The underlying cause for World War I was Alliances. World War I began when a Serbian shot and killed Archduke Ferdinand and his wife. Around 6 weeks later most European countries where involved in the war that would inevitably kill around 10 million soldiers. The race to develop weapons was a cause of some conflicts during this war. The race wasn’t just about developing weapons but it was also about who could create the biggest and best navy and army to be able to take over and control any country they seemed fit. When Germany started to develop bigger ships and more powerful weapons this began to cause worry amongst the other nations around them. In Western Europe there was many debates and battles fought over control of land because so many of the major powers would try to expand into other territories. In many cases small wars would breakout due to these disagreement. Countries would start to suspect each other of developing friendships with other countries and believe that their land would be under attack if they didn’t do the same. When larger countries decided to start taking over smaller nations this made other nations form alliances to help protect them self. The underlying cause of the war was Alliances and suspicions of alliances. Countries started to put up their defenses because of previous problems they would have with lessor nations. Like our instincts tell us to do when we need help we call on big brother to help us. Countries like Russia where on