Trying to understand the origins of the 20th century world war

I would have thought that you don't attack another nation until they attack you or, when it's obvious, they are about to attack you.  Was the latter  the case with Israel when they launched their war in 1967?

We broke that principle when we declared war on Germany in 1914 and 1939 but, on both occasions, an obedient German people, unthinkingly, followed two leaders who were out of control and somewhat deranged.  Therefore, both the Kaiser and Hitler had to be stopped.

In the case of 1914, however, our army was small with only seven divisions; we had not let Germany know that we had been in secret talks with France since 1906 that we would come to her aid if she was attacked by Germany; and, on the 4 August 1914, island Britain was not on the German list to be attacked when we attacked her on that date.  (sources: BBC History magazine Feb 2014, BBC documentaries)