Several issues dealing with Imperialism lead to WWI. First, there are the wars in the Balkans during which time Austria asked it's big brother ally Germany for assistance and Germany essentially gave them a blank check to handle the area as they chose. This alarmed the Russians, because they considered themselves to be the protectors of the orthodox slavic peoples. Then, there are the first and second morroccan crisis...during that time, William the II challenged France's desire to set up a protectorate in Morocco, claiming Germany had interests in Morocco as well. Really, however, William just wanted to weaken France's alliances with Britain and Russia. When that didn't work