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Political Cartoons from History

Collection of historical political cartoons depicting satire and social commentary, featuring characters and events from various conflicts, with a dramatic artistic style.

A light-hearted, humorous but also quite prescient look at what England might be like if German. A scowl from a soldier with a bayonet reminds a spectator that cheering during a match is forbidden at Lord's cricket ground. The cartoon reinforces stereotypes of the increasingly militarised German nation leading up to the outbreak of World War I. Date: 1909

1800S 1865S General George Brinton Mcclellan Union Army During The American Civil War

Trycle designe dfor use by underwater divers 1893

Jeff Davis reaping the harvest | Library of Congress

Serving lime juice to prevent scurvy during 'Alert' Artic expedition Date: 1875

British Embassy in Peking (Beijing) is defended during the 1900 Boxer Uprising. In 1900, in what became known as the Boxer Rebellion (or the Boxer Uprising), a Chinese secret organization called the Society of the Righteous and Harmonious Fists led an uprising in northern China against the spread of Western and Japanese influence there

Soldiers who do well in a farm. Artist: Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne. Draughtsman: Hendrik Jacobus Scholten. Dating: 13-Dec-1887. Measurements: h 139 mm × w 199 mm. Museum: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Boer War: Boer soldiers tending the injured British soldiers and also robbing the dead. Process print after J. Grieg.

"Right Now, the Sword is mightier than the Pen" - WWI poster showing lawmaker handing sword to Uncle Sam to prosecute the war

Illustration of revolutionary Red Guards, a transitional military force of the collapsing Imperial Russian Army and the base formations of Bolsheviks during the October Revolution and the first months of the Russian Civil War

Engraving depicting a farmer pulling barbed wire taut before fixing to a fence post. Dated 19th Century

Second Boer War (1899-1902), Amsterdam, Looy, SL van, L'Assiette au Beurre, Veber, Jean, De Deep-level, print, prent, prints, prenten, Frans, 1864-02-13 - 1928-11-28, print maker, prentmaker, 1874 - 1928, paper, papier, lithografie (techniek), Publication (Event), Publicatie, publisher, uitgever, Unspecified event

The Peace Rejoicings - Hoisting the Royal Standard at the Tower of London, 1856. Celebrating the end of the Crimean War. From "Illustrated London News", 1856.

The Bostonians in Distress November 19, 1774 Attributed to Philip Dawe British. The Bostonians in Distress 388960

DA-SC-86-06398. Country: Unknown

Historical scene, US-American history, 18th century, George Washington, 1732 - 1799, first president of the United States of America, and Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette or Lafayette, 1757 - 1834, a French general and politician in the American Revolutionary War

Thaddeus Kosciusko, tied to a litter, refusing sword offered by Catherine II following unsuccessful rebellion that led to partition of Poland. Andrzej Tadeusz Kociuszko 1746 1817) was a Polish-Lithuanian military leader during the Kociuszko Uprising. He is a national hero in Poland. Before commanding the 1794 Uprising, he had fought in the American Revolutionary War as a colonel in the Continental Army.

An engraving depicting British troops moving an observation balloon during their campaign in the Transvaal, South Africa. Dated 20th century

030502-M-7262C-136. Subject Operation/Series: IRAQI FREEDOM Country: Unknown

Kawass or Kawassen, Ottoman police servant from Montenegro, 1880, Historical, digital reproduction of an original from the 19th century

German infantryman : Until I joined the army, I didn't expect I'd spend more time digging than fighting ! Date: June 1915

ROMAN TRIREME GALLEY WAR SHIP INTERIOR WITH THREE TIERS OF MEN ROWING USUALLY FREE MEN OR SOMETIMES GALLEY SLAVES

events Franco-Prussian War 1870 - 1871 supplies Prussian soldiers with confiscated oxen drawing by Rudolf Winckler late 19th century,

Stirring up a foul nest , Reform, Lanterns, Cabinet officers, Insects, Alexander Hamilton United States Custom House New York, N.Y., Manning, Daniel, 1831-1887

An engraving depicting garden tools and a hotbed frame. Dated 19th century

Apparatus for teaching soldiers to swim, France, illustration from L'Illustration, Journal Universel, No 539, Volume XXI, June 25, 1853.

The attempted Mongol invasion of Japan, 1281 (1907). Artist: Unknown.

ON THE WAY TO INDIA, SOUTHAMPTON, UK, 1876: 1. Foreign Labour: Lascars Heaving the Chain Cable. 2. Getting the Mail Bags on Board the Deccan.

