Revised and expanded this program incorporates recent scholarship to explore the political, economic and social causes of World War 1. Documentary visuals are combined with a narration that includes music of the period to convey its mood. The first part addresses the development of nationalism and major power's goals, the second part depicts pre-war European prosperity and then focuses on imperialism, the tensions it created, and how those tensions led to the creation of alliances, to an arms race, and irreversibly to conflict.