00:03La fine 19th century
00:04saw the peak of modern imperialism
00:06and worldwide rivalry between
00:08European powers would prove too much
00:10for treaties and conventions to restrain.
00:17The two blocs
00:18one Great Britain, France and Russia
00:20the other Germany and Austria-Hungary
00:23moved slowly
00:24but inexorably toward the first
00:26great conflict of modern times.
00:28The war to end all wars
00:30was about to begin.
00:33The scope of the war
00:34is difficult to grasp.
00:36A web of obligations, treaties
00:37and opportunistic alliances
00:39drew over 30 countries into the bloody struggle
00:42and in Western Europe alone
00:44the front lines stretched more than
00:46400 miles.
00:47From Belgian ports to the distant Swiss mountains
00:50a million men awaited the
00:52fateful orders that would send them
00:54over the top.
00:55In the east, battle lines split
00:58throughout the continent.
00:59From the Baltic Sea in the north
01:00to the Caucasus in the south
01:02the Russian Empire faced the central powers.
01:05Yet fighting in Africa, the Middle East
01:08and Asia as well as naval battles
01:10raging across the globe
01:11meant that few continents
01:13escaped the fighting.
01:14This truly was a world war.
01:17After years of bloody fighting,
01:19Germany and its allies facing military
01:21and economic exhaustion
01:23as well as a newly arrived American enemy
01:26sued for peace.
01:27The central powers lost the great war
01:30but the conflict had confounded all prediction
01:32and the outcome was far from predetermined.
01:36Any one of a thousand decisions
01:38by politicians, commanders or statesmen
01:40could have changed the course of the war.
01:44So, how will you decide?
01:46How will you fight the war
01:48to end all wars?
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