So I have just wrapped up the above text as part of my required readings for a university course (if this would fall under the "homework help" rule, mods please message me and I will amend the question immediately).

Considering our professor emphasized the readings quite heavily over the course of the semester I was wondering if someone with more knowledge regarding the time period could help me 'connect the dots', so to speak, between the events described in the text.

Essentially I am having trouble linking the chain of events from the moment of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand to Germany’s move into Belgium.

Follow up question (that may be possibly answered by addressing my main question). Was the war inevitable at that point due to nationalism, militarization, and the alliance structures in place? Or am I missing something in this 'chain of events' that Sperber seems so keen to highlight?

Thank you in advance for helping me make sense of this turbulent time in European history!