GCSE Political Cartoons: Anschluss 1938

As part of their study of the causes of World War II, Lower 5 (Year 10) have been studying Hitler's foreign policy. These cartoons and commentaries were created about the Anschluss between Germany and Austria in 1938.

For other political cartoons drawn by students please click:http://www.ourcartoons.blogspot.com/

What is the meaning of this cartoon?

Kim:

The cartoon is based on the positions of Britain and France during the formation of the German and Austrian Anschluss. The cartoon shows four people symbolising Britain, France, Germany and Austria. The tagline ‘Too busy to baby-sit Austria?’ shows that the two people on the sofa, Britain and France were supposed to be babysitting and looking out for Austria. Britain and France had signed an agreement with Mussolini that they would look out for Austria, and maintain the treaty of Versailles which stated that Austria and Germany were forbidden to unite. The men representing Britain and France are looking at a circle with a castle on it, which symbolises the British empire. Britain was too concerned with its own fragile empire, to want to help Austria, and France, Britain’s close friend, also didn’t want another war with Germany, especially when what Hitler was doing was made to look legal. A plebiscite on 10th April showed that 99% of Austrians wanted to unite with Austria, so Britain and France didn’t intervene.
Also, Austria contained many German speaking people who wanted to unite with Germany, and having Seyss-Inquart appointed as chancellor gave Hitler access to the country seemingly legally. This is shown by the baby (symbolising Austria because of its relative weakness as a country compared to Britain, France and Germany) holding its arms out to the hand (symbolising Hitler) as if it wants to be taken. Although the baby is shown to want to be picked up, it is still breaking rules, like Hitler is breaking the terms of the treaty of Versailles by uniting with Austria. The cartoon shows how the self interest of Britain and France, was one factor that help Hitler easily unite with Austrian without major conflict.

Alice:

At the time the cartoon was drawn Hitler had demanded that Seyss-Inquart, an Austrian Nazi, became Chancellor of Austria. His demand was accompanied by the threat of invasion, which pressured Austria to accept this demand. In my cartoon, I’m saying that Hitler wanted to have control of Austria, and have Nazis control the country. This is shown by Hitler riding on a large horse, with the Nazi symbol on it, and he’s holding a lassoo and capturing Austria with it. This represents how Hitler’s demand was achieved and no other nations or leaders e.g. Mussolini intervened.

At the time the cartoon was drawn, Hitler was trying to gain German power by destroying the Treaty of Versailles and uniting German speaking people. Hitler was very crafty about the way he did so, and made all his actions appear legal, by holding a plebiscite which supposedly suggested that 99% of Austrians supported the Anschluss. In my cartoon you can see that Austria isn’t trying to pull away or restrain from Germany, they let the lassoo capture them and there are no obstacles in between the horse, lassoo and Austria. This represents how Germany managed to achieve the Anschluss with Austria, without any major complications or obstacles.

At the time of the cartoon in 1938, Britain and France had had time to think about and revise the Treaty of Versailles. Britain in particular realized it was a harsh treaty and thought that Germany should be allowed to have the terms of the treaty relaxed. In my cartoon, I’ve drawn Britain and France sitting down in a café with their backs against what is happening between Germany and Austria. They are in the cafe playing cards and drinking coffee and have Sheriff Badges, and aren’t even looking towards the action between Germany and Austria. This represents that they were powerful nations at the time because they are wearing Sheriff Badges and because they didn’t act, other nations followed suit and didn’t act either. Also, Britain and France were only really concerned in their own affairs such as their empires at the time. They also thought that Germany should be able to rebuild itself after revising the peace treaties of 1919. Also, Britain and France are playing the same card the three of hearts which represents how they support one another and only act with each other.

Jess:

On the left of the cartoon is the Art Gallery’s Security Centre, the two security guards are Britain and France. The security monitors are off and on the screen are two programs: The British Empire and Beau Français. This represents that Britain and France had the ability to protect Austria, but chose to ignore their chance to. The television programs show that Britain and France were both too busy with their own affairs to care about Austria’s welfare and foreign affairs, because they should be watching the gallery’s security tapes rather than their own programmes. The two security guards appear to be leaning on each other, this shows that Britain and France wouldn’t react without the other, and France wouldn’t do anything without the knowledge Britain was backing them up.

