How did Britain, France, and Russia create tension for Italy before WWI

Question

and how did italy create tension for the other 3?

Answer 1

Italy wanted to be an imperial power (they wanted overseas colonies), but they arrived pretty late on the imperial scene as Britain, France and Russia were already world powers before WWI. Let's not forget that for the most part, Italy was composed of several states and they only unified in the 19th century to create more or less the Italy of today. To achieve its plans of gaining colonies, Italy needed alliances for protection against the powerhouses (Britain, France, and Russia), so it align itself with Germany and Austria-Hungary (both are allied earlier in 1879 in case of Russian aggression) to create the Triple Alliance. Both Germany and Austria were at the time formidable empires. Also in addition Britain, France, Russia, Germany, and Austria had treaties amongst each other. It is a complex and wide array of treaties but to simply give an example of its complexity: if for example Italy would declare was with Britain, Germany would be stuck in the middle because it was allied to both Italy and Britain.

So when Italy entered into the diplomatic scene, this added another string to the already complex web of alliances in Europe before WW1 and ergo creating more tension.

Heres another example:

In fact in World War I, Britain was in alliance to both Russia and Germany, but both were on opposing sides during the outbreak of war. That is why it never entered the war until Belgium was occupied by the Germans, whom the British swore to protect against invasion.

Answer 2

Russia promised Italy some Austrian territory.