Sheridan's Ride. Battle of Cedar Creek. Morgan collection of Civil War drawings. Sheridan, Philip Henry, 1831-1888, Military service, Cedar Creek, Battle of, Va, 1864, Military officers, Union, 1860-1870, Soldiers, Union, 1860-1870, United States, History, Civil War, 1861-1865, Campaigns & battles, United States, Virginia, Cedar Creek

INUNDACIONES EN EL MIDI FRANCES. Location: PRIVATE COLLECTION. France.

Engraving depicting Thames policemen embarking on a river patrol. Dated 19th century

Union soldiers exchanging salutations with the Confederates at Fredericksburg, Virginia. Morgan collection of Civil War drawings. Fredericksburg, Battle of, Fredericksburg, Va, 1862, Newspapers, 1860-1870, Soldiers, Union, 1860-1870, Bridges, 1860-1870, United States, History, Civil War, 1861-1865, Military life, United States, Virginia, Fredericksburg

American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). Minuteman leaves toward the war while he is blessed by a priest. Engraving.19th century. Colored.

This 1890 image shows a summer evening in Vicennes. Fort Vincennes was located along the Wabash River, on the border of modern day Indiana and Illinois. Fort Vincennes was a timber fort in the town of Vincennes built by the British to guard the frontier ceded by France after the French and Indian War. British Lieutenant Governor Edward Abbott began construction in 1777.

How they brought the news of the Queen Victoria's accession, June 20th, 1837, 1901.Artist: Alec Ball

Damage in the Armoury of the Tower of London after Fenian bomb attack in January 1885. From a 19th century illustration.

Uganda portrayed as a baby on John Bull's doorstep. Date: 1894

A small boy, meeting his soldier father who is home on leave during World War I, admonishes his parent for his muddy boots, with the words, "I say, you'll cop it when muvvers sees your boots!" Date: 1916

'Rapatries; apres la distribution des lettres: "Ils sont vivants tous les deux ! "'. From "L'Album de la Guerre 1914-1919, Volume 2" L'Illustration, Paris, 1924.

An engraving depicting the Proof House of the Royal Small Arms Factory, Birmingham. Before mounting, all gun barrels had by law to be tested or 'proved', and were then marked as proved. No small arms could be sold if they did not carry the mark of a Proof House. Dated 19th century

THE ASSASSINATION OF THE LATE CZAR ALEXANDER II. OF RUSSIA, SCENE OF THE EXPLOSIONS BESIDE THE CATHERINE CANAL, 1881: AFTER THE EXPLOSION OF THE SECOND BOMB

Ribauldequin or rabauld. Late medieval volley gun with many small-caliber iron barrels set up parallel on a platform, used during the 14th and 15th centuries. Engraving. Museo Militar, 1883.

Cartoon, Holidays as Usual. Mr Jones goes bathing at a seaside resort in the early days of the First World War, not heeding the warnings about submarines being on the lookout for the enemy, and unexpectedly finds himself up in the air as a submarine rises to the surface. Date: September 1914

Remington. Remington

Battle of Troy-trojan Horse

On 28 November 1900, 21 workers were killed by the explosion of 148 kg of dynamite in the Fenelon pit, owned by the Aniche Mining Company. Aniche is a French commune in the Nord department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of northern France.

Johnny Newcome bringing rum to his fellow officers in the midshipmans mess. Young officers drink grog at a long table with benches. A black sailor opens a bottle of wine. Walls decorated with swords, daggers, hats, coats, flags, anchors and pistols. Midshipmans Birth. Europes Hope and Britains Glory. Handcoloured copperplate engraving after an illustration by Charles Williams from John Mitfords Adventures of Johnny Newcome in the Navy, London, 1819.

Cochinchina is a region encompassing the southern third of Vietnam including Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City. It was a French colony from 1862 to 1948. In 1864, all French territories in southern Vietnam were declared to be the new French colony of Cochinchina, which was to be governed by Admiral Jules Marie Dupré from 1868-74. The later state of South Vietnam was created in 1954 by combining Cochinchina with southern Annam. In Vietnamese, the region is called Nam Bo.

Spain. Third Carlist War (1872-1876). Navarre. Oteiza. Campaign ovens set up by the military administration. Breadmaking. Engraving in "The Spanish and American Illustration", 1875.

