2. World War I The “Great War” So World War I started when Archduke Franz Ferdinand-heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne- got smoked in his convertable by a Boznian. Soon, these guys were pissed at those guys and they brought their boys and the other guys brought their boys and it was a big muddy mess with 20 million deaths and 40 million casulties. Some European artists thought that this was not such a great war after all. They wrote manifestos and began to make artwork against society and that societies cultural elements. This was anti-art that pooed in the very face of traditional European art. It was a reaction to Nationalistic and colonistic ideals of thier respective societies (which they believed was the root of the war). They sought out to make art that was not comfortable, not colorful, not aesthetically pleasing. They wanted to turn traditional art on it ass and have a clean slate.