Fin de Siecle

By looking at both the personal accounts of those in the mud, as well as the national narratives driving the conflict we can gain a glimpse into just how traumatic the break from the ancien world was.  

The First World War

Modernism

Geographic Spotlight: Austria-Hungary

No nation provides a better window into the dual worlds of the 19th and 20th centuries. A multi-ethnic empire that wasn't just functional but the beating cultural heart of Europe. Almost every ascendant art, science, and political movement of the 20th century has its roots in turn of the century Vienna. 

The remaking of everyday life, of the boundaries of one's conceivable world, around the turn of the 20th century, is difficult to fully comprehend. Rapid scientific, philosophical, and political discovery, fueled by nearly a century of unmatched peace allowed for a uniquely traumatic shattering point and the emergence of modernism.