Of all the developments during the First World War, perhaps the most remarkable was the unprecedented number of soldiers who were called upon to fight. By the end of the war, over 60 million had been mobilised, a figure far in excess of any previous conflict.
The wealth of resources available to both sides, combined with the global nature of the conflict, meant that the small professional armies of previous conflicts were totally inadequate, and all the combatant nations began to conscript or recruit vast numbers of civilians.
These ‘citizens in uniform’ were often depicted in the posters of the day and this exhibition will examine a selection of contemporary posters from four of the major belligerent nations: Great Britain and her colonies, France, Germany and Austria-Hungary.
The intended audience was not the soldiers themselves, but rather those who remained at home. They were designed to maintain morale and support for the war and to raise money through war loans. Therefore it was vital to present the public with images that they recognised and with which they could identify.
[Three posters. The first Fritz Erler poster shows a young airman standing in the cockpit of a biplane, looking towards the viewer, his hand in a bandage. The caption reads "Und Ihr?" (translation: And You?). The second Fritz Erler poster shows a young soldier in full battle gear standing with his hand on a wooden post and looking into the distance. He is surrounded by a yellow glow. The caption reads "Helft uns Siegen! (translation: Help us Win!). The Lucien Bernhard poster shows a ghostly naval officer with his hand on the shoulder of a young sailor and pointing to a sinking Allied merchant ship on the horizon.]
At the beginning of the First World War, Germany regarded itself as a country looking to the future. Recently unified she had undergone rapid population growth, economic expansion and industrialisation. Successful wars against Austria and France had reinforced the status of the military in German society. The outbreak of the war provided an opportunity for the army to complete Germany's will to power.
Fritz Erler's poster of a wounded air force gunner emphasises the German soldiers' commitment to the cause. The text asks the question 'Und Ihr? [And You?]', challenging the German public to match that commitment by subscribing to the war loan.
Another Erler design 'Helft uns Siegen! [Help us Win!]' illustrates the importance of the public's contribution to the war effort. The yellow outlining of the Stormtrooper gives him an almost supernatural glow, emphasising the exalted position of the German soldier.
Lucien Bernhard’s poster depicts a spectral naval officer pointing to a sinking Allied merchant ship on the horizon. As in the other two posters, the men stare into the distance envisioning glorious victory.
[Two posters. The first Bert Thomas poster shows a British Tommy grinning at the viewer while he lights his pipe. The caption reads "Arf a 'mo' Kaiser!". 'The second Bert Thomas poster shows two stylised heads, one a British soldier, the other a sailor, looking directly at the viewer. The caption reads "You buy War Bonds, we do the rest!"]
The British posters show their soldiers in a much more down-to-earth way.
Bert Thomas's image of a 'Tommy' emphasises the ordinariness of the British soldier. The image jokes about keeping the German Kaiser waiting while the soldier lights his pipe ('Arf a 'mo' Kaiser!').
The second Thomas image has much more serious intent. The text suggests that the British forces approached the war stoically. The simplified forms of the soldier and sailor and the starkness of the language reinforce the message.
[Two posters. The Faivre poster shows a young solder, his arm raised up to indicate he is moving forward, his head turned away as if beckoning to a following soldier. The SEM poster shows the French Army marching past a mounted General Foch.]
The French posters tended to represent their soldiers as citizens.
The pose of the soldier in Jules Abel Faivre's poster is based on François Rude's sculpture of 'Victory' on the Arc de Triomphe. Although the soldier can be seen as a representation of French Republican values, he is an ordinary man.
The poster by SEM (Georges Goursat) shows the massed ranks of the French Army marching past Marshal Ferdinand Foch. No two soldiers are alike, each poilu has an individual character but together they create a unified whole.
[Three posters. The Hengst Poster shows a bearded soldier standing by some barbed wire and leaning on a rifle, with what looks like a snow covered mountain in the background. His face is turned away from the viewer as he looks into the distance beyond the wire. The Rubes poster shows a group of soldiers holding colourful banners and marching towards the viewer with St. Vitus' Cathedral in the background. The Weiss poster shows a young border guard in Hungarian uniform, a rifle slung over his soldier and a blaze of autumnal trees in the background.]
The polyglot Austro-Hungarian Empire incorporated many other ethnic groups including Czechs, Serbs, Poles, Croats, Bosnians and Italians.
Each of these posters shows soldiers defending their own land within the Empire. Oswald Hengst's image depicts an Austrian reservist patrolling the Austrian Alps; Ferdinand Rubeš's image shows Czech soldiers and St Vitus Cathedral in Prague; Antal Weiss portrays a Hungarian border guard within a heavily wooded Hungarian landscape.
