THE CARTOON, THE NEW WEAPON OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR

Abstract

Radio, cinema, television, the internet… The mass media have evolved
over the course of time, yet what remains unchanged has been governments
’or lobbies’ interest in keeping them under their control, with
a view to influencing society’s thinking and ideology. In war and any
other periods of conflict, this control over information has been a matter
of national concern. In fact, during the Great War, despite limited
media outreach capability when compared with the immediacy, capacity
and penetration of today, governments realised the huge benefit that
they could obtain from their use for propaganda purposes to support
the war effort. One of the simplest means was the graphic publication,
which may encompass comics, daily or regular strips, cartoons and posters.
The objectives of this article are twofold: firstly, to analyse the real
impact of graphic publications on society during World War I; and
lastly, to provide a different viewpoint for the study of any war through
its visual propaganda.