The Great War created a new world order, and changed the map of Europe forever.
Empires collapsed, new countries emerged. Revolutions shocked and inspired the w
orld. All across Europe, intellectuals reflected on the future of the continent.
The Great War is often referred to as "the literary war." Gavrilo Princip, who
fired the shots in Sarajevo that killed Franz Ferdinand, thought of himself as a
poet. During the first month of the conflict over a million poems of propaganda
were written in Germany alone while English poets joined in with rhymes about "
Hun-hunting." In this cultural history of the First World War, the conflict is s
een the point of view of poets from all over Europe.