Historians have a negative view of the motivations of all parties in the whole war. It's a case study in why secret pacts and jingoistic politicians are a bad idea.
This is why young men or women should not join armies. They sign up to fight and to kill or be killed in the service of secret pacts and at the orders of jingoistic politicians.
It is not just WW1. Could there be a clearer example than George Bush and Tony Blair.