The Greatest War Cloud

In the early years of the war, newspapers began to report extensively on the day to day actions of the war, including the 'prominent personalities' thereof. This image is the inception of our investigation into the 'war cloud' the shifting but almost omnipresent nature of war that faced Europe in the early 20th century. Virginia Woolf is intimately connected to these actions, not only through her day to day life in Britain, but also through personal connections - figure number 2 in this image, Sir Arthur Nicholson, is the father-in-law of her friend and lover, Vita Sackville West.

What is the war cloud exactly? This terminology, found in American and British newspapers of this era, invokes the clouding over of skies, often referring to a 'darkening' war cloud as two sides in a conflict leaned all the more precipitously towards conflict.