World War I, 1914-1918 - FLP Drawn into Politics Exhibition

Death, 11/24/1914 by Frederick T. Richards (1864-1921)

Published shortly after the First Battle of Marne during World War One, this cartoon shows the figure of Death tracing a path through France with crossed swordthe s. A German invasion from the unexpected direction of the North was met by French and British forces at the Marne River. By the end of the battle the invasion was halted though both sides would become mired in trench warfare. In the cartoon Death is indicating this new and costly front of the war.

Source:

First Battle of the Marne. (2012). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/365968/First-Battle-of-the-Marne

11/29/1914 by Frederick T. Richards (1864-1921)

Referencing the comparatively small size of the United States military in 1914, this cartoon shows Uncle Sam standing inactive while the much larger armies of Europe engage in the start of World War One. The U.S. remained neutral throughout much of the war and by the time they entered on the side of the Allies in 1917, the army numbered 200,000. Since this was still a small number compared to the other armies fighting, the U.S. encouraged enlistment and instituted a draft. By the end of the war over 4.7 million Americans would have served.

Source:
Rockoff, Hugh. "US Economy in World War I". EH.Net Encyclopedia, edited by Robert Whaples. February 10, 2008. Retrieved from: < http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/Rockoff.WWI >

The Effect Of The War On Every Day Affairs by Walter McDougall (1858-1938), ca. 1914

When World War I began in 1914, the United States initially remained neutral and attempted to continue trade with all the warring nations. The British naval blockade of Germany and the Central powers that began early in the war proved disruptive to U.S. trade. Though American exports to Britain and her allies increased, the volume of imports from Western Europe was greatly reduced. This cartoon points out the dearth of European goods in America and the influx of more readily available goods from Russia, Japan and China.

Sources:
Rockoff, Hugh. "US Economy in World War I". EH.Net Encyclopedia, edited by Robert Whaples. February 10, 2008. Retrieved from: < http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/Rockoff.WWI >

Captain Seeking Of Settling by James Hammon

Prussia and the larger German Empire's "emphasis on militarism and authority"^[1]was seen as one of the root causes of the hostilities leading to World War One. Germany's defeat in WWI is depicted in this cartoon as a sunken war-ship. The flag of "world domination" is shown in tatters and the cannon of "militarism" is now useless.

Source:
^[1]U.S. Department of State: Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. (2012, March 19). Background Note: Germany. Retrieved from: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3997.htm

Never Again! But Wasn't It Great, Eh? by Charles Henry Sykes (1882-1942), ca. 1921

Shown seated alongside one another, Uncle Sam and the French general Ferdinand Foch (1851-1929) reminisce over a map of the Western Front of World War One. A grinning Uncle Sam comments, "Never Again! But wasn't it great, eh?" The cartoon calls attention to the fact that the devastating effects of the war failed to extinguish America's pride in her military endeavors.

Steven Trout points out in "On the Battlefield of Memory: the First World War and Remembrance, 1919-1941:"
"although the themes of disenchantment and horror characterized much of the war-related literature, film and visual art produced in the United States between the world wars- just as the subjects of disarmament, pacifism, and isolationism often dominated discourse during the same era- collective memories of World War I never swung completely to the negative."

Source:Trout, Steven. (2010). On the Battlefield of Memory: The First World War and American Remembrance, 1919-1941. (pp. 10-12). Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabamba Press.

From Our Catalog:
An illustrated history of the First World War by John Keegan

From Publishers Weekly

The text of this work is essentially a stripped-down version of Keegan's 2001 The First World War, with the text complemented by superb visuals. Keegan has selected almost 500 photographs, posters, drawings and maps, a cross-section of material produced by all the major combatants and clarified by Keegan's extensive captions. Focusing heavily on the ordinary men and women who bore the main burdens, the illustrations combine to show the conflict's face from the front lines to the home fronts, bringing immediacy to events and experiences increasingly remote. Those who haven't already read the earlier work will also appreciate Keegan's ability to move easily from the infantrymen's trenches to the generals' headquarters and diplomats' chambers. He discusses tactics and technology, politics and diplomacy, with intellectual flair and in prose whose elegance reflects his backgrounds as journalist and scholar. Like an increasing number of historians, Keegan regards the Great War, with its unprecedented levels of slaughter, as the defining event of the 20th century. (He believes WWII, the later, larger conflict, can only be understood in terms of the issues unresolved and created between 1914 and 1918.) That Europe's people and leaders risked everything in a war whose causes in no way justified its costs remains for Keegan easier to describe than to explain. His narrative of the conflict's sorrow and its pity is, however, as good an introduction for general readers as is to be found in print anywhere. And the high-quality illustrations should tempt even owners of the original to add this to their libraries. (Nov.)Forecast: This season "belongs" to World War II remembrances based around Pearl Harbor, so this book's release lacks an obvious hook and may be overshadowed. Still, its quality should render it a steady seller off more thoughtful gift tables.

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