> was one of the most advanced, sophisticated, and educated countries in the world

It was also an economic disaster. Surely that contributed.

WWI was the cataclysm that destroyed the global economy.

(Its aftermath was a necessary transition, that happened to be disastrously mismanaged.)

The current proponents of new "realism" who claim that regional empires will co-exist in peace would do well to study the causes of WWI.