Souscrivez au 4e Emprunt National
Jules-Abel Faivre

approx. exposed area of image inside frame
22in h x 31in w
lithograph on paper

£250 framed

Item number 3198

French 4th National Loan Credit Lyonnais poster- naked soldier with sword and tricolour beats off eagle tearing away flag

French poster published in 1918 by Devambez. This not very subtle reference to the next door neighbours, the Germans, who were trying to reach Paris, was intended to tempt the French to dip even deeper into their pockets to fund the war effort.

Several museums hold copies of this lithograph and one can be viewed at http://digital.library.unt.edu/permalink/meta-dc-403:1.

Like most posters, it has been folded prior to being displayed and there is a measure of wear and tear which can be observed with our zoom facility which I suggest is used to see the condition of the work.

Printed to raise money for the defence of France during the 1st World War. The war was lasting longer than expected. A series of 4 National Loans (1 each year in 1915-1918) were needed to fill the gap that an increase in money-supply and loans from the Banque de France could not. But the French were sorely stretched - working-age men were at the front, wounded and dead were placing a great burden and morale was suffering. The posters for this last of the 4 National Loans had to work hard to persuade the French to lend again. 

The intended message is "help our men beat the eagle and regain full control of our soil". They needed all the help they could get, because the new German offensive of July 1918 had pushed the French-held line between Arras and Reims back to Compiegne, very close to Paris. Although Marshal Foch intended this fall-back as a way to mobilise the bogged-down trench warfare and encircle the Germans in September 1918, many French must have found the advance of the Germans at this critical peak of the war financially most motivating! Foch needed ammunition for the September assault. But in the end an uncoordinated and somewhat different assault pushed back the Germans to Belgium by October 1918 and armistice on November 11th.