Editing The World Wars (section)

===Imperialism===
One of the biggest contributing factors was the race for Empire, or Imperialism. During the 18th and 19th centuries, imperialism and expansionism became extremely popular among the industrializing and booming nations of western Europe. This all kicked off back when Spain discovered the New World and became very wealthy as a result; as stated on the [[Renaissance]] page, the other nations of Europe ''realllly'' didn't want to live under the Hapsburgs' hegemony and started competing to build their own empires. Entire swathes of Africa and Asia were carved out by global powerhouses such as Great Britain, the Netherlands, and France in order to fuel their industry and economy back home at the expense of the natives. The treatment of the indigenous population varied based on whichever European power happened to dominate a particular region, with those under Belgium's sway being the worst off; one could argue that at least that stopped the chattel slavery that was endemic to the region until the colonization, but suffice to say the natives would likely think that the chattel slavery was preferable. For a while, the competition was "merely" a case of rivalry, as each nation generally avoided the other's territories in order not to repeat disasters like the Seven Years' War or the Napoleonic Wars. Everything was going more or less splendidly, barring some wars of independence in the Balkans against the increasingly corrupt and stagnating Ottoman Empire, until one key event forever shattered the balance of power so carefully put into place by the Congress of Vienna: the unification of Germany by Otto von Bismarck.

The unification of Germany triggered a renewed colonial rush across the globe. Germany, having come late to the game, was determined to play catch-up, even though all of the really desirable territory in Africa and Asia was already claimed. Nevertheless, they still managed to take possession of a bunch of African territories in modern day Namibia and gained a number of island colonies in the Pacific. This ultimately led to everyone starting to side-eye each others' colonies for various reasons. Italy, for example, aspired to be master of the Mediterranean Sea, while Britain had a historical and economic/political reputation to uphold as protector of the waves with their navy, the so-called "Pax Britannica". Remember that, it'll be important. 

Meanwhile Austria-Hungary wanted Balkan territories, and Germany and Japan were latecomers who wanted in on the pie. Even the Americans dipped their hand into it by taking Puerto Rico, Cuba, Guam, and the Philippines from Spain. Needless to say there were plenty of instances where each empire had a vested interest in stealing territory away from each other for their own political and economic gains.