"Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries - for heavy ones they cannot." ~Niccolo Machiavelli
This is probably what German military planners were thinking throughout the early 20th century. But the fact is that Germany clearly lacked the strength to actually destroy its rivals. Thus, its provocative actions were not just pointless but wholly counter-productive.
Take the naval arms race with Great Britain. What was the point of this? Britain and France had always been rivals and then Germany swoops in, declares that it will build a fleet larger than Great Britain, something the UK absolutely cannot ever accept, and then forced the British to make common cause with France. The UK kept trying to reason with Germany and explain indirectly that they would never allow them to do this. And the Keizer just continued on his mission to alienate the British by any means.
And why? Germany was a land power. What did their massive naval investment get them in 1914? Nothing. It sat in port for 4 years doing nothing to aid the war in any way. The German colonial empire was a joke so they absolutely didn't need a huge navy and even if they had had one, the combined French and British navy would still beat it. So it would just sit in port regardless of its strength.
So the Keizer foolishly forced Britain, which had often worked with Germany in the past, into the arms of the French.
This is just one example of many where Germany bungled its excellent diplomatic situation and grasped defeat out of the jaws of total victory even before the war.
This is not to say that jews played no part or especially that jews today are blameless, but a majority of Germany's pre WW1 situation was entirely its own fault.