World War I and II were both very harmful to the lives of all the countries involved in the war, and to the countries that weren't involved in the war. Many people believed that the wars were inevitable, while some believed that they were avoidable. The two great wars affected many aspects of life, some aspects good and some bad.
             There were four main causes of WWI, the causes were militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism. Militarism was one cause of the war, and was similar to the arms race of today. Because Britain had a great navy, Germany wanted a great navy too. Germany and France competed for larger armies. The more one nation built up its army and navy, the more other nations felt they had to do the same.
             For Twenty years, the nations of Europe had been making alliances. It was thought that alliances would promote peace. Each country would be protected by the others in case of war, thus making it foolish for one country to wage war on another. The danger of these alliances was that an argument between two countries could draw all the other nations into a fight. This is just what happened when a conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia led to World War 1. In the summer of 1914 there were two main alliances. The Triple Alliance composed of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, stood opposed to the Triple Entente composed of Britain, France, and Russia.
             Another main cause was that European nations ruled smaller countries, called colonies, and competed with each other to amass more colonies. Gathering colonies became known as imperialism. Both France and Britain had many colonies in Africa and Asia and this caused tension between the two. Now Germany and Italy decided they wanted a colonial empire too because the Germans was the only country that didn't have colonies and they felt left out.
             In addition to political conflicts, the causes of the war included such forces as nationalism, or patriotism....