Art of WWI

The above picture is a German recruitment poster used to strike nationalism and militarism into the hearts of young men at the time. The bottom text translates "Make England Pay". This I find quite humorous because the only thing England did to Germany was have crossing treaties. This just shows how some paper, paint and fear can win or lose a war.


This poster comes from Ireland and used propaganda in a different way. Instead of striking fear into peoples minds, the Irish showed the war as no big deal. They portrayed it as the Irish are so victorious that the Kaiser is already starting to worry, so why not join the army and help a winning cause?


I chose this last drawing from Britain because it reminded me of all the nonsense propaganda still around today, like the posters that say "If you eat non-free range cows your gonna grow a third arm." Now this is not that extreme, but gives off the same tone, because it says by staying home you approve the bombing of your entire city and family. No one would approve that, but back in the day this stuff worked on people.


Thanks to the people at http://europeanhistory.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&sdn=europeanhistory&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.worldwar1.com%2Fposters.htm for all the art work.