After WWII, WWI was the most destructive war in human history. Called the 'Great War', due to its enormous scale and the number of countries involved, it saw the introduction of concepts like total war, daylight savings and universal suffrage. Millions of soldiers and dozens of countries were involved, but what led to an outbreak of fighting on such gigantic scale? This programme takes a look at the causes of the war, using archive film stock, photographs and on screen maps. It also covers topics like: • The Alliance System • The Schlieffen Plan • Imperialism • Militarism • The July crises