This Franco-German cartoon is one part of a longer series designed within a project on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Elysée Treaty, celebrating the friendship of the two nations while also reminding readers of the difficult moments in their shared history The aim is to present the First World War from the point of view of contemporary witnesses. This comic is intended for use in history and language teaching.
The cartoon with the title “Holing the kite“ was published on 19 December 1916 in the “Western Mail”. It mainly deals with the German peace offer on 12 December, which has been rejected by the Allies at the end of the Battle of Verdun.
At first sight, Erich Ludendorff, a German general, strikes the reader's attention. His facial expression is strained but also determined. The aim he seems to follow is to expand Germany step by step. This is supported by hiM saying: “With Russia out of the war, we can finally put all our troops in France!”. This means that the Germans have already expanded their country to include Russian territories, and now Ludendorff expects all the German troops to reinforce the campaign in France to expand the German Reich there.
On the cartoon one can see two soldiers talking in a trench during a war, which appears to be the First World War due to the kind of fights in trenches.
The so-called Črnovojniki/black soldiers were military units consisting of too old, too young or partially disabled men who carried out military activities. They were used mostly in rear lines for the protection of the infrastructure, for military installations and supply centers. Towards the end of the war, however, due to lack of other soldiers, they were sent to the front. In the army they were hungry, because they got just a little bit of food, however, they were expected to do their duty.
The comparison of letters and comics can be a good example of how a scant words "come alive" through drawings, which makes the events more understandable for the proper study of clothes, arms, fashion, architecture of sometime ..
During my stay in Agen, France, I worked on a project about propaganda in World War One. The aim of this text is to give an overview of British propaganda in the First World War. It will mention two different types of propaganda, the distribution and some examples for British propaganda.
La Grande Guerra raccontata ai ragazzi del 1915, attraverso le riviste illustrate.
Il percorso fa riferimento a fumetti e racconti tratti dalla rivista Il Corriere dei Piccoli, (detto anche Corrierino), emanazione del quotidiano Il Corriere della Sera. Il Corrierino, nato nel 1908, segna per un lungo periodo il costume di generazioni di bambini e di famiglie, offrendosi come laboratorio di icone per l’immaginario nazionale.