English War Work: In the Jaws of Death, Rolling Bars for Shells, 1916. Joseph Pennell (American, 1857-1926). Lithograph;

Cavalry being transported on a train, horse stable of a guard corps officer, illustrated war history, German, French war 1870-1871, Germany, France, Cavalry being transported on a train, horse stable of a guard corps officer, illustrated war history, German, French war 1870-1871, Germany, France, Europe

Heres a health to the next one that dies. Morgan collection of Civil War drawings. Death, 1860-1870, Soldiers, 1860-1870, Eating & drinking, 1860-1870, United States, History, Civil War, 1861-1865, Military life, United States

Artillery war weapon. 15th century field artillery piece. Old engraving of the book Historia de España by Alfredo Opisso 1885

Cartoon, The Continental Sidney Street, showing Kaiser Wilhelm II firing from an upstairs window and French, Russian and British 'policemen' firing back at him. A comic reference to the Sidney Street Siege (popularly known as the Battle of Stepney) in East London in 1911. Date: August 1914

Illustration depicting a man sail skating. Dated 19th century

Farmers, Anonymous, Jean Veber, 1901 hung by the British photomechanical print Print is part of a magazine with cartoons on the Second Boer War. With three -faced caption: ..... the proclamation, in which I stated that anyone with weapons in hand ... (official report by General Kitchener at the War Office.). printer: Parispublisher: Amsterdam paper letterpress printing political caricatures and satires. violent death by hanging. the soldier; the soldier's life

London firemen fighting a fire which broke out in Belvidere Road, Lambeth, in 1850.

Officers having returned from 'the bush' enjoy a 'civilised' meal at Cape Coast Castle during the expedition to defeat the Ashanti. The second Ashanti War fought between,1873-74, was between King Kofi Karikari, ruler of the Ashanti (or Asantehene), and the British. Both were trying to secure the coastal town of Elmina on the West Coast of Africa also known as the Gold Coast. Date: 28 March 1874

An engraving depicting one of the earliest production lines housed by the Armour Company's pig slaughterhouse. Dated 19th century

War songs. Morgan collection of Civil War drawings, Published in: Harper's Weekly, 23 November 1861, pp. 744-745, Gift, J.P. Morgan, 1919 (DLC/PP-1919:R1). McClellan, George B, (George Brinton), 1826-1885, Military service, Howe, Julia Ward, 1819-1910, Songs, 1860-1870, Zouaves, 1860-1870, Military officers, Union, 1860-1870, Women, 1860-1870, African Americans, 1860-1870, Soldiers, Union, 1860-1870, United States, History, Civil War, 1861-1865, Songs & music, United States, History, Civil War, 1861-1865, Military personnel.

Drawing showing a Royal Air Force Operations Room in 1940. At the top of the image a number of 'WAAFs' are shown moving counters and models across a large map of Southern England. On the right of the image, officers are shown watching the map and receiving further information before making decisions about when to commit their forces. Date: 1940

'Fatigue Duty at Headquaters', German prisoners in Dinan, 1915, (1926). Artist: Maurice Orange

Cartoon showing a German arrested in the street by a policeman and a soldier, at the start of the First World War. He is protesting: But how much more times must I tell you I vas an Englishman Date: August 1914

Beul with the head of Johannes de Boper, Prinz RuPrecht, After Jusepe de Ribera, 1658 print paper the beheading of John the Baptist

THE RIOT AT STOCKPORT

The Date for Thanksgiving is unsettled. Turkey was a prize worth fighting over given its strategic position in eastern Europe with its control over shipping from the Black Sea through the Dardanelles to the Aegean Sea. Russia had long sought control over the area to assure free access for its Black Sea fleet. France and England had similarly sought to maintain control over the strategic Dardanelles waterway. Using the American Thanksgiving day as a pun, cartoonist Clifford Berryman shows the fight over Turkey. Joseph Stalin tugs mightily on one leg of Turkey while Britain's Neville Chamberlain

Fraternization by German and russian troops in world war one 1917. by I. Vladimirova

Soldier of the French ballooning corps, accidentally carried up on a captive army balloon, falling to his death when he could no longer hold on. 'Le Petit Journal', 12 May 1901. Accident Ballooning Military

Italy (1906). Coal miners on strike in La Spezia Harbour. Illustration by Achille Beltrame, 'La Domenica del Corriere'. Etching.

Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell (1815-1941) English soldier; defender of Mafeking in Boer War (1899-1900) Founder of Boy Scouts (1909) and Girl Guides (1910). BP at Mafeking, ever watchful, living up to his Matebele name 'Mpeesi', The Wolf that Never Sleeps .

Guerra Ruso-Japonesa (1904-1905). Soldados rusos queman las banderas de Port-Arthur antes de rendir la plaza a los japoneses. Cromo de Chocolates Amatller. Año 1905. Author: Apel·les Mestres Oñós.

PAR-6239. Photographs of Marshall Plan Programs, Exhibits, and Personnel

The Eastern Question, a customs post in Romania. The Eastern Question refers to the strategic competition and political considerations of the major Eu...

Hotchkiss automatic machine gun. Old 19th century engraved illustration from La Nature 1899

'The British Rough' A criminal is restrained by the arm of the law. Date: 1875

During the war women did many jobs which previously had been considered only suitable for men. The Gatewoman. At the bottom are the soldiers in France who would have been doing this job in peacetime. Scene on the London Underground (Underground Electric Railway Company), World War I - 1914-1918. Lithograph.

