European Cartoonists on World War I

Sulfurback Saturday turns our attention to some political cartoons from continental Europe during World War I. I've normally been trying to bring up the cartoons in this series at roughly the same point in the year now as they appeared 100 years ago, but that isn't always possible with European cartoons published in the United States. There would often be months of delay between their continental and American appearances.

This first cartoon, for example, which appeared in Cartoons magazine in 1918, appears to be dated 1916. 

"Their Arms" by Pierre Falke in Le Rire,Paris. 1916?

You'll find right away that not all humor necessarily translates well to English. I took seven years of French in school and college, and I don't know of anything inherently funny in "Je vous donnerai ma bouteille de vitriol." Use of vitriol, a.k.a. sulfuric acid, as a weapon has always been the territory of vengeful ex-lovers and radical Luddites; but despite the widespread use of mustard gas (another acidic sulfur compound) in World War I, I can't find any reference to vitriol being standard issue to soldiers in the trenches. The 3rd-Century Persian-Roman War maybe, but not World War I.

I've posted a lot of Simplicissimus cartoons in this series to include a German point of view about the war, so in the interest of getting to some other countries, I'll limit myself to one German cartoon today. Gustav Brandt, drawing for the staid Kladderadatch of Berlin, assays to base a pun on his country's U-boat blockade of Great Britain. (At least, I assume the original German caption has a pun in it somewhere; there is no beginning "U" in "Ich bin verbraucht.")

"The Ruler of the Waves" by Gustav Brandt in Kadderadatch, Berlin.

Beatty, by the way, was Admiral of the British Fleet, First Earl David Richard Beatty. Brandt's cartoon is not a particularly good likeness; there is a bust of Beatty at Trafalgar Square.

"Uncovering of War Objects" in Nebelspalter, Zurich. 

Nebelspalter tended to support the Central Powers in World War I, but this cartoon includes a German and an Austrian in the foreground of the cartoon as well as French, Italian, British and Russian leaders, all hesitant to unveil their goals for the war. The absence of any American suggests this cartoon dates from before the U.S. declaration of war in 1917. It must have been drawn after Italy, here represented by little Victor Emmanuel III (right of center), entered the war in April, 1915.

"President Wilson, Peace Angel" in Hollandsche Revue, January or February, 1918?

Continuing with another cartoon from a neutral country, I suppose this cartoon from the Netherlands probably first appeared upon U.S. entry into the war in 1917, rather than the date I've put in the cut line.

"Fine alla ... Fine!" by Gabriele "Rata Langa" Galanta in L'Asino, Rome, October 21, 1917

From Italy come three strongly anti-German cartoons. Gabriele Galanta's anticolonialist sympathies had put him at odds with his fellow co-founder of L'Asino, Guido Podrecca, and with the Italian government during the Italo-Turkish war of 1911; but his liberal views led him to favor Italy's siding with democratic France over imperial Germany and Austria, and to produce one cartoon after another against "la barbarie teutonica."

L'Asino's opposition to fascism, however, meant that their magazine would not be around to comment on World War II.

"Il Risultato Finale Rimane Invariato" by Tonv (?) in Il 420, Florence, Italy, January, 1918

Il 420, on the other hand, fully supported Mussolini before and during WWII, but that's getting way ahead of the scope of this blog post. I haven't been able to find anything out about their cartoonist, who appears to have signed his work "Tonv"; googling "420" brings up a lot of material about stuff completely unrelated to the Italian weekly magazine.

Update: "Tony" was the pen name of cartoonist Giove Toppi. --PB  

The banners I can make out behind the Kaiser in the above cartoon read "Death to the Kaiser" and "Mutiny"; it was in January, 1918 that Entente media were reporting dissent and rebellion among the German people.

"Qui Glace il Re Dei Cuochi..." by Tonv in il 420, Florence, January, 1918

During a conference with the German press in January 1918, Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg was asked to address the fear that there would be no food in Germany by May of that year. Hindenburg reportedly dismissed those concerns, saying, "My reply is that by next April I shall be in Paris." His boast was met with scorn and ridicule in the Entente press; several American and British cartoonists dubbed it an April Fool's joke on Hindenburg.

Moving on to the situation in Russia, we first have this Polish cartoon, published in exile in Moscow:

"No, My Dear..." in Mucha, Moscow, January, 1918

Apparently, Turkish humor completely flouts the idea that brevity is the soul of wit. The Russian cossack is crushed under a rock labeled "Germany"; the Turk over the horizon explains in detail why he's laughing at the Entente powers trying to lift it. (Is the one in blackface supposed to be American?)

"Hey!..." in Karagnios, Constantinople (Istanbul), January or February 1918

The Russian cartoonists of Novy Satirikon were no less critical of their domestic situation, but considerably more succinct.

"Defenders of the Revolution" in Novy Satirikon, Petrograd (St. Petersburg), 1917

The Bolsheviks were in charge in St. Petersburg, but not without challenge from Mensheviks and liberals in the capital and tsarist loyalists in the steppes.

"Русская жопа" in Novy Satirikon, January, 1918

I'm told that in a Russian fable, a donkey can't decide between two masters and starves to death. It seems not to be one of Krilof's fables as far as I can find (be careful when googling "russian ass two masters"); but if there's a donkey in a Russian fable, it usually ends up dead. So let's just concede that the fable indeed exists, lest some Turkish pasha show up to expound upon his reaction to it.

The Red Guards were the commies, of course; the Savage Division (Дикая дивизия) of the Russian Cavalry consisted of Muslim horsemen from Chechenya, Ingushetia, Dagestan, Karachay, Circassia, Kabardinia and Azerbaijan under the command of Grand Duke Mikhail Romanov, brother of the deposed tsar. Their track record of backing the losers in the February Revolution, Kornilov Affair in August, and October Revolution led to their being disbanded in 1918.

"At Last" in Novy Satirikon, Petrograd (St. Petersburg), 1918

Meanwhile, back in the capitalist West, let's close with one cartoon from neutral Denmark, where Peace is an angel named Fred.

"Patriotiske Spekulant" in Ravnen, Copenhagen, in February or March of 1918.