The First World War left Europe in a state of chaos, scarring millions of people mentally and physically. The generation that survived the war will have difficulty adapting to the post-war world. Lost Generation writers who attempt to capture the essence of the postwar era are disillusioned with tradition and culture. Siddhartha, written by Hermann Hesse in the aftermath of the Great War, reflects a loss of confidence in power, society and tradition (Borbély, Stefan). This is similar to the tradition of Lost Generation writers such as Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemmingway, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, (Quinn, Edward) Hermann Hesse was working in a German medical corps. Disillusioned, he wrote Oh Friends, Not These Tones!, a book opposed to German nationalism. Engaging in humanitarian work, Hesse soon left the service. He traveled to countries like Indonesia and Sri Lanka where Buddhism influenced him. In 1922, he wrote Siddhartha about a young man who travels disillusioned and disoriented and in search of enlightenment (Borbély, Stefan). He wrote this in the tradition of the Lost Generation using themes such as lost, disillusioned, non-conformity, breaking with tradition, skeptical of all authority, pleasure-seeking, and dissatisfaction. Territorial tensions were high between the great powers; France, Italy, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Great Britain and Russia, made alliances saying who they would side with if war broke out. With tensions high with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria who was killed by Serbian nationalists. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and called on the great powers to enter into alliances and treaties. On July 28, 1914, Austria invaded Serbia, triggering all...... middle of paper ...... not going in circles, they are following a tortuous path, they are progressing even though it seems that 'they fail. Siddhartha with the Sammans practices dissatisfaction: “A goal stood before Siddhartha, a single goal: to become empty, empty of thirst, empty of wishes, empty of dreams, empty of joy and sorrow. Death to himself, no longer being himself, finding tranquility with emptied hearing, opening himself to miracles in disinterested thoughts, such was his goal. Once my whole self was defeated and dead, once all desires and impulses were silenced in the heart, then the ultimate part of me had to awaken, the deepest part of my being, which is no longer my self, the big secret. (2.3) Siddhartha deprives himself of life to achieve nirvana. He has one goal: to be so dissatisfied with life that he can feel life again in the next stage of his life..