On the right hand side there is a person stealing a painting, the painting is of Austria therefore represents the county itself. The thief has a loot bag with a swastika on thus making it clear that the thief is Hitler, the theft shows Hitler taking Austria, which he basically did in 1938 when he united Austria and Germany in the Anschluss.
There is an alarm system on the wall which is switched off. As well as the Britain and France not paying attention, this represents how easy it was for Hitler to take Austria. What switched the alarm off was the fact Hitler’s actions appeared to be legal; Seyss-Inquart invited Germany into Austria to ‘restore order’ and then the Nazis held a plebiscite on 10th April which suggested that 99% of Austrians wanted to unite with Germany. The sign in the corner of the room is pointed to the next gallery, called ‘Czechoslovakia’. This is predicting Hitler’s next move, Czechoslovakia would be next on Hitler’s list of countries to take.

Katy:

This cartoon shows that Hitler is trying to take/topple over Austria and by doing so it will affect the rest of the countries involved in the cartoon, it will be a chain reaction.

We can tell that it is Hitler that is going to topple over the card of pyramids because he has a swastika cufflink on his shirt and he also has swastikas painted on his fingernails and Hitler was a Nazi and their ‘sign’ is a swastika.

The playing cards have pictures of humans on them that are different ages. The humans have a countries name on them like for example the baby has the country Austria written on its blanket. How old the ‘humans’ are shows us how strong the country actually is. As we know Austria is a very weak country and it is prone to invasion by Germany because of the Anschluss and how close it is to Germany so it is therefore shown as a weak and helpless baby. Great Britain on the other hand is presented as an adult which shows us that it is a well developed country and it is fairly stable. The Middle East is shown in the centre and as a child. This shows us that it will not be as directly affected by the Anschluss as Austria but it will be affected in some way. The Middle East being shown as a child shows us that the country is partially developed but not developed to its full extent and since it has building blocks around it this tells us that it was still rebuilding itself and its economy after the war and it was trying to become a more developed country.

Czechoslovakia and The Balkans are shown underneath Austria. This shows us that they will be the next affected. We can tell geographically that Czechoslovakia will be the next country affected because once Hitler has gained control of Austria nearly 2/3rds of Czechoslovakia will be surrounded by German land. It would only be natural for Hitler to want this land for Germany because it is so close to what land he already has and Hitler is creating a path way towards Russia, his dream place to invade and take over.

France is shown as an adult man. This tells us that he is a developed country and he is stable. Both France and Britain are placed on the bottom of the pyramid of cards because they are both stable and the foundations of Europe. Great Britain is shown as and adult woman. This tells us that she is a developed country. By picturing Great Britain as a woman it gives us the idea that she is the mother of Europe and can command all the smaller countries around like some mothers do. By Great Britain there is a bouquet of flowers which symbolizes her colonies. Flowers are used to show this because flowers have petals which are delicate and easily harmed like her colonies could be. Great Britain and France are both pictured so powerfully and stable at the bottom of the pyramid because they won WW1 and have an historic reputation of being big and powerful.

On some of the rows there are normal playing cards mixed in with the cards with countries on them. Besides the weaker countries there are smaller numbered cards and besides the stronger and more powerful countries there are larger numbered cards and a king playing card.

Keya:
The cartoon is based on the attitudes of Britain, France and Italy when Hitler is making the Anschluss with Austria. Britain and France are the parents of Hitler, because they made Germany what it was in the 1930s due to the Treaty of Versailles, and they are picking him up from school. France is saying to Britain that Hitler is very well behaved, as Britain and France tried to ignore what Hitler was doing when he was making the Anschluss with Austria. This is also represented by Britain having its back to Germany.
Austria is holding a German flag because most of the people in Austria were German speaking people, so some Austrians wanted to unite with Germany, but some people didn’t. However, with Seyss-Inquart, a Nazi as the Austrian chancellor, Hitler had easy access to the Austrian government and he was able to take over Austria seemingly legally regardless of what the people wanted.
The homework that Britain is holding symbolises the plebiscite that was held to see if Austrians wanted to unite with Germany. The results showed that 99% of Austrians supported the Anschluss, although the results were probably corrupt (voters were intimidated by Nazis) and Hitler had only held the plebiscite to give the illusion to Britain and France that he had taken over Austria fairly.
Italy is standing close by and is encouraging Germany to beat up Austria, even though it could stop Germany if it wanted to. This is because Italy wanted another powerful ally after it had lost the support of Britain and France when it invaded Abyssinia.
Smaller, weaker countries like Czechoslovakia and North West Europe are watching what Germany is doing and are worried that they will be next because Hitler was becoming more and more powerful.