One of the four main causes was imperialism. This means that countries were trying to have to most colonies, or smaller countries. The more colonies you had, the more wealthy and influential your country was. France and Britain had lots of colonies in Asia and Africa and pretty soon, Germany and Italy wanted a colonial empire as well. This race to have the most land causes lots of conflicts. Great Britain was so close to having a war with the United States and France over colonies! Alliances were another major cause of the first world war. The European countries had been developing alliances for a while. This meant that one country would be protected by other country from war. One disagreement between two countries could drag all the other
