The most improbable actions reported here actually happened. The most unlikely conversations held here were spoken literally; the most vivid inventions are quotes. (Karl Kraus, Preface to "The Last Days of Mankind") Karl Kraus wrote "The Last Days of Mankind" under the impression of World War I between 1915 and 1922. In the loosely connected scenes, which often utilize authentic sources, the absurdity, the depths of humanity, the cynicism, and the brutality of this first modern war are reflected—a war that began with bayonets and in which killing through poison gas, submarines, tanks, machine guns, and airplanes took on an industrial scale for the first time. For the graphic novel, the key scenes were selected and the original texts carefully adapted.