Jacques Garnerin successfully descends 1000 metres by parachute from a balloon over the Parc du Monceaux Date: 22 October 1797

During the great French 'wave', Marius De Wilde, a railway signalman, sees a UFO on the tracks, with two occupants Date: 10 September 1954

An engraving depicting a sailor, in the tropics, snaring a bird. Dated 19th century

events Franco-Prussian War 1870 - 1871 Siege of Paris 19.9.1870 - 28.1.1871 bombardement destruction in the third floor of a dwelling after being hit by a shell contemporary wood engraving,

Darktown Base Hit

An anarchist bomb explodes in the Chamber of Deputies: Monsieur Dupuy shows coolness asking for silence and stating that the sitting would continue.

Bullets whistled and hissed and rattled all about them | Library of Congress

Prince Albert Victor (1864-1892) and Prince George (later King George V) (1865-1936), sons of the princes of Wales, working in mechanical occupations of seamanship, on board the frigate HMS Britannia, being educated as naval cadets on board of that Royal Navy's training ship. The engraving represents the two royal midshipmen practicing the exercise of tying the ends of a broken cable without tying a knot. La Ilustración Española y Americana, 1878.

First World War (1914-1918). Bulgarian prisoner talking about his country with a Serbian injured man. Illustration by Vladimir Betzitch (1916). Drawing.

military, artillery, cannon, double bombard with roof, late 14th century, wood engraving, 19th century,

WW1 - To ensure food supply during shortages, National and local food control committees were established to ensure food distribution across the country. The illustration here depicts a queue of middle/upper class 'conscientious disgorgers', who appear to be patriotically contributing food supplies to the control in order to evade prosecution. Date: 1918

Row brothers! Row!. Row brothers! Row!

This image from an 1896 Century magazine shows Napoleon planning a battle, It was drawn by Eric Pape and engranved by H Davidson. Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) was a French military and political leader who became the emperor of France.

Italy, 1904-1909 1910. Vinkhuijzen, Hendrik Jacobus. still image. Illustrations. General Research Division. Military uniforms , History, Italy

Soldat Espagnol prenant congé de ses amis "Adieu, Camarades!" (1806) 1910. Vinkhuijzen, Hendrik Jacobus. still image. Illustrations. General Research Division. Military uniforms , History, Spain, Farewells , Spain, Houses , Spain, Soldiers , Spanish

Engraving showing the Officers and men (background) of a Royal Navy Warship waving goodbye to Japan and various well-wishers in small junks. This ironclad warship was returning to Britain after a tour of duty in the Far East. Date: 1890

Engraving depicting the generation of light at Montmartre during the Siege of Paris, using a steam engine as a source of power. At the top of the picture a searchlight is being directed on some distant object which is being observed by the soldier directly below. On the table are two carbon arc lamps in addition to an oil lamp.

Russian soldiers holding lines from hot air balloon by Georgi Nikolayevich Bibikov, Oil on canvas, 1935, 1903-1976, Russia, St. Petersburg, State Russian Museum, 238x156

Chinese imperial customs, the emperor Guangxu (1871-1908) sledding in the garden of his winter palace in Beijing, China. From La Ilustracion Española y Americana 1895

'Those Superstitions' 'Private Sandy McNab cheers the assembly by pointing out (with the aid of his pocket almanac) that it is Friday the 13th and that their number is one too many' A cartoon by Captain Bruce Bairnsfather in The Bystander Date: 1916

The Fields of Flanders Where are the Dead There are no Dead. Maeterlinck (The Blue Bird) This is a Canadian sketch by J A Shepperson, emphasizing that high-hope on which the true Culture of the world has been building for twenty centuries. Mankind, outside of Germany, believed that all the doctrines of materialism break down just because they reckon the dead as dead, and take no heed as to what a mans labors here shall make him fitted for when he passes beyond earths Death. Hence when the Britons and Canadians sacrificed their lives by thousands on the Flanders Fields through al

A page of silhouettes by the famous silhouette artist, Captain H. L. Oakley taken on board a ship back to France in 1917 where he was to rejoin the 8th Battalion. Figures include a Royal Flying Corp officer, staff officers, a padre and a nurse. Date: 1917

World War I recruitment poster published in Dublin, 1915. Is YOUR Home Worth Fighting For .....so JOIN TO-DAY. Husband, wife, baby and grandfather at home surprised by entry of German soldiers with fixed bayonets.

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin talking with soldiers by anonymous artist, painting, Russia, Moscow, State Tretyakov Gallery

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