very arrogant, boisterous. He admired and envied his british cousin, George V and the british navy. He loved Britain. But in his desire to imitate Britain, he did not realise that in building a german navy it would threaten Britain. But Wilhelm alone cannot be blamed - many senior German genenrals encouaged Wihlem to go on the offensive and to make Germany a 'world power'.

Nicholas II of Russia was not fit to be a tsar. He was kind and a gentleman - but he had no ideas of his own. He idolized his father, Alexander III and did not realise that Russian ambitions in Europe and the Balkans would lead to a war which a corrupt system could not support.

In the end, the war destroyed everyone.

Wilhelm was the jealous one. George V was ruler of the richest nation, Nicholas was ruler of the largest. Wilhelm wanted germany's 'place in the sun' and he was particularly envious of britain's navy and empire.