The First World War (as it wasn't called then) must have been a total headblow in August 1914. What comparisons did contemporaries use? Franco-Prussian war is an obvious answer, and 1859-60, 1866 for the Austro-Hungarians; but not so much for the British. Did they think of Napoleon? Or the Crimea?
The example that I know, Erskine Childers Riddle of the Sands (1903), doesn't hark back to any previous enemy but portrays Germany as a new enemy
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"Tell me you didn't read the book before designing the cover without saying that you've not read even a synopsis"
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I think that reflects concerns at the time. Germany was seen to be challenging the British Empire and was more of a rising threat than other European nations in Africa, for example. See also The African Queen by CS Forester (written in 1935 but set in 1914).
