1. Cartoons from British Magazine ‘Punch’
Punch was a conservative right wing magazine with a patriotic readership. It was very anti German and showed no sympathy or trust for Germany over the Peace Treaty. Many of their cartoons were drawn by Bernard Partridge. His style is often dramatic – he had worked in the theatre before becoming a cartoonist.

2. Right : compare this to Low’s cartoon about the Ruhr crisis on slide 4
Right : compare this to Low’s cartoon about the Ruhr crisis on slide 4. The Punch cartoon is far more supportive of France than Low’s work.

3. Punch (artists Leonard Raven-Hill and Bernard Partridge) was very supportive of France’s occupation of the Ruhr when Germany defaulted on her Reparations payments.

4. David Low
A New Zealand Cartoonist who came to work in Britain after the war. He was a democratic socialist and a committed internationalist who had high hopes for the League of Nations. He wanted to see a democratic Germany develop, and was wary of France’s severity on Germany.

5. Into the Arms of the Enemy
David Low had little trust for France. Left : his response to the invasion of the Ruhr 1923.
David Low also had a strong dislike for Communism (see Peace Perfect Peace on slide 8)
Into the Arms of the Enemy
Right : Low’s take on the Treaty of Locarno. The leader with the boxing glove is Briand of France.

6. German Cartoons about the Treaty of Versailles
German cartoons are often quite realistic and graphic in their depiction of the impact of the Treaty. Fewer use analogies to soften the impact of their political points.
How does this cartoon get its message across ? Who is the Vampire ? Who is the girl ? What is the significance of what lies in the foreground ?

7. “National Socialism will free Germany from the lie of sole guilt.”
Hitler drew this in 1930
Who is the girl ?
What is the broken knife showing ?
Why is she chained to a pillar ?

8. The Threat of Communism
was see as a significant problem after WW1 by many.

9. Perhaps the most famous cartoon about the Treaty of Versailles.
Will Dyson May 1919

10. American Cartoons
US Cartoons focus mainly on the League of Nations and whether the USA should support it. The Democrats supported their President, but the republicans were hostile to the League of Nations

11. American Cartoons
Which of these cartoons is likely to be from a magazine that supported the Republicans ? Why ?

12. Treaties with the other Central Powers.
Right : German cartoon about the fate of Austria at the Treaty of St Germain (September 1919). The headless lady is labelled ‘Austria’

13. Treaties with the other Central Powers.
Above : Hungarian cartoon about the fate of Hungary at the Treaty of Trianon (June 1920). A chained Hungary in the middle is all that is left after Austria, Jugoslavia, Romania and Czechoslovakia have taken their lands.

14. Treaties with the other Central Powers
Treaties with the other Central Powers. Treaty of Sèvres with Turkey August 1920
American cartoons (above left : 1919) focused on the possibility that the USA might become the Mandated power for an independent Armenia, and on the Armenian massacres undertaken by Turkey New Zealand cartoonist David Low (above right : 1920) was shocked by the fact that Turkey was allowed to retain a foothold in Europe with Constantinople after the deaths of 100,000 ANZAC troops at Gallipoli

15. Left : UK cartoon disapproves of the Turkish challenge.
Right : US cartoon notes the successes of the renegotiation for Turkey
Treaties with the other Central Powers. Treaty of Lausanne July 1923 with Turkey
The Turkish Revolution overthrew the Sultan’s regime that had signed the Treaty of Sèvres, and then successfully challenged that Treaty by force. The Allies (who did not want to go back to war with Turkey) were forced to allow Turkey to negotiate a revised Treaty at Lausanne.

16. The Turkish figure at the back of the queue is in no rush to get his Treaty. The Turkish Nationalists were already fighting to remove occupying forces and undermine the basis for the Treaty of Sèvres, even before it was signed.