Disc 1

The War Begins

Summer At Sarajevo
Hopes for a new century of peace and progress die with the assassination of Austrian Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo. The Great Powers mobilize and seem unable or unwilling to stop the march to war.

Clash Of The Generals
All of Europe has become an armed camp. Now the maneuvers become real as Germany and her allies strike in both the East and West. The First World War has begun.

Doomed Dynasties
Take a look at the roayl families of Europe along with the military and political leaders whose plans and mistakes would soon engulf Europe in War. Related to each other by blood and marraige, the majority of these dynasties will not survive the war they will soon bring on.

Atrocity 1914
The German Army sweeps into neutral Belgium, drawing Great Britain into a war it does not want to fight. As the small B.E.F. lands in Europe, the Germans leave a swath of destruction in their wake.

They Sank The Lusitania
On the seas there is a new weapon, the submarine. German U-Boats sink hundreds of ships, including the Lusitania, in an effort to blockade England. The new tactics of unrestricted submarine warfare add propaganda fuel to the fire of American public opinion.

Verdun, The Inferno
No one battle came to represent the fury and bloody attrition of World War I better than the siege of Verdun. Amid the explosions and mud, the French and German Armies fought each other to an impasse. Thousands died at Verdun, and in the end, little had changed.

Battle of Jutland
When the war begun, England claimed supremacy on the seas, but the German High Seas Fleet sought to challenge British control. The fleets would clash in the only one great action at sea, the Battle of Jutland.

The Trenches
The war sinks into a bloody stalemate, ushering in the era of trench warfare. New tools of war appear and are unleashed in useless efforts to break the deadlock. Tanks, poison gas and airplanes all add to the mayhem.

D-Day at Gallipoli
In the East, the Ottoman Empire seems vulerable to attack. In an effort to break the deadlocked war open, the British commence a disastrous invasion of Turkish territory at Gallipoli.

Extra Features:
Great Events Before the War
1910 - King Edward the VII Dies
1911 - The South Pole Is Conquered
1912 - The Titanic Disaster
1913 - The Panama Canal

Disc 2

The Loss Of Innocence

America The Neutral
As Europe plunged into war, Americans were anixous to remain neutral. President Wilson vows to keep the U.S. at peace.

Wilson & War
The Germans are desperate to break England and launch unrestricted submarine warfare again. American ships are sunk. The tide of opinion in America turns against Germany and a reluctant America enters the war.

Revolution In Red
Although the Russian Army has fought bravely, the Czar has proven to ba an ineffective military leader. After three years of fighting, a new German offensive breaks the front and Russia is plunged into revolution.

The Year Of Lost Illusions
Europe has been mired in senseless slaughter for over two years. The strain of war on the British Empire has created social unrest, an anti-war movement and immense casualty lists. Still the war goes on for the troops trapped in the mud and brutality of the trenches.

Behind German Lines
Germany totters on the brink of collapse, as the strain of the war and the British blockade is stretching her to the breaking point. The German High Command looks for a way to break the dead lock and strike hard in the East.

Over There
Isolationist at the beginning, America now joins the war on the Allied side. Dough boys pour into France as the American Expeditionary Force goes over there, into the deadly quagmire of the Western Front.

Daredevils And Dogfighter
The era of modern warfare is unleashed as airplanes become a military weapon. First used for reconnaissance, soon the sky is filled with dogfighting airplanes.

The Promised Lands
As the Ottoman Empire crumbles in the East, the British attack its outposts in Arabia. A campaign involving the Arabs under the command of Lawrence of Arabia culminates in the conquest of Jerusalem.

Extra Feature:
Up From The Trenches

Disc 3

The Tide Of War Turns

The Agony Of Caporetto
On the Southern Front, Italy goes to war against Austria, waging a costly campaign in the frozen alps as the chaos and destruction of war spread throughout the region.

Tipperary & All That Jazz
Music was an integral part of World War I. The popular tunes of the day tried to put an upbeat perspective on life and helped relieve the tension and boredom of war in the trenches.

The Tide Turns
With the U.S. in the war, the tide turns in the Allies' favor as the last German offensive in the West sputters out. Behing the lines, the Allied Generals battle over command while the statesmen bicker over peace plans.

The Battle Of The Argonne
The American Army undertakes its first offensive and tastes victory, but, the bloody battle in the Argonne Forest is one if the costliest in US history.

The Day The Guns Stopped Firing
The German War Machine is all but spent and her exhausted leaders seek peace with the Allies. The German leadership finally agrees to the Allied demands for unconditional surrender and the guns fall silent on November 11, 1918.

Wilson & Peace
With the war over, Allied leaders begin carving up the map of Europe. President Wilson's forward thinking fourteen points are ultimately rejected as America returns to its old isolationist ways.

Allies In Russia
The revolution in Russia has disturbing implications for the Allied powers who send troops to the war torn land. They endure the cold anf fight in the inhospitable land until they are finally withdrawn, leaving Russia to the victorious Red Army.

Heritage Of War
The end of the war sparks a wave of unrest throughout Europe. The peace in Europe is fragile and strife wracks much of the war torn land. In Italy, the fascists ascend to power under Mussolini. The harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles and the threat of Bolshevism together lead to the rise of the Nazi party in Germany. Their leader, Adolf Hitler, vows to avenge Germany's defeat.

Extra Features:
Post War Great Events
1920 - Prohibition
1920 - Suffrage
1921 - The Irish Free State
1922 - Mussolini Takes Over