The diversity of ethnic origins is also indicated by national heraldic devices.
[Two posters. The Moldovan poster shows an Austrian soldier fending off an attack by many bayonets, using a huge coin as a shield. The bayonets are breaking as they hit the shield. The Brangwyn poster shows a British Tommy bayoneting a German soldier, who falls back in a spectacular fashion.]
First World War posters rarely showed close combat as it was felt that exposure to the realities of battle would harm morale. These exceptions, from Austria-Hungary and Britain, give an idea of the appalling conditions endured by the soldiers at the Front.
Béla Moldovan's image shows an Austrian soldier using a large coin as a shield. The poster encourages Austrian civilians to subscribe to the war loan. The defensive pose is echoed in the poster's text, ‘Help us in the fight for peace’: peace, not victory, is the priority.
Frank Brangwn's image of a British Tommy bayoneting a German is more aggressive: the text calls for a ‘final blow’. The poster was controversial, both in Britain and Germany, for its brutality: it was even rumoured that the Kaiser was so enraged that he placed a price on Brangwyn's head.
[Two posters. The Kuhn poster shows a young German soldier in a kneeling position, his body arched back in preparation to throw a stick grenade. The Lindsay poster shows a desperately wounded soldier, leaning on the body of his dead comrade and blowing a bugle to summon help.]
These posters show men in desperate, rather than victorious, situations.
Walter Kühn's image of an Austrian soldier on his knees shows an isolated, even frightened, figure; he is not yet defeated and has a grenade to throw.
Norman Lindsey's image shows a wounded Australian soldier, surrounded by dead comrades, desperately calling for help as German troops appear over the horizon. 'The last call', reinforces the urgency of the situation; again, the soldier is undefeated, showing willingness to fight on.
These images were designed to shock the public into action: the Austrian poster asks the public to subscribe to the war loan; the Australian poster demands more recruits.
[Two posters. The Redon poster shows a young woman hugging her child tightly and ready to put the child to bed. A picture of her soldier husband is on the wall above the child's bed. The Leroux poster shows a French soldier holding up and kissing a young child while his wife tends a young baby in the background.]
Both of these posters portray the soldier as father or husband.
They show the soldiers’ love for the family as a motivating force. Both of the female figures embellish this idea through their traditional feminine qualities, shown as caring and nurturing and in need of male protection.
Such posters convey the idea of the family as the source of stability in a time of chaos. Fighting on behalf of one’s family would reassure conflicting national and personal loyalties.
[Two posters. The Sterrer poster shows a stern soldier holding a rifle, protecting a woman and children in the background. The Bernhard poster shows a young woman holding a sleeping child, while a soldier stands with his rifle ready in the background.]
These German posters portray husbands and fathers as peripheral to the family unit. The focus is on the conventional ideal of men as guardians of family and Fatherland.
The exuberance of 1914 reinforced this idea of the soldier as the embodiment of true and honorable masculine qualities.
Although German female figures are also shown as in need of masculine protection, they are less conventional. They exhibit stoical fortitude and an almost detached calmness in the face of upheaval , qualities which were traditionally attributed to their male counterparts.
[Three posters. The Erler poster shows a young man, naked except for a belt, steadied against a rock as he prepares to fire an arrow from a bow. The Neumann poster shows a naked soldier brandishing a bright sword and ready to strike. The Faivre poster shows a naked youth snatching the French tricolor from the beak of a winged eagle and preparing to strike the bird down.]
Both of the German posters offer highly idealised versions of the male body. Warfare is often envisioned as offering a transcendental experience for those involved, a route to enlightenment. Here the soldier is clearly shown as a supernatural creature.
Both the male figures adopt defensive postures. This would reflect the notion that Germany perceived herself not as the active aggressor, as regarded by France or Britain, but as the defender of the mythic German soil.
This idea of transcendence encapsulates a Wagnerian ideal. Wagner, declared “what is this German? It must be something wonderful, mustn't it, for it is humanly finer than all else?”
The French poster is less dramatic; its heroic Gallic soldier still conjures the idea of the nation’s overall military strength embodied within each individual. The emphasis remains on the heroic nature and defensive role of the soldier.
[Two posters. The Carlu poster shows a young Frenchman in 18th century dress, standing in a dramatic pose and looking back at a group of WW1 French soldiers who are cheering. The Broders poster reads like a comic, with varous scenes showing heroic figures of Revolutionary France.]
