A recent addition to the Military Collection is a French World War One poster (59 x 79 cm.) published in Paris by P.J. Gallais et Cie in 1917. This vivid chromolithograph designed by Maurice Neumont (1868-1930) in December 1917 depicts Prussia (i.e. Germany) as an octopus devouring Europe including its allies Austro-Hungary and Turkey. The creature even wears the pickelhaube helmet of the German army. Echoing the sentiment expressed by Mirabeau at the top of the print (trans.): ‘Even in 1788, Mirabeau was saying that War is the National Industry of Prussia’, are three Prussian soldiers from different eras: the army of Frederick the Great in 1715; the army of Blücher in 1815; and one of Kaiser Whilhelm’s hordes clad in feldgrau uniform in a threatening stance from 1914. A large swath of Europe is covered with various shades of red, or red and blue dots, indicating areas of German occupation.
The poster is clearly targeting the French populace, especially the armed forces, as a warning of the inevitable outcome if France fails to continue fighting. It uses a direct quote at the bottom left from the Pan-German Association which issued this statement just prior to the outbreak of war (trans.): ‘It is necessary that the German people rise like a master people above the inferior peoples of Europe’. Below the printed image is a quotation from General Philippe Pétain, the Prime Minister of France (trans.): ‘Since we have been attacked, we have merely defended ourselves in the name of freedom and to save our very existence.’ Almost hidden at the top right in red letters is the phrase (trans.): ‘All of France stands up for the victory of right’.
This image was a production of La Conference au Village contre la Propaganda ennemie en France and it ‘sought to counter German propaganda and the widespread unpopularity of the War by contending that the war would liberate French territories seized by the Germans’. [Dealer’s note].
References: Frank Jacobs. War is the National Industry of Prussia; Persuasive Maps: The P.J. Mode Collection #1185; David Rumsey Map Collection #8865.