Description
Object description
whole: oval
obverse design: Foreign Ministers of the Entente and Italy represented from left to right - Théophile Delcassé, bust, right profile, Sir
Edward Grey, bust, full face, Iswolsky, bust, full face inclined to left and Salandra, bust, full face inclined to left. Sir Edward Grey's
right hand appears behind Delcassé's head, extreme left, holding an oval medallion bearing the crowned head of King Edward
VII
obverse text: "DELCASSÉ-GREY-ISWOLSKY-SALANDRA" (around upper edge) & "BRANDSTIFTER-KOLLEGIVM-" (in panel at centre base)
reverse design: Rumour, personified by naked figure, standing facing left in a chariot the side of which bears the text "SIEGES-
SVG.NACH BERLIN WIEN CONSTANTINOPEL", some of the letters being obscured by the wheel. Rumour holds and appears to be blowing an ornate
trumpet and is wearing a satchel around his shoulders from which broadsheets are distributed. One sheet, held in the left hand bears the
text "DEUTSCHLAND AM HUNGER TUCH" and three sheets already scattered bear, respectively, "REVOLUTION IN BERLIN", "DER DOM ZU REIMS IN
TRÜMMER" and "DER BARBAREN ENDE". The broken wheels of the chariot rest on the spikes of a packed mass of pickelhaubes, symbolising the
strength of the German Army
reverse text: "DER LÜGENFELDZUG DES.VIERVERBANDS" & "1914"
Label
In this vigorous counter to Allied anti-German propaganda Goetz ridicules the distortions ('Rumour') and greatly
exaggerated claims ('Falsehood') made by the Allies in the early months of the First World War. These include over-optimistic assumptions
of swift military success and over-pessimistic pictures of conditions on the German home front The especially dense imagery of the obverse
design reflects a particularly German perception of the the pre-1914 diplomatic intrigues which resulted in the British commitment to
support France in 1914. The obverse text is translated as 'The cabal of incendiaries'. The text on the chariot on the reverse design is
translated as 'Triumphal train to Berlin, Vienna, Constantinople'. The text on broadsheets translated, respectively, as 'Germany at the
point of starvation', 'Revolution in Berlin, 'The cathedral of Rheims in ruins' and 'The end of the Barbarians'. The main reverse text is
translated as the 'Quadruple Alliance's campaign of lies'.