The diplomatic maneuvering in July 1914, and military developments on the Serbian Front

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 maneuvering in July 1914, and military developments on the Serbian Front.