Originally broadcast by BBC One as a British television mini-series from 15 March 1974 to 19 June 1974.

Special features of these DVDs: interviews with director and cast ; photo gallery ; Dolby Digital ; scene selection.

Editor, Peter Evans, Sheila S. Tomlinson, Chris Wimble ; cinematography, A.A. Englander, Peter Sargent ; original music, Kenneth Platts ; costume designers, Robin Fraser Paye, Daphne Dare ; uniforms, Penny Lowe.

Patrick Stewart, Michael Kitchen, John Rhys-Davies, Miriam Margolyes, Gemma Jones, Denis Lill, Gayle Hunnicutt, Charles Kay, Barry Foster, Curd Jurgens, Maurice Denham, Lynn Farleigh, Bruce Purchase, Laurence Naismith, Marius Goring ; Michael Hordern, narrator.

In the 19th century, the major European powers had gone to great lengths to maintain a balance of power throughout Europe, resulting by 1900 in a complex network of political and military alliances throughout the continent. Beginning in 1815, the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria formalized what had been a strictly familial support network. The House of Habsburg, the House of Hohenzollern, and the House of Romanov had long intermarried, resulting in an incredibly tangled web of relationships, a number of which led back to Queen Victoria of England. These three families influenced the political landscape of Europe, and their personal struggles, tragedies and decisions within these relationships affected Europe to a greater degree than they ever imagined. This miniseries focuses on the leading personalities of these three privileged families, and how they influenced the events that led to WWI.

Not rated.

DVD.