Why did nations want their empires to be bigger in world war one?
That’s not what happened. They went to war because the Archduke of Austria had been assasinated by a Serbian nationalist. Austria-Hungary got pissed off and ended up declaring war on Serbia, and Russia mobilised its army. So the Germans had to mobilise too and then, so did the French, and once you mobilise, there’s no way back. Technically, that’s the cause of WWI. But the true reasons were the confrontation between UK and France v Germany and Austria-Hungary v Russia. UK v Germany: Germany had become a top industrial superpower with greater output than the British Empire, and it was in the proccess of builiding a navy powerful enough to dispute Britain’s command of the seas, something that the Brits wouldn’t tolerate at any cost. France v Germany: In the war of 1870, Germany had humilliated France and taken Alsace and part of Lorraine. France wanted revenge. Austria-Hungary v Russia: Both were competing over political supremacy over the Balcans, and were unable to reach an agreement.
