I had remembered seeing a documentary that explained that the lead up to WW1 was caused by the British Empire trying to keep control over the entirety of its empire. Unfortunately I can't remember specific details, but was curious as to if this was true and if someone could shed some light on the lead up to the First World War.
The origins of the First World War can be said, with little if any exaggeration, to be the single most controversial and hotly debated set of events dealt with by historians of any period. Certainly none of the participants would suggest that the war was caused "just" by the assassination of Franz Ferdinand – its roots go back further than that, though exactly how far is a matter of opinion. But, while there are certainly those who place blame on Britain and its imperial liabilities, there are plenty more who ascribe most of the blame to Germany, France, Russia, Austria-Hungary or indeed Serbia, as well. Meanwhile the most recent major contribution to the debate, Christopher Clark's The Sleepwalkers, takes issue with all these schools and prefers to focus once again on the short period leading up to the outbreak of war.
A good place to start your enquiry into this historiographical minefield is the AskHistorians FAQ, which, unsurprisingly, has a fairly extensive selection of responses and can be accessed here.