Countries throughout Europe made defense agreements that would pull them into battle, meaning, if one country was attacked, allied countries were bound to defend them. This was called Alliances. At the start of World War 1, Germany and Austria-Hungary allied and became the triple alliance or central powers alliance when Italy joined in 1882. Fearful of that alliance, in 1894, France made an alliance with Russia, and in 1904 France also made an agreement with Britain called the entente; not a formal alliance but a promise to work together. In1907, Britain made an entente with Russia, forming the triple entente (France, Russia, and Britain). Unfortunately back then, the governments and politicians thought that the build- up of armed forces or alliances would keep peace by acting as a warning to any nation thinking of attacking them, but nowadays we know different that would cause war. Alliances helped cause world war because the triple entente alarmed Germany and she felt surrounded by the alliance; this made a worried, uneasy atmosphere. For example , when Britain joined the triple entente and France and Russia formed the an alliance (against Germany), she was fearful and wanted to be one step ahead of the other, there is always an end to that, in this case-war. Militarism and alliance are always linked because when Germany built up her empire and navy, she also developed her militarism. Henceforth the alliance system led to the outbreak of the World War 1.
Another cause was imperialism. European nations ruled smaller countries called colonies and competed with each other to collect more colonies, gathering colonies became known as imperialism. Both France and