German military and governmental officials

By the end of 1914, many German military and governmental officials had concluded that Imperial Germany’s alliance with the Austro-Hungarian Empire represented a strategic miscalculation, that Germany was, for all intents and purposes, “shackled to a corpse.”  Evaluate the validity of this sentiment.  In doing so, consider the longstanding problems in the Balkans, the diplomatic manoeuvring in July 1914, and military developments on the Serbian Front