War Declared : No. I. August 1914

Category

Library Item

Item no

32930

Title

War Declared : No. I. August 1914

Description

"The populace were mad with joy, drank champagne, and danced in the streets of Berlin the whole night."

"This and the cartoon that follows will, we believe, be considered by those who have studied M. Raemaekers' war cartoons from the outset, as amongst the most remarkable of the whole of his productions. They were inspired by the stunning effect upon Germany of the Allies' refusal to entertain its peace overtures made at Christmas 1916, and the contrast between the reception of the unexpected answer and the delirium upon the declaration of war two and a half years earlier.

The scene of both is laid in Berlin. Whereas in the British capital on Bank Holiday 1914 an air of great and terrible anxiety pervaded the town, the German capital gave itself up to universal mafficking. Much of this may have been stage managed, but the spectacle of shouting and singing and rejoicing crowds of revellers and roysterers which made night hideous was largely genuine, and this continued until the orders for a general mobilization made the seriousness of the situation a reality, and the mob began to recognize that, with Great Britain and Russia as antagonists, the parade to Paris might not be as simple an affair as it appeared in 1870.

The last day of 1916 saw the streets of Berlin again thronged, but with a differently disposed crowd. Germany had expressed to the Entente through the medium of the United States that she was willing to open pourparlers as to peace. It was confidently expected that the nations who, according to the official information, had been beaten to their knees, would readily entertain the suggestion.

The refusal that made wreckage of these hopes was dumbfounding, and it could hardly have arrive at a worse moment, for an exceptionally inclement winter and increasing economical distress made the disclosure of the Allies' refusal as unpalatable as could possibly be."

Artist / maker

Raemaekers, Louis

Date

1917

Size

37 x 25.4 cm

Type

Chromolithograph

Location

Art and Design Library

Copyright

Louis Raemaekaers' drawings are reproduced by kind permission of the Louis Raemaekers Foundation.