Everything to Nothing: The Poetry of the Great War, Revolution and the Transformation of Europe

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 world. 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 seen the point of view of poets from all over Europe. A transnational history of how nationalism and internationalism defined both the war itself and post-war dealings--revolutionary movements, wars for independence, civil wars, Versailles--and how poets played a vital role in defining the stakes, ambitions and disappointments of the post War Europe.