History gains a human angle with factual illustrations which characterize the personalities of Kaiser Wilhelm and Czar Nikolai, cousins who led Europe into World War I. Amidst their ostenatious shows of military prowess, terrible crimes were perpetrated against the Jews. Rabbi Wein highlights two pivotal events, the Kishinev pogrom and the blood libel of Mendel Beilis, omens that the Jews were to suffer the harshest losses of World War I.

• Kaiser Wilhelm and Czar Nikolai - relatives who knew each other's weaknesses
• military parades - the Kaiser's favorite indulgence
• the Kishinev pogrom - the single greatest cause of the radicalization of Jews
• Teddy Roosevelt - his condemnation of the Czar for the pogrom
• The Beilis Trial - concocted charges on par with the Dreyfus Case

For more detail on this period in history, you won't want to miss "The Dawn of the Century", the first episode of Rabbi Wein's award-winning documentary film "Faith and Fate."