The opening episode tells the story of the outbreak of war in 1914. In the decades since the last European War the world changed. In Europe and America industrialisation has created unprecedented wealth, for some. At the same time the Empires of Britain, France, Russia and Germany have carved up the globe. The British Empire is the largest the world has ever seen ruling over a quarter of the world's population. But despite their vast territories and immense wealth, the imperial powers are still not satisfied. When two shots are fired in Sarajevo in the summer of 1914, killing the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and his wife, it pits Empire against Empire and engulfs the world in a conflict that will eventually claim 18 million lives.