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As I understand it, it was a land grab, pure and simple. The late-arising imperialist powers, principally Germany, found their expansionist ambitions stymied by the old imperials powers, Britain and France, who for their part were keen to hold on to their colonies and puppet states. There were no good guys in that stouch. No one had the moral high ground. It was pure greed.
The tensions of course built up over time. A couple of years earlier (1912-1913) they fought a war by proxy in the Balkans. I forget which Balkan states were at war but each side was backed (and not just morally) by one of the major-power blocks. It was against that background that the assassination of the Grand-Duke prompted the major antagonists to finally declare open war.
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