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Cartoons of the Moment – Crown Prince of Death (c.1915)

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The First World War in cartoons education content clip 1

Original classification rating: not rated. This clip chosen to be G

Clip description

This clip begins with cartoonist Harry Julius walking into his office reading a newspaper. Some of his cartoons are visible around his desk. Julius puts the newspaper down and begins to draw. This is followed by three cut-out and drawn animations with captions commenting on economic and political aspects of the First World War.

The first sketch comments on food shortages in Germany by depicting a German horse made out of sausages and accompanied by the caption ‘worst comes to wurst’; the second sketch depicts Turkish forces (caricatured as a battered fez-wearing turkey) stuck between two firing squads; and the third portrays the Crown Prince of Germany as the ‘Crown Prince of Death’ by drawing him adorned with skulls and crossbones.

Curator’s notes

by Poppy De Souza

Political cartoons commonly use caricature, wit and satire to make a comment on political affairs or social customs. During the First World War, when this animated cartoon was made, the Australasian Gazette newsreel featured a regular segment which commented on the social, economic and political impact of the war in Europe.

Germany suffered the largest number of military deaths during the First World War and, in this clip, cartoonist Harry Julius highlights this by adorning the uniform of Kaiser Wilhelm II with skulls, implying he is responsible for the massive amount of casualties suffered by his troops. The accompanying caption shows the Prince dodging responsibility by saying that the ‘almighty’ willed them to die.

Teacher’s notes

provided by The Le@rning FederationEducation Services Australia

This black-and-white clip shows three animated political cartoons being created by Harry Julius during the First World War (1914–18). In the first sequence, Julius enters his office, opens and scans a newspaper before beginning to draw. Then his sketches appear, each accompanied by explanatory captions. Simple animation shows first a horse transformed into sausages, next a scrawny turkey wearing a fez and Turkish slippers being threatened by German machine-gunners and Allied soldiers, and finally the German Crown Prince in skull-decorated uniform.

Educational value points

  • Political cartoons often use humour to persuade viewers to adopt a position on a social or political issue. In this clip the cartoons being drawn are intended to persuade the Australian public to support involvement in the First World War. Food shortages in Berlin, produced in part by the Allies’ blockade, the uneasy alliance between Germany and Turkey and the German Crown Prince’s responsibility for untold deaths are all satirised.
  • Several common satirical devices used by political cartoonists, such as symbols and word play, are shown in the clip. Symbols can ridicule as well as aid audience recognition and using animals to represent countries is a long-standing tradition in cartooning. In this case a scrawny turkey in a fez holding a scimitar represents the country of the same name. Word play, as with wurst, German for sausage, and worst, can also be used to mock the subject.
  • The cartoonist comments satirically on Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria (1869–1955) by presenting him as the Prince of Death with skulls hanging around his neck and skull and crossbones on his hat. This is the cartoonist’s way of lampooning the Crown Prince’s boast that he would break through the Allies’ lines at Argonne and his failure to do so when the attack was repulsed by the French with heavy losses on both sides.
  • The cartoonist uses satire to ridicule the enemy by pointing to the extreme measures Germans had to resort to such as eating horsemeat to deal with food shortages, and the uneasy alliance of the Ottoman Empire with Germany. Germany was feeling the effects of the 'hunger blockade’ imposed by British naval ships from 1914 to 1919. Turkey’s alliance with Germany was a reluctant one brought about largely by its perceived vulnerability to attack from Russia.
  • The techniques of cut-out animation are clearly demonstrated by the clip, a style that has maintained its popularity despite the more sophisticated techniques made possible by computer animation. This technique uses cut outs to represent characters. Limited movement is created through stop-motion photography of the cut out, one frame at a time. Some modern television cartoons, such as South Park, mimic the style of cut-out animation using computer technology.
  • The clip demonstrates a distinctive style of filmmaking that combines film of the cartoonist and the artist’s hand in the act of creation with cut-out animation. This style was favoured by Australian artist and cartoonist Harry Julius (1885–1938). Film of the cartoonist obtaining ideas from newspaper headlines and film of him sketching introduce several of his cartoons. Most of his cartoons include shots of his hand creating and adding detail to the images.