The French Revolution of 1789 acted as a source of visual inspiration for much of French propaganda. It was an event that provided the French national consciousness with a recognisable pictorial vocabulary of republicanism and could easily be called upon in order to stir patriotic fervour.
Both of these examples portray the soldiers of the past. French poster artists during the First World War were often concerned with portraying the glories of French arms both ancient and modern. The army’s traditions, successes, heroes and most importantly its élan vital were evoked. The contemporary soldier was shown to follow a long and glorious military history. Posters often provided a graphic juxtaposition of the antique and modern in order to stress the camaraderie of republican soldiery.
Additionally, popular historical figures of the Revolution were depicted. Carlu’s Rouget de l’Isle, composer of ‘La Marseillaise’, personifies the qualities of the French patriot in time of national crisis.
Focusing upon the Revolution emphasised the superiority of the Republican idea over that of German autocracy.
[Two posters. The Puchinger poster shows a stylised knight in armour defending a woman and a child. The Svoboda poster shows a group of mounted knights holding long colourful lances and heraldic shields.]
Both of these posters make use of Medieval imagery to revive times of historical strength and social cohesion. Evoking past military successes also supported Germanic notions of war as an established and inevitable route of cultural progress.
A romanticised vision of knightly noble combat also maintained support for the war, distancing the onlooker from the impersonal and mechanised nature of modern warfare.
The Czech poster focuses on that nation’s past achievements, which came often at the expense of Germanic states. It represents the awakening of a national consciousness within Czech regions. For many countries the First World War was greeted with optimism and regarded as a means of achieving self-determination.
[Two posters. The Boys poster shows a smiling Indian soldier in a turban holding a medal and pointing to a landscape of fields with a hill in the background. The Unknown poster shows an elderly, white bearded man heartily shaking hands with a young soldier.]
![[Kannada Text] – F Boys [?]](images/KannadaText.jpg)
During the war both sides made much use of colonial resources and manpower.
The Boys poster pictures an Indian landscape and urges recruits to fight less for England but rather for their ‘homeland’ as a part of the Empire.
The Australian poster promises rewards for those willing to fight for this emerging nation. At the outbreak of the First World War Australia was a country forging its identity. The sacrifice of Australian lives at Gallipoli and their soldiers’ subsequent successes would become integral to the country’s heritage.
[Two posters. The Grolemeyer poster shows a mounted officer with a shadowy army marching behind him. The Romberg poster shows an Algerian dressed in flowing robes and mounted on a spirited galloping horse.]
These posters suggest differing attitudes held by France and Germany towards their colonies.
The image of General Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck is that of conqueror with the role of indigenous peoples in Germany’s colonial victories marginalised. The German poster infers the commonly held belief that Western colonisation would ‘civilise’ Africa.
The French poster presents a more positive cultural interchange, albeit with a romanticised picture of Algerian society. During the First World War France made much use of colonial troops, unlike other belligerents, who usually enlisted African subjects into labour units, fearing active service would encourage a sense of elevated of status.
‘The Citizen in Uniform’ was researched and curated by:
Robin Blackburn and Rosalyn Scott
Documentation Officers with the Posters of Conflict project (Imperial War Museum & Manchester Metropolitan University)
With assistance from:
Michael Moody, Research and Information Officer, Department of Art Imperial War Museum
Richard Slocombe, Curator Documentation, Department of Art Imperial War Museum
Copyright notice
Copyright for all the images shown rests with the Imperial War Museum unless stated otherwise. Permission to reproduce any of the posters exhibited must be sought in writing from the Department of Art. Applications should include details of the nature and distribution of the publication, the proposed use of the image and the usage rights requested.
Credit must be made to the Imperial War Museum, when any work of art of the Museum’s collections is reproduced.
For further information please contact: artimages@iwm.org.uk
Posters of Conflict is a collaborative project, between the Imperial War Museum and Manchester Metropolitan University. The aim is to research, catalogue and digitise the museum’s internationally important poster collection. The project’s work is published online by the Arts and Humanities Data Service and is incorporated into the Imperial War Museum’s ‘Collections Online’ scheme.
For further information about Posters of Conflict visit the project website:
http://collections.iwm.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.914
For further informationabout the organisations involved:
Department of Art, Imperial War Museum
http://collections.iwm.org.uk/server/show/nav.00g001
Manchester Institute for Research and Innovation in Art Design (MIRIAD), Manchester Metropolitan University
www.miriad.mmu.ac.uk
Arts and Humanities Data Service (AHDS) http://vads.ahds.ac.uk/