In their competition for power, nations raced to

They raced to build more cities, this is because the more cities that they built the more land that they took. And the more land they took would leave less land for their enemies, and the wider they spread and the more people in their cities the more they would build their army. Most small colonies would be wiped out by the big colonies, they would take the men and make them train under their army, so they expanded in power.

Explanation:

a direct vote in which an entire electorate is invited to vote on a particular proposal. this may result in the adoption of a new law.  

during the hitler era and it caused them to declare war on germany