David Olusoga explores how, when the European powers went to war, they immediately drew on the military resources of their respective empires. Sikhs, Gurkhas, Garhwalis and Pathans from the British Raj and Spahis, Zouaves and Senegalese from French North and West Africa were thrown into the front lines and were among the first to experience the hell that was trench warfare and the conflict quickly became a truly global event, fought by multi-racial armies.

Historian David Olusoga explains how the First World War spread far beyond the trenches of France and Belgium. Germany enrolled the Muslim peoples of North Africa and the Middle East to join a Jihad against the allies. In East Africa legendary German General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck led an army of African troops in a bitter insurgency war against the allies, which cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of black Africans.