Defeat the Kaiser and his U-boats...waste nothing

Places
Accession Number ARTV00831
Collection type Art
Measurement Overall: 56.4 x 37.8 cm
Object type Poster
Physical description chromolithograph on paper
Maker Steele
United States Food Administration
Unknown
Place made United States of America
Date made c.1917 -1918
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

United States First World War poster issued by the United States Food Administration. It features a portrait of a sinister looking Kaiser Wilhelm in the upper right. He is looking out towards the ocean in the upper left where a German U-boat has just hit another ship which is sinking in the background. In 1917 the Kaiser authorised a U-Boat campaign which saw attacks on merchant vessels increase. In Germany it was thought that Britain could be starved out of the war within 6 months. The unpopularity of this method of warfare influenced the United States entry into the war. Printed in three colour's the title and text fill the lower half of the poster and urge the viewer to stop wasting food as its supply is threatened by the German submarine fleet.

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