Propaganda, political graphics, cartoons, war art and more. DM submissions.
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Dec 11 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
Soviet illustrations depicting the end of the Battle of Berlin. Artist: Vladimir Bogatkin.
'At Brandenburg Gate', showing IS-2 heavy tanks passing through.
Feb 3 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
'The Yellow Peril' — American cartoon published in Puck magazine (23 March 1904) comparing an oppressive and backwards Russia with a modern and progressive Japan. Artist: Udo Keppler.
Russia is depicted with a flail labelled 'Absolutism', 'Persecution' and 'Tyranny', while Modern Japan is depicted in the rays of 'Justice', 'Progressiveness', 'Humaneness', 'Enlightenment', 'Tolerance' and 'Religious Liberty'.
Panamanian illustrations published in 1989 by the Panama Defense Forces.
'The Canal is ours!'
Oct 24, 2023 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
Caricatures of international leaders published in Ken magazine, 1938.
'Goebbels, ringmaster of the Reich's culture circus' (19 May, 1938)
Aug 28, 2023 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
'What Germany Wants' — British propaganda map from the First World War (ca. 1918) showing a German-dominated 'Central Europe' and 'Central Africa'.
The map was adapted from a similar map published in 'The German Plot Unmasked', an anti-German propaganda book written by French journalist André Chéradame in 1916.
Aug 18, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
'Does the bicycle make women cruel?' — American cartoon published in the Los Angeles Herald newspaper (13 June, 1897) showing a woman callously cycling over another.
The cartoon illustrated an article about an alleged 'new mania which is afflicting women who ride bicycles', with the author reporting on cases of the mania developing in France.
Jul 31, 2023 • 8 tweets • 4 min read
'Colonizability of Africa' — British map (1899) showing Africa shaded according to its suitability for European colonisation.
Created by prominent cartographer John Bartholomew (left) for a book by British explorer and colonialist Harry Johnston (right) titled 'A History of the Colonization of Africa by Alien Races'.
Jul 12, 2023 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
'They Can't Lick Our Dick' — American button produced for Richard Nixon's presidential campaigns in the 1960s and 70s.
The slogan emerged in the early 1960s, unofficially at first though it seems to have been distributed officially by the Nixon campaign on at least one occasion (see quote in next tweet).
Jun 6, 2023 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Spanish illustration published on the cover of the children's magazine 'Flecha' in 1938 celebrating Italian and German support for the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War.
The illustration shows two soldiers standing with the flag and the swastika, fasces and yoke and arrows.
The text below reads: 'Guard and defence of the Empire, Franco's army revels in waving the flag that guides its victory ...
May 30, 2023 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
'He alone of two billion people on earth may not speak in Germany' — Nazi poster (ca. 1925) published while Hitler was banned from public speaking in several German states. Artist: Philipp Rupprecht.
A variant from 1925-6 advertises a Goebbels speech.
May 22, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Poster from the Soviet-Afghan War showing the hammer and sickle being crushed by the green pestle of 'Jihad' inside the 'Afghanistan' mortar.
One of many anti-Soviet posters and leaflets from the war showing the hammer and sickle being destroyed:
'Russia Will Be Converted' — American book published in 1956 prophesying the imminent collapse of communism and the conversion of Russia to Catholicism.
Written by prominent Catholic writer John Haffert, the book cites the prophecies of Our Lady of Fátima (a title of Mary's associated with the Marian apparitions reported in 1917 in the Portuguese city of Fátima) claiming that Russia's conversion is near.
May 1, 2023 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
'Pyramid of Capitalist System' — American poster from 1911.
The poster was published to promote the International Worker - newspaper of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) - and was one of several variants issued around 1911-12. Created by 'Nedeljkovich, Brashich and Kuharich' and the Ohio-based International Publishing Co.
Apr 2, 2023 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
'Hark! Hark! The dogs do bark!' — British comic map from the First World War (1914) showing the nations of Europe fighting.
Britain appears as a sailor holding battleships on strings, while the British bulldog and French poodle confront the German dachshund. Russia of course is represented as a great bear alongside the Tsar, who drives a steamroller towards Central Europe.
Mar 28, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Soviet portrait of General MacArthur, 1951. Designed by Kukryniksy.
Similar style to the illustrations found in this WW2 pamphlet by Kukryniksy titled 'The Executioners of Europe':
German caricature showing Karl Marx as Prometheus chained to a printing press while the Prussian eagle eats his liver. Published anonymously in 1843.
The cartoon was published shortly after the Prussian government's suppression of the Rheinische Zeitung, a Cologne-based newspaper that Marx edited. In the caricature, Cologne is visible in the distance, while figures representing the Rhineland's major cities plead for mercy.
Mar 12, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
British anti-drink driving poster, 1948.
Designed by Leonard Cusden for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.
Mar 1, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
'Relentless battle in the streets of Madrid' — Italian illustration (1936) showing Nationalist troops battling Republicans in Madrid during the Spanish Civil War. Illustration by Vittorio Pisani.
The illustration was published in an issue of La Tribuna Illustrata newspaper marking the start of the Siege of Madrid. Full caption reads: 'Relentless battle in the streets of Madrid - The Redss final fierce defences broken by Nationalist troops'.
Jan 5, 2023 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
Spanish anti-communist cartoon (undated, ca. 1939) showing a communist scooping up Spanish children as Carlists rush to the rescue.
Presumably referring to the evacuation of Spanish children to the Soviet Union, which began in 1937.
Nov 22, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Lucky Strike adverts from a 1942 campaign launched after changing the packs' colour from green to white: 'Lucky Strike GREEN has gone to war!'
(The gist obviously being that the green previously used in the cigarette packaging is now being used for military equipment)
Nov 22, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
‘Subhas’ sacrifice’ — Indian print from 1948 showing nationalist leader Subhas Chandra Bose offering his head to Mother India as she frees herself from the chains of the British dragon.
The heads of other nationalist and independence leaders are scattered below, while Bose is depicted above next to Delhi’s Red Fort and with the Indian flag.
Creators and publishers named as ‘Paul Picture Publishers’ and ‘The Laxi Press, Delhi’.