Can you actually provoke a DOW?

If only.

Have you ever pushed a Civ and then had them DOW you?

I know you can do snarky stuff like denounce and steal land with a great general but does it ever actually push them to war?

Yup. I'll frequently make unreasonable demands and denounce to try to provoke a DoW.

Having a smaller military relative to other civilizations seems to also increase the chances of a Declaration of War.

For example, it is rather common when I play as the Mongols to be declared on.

However, the size of a Mongolian military is deceptive compared to everyone else, save the Arabians, because Keshiks are capable of much more than the number of soldiers it represents.

Sherlock said:

If only.

Have you ever pushed a Civ and then had them DOW you?

I know you can do snarky stuff like denounce and steal land with a great general but does it ever actually push them to war?

Click to expand...

Sure... I do it often, to avoid the double DoW penalty. Take the aggressive answer each time as well, to annoy them. I usually do this to any civ not in my "friendship block".

Sometimes I also deliberately make out that a city is poorly defended to draw their troops, then rush buy, or quickly bring more troops to it when they are committed. This works well as you tend to be able to destroy more enemy, with less losses (if any), if planned well.

Certainly, but there are several factors that make it easier.
Own territory near an AI
Pledge to protect a City-State, then refuse to bow down to an AI when it bullies said City-State
Ally or Pledge to protect a City-State that is allied to or protected by an AI
Settle a city near an AI
Buy land near an AI (especially if the land is a resource tile adjacent to the AI's borders)
Be denounced by an AI (more effective if denounced by the belligerent AI or one of its friends)
Be friends with an enemy of the AI you wish to provoke to war
And then the easily controllable ones:
Denounce the AI
Demand something from the AI
Tell the AI to stop settling cities near you
Tell the AI to stop spying on you
Have a smaller army than the belligerent AI (easier, of course, on higher difficulty levels)
Declare war on other AI's or on the belligerent AI (including City-States)
Bully City-States
Capture AI Capitals
Eliminate Civilizations (taking City-States counts as this)
I'm not sure if building certain wonders (that the AI was building too) makes them hate you, but building lots of wonders probably does
Owning more than four cities in a standard or larger sized map
Select a different Industrial Era social policy tree than an AI (Order, Autocracy, Freedom)
...
Sorry for the extensive list. Can anybody else think of other factors that make an AI hate you?
Incidentally, making as many of these diplomatic gaffes is my primary, and preferred, method of making war. I rarely straight-up declare war on an AI unless I can obtain a strong advantage from it.

DERP: Another one, of course, is breaking promises. "You promised to not spread your religion in their cities anymore, then broke that promise!", for example. Following that vein:
Being of another religion than a belligerent AI
Spreading your religion in AI cities when they have a religion of their own

Stealing their land with a citadel will get their blood boiling.

I would`ve thought that if the game was reasonably realistic then you would be able to provoke a DOW. I`ve neever needed to try it though.