Poster, 'Germany's Battle Cry'

Us and them

This First World War propaganda poster was created by the British Parliamentary Recruiting Committee to attack Germany's conquering mission of 'Germany over All', and to position Britain as possessing the moral high ground in the conflict. This contrast, represented by the colouring of German text in orange and British text in white, reinforced the notion that Britain and her Allies were fighting for the greater good of Europe, unlike Germany, who fought for its own supremacy. Women are also co-opted as reasons for fighting.

British and American Posters in New Zealand

This item is part of a collection of First World War posters sent to New Zealand as examples of British and American wartime propaganda. From 1917-1919, the Dominion Museum (now Te Papa) collected such war material with the help of the New Zealand High Commissioner in London and the Department of Defence.

The museum intended to collect and display such objects in a planned national war museum in Wellington which never eventuated. Instead, the museum toured over 100 war posters around New Zealand in the early 1920s in the context of increasing commemoration of the war during peacetime. For many, the posters illustrated important aspects of the war and the history of New Zealand's part in the war. This commemorative function was far removed from their original function to encourage wartime contribution.