Question #1de0d
1 Answer
Because Imperialism leads to expansion.
Explanation:
The whole concept of Imperialism is to of course, expand, therefore it is natural that when there are a lot of conflicting Empires, there is bound to be some trouble.
In Europe, more specifically, there are some areas that have always caused trouble, in WW1, you could say such areas as Alsace-Lorraine would've caused trouble, as it had been under both French and German occupation (Germany annexed it after beating the French in the Franco-Prussian war in 1870-71).
However, the most obvious one is of course the colonies. Kaiser Wilhelm wished to make Germany a great colonial empire, but yet France and Britain dominated a huge portion of it.
The war was prefaced by several events that demonstrate this, such as the Agadir Crisis (in Morocco), wherein basically French troops seized Morocco, Germany sent ships to prevent it from happening (but they said they were sending ships for other purposes). In the end, they negotiated a peace wherein Germany would obtain Cameroon.
The Germans had also planned in case they won, this was known as the Septemberprogramm, which basically expanded Germany's sphere in the world by:
a) Creating a new faction known as Mitteleuropa, wherein buffer states would be created in the east (Poland, Baltic States, Ukraine, Belorussia, etc.)
b) Germany would get some of eastern Belgium and make them a vassal state, or annex them
c) The Netherlands would be a German puppet
d) Luxembourg annexed
e) Some of eastern France taken
f) Taking a lot of French, Belgian, and British colonies in order to create Mittelafrika, or basically a huge colony in Africa
Conclusion:
By the predecessors of the war, and what the plans for it were after, you can clearly see that basically it was just for the sake of expansion
FYI: France and Britain did nab Germany's colonies in real life, so there you go.
