Figure 1.--Here we see a military-themed post card before World War I. The post mark dates it as 1909. Note that the idea here is that the military is needed to protect the family. The caption reads, "On ne passe pas!" That means some like, "No one will pass!"

Post cards of boys playing war were common before World War I, perhaps most common in Germany, but German had a very large post card industry, so numerical comparisons are difficult. Such images can be founfd throughout Europe. They were considered cute in the more innocent times beffore the War. We also see a lot of similar post cards in France which also had a large post card industry. There are many similarities in the imagery of the post cards produced in different countries with imaf=ges of boys playing soldier or with toy soldiers. They were primarily presented as charming childhood images. There were also patriotic themes. But what we do not commonly see is cards glorifying the military life per se. We do see patriotic imagery and images glorifying the military in pursuit of country--but not the militsaty iseal. This is something we have never seen in French, British, or Russian post cards. And we believe it reflects varrying attitudes toward the military in Germany that was outside of the European mainstream.

Germany

The German image on the post card on the previous page is rather cute. . It is, however, not the image that struck us here. It is the sentiment or poem that went with it. Note the poem here in this German post card which we found rather jarring. This postcard is typical of the militaristic attitude in imperial Germany. The German test reads: Wer will unter die Soldaten, Der muss haben ein Gewehr, Das muss er mit Pulver laden, Und mit einer Kugel schwer." That translates as: : Who wants to go among the soldiers, He needs a rifle, That he must load with (gun) powder, And with a heavy bullet." We have noted images from other countries similar to this postcard. We have not noted captions like this anywhere else.

France

A French reader writes, " OK if the German post card was produced before the World War I, we could find the same sort of post card in France against Germany." HBC does not entirely agree with this. Our French reader is of course absolutely correct that there were anti-German French post cards and highhly patriotic French podst cards focused on the recovery of Alsace-Loraine and military service. But read the German poem again. There is not an ounce of anti-French sentiment in the poem or image. It is a poem glorifying war and the military. This we do not see in France. French post cards depict childhood interest in the military and the importance of the military--primarily because of the Germans. The French post card here is a good example (figure 1). They do not give any indication that support the ideal of the military way of life.

Britain

America

Of all the world powers, America was the least militaristic in the early-20th century. The United States did build a Navy, but the American Army was a fraction of thsat of the European powers and military appropriations minisule. Military-themed post cards with children were rare.

Created: 9:15 PM 11/29/2008
Last updated: 9:15 PM 11/29/2008