The miniseries examined warfare, how it had evolved, and what its consequences were. It also examined the challenge of armies' roles in face of total war. Military leaders involved with NATO and the Warsaw Pact were featured in interviews, many of them speaking to Western media for the first time. Officers from different countries talked about how nuclear technology affected their profession and how a conflict between superpowers would likely lead to all-out nuclear war. Dyer argued that this war could only be avoided by eliminating nuclear arsenals.
