The World War I was a direct result of the ethnic rivalries, alliances, imperialist ambitions. The ethnic tensions have been present fro hundreds of years, but with the consolidation of some countries and gaining more power, the tensions were constantly growing. The alliances had a big role in the tensions, as the countries that had colonies allied in order to keep them, while the other countries that wanted to get some colonies allied in order to get them. All was leading to a war, and once there was a direct reason to justify it, the countries started attacking each other and created a lot of bloodshed.